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

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

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.......😳

Congratulations to your daughter. London is a great city where most of the job opportunities are. I live in London, kids growing up here. I work with many young people who live alone and with families in other countries. Hopefully she will find nice flatmates.

It is a difficult job marker atm. I would be delighted for her.

Congratulations to your dd Tango. I think the job market is really tough so she has done well to keep up the stamina for applications and it’s obviously paid off
My dd is coming to the end of an integrated masters . She didn’t manage to get an internship in the second year but finally managed it after her 3rd year (summer holiday). Took so many applications for one to stick. It was only from doing that that she realised what she didnt want to do and this last year is where a love of a branch of her subject has shone through. Applied for PhDs and recently accepted a 3 year funded PhD offer

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango @Piggywaspushed

Gosh was it 3 years ago we were on the Oxbridge & then rejects path?! Congrats to your daughter getting a job @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango! 3 years seems so fast!

DS has had a year abroad in the US, and is currently doing an internship in D.C. before coming back for his final year in St A.
DS2 will be heading to Bath in September - it’s a long way from Scotland.

My youngest is back home now with 5 years of belongings. She'll find out location of her first job placement next month. DH seriously considering a bribe so she's not in the city near our home as we've got used to just us in the house. She will be annoyed if she's back in her uni city as she gave up a very cheap flat share (did her sums but couldn't afford it over the summer with 75% council tax due from Monday onwards) as only has 3 days per week work lined up.

Degree results will be available mid June and then graduation 10th July. DH and I will be celebrating the closure of the bank of mum and dad. More excited about this than anything else.

Are you sure the Bank of Mum and Dad will be closing?! We're expecting to stay open until purchase of first property, but definitely shutting down and spending the lot after that!

@Woollyguru got the deposit sorted (although might need to adjust it for inflation to equalise with her brothers).

Her grad scheme is 3+ years and it is common to have to move location so might be some time before she is settled.

My twins who qualified as solicitors last year (and now are in-house solicitors, so not in a law firm) are still at home. By the way Woman's Hour had an interesting phone in on buying a property and house prices for young people when i was in the car this lunch time although I didn't hear it all. It did illustrate the differences between different areas of the country. One lady who called in had a daughter who didn't bother with university, worked full time since age 17 but living at home and bought a property in an area (in fact I had never heard of the towns) where lovely houses cost £150,000 and the mother was saying how lucky they are prices are so low there. Another man who had rented in St Albans for 22 years now has to move and is in his 50s but such a low income as an illustrator he can neither buy nor rent but then that is St Albans - a very expensive commuter town.

Heyyyyyyy! I know where the hell did the 3 years ago, I swear I only dropped her off last week 😲Sounds like your two are having a blast then, America hey how wonderful. DD has her summer ball this week and then graduation mid July I have booked me and my DM an airbnb for a couple of nights staying in the lovely Bath. I still have DS in Bristol for a couple of years so my purse will no doubt still be empty!

Hi TWAT. If you fancy popping over to the other leavers' thread ( it's in adult children board) , there is a poster on there who has questions about Bath for her younger DC and I said you might be able to help!

Hoping that my status as a long time poster will allow me to be a bit cheeky. I have a popular three double bed property near Clapham Junction and this time, and totally pissed off with Foxtons, I plan to use Open Rent. It should go online in a week or so. Tenants are normally three sharers with professional jobs, often recent university leavers. If anyone knows anyone who is looking, do PM. I have all the required certs etc.

Pity you don't have similar in Edinburgh. My DD and friend have struggled to find similar sized flat share as most landlords they have contacted want students. CS grad schemes locations due out in next week or so. I imagine it will be a scramble for accommodation for those with London postings.

have you details you can share - I can share with the grad team I work with in London?

That’s more than a bit cheeky. MN is not here to provide free advertising for landlords interesting you don’t say the amount of rent you are charging whichis usually the most important info- if you want to advertise here, care to share that or is that you don’t want to state in public.

I think it is fine from a long term poster surely? There is a huge shortage of places to rent. One of my sons let him house recently and the demand was incredible and here is hardly anything to let where his house is. It went in a about 24 hours and could have been let about 20 times over.

IMO, absolutely fine from a long-term poster. Those of us with DC looking for first non student rentals in cities with rental scarcity appreciate any leads.

Do report if you want. I was merely being lazy. As Xenia suggests I expect a heavy response. Clapham Junction is really popular with new graduates, and I have managed to go without a void for three decades. I will be putting it through Open Rent anyway for their contract, referencing, and deposit services so I don't save any money. Just hoping for an early match. MNetterDC who are looking and would like to avoid the scrum, and me who also wants to avoid the scrum.

No price as I was just giving an early heads up that the property was becoming available. More details available if you PM.

Sadly it looks as if Insurers are getting antsy about rental legislation changes, and are asking for more detail about type of tenant, suggesting they are less keen on me letting to students.

It is quite hard for young graduates in their first jobs (a) to decide where to live in London and (b) to find somewhere suitable which they can afford particularly with home working. I often have quite a few of us working from home as I have since 1994 - ahead of the trend... and then my sons 2 or 3 days a week working from here too and last week the girl friend of one for some of the time and another day another friend of one.
I think almost all of them are allowed to be in the office 5 days a week if people want to although booking a desk isn't always easy in the cattle market of open plan that is office life for so many today.

There really needs to be more co-living places/flats, properly set up and managed. If you’re a new graduate moving to a new place with no friends in that town it’s hard to find somewhere. Some cities have much more co-living places. Dd is moving to one, if someone moves out she doesn’t have to worry about covering their part of the rent, all bills are included, they flat mate match as well.

Accommodation in London has always been an unsolvable puzzle, with so many trade-offs (closer to work or cheaper rent; nicer flat or more spending money etc.). Pragmatically, the cheapest option is to live somewhere like Bedford, Reading, Crawley and commute in on the train. But that would probably sound >intolerable< to a young person starry-eyed about London being 'fun' or 'exciting'. If DD hasn't got friends in London, it's just as likely to be lonely and expensive, in actively unpleasant accommodation. (Btw, earlier posts re. Clapham Junction accommodation: dream on, way too expensive for a first-jobber. She'll be looking at e.g.Wembley, Forest Gate - pick areas you've never heard of, not on the tube.) Don't forget young people in London never drive, so even if they've already learnt, they get de-skilled and less competent. Becomes an issue a decade later, when one effectively has to re-learn.

I think your insights are correct @busybusybusy2015. I remember working in NYC in my early 20s, I lived across the river in New Jersey and had good roommates my own age, but it was far from what it was cracked up to be.

We live in London, and my own DC can live at home (zone 4) and will have high school friends kicking around. But that’s far from perfect. No young adult dreams of living in their childhood bedroom in the suburbs.

One of the UK’s second cities is probably the sweet spot for quality of life.

As this has just popped up in my feed, enjoy the graduation on the 10th @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango, to great times ahead for the both of you!

I'm with you on smaller cities! A couple of years in London - for 'been there, seen it, done it' -then hightail it out of there, to get an incomparable quality of life and lower cost of living. Sheffield. Leicester. Nottingham. All wonderfully liveable cities.

I live in NYC and in complete contrast to your experience, living here has surpassed all my expectations. I’m having a fantastic time. I’m in my 30s though, and live in Manhattan, so perhaps early 20s is too young & broke for the optimal NYC experience? Before moving here I lived in London, another great city.

I don’t think smaller cities are in any way comparable to cities like London and NYC. If a young person can get a job in one of these cities, they should absolutely go for it. It’s a life changing experience. The likes of Sheffield, Leicester and Nottingham (as recommended upthread) simply do not compare.

I do actually agree: in some aspects major cities are just not comparable to small cities. But anyone who's experienced life in Sheffield (the best example) simply never wants to leave. Different joys to London but joys nonetheless, especially if you haven't got much money (Hope your NYC heatwave is over btw!)

Argh, apologies I got YP's graduations mixed up, @Tango you are heading for mid July, enjoy. @PearlStork it was your DD that is 10th! Hope all goes well, and she's got a location offer that she's happy with.

I don't know on locations, I think it's such a coincidental mix of all things aligning well. You can live in cheap as chips rental in the suburbs and have the rich, hedonistic life (if that's what you want) if there's enough like minded YP around, be it co-workers, old pals etc who are all up for the same. And a decent train line home or friends' digs to crash. Or conversely live in London town but be as lonely as hell, not find your kind of people because the average office age is much older and all your fellow students are either dispersed around the UK, still living the students' life with further study or just not got enough money to play.

I know mine would not have been happy being located in Bournemouth where a certain financial services company has a base, but so far, is enjoying NI life, possibly because even though it's not London, many YP stay on post university so the proportion is high. And cheaper, for now so her view is it's better to do the grind whilst still living independently, she can always move later with some experience on the CV, so she's up for it if an offer was forthcoming after the summer.

I agree @Zenia the balance of wfh/hybrid office is a challenge if there is not the desk capacity or enough private space to conduct business effectively.