Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

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

Original poster

Life after Uni - DD about to Graduate, big move to London how about others?

89 replies

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 06/04/2025 08:27

Can't see another thread about graduates so thought I would start one. DD has been at Bath for 3 years doing Politics and IR and absolutely loved it there - has met a lovely Boyfriend, lots of good friends, enjoyed her course and the City itself. She was supposed to do the placement year for various reasons didn't and whilst I respected her decision thought she was making a big mistake with regard to future jobs. As predicted trying to get a graduate job has been tough, so so many rejections and only one that progressed to the final stages which she was convinced she wouldn't get as she felt the interview was crap. It was also fiercely competitive 8k applicants for 180 places and amazingly she got in! So now it looks like she is off to London - alone and I am really nervous for her, her BF is going back home to take a year out.

How are other graduate parents feeling? What are yours up to now and are they moving to a new City too? London is so expensive I fear she will have to carry on living on pot noodles for a few years but she is so happy to have a job. Please give me some positive stories, I am sure she will be fine just can't believe the 3 years have flown in the blink of an eye! Our babies are now going into the world of work, I am sure I only dropped her off in Bath last week.......😳

OP posts:
FoxedByACat · 10/04/2025 16:36

Dd is moving to Manchester for a 2 year Masters degree. She’s not left home before so is very excited. I think she’ll have the time of her life.

RampantIvy · 10/04/2025 16:37

FoxedByACat · 10/04/2025 16:36

Dd is moving to Manchester for a 2 year Masters degree. She’s not left home before so is very excited. I think she’ll have the time of her life.

DD is in Liverpool for a 2 year masters. I think she is enjoying it more than her undergraduate course.

Good luck to your DD.

EwwSprouts · 10/04/2025 16:43

💐@tango Hoping with time the loving memories will diminish the trauma.

Original poster
TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 10/04/2025 18:11

@EwwSprouts @ealingwestmum Thank you both, it has been a really hard 2 years since he died. DD sent me her acknowledgements yesterday for her diss and she had dedicated to Dad - may have shed a tear 😢

@FoxedByACat Manchester is fab, DD BF did his placement year there and loved it. Not that far from me so visit a few times a year - great city I am sure she will be very happy.

OP posts:
Woollyguru · 10/04/2025 18:33

I don't think I was on the pre uni thread with you all but it's great to hear what DCs are going on to after uni. And very happy to hear that many have managed to secure grad jobs.

My DD was at Brum doing psychology. Wants to be a child psychologist and was going to do a masters but has decided on teacher training for 2 years to get experience of working with children before applying for the doctorate. She's moving back home for the first year as her school is in London and then has plans to move in with her boyfriend for the 2nd year.

DS will be off to uni this year so one in and one out!

crazycrofter · 10/04/2025 22:18

Another one wanting to be a psychologist @Woollyguru ! Hope she copes ok with teaching in the meantime! I also have one starting uni in September.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango so sorry to hear about your dad 😢 That makes your dd’s achievement in completing her degree and getting a good grad job even more impressive!

Stockpot · 10/04/2025 23:34

I’m sorry to hear about your dad @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango 💐

But I am delighted to hear about your DD’s job! I hope she has a wonderful adventure in London.

My own has another year to go. Hearing about the graduate job market is scary.

Woollyguru · 11/04/2025 10:40

crazycrofter · 10/04/2025 22:18

Another one wanting to be a psychologist @Woollyguru ! Hope she copes ok with teaching in the meantime! I also have one starting uni in September.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango so sorry to hear about your dad 😢 That makes your dd’s achievement in completing her degree and getting a good grad job even more impressive!

@crazycrofter I know, the teaching is going to be intense! She has worked part time at a school throughout uni and did Camp America but it's not the same as being in charge of a class of 30!

What area of psychology does your DC want to work in?

toooldforbrat · 11/04/2025 11:05

DS is in 1st year of his Grad job in London and been offered a new role in Canada with the company for a year, he's very excited and nervous, and I'm planning holiday in Canada this year.

Grad market is tough, in DS company they had over 10K applicants for 100 places.

With my employer, they open grad applications and close when they reach 2.5k as they cant process more than that volume, typically closes after 2-3 days and same for apprentice applications.

crazycrofter · 11/04/2025 11:53

@Woollyguru I began a PGCE and gave up in March 😫Hopefully your dd is better suited to it than I was though!

Dd thinks clinical at the moment, although she's also attracted to forensic psychology! It sounds really expensive to train though 🤔

Piggywaspushed · 11/04/2025 13:19

I, for one, hope she stays in the classroom! Sorry,but we need teachers who train to stay!

I appreciate we need psychologists too...

PearlStork · 11/04/2025 13:50

One of my siblings did a PGCE 35 years ago with a plan to switch from clinical to educational psychology. She stuck with education and never went back to psychology.

Piggywaspushed · 11/04/2025 14:22

woolly,my DS is a Brum student too!

Crushed23 · 11/04/2025 15:34

This is the best decision she has made. Nothing beats living and working in London as a young graduate - it really is a truly fantastic experience. Jobs pay better than elsewhere in the country so she is unlikely to be living on pot noodles.

I myself used my graduate overdraft and interest free credit cards in the first few years and had the absolute BEST time. Not sure these things are available to graduates these days. My pay almost doubled when I completed a professional qualification and got promoted so I paid off all the debt (before it became interest bearing, crucially). I ended up staying in London for 12 years before moving abroad with work. When I return to the UK, I will definitely be moving back to London.

All of that is to say, don’t worry about your daughter, be incredibly proud and happy for her - she gets to live in one of the best cities in the world. 🤩

fortyfifty · 12/04/2025 07:56

My dd's upcoming assessment centre is for 1 job out of 850 applicants. 😩 She's down to the last 8.

Stockpot · 12/04/2025 08:33

Wow, these statistics are incredible. Is it all for law and investment banking?

Xenia · 12/04/2025 08:50

That certainly sounds like a law job to me. So many people want these jobs and so many of the applicants are very good.

toooldforbrat · 12/04/2025 19:30

Stockpot · 12/04/2025 08:33

Wow, these statistics are incredible. Is it all for law and investment banking?

DS is with a global engineering firm - his grad cohort has a range of degrees ( inc a lot of non engineering degrees) and Unis doing a range of jobs.

over 10k applicants for 100 places.

Original poster
TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 13/04/2025 07:01

Thank you all Flowers

The Grad market is brutal, DD applied for many many jobs and it was rejection after rejection. To be fair to her she didn't get downhearted and just kept ploughing on and this was the only one where she got through to the assessment centre. They had to do it online which consisted of a one to one interview, written assessment and a group work, she came away saying it had gone badly and she had barely got a word in during the group part apparently some lad had dominated the conversation. Goes to show you never know what they are looking for or how well you did.

OP posts:
Mumofyellows · 13/04/2025 07:16

My DD is coming back home to complete a PGCE at our local uni, makes much more sense than staying up north as all of her friends are also going back home and she won't be able to afford to work enough to support herself for the PGCE as it's so full on.
I'm
Looking forward to having her back, DH (not her dad) is not 😕.

KingscoteStaff · 13/04/2025 07:32

Hello 2022 chaps! So sorry to hear about your Dad, @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango - I lost my Mum earlier this year and am feeling as though someone has removed the scaffolding to my life! Commiserations the PGCE didn’t work out @crazycrofter .

No DD graduate news here as she has 2 more years of Medicine up in Newcastle to go…

But DS graduated 2 years ago and is now in London with job. He applied for over 100 internships during his 3rd year.

In retrospect, he thinks he would have been better off concentrating on his diss, as he missed a first by a whisker…. In the end he came home, worked 3 jobs to save up for some travelling and finally netted an internship. 6 months later this transmogrified into a permanent job.

He moved out into a flat with 3 friends in January and is loving it. But I am very aware that he is lucky enough to have school friends, Uni friends and sporting friends around to make a social life very easy - it would have taken much more effort to build a network from scratch.

KingscoteStaff · 13/04/2025 07:35

Just adding that the internship DS finally got was the first one where he actually sat in front of a real live human being! I don’t know what those other 99 algorithms were looking for, but it sure wasn’t him!

Piggywaspushed · 13/04/2025 09:12

Yes, re grad market, DS1 still works in Dunelm. All the stuff that MN declares 'easy' to get jobs in have rejected him : social work, probation service, travel agencies... and policy roles even though he has a masters in public policy. I do think his applications are probably weakish but it's still frustrating. Even school jobs turn him down, except TAs.

RampantIvy · 14/04/2025 07:22

Piggywaspushed · 13/04/2025 09:12

Yes, re grad market, DS1 still works in Dunelm. All the stuff that MN declares 'easy' to get jobs in have rejected him : social work, probation service, travel agencies... and policy roles even though he has a masters in public policy. I do think his applications are probably weakish but it's still frustrating. Even school jobs turn him down, except TAs.

Edited

I feel for your DS @Piggywaspushed
I suspect many graduates feel that they have been sold a lie about having a degree. It doesn't open as many doors as they thought it might.

DD worked in a couple of pharmacies after graduating, but it was always meant to be a gap between undergraduate and post grad.

She is really enjoying her course (radiography), but there are several students who are only doing it because their degrees won't get them and job whereas DD is doing it because she wants to.

Piggywaspushed · 14/04/2025 07:32

I don't know if he feels that about his actual degree. He got a 2:2 . He's more annoyed that the Master's doesn't seem to have added any value/ compensated for the 2:2..

I am not sure he specifically would be in a better position without a degree and it did help him gain a lot more independence (although now back at home of course!!)