@MinaPaws I'm interested - what did the mature students at the poly put that was so much more impressive? Surely mature students will have worked any way, whereas 18-20 yr olds have done less.
Well, yes, it is the work experience a lot of the time. But also, I work for a company based in the NE. Although we have our share of MC graduates that come from all over we are very aware that only 10% of the local kids go to university. That 10% tends to come from the tiny MC who do end up very advantaged (our 2 most local state secondary schools send about 10 kids each to Oxbridge every year, but they have an intake from the leafiest part of town).
So locally there are a lot of very very bright working class kids don't look at higher education until they are older because they come from a background that can't face the debt and don't see the benefits of a degree. They are hard working because they know working for us is a fantastic opportunity, more mature than a typical graduate and often have something medical in their work history so there's a story there that means you know they are really interested in what we do. And the local universities do work closely with us to create course content that is relevant so they come with a good understanding of what we do.
We also have an excellent apprentice scheme that leads to a degree in 5 years and the kids are paid and have their fees paid so finish with no debt. Historically (pre university expansion in the 80s) we've taken on even more people straight from school and that is increasing again.
@BubbleBuddy I'm not quite sure why you are so angry about me thinking musical achievement is irrelevant for a placement with a Pharma company. May I remind you I read a bucketload of CVs from the same university in the same format and none of them had any distinguishing points because they had all done music, sport, DoE and a gap year, which is why I said they were MC, they all laughed at me at work when I said it because we all know we're doing the same thing to our own kids.
Anyway, to correct some of your wilder accusation I myself come from a MC background with a long family history of attending ancient universities, I do not have the proverbial chip on my shoulder. We do recruit a lot from RG universities, e.g. I've worked with some brilliant students from Durham, Manchester, UCL and the Scottish universities. We pay our students well, they are with us for a year, are valuable members of our project teams, and regularly return to us after finishing their degrees or PhDs. My employer does not allow people to interview unless they have had recruitment training, and all job adverts include a job description and person spec that funnily enough does not say 'must have grade 8 viola'.
Oh, and humble. I'm sure we've all had to deal with people who think they are too important to do a crucial but boring aspect of their job. Working in a busy 5S lab requires people who will wash up and put away their stuff at the end of the day, take part in the lab tidy up, who will fill in the paperwork, and yes, listens to people who have been there longer and are saying 'you need to do that in the fumehood'. In my experience the very best students are those who are smart enough to learn from others' experience. That's what collaboration and team work is about, recognising and acknowledging the strengths of others and not thinking you know it all. Humble is not subservient.
And FWIW for science we don't necessarily want only 'rounded' individuals, the quiet nerdy girl who is on the spectrum and will work away at a problem and come up with a brilliant solution is as useful to us as the terribly MC chap who will charm the customers' moneymen.