University

[BigGibbo]

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health.

Yes but its good for disguising the scent of piss & sweat in nightclubs.

[Sods]

Cheers General Smuts and Stevosevic nice advice.

I am now looking for a business management course with a 1 year employment with a high standard company.

[LeeCovFox]

Wasn't expecting such a response!

I'm going to have a little think about this, but I am very much leaning towards going to Swansea. As Dagger's says above, it isn't necesarily true that a local university means local people. It tends to be the case at Coventry but that may be more a case of the university not even being the mst prestigious in it's own city. I chose Coventry based purely on it's convenient location in terms of proximity to my friends. My grades at A level did mean that I had the opportunity to apply to other, more prestigious institutions, but my attachment to the area won the day.

However, having thought about this further, I do not want to end up like some of the people I know, 29, still working in McDonalds in the same town and feeling unfulfilled. Moving away and doing a degree elsewhere may not be the answer, but by the same token, it may. And its a chance I think I have to take. The Midlands will always be here.

To those who have said they want to go to university, do it. If you feel it is for you, then it probably is. Afterall, nobody knows you better than yourself. University is overated in the eyes of those who have never done it, and perhaps to those that have and felt underwhelmed by the experience. None of my issues are around university itself. I love it, and I do strongly believe that it will help me to get where I want to be.

Some valid points have been made here, Daggers again as it happens, and Tommy G, that degrees themselves have become devalued by not only the number of students attending university these days, but also the proportion of them who see it as no more than a three year jolly up. They do, unfortunately, exist in larger numbers than I had anticipated. But if you really want a degree, and are passionate in a subject to be diligent and to achieve high marks, then do it. There is still fun to be had. Your degree will be what you make it. If you really want to get somewhere with it, as I do, then work hard, get the marks, and theres no stopping you.

To those who had offered advice, thank you. I can't pretend that my decision will be based particularly on any advice which has been given on here, because it is very much a personal decision, but the kind words are appreciated.

And MF - DO IT! - But make sure you organise that Nelson/Winnie thing for me before you go eh?

[LeeCovFox]

Alright Flynny,

Uni is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go and experience living somewhere else without having to do a lot to facilitate it. I'm sort of stuck where I am at the moment because I can't find any decent jobs in places where I would want to live and the whole simultaneous accommodation/job hunting freaks me out. I don't think the course you do is desperately important. The main thing uni will give you is a unique experience, a chance to live somewhere else without having to worry about finding a job and settling in because everyone's in the same boat at uni - and the best bit of all is friends from all over the country. You can go all over the shop and know someone who lives vaguely nearby.

Put it this way, if you're this torn about the decision it would be a lot easier to stay in Leicester obviously. But do you want to get a few months down the line and wish you were at Bristol, knowing you'd have to go to the bother of transferring and being behind everyone else? Or do you want to be in Bristol knowing you have family and friends to go back to if it doesn't work out.

Everyone is in their own unique situation obviously but I just felt the need to respond to you.

Very, very well put Fez.

[Uncle Albert]

Uni is for tax dodgers.

I will hopefully be attending.

[Flynny]

Alright Flynny,

Uni is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go and experience living somewhere else without having to do a lot to facilitate it. I'm sort of stuck where I am at the moment because I can't find any decent jobs in places where I would want to live and the whole simultaneous accommodation/job hunting freaks me out. I don't think the course you do is desperately important. The main thing uni will give you is a unique experience, a chance to live somewhere else without having to worry about finding a job and settling in because everyone's in the same boat at uni - and the best bit of all is friends from all over the country. You can go all over the shop and know someone who lives vaguely nearby.

Put it this way, if you're this torn about the decision it would be a lot easier to stay in Leicester obviously. But do you want to get a few months down the line and wish you were at Bristol, knowing you'd have to go to the bother of transferring and being behind everyone else? Or do you want to be in Bristol knowing you have family and friends to go back to if it doesn't work out.

Everyone is in their own unique situation obviously but I just felt the need to respond to you.

Thats been a big help, cheers Fez. You're not from Leicester originally, are you? Just wondered if you'd done the staying around the place thing.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Thats been a big help, cheers Fez. You're not from Leicester originally, are you? Just wondered if you'd done the staying around the place thing.

No I'm from Northampton but I've seen people go horribly wrong by trying to stay at home because they're worried about things that seem inconsequential five years later. Unless you have incredibly unique personal/family circumstances (or you're socially awkward ), you have to move away and do it properly in my humble opinion.

Enjoy deciding anyway! It might seem like a difficult dilemma at the moment but it's a really nice choice to have.

[Flynny]

No I'm from Northampton but I've seen people go horribly wrong by trying to stay at home because they're worried about things that seem inconsequential five years later. Unless you have incredibly unique personal/family circumstances (or you're socially awkward ), you have to move away and do it properly in my humble opinion.

Enjoy deciding anyway! It might seem like a difficult dilemma at the moment but it's a really nice choice to have.

Does moving across the city and living on your own despite going to University in the same place still count, then? There's no way I'd live at home whatever I did.

[LeeCovFox]

Does moving across the city and living on your own despite going to University in the same place still count, then? There's no way I'd live at home whatever I did.

Using my own experience as the example here, I think Fez is right. I regret not moving away, which is why I'm in the quandary that I am. I also live in Student Accommodation. Staying with my parents just wasn't a option for me. But I always know I can jump on a bus, see old friends, and stay at Mum and Dad's. I has acted to nullify the whole experience of uni, socially, for me. It is too comfortable. I didn't come to university to be comfortable. I wanted just the opposite. I wanted to push my own boundaries. Thats what I intend to do from here on in.

[Katy]

Dags, thanks for thinking of me I have applied for every bit of help going to be honest they can only turn me down.

I've done the whole getting pissed for two weeks solid thing the first time, it won't be happening again particularly as I'm going to have to drive into Lincoln everyday.

It's like i've never been away with all the e-bickering!

[Scow]

I must admit I do regret not living away from home when I first went uni. I got to meet new people, but I was always pretty much an outsider because I wasn't involved in the day to day social stuff. I had it too comfortable at home because it was much cheaper and I had a good part time job earning decent money.

Currently, I'm still living at home, but I've no real choice now. I don't get help with tuition fees and the maintenance loan just about covers that.

[LeeCovFox]

I must admit I do regret not living away from home when I first went uni. I got to meet new people, but I was always pretty much an outsider because I wasn't involved in the day to day social stuff. I had it too comfortable at home because it was much cheaper and I had a good part time job earning decent money.

Currently, I'm still living at home, but I've no real choice now. I don't get help with tuition fees and the maintenance loan just about covers that.

Why no help with tuition fees? Mine are payed in full by the LEA until I'm earning.

[Scow]

Why no help with tuition fees? Mine are payed in full by the LEA until I'm earning.

Bceause I've already been to uni, I'm not entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan - but I'm entitled to a Maintenance Loan, which about covers the fee. Therefore I have had to work about 20 hours a week part time to help me with my income.

It's the price I've had to pay for choosing the wrong course.

[LeeCovFox]

Bceause I've already been to uni, I'm not entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan - but I'm entitled to a Maintenance Loan, which about covers the fee. Therefore I have had to work about 20 hours a week part time to help me with my income.

It's the price I've had to pay for choosing the wrong course.

Really? My LEA have said that providing I continue next year, even at a different uni and on a different course, that they will still pay my tuition fee. The only difference will be that I wil ahve an extra years worth of money to pay back once I'm earning. Did you complete your original degree or has there been a gap between your two stints at university?

[Steven]

I have no friends!!!

Likewise.

[BigGibbo]

Likewise.

Ditto

[Daggers]

Really? My LEA have said that providing I continue next year, even at a different uni and on a different course, that they will still pay my tuition fee. The only difference will be that I wil ahve an extra years worth of money to pay back once I'm earning. Did you complete your original degree or has there been a gap between your two stints at university?

For some reason there is a difference between some LEA's in this matter - Northants could wait to pay for me even though they'd already done it twice before.

Every student union has a financial bod to offer help and advice though and every Uni now has contingency funding that can be applied to - I'm sure you've looked into it already Scoweh, but if not it may be worth checking out...I got £3200 on my last application the other year (although having two kids helped).

Not only that but a number of Uni's will also give mature students on certain degree programs non-repayable grants to cover your fees, Aston is a case in point. They offered it but I wasn't paying my fees anyway.

[Steven]

I don't think the course you do is desperately important.

Very true. There are more important meta skills developed at University rather specific knowledge. You will always learn more in sense after leaving Uni than before it but having been to Uni you are more capable of, typically, developing, acquiring and applying new and existing knowledge.

One more thing I would say is that having a degree makes you more mobile. It is far easier to work abroad for example with a degree than it is without one.

[Daggers]

One more thing I would say is that having a degree makes you more mobile. It is far easier to work abroad for example with a degree than it is without one.

My wife has a CSE in cookery and yet she is a top knob in the Brum NHS having held a number of high profile jobs in 'The City' and my cousin, who helps run Sony Music, has absolutely no qualifications. They've got ahead due to a work ethic and their personalities alone.

Me, I'm a fuknut - virtually unemployable were it not for the file of qualifications. It really depends on the work you do as to whether a degree helps, and how good you are at it.

[MC Prussian]

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health.

So is taking a snuff.

[Steven]

Me, I'm a fuknut - virtually unemployable were it not for the file of qualifications. It really depends on the work you do as to whether a degree helps, and how good you are at it.

I didn't mean in terms of the job rather more in the sense that there are many organisations and Governments (rightly or wrongly) that only open their doors with those that can wave bits of paper in the air. In terms of the job itself, it may or may not be useful and that the further you are from your graduation date, the less useful (save for the above) it is.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Does moving across the city and living on your own despite going to University in the same place still count, then? There's no way I'd live at home whatever I did.

Using my own experience as the example here, I think Fez is right. I regret not moving away, which is why I'm in the quandary that I am. I also live in Student Accommodation. Staying with my parents just wasn't a option for me. But I always know I can jump on a bus, see old friends, and stay at Mum and Dad's. I has acted to nullify the whole experience of uni, socially, for me. It is too comfortable. I didn't come to university to be comfortable. I wanted just the opposite. I wanted to push my own boundaries. Thats what I intend to do from here on in.

I think Lee's covered it really. You still wouldn't get the university experience that the majority of people get. Not that there's anything wrong with that but like I said, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing and you might stick at it and then later regret not giving Bristol a go whereas it's easier to pull out of a distant uni fairly early on and revert closer to home.

Closer to the time you will know what feels right anyway and I doubt any of this advice will affect you. It's just nice to give an opinion about something I've done myself - and seen others make a different decision and regret it.

I was lucky in that I always knew I wanted to go to Leicester, partly to be able to have a season ticket for the first time in my life! So feel free to disregard my advice completely based on that character reference!

[MC Prussian]

Speaking of higher education, I've heard a few good things about Bournemouth University.

I'm still inclined getting something in film or film production and BU offers a BA course in scriptwriting.

Does anyone of you have personal experience with the uni down there or is there anyone among you with friends studying on the South Coast?

Or are there better alternatives?

Leeds Metropolitan maybe?

Any information is greatly appreciated.

[Katy]

Speaking of higher education, I've heard a few good things about Bournemouth University.

I'm still inclined getting something in film or film production and BU offers a BA course in scriptwriting.

Does anyone of you have personal experience with the uni down there or is there anyone among you with friends studying on the South Coast?

Or are there better alternatives?

Leeds Metropolitan maybe?

Any information is greatly appreciated.

There is a film and television degree at the University of Lincoln if that helps at all.

Here

[act smiley]

Cheers General Smuts and Stevosevic nice advice.

I am now looking for a business management course with a 1 year employment with a high standard company.

For what its worth, you don't absolutely need to have a year-long placement, a friend of mine has done just fine getting himself a good job doing operations management for a major company with only a good summer placement and a 2.1 and had a couple of options on the table to choose between.