Big dilemma for DD - what would you do?

[Blackenedsoul]

DD has accepted an offer for her Uni of choice to study Media in September. She’s been looking forward to going, had planned to live at home and travel the 20 minutes in every day.

She had a part time job for a few months in a local office attached to a very small but very busy manufacturing company. She’s very well thought of and works in the office on a Saturday, doing admin, answering enquiries, emails, booking appointments etc.

Today they’ve offered her a full time, permanent post in the office and have offered to start training her up in the use of their accounts systems etc, give her more responsibility. The salary is 18k to start rising to around a max of 25k once fully trained.

This has come as a bolt from the blue, DD really enjoys the job and thinks she’d be happy doing it full time but at the same time was also happy to go off and have the Uni experience, make new friends and study and have fun.

She’s aware that lots of students leave Uni and end up falling into admin roles vey much like this and is now wondering whether bothering with Uni is worth it.

We’ve told her the decision is entirely hers but she’s really finding it hard to decide.

So, the great of mumsnet - what would you do?

I used to work for the BBC as a producer (tv and radio 1 2 and 4) if she is interested in broadcasting I would suggest that she takes the job for a year as this will give her skills which could be transferable at a later date in a media admin role. She needs to ensure that she does a media course which has practical elements to it not just theory. While she is doing this job she could research media degrees as there are so many which are not practical. Production jobs (researcher /production assistant /producer) require very specific skills such as interviewing/ writing scripts and links/editing. She could investigate Skillset which gives an insight into the type of training which is useful in broadcasting.

I don't think Media is a very suitable or respected degree. She needs to choose a different subject IMHO.

Defer but focus on the job.

Right now she has the best of both worlds. A job offer and a uni offer, both of which she can keep for a year. As she has been a bit wishy washy about her degree choice (and lets be fair, media can seen as a bit of a cop out), I think that the job might work out to be her best option.

I agree with PP who said about the apprenticeship thing so she has bona fide credentials from the job, she can end up with degree level qualifications AND a nice bag of swag in her savings.

Take the job. Have a think about if she wants to go to uni, apply next year if she does want to go.

She won't get the full uni experience living at home, covid restrictions could potentially happen again in September and freshers week events and lectures be cancelled or move online, and £30k is a lot of student debt to get into for a media degree with no obvious plan for after graduation.

I’m a lecturer - in a media related field. I know we are planning a blended learning approach to AY21/22, and while my manager would shoot me for saying this, I would encourage her to defer and see how things are this time next year. I feel like my first year students have had a hard time of it this year, despite teaching staff working 100 x harder than usual!

I think it depends on the degree course she wants to do - PR/advertising/Comtent creation quite tough to get into. As a general rule for content/copyright creation type paths you would be better doing something like English somewhere with a solid rep. However for more technical paths there are some great tech focused media degrees. I work in media and employ a fair few grads - not all media degrees are worth doing - so make sure it’s a good one if she does choose to go.

No brainier. Uni.

@tinierclanger

I find myself slightly bemused by the “don’t do media, it won’t help her get a job in media” line, seeing as OP has said her daughter’s got no specific career aim. What’s wrong with just doing a subject she enjoys? Presumably we don’t expect all English graduates to get jobs in ...doing English? Or History to be historians? Surely you just acquire transferable skills? My job’s got no direct relationship to my degree, but it still taught me some very valuable things.

💯 this.

@tinierclanger

I find myself slightly bemused by the “don’t do media, it won’t help her get a job in media” line, seeing as OP has said her daughter’s got no specific career aim. What’s wrong with just doing a subject she enjoys? Presumably we don’t expect all English graduates to get jobs in ...doing English? Or History to be historians? Surely you just acquire transferable skills? My job’s got no direct relationship to my degree, but it still taught me some very valuable things.

I think you have your answer from the responses on this thread! Whether it’s a fair view or not, many people believe a Media degree is a bit second rate. Perception sadly counts for a lot. If I was hiring, I’d be more impressed with an English degree than a Media degree for example (assuming university and grades were the same). I believe it to be a more rigorous degree. This may be complete rubbish, but people with Media degrees have to deal with this perception.

A small family company is never going to give her training that she can use to leave them and work for some competitor. Training her in their system may or may not be useful when she has maxed out her earnings (which are a case of jam tomorrow anyway, because businesses can go tits up).

Small family manufacturing companies are especially vulnerable to Brexit-related problems.

Small family firms are always going to put family first. Her loyalty is misplaced. They are probably asking her to go full time because it's easier and cheaper for them to hire her than finding someone new and training him or her and there is no family member available.

If DD is interested in Marketing then that is the way to go. She could keep the Saturday job.

It would be a really, really good life experience for her to get out of her comfort zone, turn them down, and sally forth into the big world.

I as a mother of three, who have decent degrees from all the RG unis would now advise your daughter to go for the job !!

If I was hiring, I’d be more impressed with an English degree than a Media degree for example

When I interview a primary degree, and usually a postgraduate qualification, is necessary so I'm biased towards university.

(I'm also in Ireland where 3rd level education is highly prioritised and there are (technically) no fees (a hefty enough 'registration' fee is payable tho).

Anyway: I look not at he degree per se, but how they did, how they used their university time, identified transferable skills.

University for me is often a way of learning how to think critically, evaluate & apply knowledge to problem-solve. That's what I'm looking for.

And yet, here we are- on a social media platform, surrounded by ads. Probably watching Netflix in the background.....

Yep. But we’ve already hit bingo with “Mickey mouse degree” “graduates end up in dead end admin jobs” “students end up in debt” as I suspected we would when I saw the OP.

Oh, and, I lived at home for my first and last years of uni. To suggest I missed out on the uni “experience” is laughable. The only difference between me and my mates was, my home cooked meals were better and my bed was comfier. In fact, one of my mates stayed at my house two or three days a week as she hated her halls. It is perfectly possible to have a good uni experience whilst staying at home.

@tinierclanger

I find myself slightly bemused by the “don’t do media, it won’t help her get a job in media” line, seeing as OP has said her daughter’s got no specific career aim. What’s wrong with just doing a subject she enjoys? Presumably we don’t expect all English graduates to get jobs in ...doing English? Or History to be historians? Surely you just acquire transferable skills? My job’s got no direct relationship to my degree, but it still taught me some very valuable things.

You absolutely acquire transferable skills in an academic humanities degree, which is why most graduates of English and history don’t work in those specific fields. It’s not comparable to a largely vocational degree; which most media courses are.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew

Job, job, job. She's absolutely right that this is this kind of thing that lots of people accept after a degree.

If she finds a lack of degree impedes her progress she can do one at a later date. Her company might even pay - this happened to my DSis even though she wasn't on any official scheme or apprenticeship.

I can't seriously see any small local company paying for a bookkeeper to do a degree which will probably incentivise her to leave them. It just isn't going to happen.

A career in broadcast media can be very exciting. Even in some of the support roles you could travel and meet a lot of interesting people and work in very dynamic situations. Being part of a production team can be thrilling in my experience. So if she has a genuine interest in media she should do some research and get onto a good practical course.

The tide is finally turning re degrees.

DD's reasons for doing media are really not good reasons to do it. It's notoriously a 'lesser' degree & I would be trying to talk some sense into her. There's only any point doing it, if she needs it for a dream job, but as she doesn't...🤷🏻‍♀️

I think she'd be better to defer her place, accept the job (but don't mention she's deferred) and have a look at what qualifications she might fancy doing, alongside the job. Accounting really isn't all maths - not at all. But she could look at business management or marketing.

She loves creative writing and was thinking along the lines of web content writing, copywriting, marketing, PR type work

She could do these things alongside the job.

I don't think Uni is going to be great next year & I think she needs to rethink the media degree. The job will give her time for both of those things.

You absolutely do not need a degree to get into copywriting.

If it were me, I would absolutely take the job, and break into copywriter on the side through applying to join pools of freelance writers for professional blogs and other organisations. I've do this, and it's a fairly easy sideline that can help with a CV and possibly even make connections for more permanent copywriting roles.

if she doesn't "have a particular passion" @Blackenedsoul then my advice ATM would be to take the job and, maybe, start an OU degree. www.open.ac.uk/courses/degrees

If she discovers a passion she can pursue it - either at the OU or transfer her credits to another uni.

I spent 20yrs in Higher Ed - this current crop of students are really not getting "the university experience" we got as students. I've worked at 4 Universities, including the OU, right now, for the quality of course material and support, I would recommend the OU.

I also have the ability to edit before sending off copy! How embarrassing.

I can't seriously see any small local company paying for a bookkeeper to do a degree which will probably incentivise her to leave them. It just isn't going to happen.

Some certainly pay for equivalent qualifications.

I can't seriously see any small local company paying for a bookkeeper to do a degree which will probably incentivise her to leave them. It just isn't going to happen

You'd be surprised. Some family run businesses want to support young people & don't expect them to stay forever

Could she do a marketing apprenticeship?

I am a bit at the suggestion that she could just go freelance with copywriting and web content writing.

A media degree is not the best.

@AdriannaP

Max 25k is not a great salary - hardly a great career ahead. She is too young to already commit to a role like that. I would say she should go to uni and explore further options.

Yep. Unless there's further progression available, or she's prepared to study for a degree while working, this job doesn't seem that much of a long term prospect. If she's uni material, £25k is hardly a good end salary.

Definitely the experience of uni all day long.
There will always be jobs especially she is as great as they think she is. Uni is once in a lifetime, where she will make so many new friends and experiences. She's got 30++ years of working in front of her why start early