University placements

[universitytips]

Interested in experiences from those whose DC have completed year long placements during their time at university.

DD is in her second year. She is torn about whether to apply for a placement for next year. (Yes, she realises she needs to get her skates on if she wants to).

A lot of her reasons are social - she has two close friends at uni, who she is living with this year. They are both applying for placements so the idea of her also doing a placement so they can have their final years together is quite a motivator (DD was interested in doing one before she knew her friends were; this isn't the main reason!). But she realises if she does that everyone on her course that she knows and her other friends will have moved on by the time she gets back. And of course there is no guarantee that she or any of the others will be successful in finding a placement anyway!

So, if your DC did do a placement year ... did they find it valuable? Did they find it easy to adjust back to university life and find new friends after a year out? Or, in retrospect, do they wish they hadn't done it?

My DC didn't but I did many years ago and it was the best career move I could have made, it helped immensely with getting my first graduate role and set the way for my whole future career. Everyone on my course did one so we all came back to uni together, but pretty well everyone else we knew had graduated and gone, so it was a bit of a readjustment but you get to know new people. That happens to some extent anyway as people you get to know in clubs and societies aren't necessarily in the same year as you.

My son has had no problems fitting back in but he is doing a course where more than half of students do a placement so his friends are still there. Usually there are integrated masters, foreign language and sometimes medical students who are still around for a fourth year. My son has found his placement hugely beneficial in terms of work experience when applying for jobs. The money is useful too.

As much as great grades are always good experience is just as useful. DH had a placement in Germany for a year obviously it was many years ago but was useful. He worked in industry but decided to become an academic. The vast majority of his students did work placements, science subject. Some were offered jobs but most references. They were almost always paid placements, some overseas and quite well paid.

I am in touch with one friend from University, this is a 35 year friendship. I think though friendships are important I wouldn’t make such a possibly career defining moment on being able to stay with housemates/ friends.

I think it may well be partly subject and club dependent, but I made friends every year at University, with each new intake. And some of these people are still good friends a couple of decades on. I think it helps if it is a big department?

Mine did a placement. Regretted at the end of the placement as didn't get a job. However with time realised she'd gained useful skills which helped getting a good job after graduation. Not common on her course but shared a flat on return with another placement student. Actually was her favourite share. Didnt know many people on her course in her last year but joined a new society and got her head down workwise for final year (she improved marks by 10%). At graduation felt a bit like Norma-no-Mates but BF and family compensated.

@universitytips There are other threads where dc have made numerous applications for placements and get absolutely nothing. Hours and hours spent on application. Placements are competitive and often in short supply. Students rarely just roll up and get one at the last minute. On some degrees they are useful, on others where the vast majority get grad jobs anyway, why bother? In my view it depends on course and hours spent applying and being interviewed etc. She needs to know how students find placements and how many are successful. Many unis take a not very proactive role in helping either so check actual placements achieved.

She may well find regardless that the final year of her course has a mixture of students from different entry years so will be different friendship groups. E.g. of ds2's close friendship group 2 are doing placements so not there this year and 3 did just a Summer internship and are finishing this year. He is doing computer science and I think it is is easier to get a placement in this field than a lot of others though.

My DD did a course where a year out in industry was pretty much expected. She and her course mates were significantly advantaged when looking for work after they graduated as they already had experience in the industry their degrees were in. Quite a few were offered full time work from their placements. There was a high level of employment following graduation for most of her course mates. It was without doubt a very good decision. As the great majority of students did the year out, most of her friends went into the final year together so socially it wasn’t really a problem.

That's the concern I have - the student spends the whole of year 2 looking for/applying for/aptitude testing for/interviewing for a placement i.e. sacrificing huge amounts of time (that could otherwise be spent working part-time, studying, doing supra or extra-curricular activities), and then ends up with no placement, and has to scrabble around to find accommodation for the third year, thus negatively impacting two years at uni.

I disagree to some extent. DS didn't apply for internships but degree apprenticeships which is a similar process I think. He probably applied for around 30 but out of that 30 he maybe got to the next/first stage in 15, he then got to the second stage in 10 but didn't go to 3 or 4 of them because he got an offer. One place did have a 3rd stage to their interview process but that was unusual.

Obviously this all takes a bit of time but once you have a standard CV and cover letter you can quite easily tailor them to each position/company. Then the first stage interview/personality test will probably only take a maximum of half an hour/45 minutes. The next stage might be half a day but by that stage you're probably not going to have hundreds of offers - and if you do you can choose just to attend the ones you're most interested in. DS fitted this around his A-levels/extra curriculars and it could definitely be fitted around uni while still doing all your normal activities. You need to spend a bit of time prepping for interviews but it's just a matter of grabbing an hour here or there to do most of it.

I actually thought that the whole process was worth DS going through even if he didn't get an apprenticeship because it taught him so much about the expectations, the competition and the process. It quickly became clear that academic qualifications alone weren't going to be enough and you needed other experiences to talk about at interview and make yourself stand out. That in itself was a worthwhile lesson IMO.

Obviously it's a bit different if you have accommodation at uni to sort as that can be a nightmare at the best of times, but I do think the process is useful and if you get an internship then it's another thing to put on your cv even if they don't offer you a job.

Apprenticeships are not placement years at unjnerduty though. They are a job. They are optional. When dc start a degree with a placement year, that year can mean loads of applications whilst studying. I totally agree about y3 accommodation if not succesful snd this doesn’t apply to apprentices. They know where they stand.

The placements used to be mostly offered by polys. The old universities and 60s ones didn’t see that year as necessary or academic. The polys had enough placements to go round. Now it’s fiercely competitive plus all those interviews! How much time should be spent doing this?

It also totally depends on who the placement is with. Could dc get a better job by waiting? Is the placement year instead of an undergrad masters? Is that worth it? It could be, but not always. Dc can do just as well with a summer internship and not have housing issues if placement doesn’t materialise.

Mine only applied to around 6 in total (4 placement and 2 summer internship). Most applications were early October so first stages before uni really got going. Summer internship applications were January and April. So didn't find it too onerous helped by being ghosted by 2 after 1st stages and 1 withdrawing job after 3rd stages so only had to prep for 3 final interviews (one in Dec, one in March and one in May). Completely doable.