If you attended private/grammar school, what is your job role and salary?

[Z3lda]

Extremely nosey I know and obviously no one is obliged to share. But I'm just intrigued as it seems many are quite desperate to get their children into the best private or grammar school, but I just wondered what kind of jobs and salaries students from these schools go on to actually have? I know that education provides children with far more than just a path to a specific job and salary, but I do think many send their children to these schools for this reason.

@ThanksItHasPockets

A much more interesting question IMHO is whether those who were privately educated can afford and / or choose to send their own children private. My anecdotal experience is that friends who were privately educated on one professional salary in the 80s and 90s cannot afford the same for their own children unless they are in very very high-earning careers, or the grandparents are paying.

I think that's very much the case.

When I was 11 in 1974 😁 'going private' was in reach for most lower MC families in my village. A few DC did to avoid the SM.

Nowadays, those private schools are way beyond people like us.

I have a friend who lives in a very 'academic' town, who sent her DC to a selective thus academic single sex day school at £15k each, apart from £100 blazers etc, as her DH was in a very well paid job in finance.

They 'complain' that the school's 'natural' intake is skewing away from the DC of university academics towards international students as the dons can't afford the ever rising fees any more.

My contemporaries from top name private school now in their late-50s & range from poorly paid jobs in publishing to megabucks in Finance. Quite a few doctors. Most have worked fairly consistently. No SAHMs.

State primary, independent secondary as part of the Assisted Places scheme (so for kids who had potential but their parents could not afford the fees). Didn't go to Uni, went to work at 16 instead as we needed the money.

Now 49, earn £40k, which where I live is a very good salary.

Private school day school, NE England from age 4 to 18.
Lawyer. London. Don't want to say what I earn (I work for myself) but it has been enough to fund 5 sets of school and university fees (without student loans) for the 5 children.

I chose law aged 14 in 1976 and was studying it at university and winning prizes in it by the time I was 17 in 1979. I still love it all these years on. Of my 5 children 2 are lawyers and 2 are law students (so almost lawyers) and one read ancient history and now works for a food company driving a van (PAYE, full time and very happy). My siblings wne to Oxbridge and still practise the subject they studied - eg one is an NHS doctor and read Medicine at Oxbridge etc.

However our parents and also I and my siblings (all 9 of the cousins went to private school from age 3 or 4 to 18) would not say it was simply to find good careers but a raft of other reasons and I am happy for my son who was a postman for 3 years and now delivers food for a living. I never paid fees so all 5 of my children became lawyers.

DH went to private school, works in IT for a bank, early forties, about 110k.
His brother and sister, also privately educated, are a social worker who will be on the standard pay scale for that, and a grassroots climate activist who lives hand to mouth on the road (does not claim benefits).

I was not privately educated, but went to the same university as my DH. Our salaries are similar, though mine is prorated as I only work 4 days a week.

We’re privately educating our son. Not because we think it will get him a well paid job but because we wanted him to be in a smaller class and have more extracurricular opportunities. Hopefully he’ll have a happy school life and we’ll do our best to help him understand the world of work, cost of living and relative pay scales when the time comes.

Private school. Work in governance. FTE £85k. Age 33.

@Buddywoo

My DD went to private, very academic school. She is a city lawyer and last year earned £850,000. Exorbitant, I know, but you did ask.

Woah how old and what specialism? I am always intrigued to hear about such extreme high earning lawyer jobs as it is in the minority % of lawyers so good to know where the money is

52 years old. £37k in the IT sector. I work around 45 hours a week. I absolutely hated private school ( I was a boarder and a day girl) I spent the final two years in a state comprehensive school which I liked the most and where I met my closest friends.

@HaveringWavering

DH went to private school, works in IT for a bank, early forties, about 110k. His brother and sister, also privately educated, are a social worker who will be on the standard pay scale for that, and a grassroots climate activist who lives hand to mouth on the road (does not claim benefits).

I was not privately educated, but went to the same university as my DH. Our salaries are similar, though mine is prorated as I only work 4 days a week.

We’re privately educating our son. Not because we think it will get him a well paid job but because we wanted him to be in a smaller class and have more extracurricular opportunities. Hopefully he’ll have a happy school life and we’ll do our best to help him understand the world of work, cost of living and relative pay scales when the time comes.

PS I wasn’t grammar school either, they don’t exist where I grew up. Local comp.

I went to private primary and then state grammar. I'm a solicitor (partner in a London firm) and earn £102k plus bonus (maximum I've ever got is £12.5k). This is my second career though. I originally worked in publishing which I loved but it was unlikely I'd get to earn much more than £30k at best in editorial.

Of the group of six friends I was closest to at school there are 2 teachers (one later became a teaching assistant as it fitted better with family life), journalist (gave it up to be a SAHM, now has an admin job), one works for trading standards at the local authority and one is an actuary in the City earning £££. So quite mixed.

I'm friends with a lot of my school year on FB and the sample above is fairly representative. There are LOTS of teachers particularly among those who stayed local (coastal area of Kent with fairly poor prospects for professional careers except teaching). Only one other solicitor. Two people have succeeded with entrepreneurial careers in the USA. Another who was the school rebel and got one GCSE ran a villa rental business and ex pats pub in Spain though she since "retired" comfortably (we're 47) and back in UK. Someone else does voiceover work (she's the recorded voice you hear if you phone up about your TV licence or tax return!) One nurse. One police officer (since changed career and now also works for trading standards). Two research scientists. One has a high up position negotiating energy contracts in France. Those are all the "professions" some better paid than others. I think those that ended up in a profession or otherwise successful in monetary terms are between a third to half of the year at a guess based on the sample of ones I know about. Not all those professions pay well of course.

Many more people have quite basic admin type jobs and are part time or SAHM. Some have health problems (arthritis etc) and haven't been able to work for years. One has died.

I would say only a handful ended up as the really high achieving, high paid career women our school told us we were all destined to be. Many of course will be more than happy as SAHM etc and fair enough, though for others I know there is disappointment. My sister (same school but younger year) is a translator but found she very quickly hit a ceiling for pay and progression and her husband (accountant) rapidly overtook her despite having much poorer qualifications. It was a very academic school and we were told great things were expected but very little guidance as to how this could be achieved . We were given the impression that as we'd been to grammar school and then went on to get a degree, employers would be falling over themselves to offer us high powered jobs. It was not remotely like that!

I think it did/ does give better opportunities but very far from guaranteed!

Went to a grammar, rated one of the best in the country
Was bullied throughout, had nervous breakdown in sixth form
Didn't even apply to university

Now 44, working in charity sector for £30k (the most I am likely to earn)

Deliberately moved out of grammar school area when my DC approached school age. They are thriving at an Outstanding rated state comprehensive.

Privately educated. I earn 50k in marketing. V high achiever academically but never had to try as a result to get highest grades and never had much drive, which didn't translate well to the world of employment.

I feel like a constant disappointment to my family, even though they don't say so, as the only privately educated child. That's something I would be wary of.

My state educated and less academically able sibling works in same industry as me but probably earns double.

With one exception (who works in finance) the brightest and highest achieving school friends, however, are currently:

Stay at home parent home educating their DC
Social worker
Mid level marketing job
Senior admin
Musician

Ideologically I don't really agree with their existence but I'm glad I went to private school. I had small classes, a really supportive and nurturing environment and so many opportunities to experience things that have enriched my life. I feel confident in my abilities even if I'm not making the most of them!

I would send my DC to a nurturing non academically driven private school in a flash of I had the money. They would thrive in a child led smaller class environment.

I went to an all girl’s grammar (I think the ‘all girls’ bit is important because it meant we didn’t see subjects as ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ subjects; they were all just subjects. Loads of us took sciences, maths and computing as standard and I didn’t think anything of it until I went to do a science degree and was one of only a few girls in the year).

I’m an academic in an RG Uni and earn about £50k a year. My group of school friends (6 of us and we’re still good friends 30 years on) work in ‘big pharma’, medicine, journalism, and engineering and I would guess most of them earn a lot more than me. That said, I wouldn’t swap. My job is a privilege. I get to work with and educate some of the brightest minds in the country, do research that has informed national policy, and (although often stressful) offers greater time flexibility than most jobs, so for example, as long as I’m not teaching, I can go to a dentist appointment or whatever without having to take time off or clear it with someone. That said, I’m going to spend the rest of today (Sunday) writing lectures.

Interestingly enough, in my circle, all of the lowest paid are those who went to private schools. They come from wealthy backgrounds, so I wonder if that affords you more freedom to follow your dreams into a low paid or unstable role (such as musician) as you will always have support to fall back on.

But does anyone who went to private school still think it is necessary/worth the investment versus state in terms of value for money/output?

We opted for state at primary to build better people skills than DH and I had acquired at our very sheltered preps.

Then we tutored for senior school and Common Entrance. DS is academic but lazy and needed discipline and focus, which being constantly on show in very small classes has ensured. He’s acquiring a lot of soft skills and confidence (which I left my then GPDST without) and is also cementing friendships with an international cohort of similar boys and their families, rather than the lovely but not very inspiring naice suburban families I grew up with. If DS leaves school at 18 he’ll still be in a better place than I was.

I went to private school and am now a nurse. I was always going to be a nurse, I knew that before I started the school at 11. Arguably, all that money my parents spent on my education was wasted, but they have never made me feel that. I will never know how things would have turned out if I had gone to a different school, but I enjoyed aspects of the school and benefitted from e.g the opportunity to learn several languages even though that had no relevance to my career.

@Newmumatlast Google “Profit per equity partner law firm U.K. or similar and you’ll find all the info you need. It’s a range, but broadly corporate M&A, Finance (project, asset and general), international dispute resolution, esp arbitration, private equity, regulatory advisory, tax, commercial property, pensions, specialist insurance.

@ohdeariforgot

Reality check Only 8.7% pay higher tax rate. Anyone on £50,000+ describing themselves as not highly paid should be ashamed of their ignorance about their privileged position

Well, that's as may be, but I think people, girls in particular, should be made aware of the size of some salaries out there.

My DS did a year industry where he got to see the actual salaries of regional managers of well-known companies, the directors' pay and the graduate scheme's pay.

It was a very useful eye opener for him to get a feel for 'what's out there'.

He's going into software engineering so he'll be okay.

Personally, I am well aware of NMW but I'm also stunned at how many young people come to us at 18-25 as porters or HCAs who have been badly mislead educationally, with cobbled together soft A levels, NVQs, resat GCSEs, etc, many of whom, after seeing what the HCPs earn with that all-important degree, go to do an access course to get to uni.

I know several factors are at play, but a couple have to be - why did you tit around at school so as to not get Maths and English; and who told you those sixth form choices would lead to anything other than NMW?

People need to know there's quite a lot of cash sloshing around out there and how to get their hands on some of it, if they want to.

Went to grammar school and ended up as an accountant. Retired now.

I went to a state Girls' Grammar School in the 80's when it was the 11+

40k FTE

DH passed for grammar but then left in the first year as he hated it, then left the secondary modern without any O'Levels at all.

He earned £215k last year

DH & I are 40. I went to state schools, currently in my 16th year teaching. I earn £32k doing 4 days a week . DH went to private schools up to 6th form and had just had a promotion, his salary is about £85k plus car and private health care.

In my 20s, went to ‘semi-private’ school in my home country, non-selective. Extremely low fees during secondary school (think less than £50 a month).

I am a professional musician and do a mix of contracted (orchestral) and freelance (performing and teaching) work. Income is less than £20k right now. Within the next 6 months I will have the opportunity to jump to a salary between £30k and £80k. It’s a bit of an unknown to which end of that scale, depends on job openings.

@PushyGalore

Consultant Surgeon 45 years old 80 hours a week NHS and private £250k

That's 16 hours a day. Not sure I'd want you operating or advising on my surgery! How is that even safe?

You need to consider age and the point in the acadamic life a child went to these types of schools and whether it was selective or not. A child who was clever enough to go to a selective school (either private or grammar) throughout their academic career is far, far more likely to be earning more than one who only went until 11. But then these kids would probably also have earned large amounts of money had they stayed in state schools, as they are clever.

According to a gov doc done by the social mobility commission in 2019 the following percentages went to private school:

Snr Judges 65%
Civi servant permanent secretaries 59%
House of Lords 57%
FCO diplomats 52%
Of 100 most influential news broadcasters and editors 43%
Newspaper columnists 44%
Pop stars 30%
Top actors 44%
Total population: 7%