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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Think of a job for DS? History/architecture related

19 replies

johnspeede · 29/04/2020 21:36

DS is currently a second year at Cambridge. He studies Archaeology there, and in his first year got a high 2.1. He seems to be coasting a bit this year/lost interest after having a falling out with his tutor...

He really likes architecture and buildings. He's obviously into history.

So far he has himself some internships for over the summer that hopefully will still be going on.. These are at some big name investment banks. I know he could probably get a job at one if he really tries for it/ the economy isn't gone. But, I don't think he'll be happy. He'll have money but I think he'd burn out/wished he'd followed his passion.

He has a vague back up plan of some sort of masters at Oxford, but we are not made of money so we could scrape together the fees for a masters and then that's it, no more money.

Any idea of jobs or professions he can work towards that he might be interested in?

OP posts:

Standrewsschool · 29/04/2020 21:45

Jobs in museums/English Heritage/National trust

Archeological digs

Chilver · 29/04/2020 21:50

Heritage specialist for a multi disciplinary engineering/ design consultancy doing either 'small' scale projects or national infrastructure projects.

AwkwardPaws27 · 29/04/2020 21:55

Looking for a grad scheme as a building surveyor or similar, with the aim to specialise in heritage buildings?
Archaeology and museum work, while rewarding, is poorly paid (I work in a museum, although on the admin side) - I'd only suggest going for it if he truly passionate about it.

thesandwich · 29/04/2020 21:56

Jobs and careers in this sector are very hard to get into at the best of times- post Covid, even harder.
Some time in the city could be invaluable- he could do his masters later and self fund it. And maybe look towards finance side of heritage/ museum roles? Charity and third sector?

goodbyestranger · 29/04/2020 22:34

In what way would time int he City be 'invaluable'? it sounds very much as though OP's DS is on the standard treadmill for Oxbridge History students. Banking internships etc etc. Absolutely no point going down that line unless you actually have an interest in the work or have a grand design which follows a decade or so or putting yourself through the mill to earn big money. But in itself - not of much value at all, imo.

BuffaloCauliflower · 29/04/2020 22:35

He can get a loan for masters study, you don’t have to pay

goodbyestranger · 29/04/2020 22:38

OP he could do an Oxford masters if he borrowed through the government loan for fees and you topped it up for living expenses - the amount they ask you to prove for maintenance and the amount actually required are fairly distinct. He needs to be predicted a first next year though, to be in with a reasonable chance of an offer. I assume that's where he's heading, regardless of the fall out?

goodbyestranger · 29/04/2020 22:40

Buffalo a) it doesn't cover the whole amount, only rather less than half and b) it's not without consideration of interest etc, being a loan.

AnnaMagnani · 29/04/2020 22:44

How does he see himself living his life in future?

Is he the sort of person that is going to cope well with short term contracts, poor pay and no job security as long as he is following his passion?

Or does a steady job, a secure income, nice house and holidays also have a lot of appeal?

It's OK to be honest.

I always wanted to know I had a job, having watched my parents scrimp and save, and worry through redundancy. So I did a degree where I would always have a job. Turns out, I found a niche I like, but it's not my passion - but I earn about 5x what I probably would have done if I had followed my passion, plus I have the lovely house, have travelled to everywhere associated with it, and can pursue it via the OU.

Museum jobs are rare as hens teeth. At an investment bank he could have the money to enjoy his passion. It's not one or the other.

goodbyestranger · 29/04/2020 22:50

Anna at an investment bank it takes a good number of years before one reaps rewards in terms of time to enjoy any passion, to any meaningful degree.

goodbyestranger · 29/04/2020 22:52

Although the idea of doing the high earning day job to facilitate other pursuits is appealing - but requires quite serious talent and steely motivation to make it work.

thesandwich · 30/04/2020 10:33

When further study to pursue passion is great it should not be at the expense of parents having to scrape money to fund it and affect their lifestyles, particularly in these challenging times.
To earn enough to fund a masters over a short period of time would not be hard coupled with student finance.
Developing skills to live a portfolio life combining passion and earning is a very good strategy long term in these times.

bpisok · 30/04/2020 12:41

What's wrong with commercial archaeology?
The majority of big consultants and construction companies have archaeologists these days. On excavations the second they hit something (or have identified the possibility of something via a desk top study) then all work stops. As a result everyone is very keen for archaeologists to 'do their thing' in order to restart (think Crossrail sized projects ) .... so big companies have their own.
Pay used to be rubbish but there's not enough archaeologists to go round...as a result we are paying them as much as the engineers now.

shockthemonkey · 30/04/2020 15:17

Town planning/urban design maybe...

ChippyMinton · 30/04/2020 16:26

Heritage building conservation post grad, then conservation officer/consultant?

Xenia · 30/04/2020 18:08

The investment banks sound like a good idea and then he can earn enough to buy his own architectural heritage country house or build his own

Ellmau · 30/04/2020 21:29

Archives might interest him. NOt very well paid, but it might be worth doing a bit of volunteering at his college archive once back to normal to see if it’s for him,

SpringFan · 30/04/2020 21:42

If he wants to go into the hertitage sector, he needs to choose his MA carefully. DS stayed at his Uni to do a Masters in a subject that interested him. but once he decided that was interested in working in a museum, he realised that there are MAs which might have been more appropriate. The other thing is that a lot of the research that EH and NT do it undertaken by volunteers, so paid employment is hard to get and poorly paid.
Others have said, that he can get a loan to do a Masters. He can, but they are separate loans and need to be paid back together. It isn't a case that it is added on to the loan for the first degree ,IYSWIM.

FrankieStein402 · 30/04/2020 22:17

I had understood that an oxbridge masters didn't necessitate doing anything apart from waiting a year or something like that. (sorry)

Competition in historical archaeology will be fierce - not a lot of jobs?
what does he actually enjoy doing in the subjects - is it site visits / observing, trawling through archives, trying to understand the intentions of the builders etc etc

Identifying those skill interests can then point to lateral areas he'd enjoy - eg classifying and problem solving are the basis of systems analysis and most consultancy

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