UNIVERSITY
Advice
“A wide range of degree courses out there equip you with skills that are transferable to many different industries and roles”
university can provide a natural junction to take the next step. Mum and dad are usually only a phone call away, plus universities are well equipped to deal with the transition students are making by leaving the family home. And of course, there are hundreds of freshers all in the same boat, so having this in common can contribute to a supportive environment of bonding.
What else will university life offer? Going to university brings you in contact with all kinds of people from all walks of life. There will be mature undergraduates on your course and people from all around the world! Your tutors will have a different approach to imparting knowledge than you’ve experienced at school and will engage with you as adults. Of course, student life brings with it a very social side – and no, not just going out! There are teams, clubs and societies for sports and interests that you either have now, or would like to explore.
Can I afford it? The truth is graduates can leave university with an average debt of £50,000. The good news is that the cost of going to uni can be covered by a variety of loans and, if relevant to you, funding via bursaries or awards. Plus, repayment on your student loans does not begin until you are earning a certain level of income (currently £21,000), and even then you only pay back a fraction of what you make over that amount, not of your whole salary. What’s more, over a lifetime, graduates can expect to earn over £100,000 more than non-graduates.
If you’re finding that the answers to the above suggest an inclination towards going to university, start to widen your research, look at online prospectuses and ask for them to be sent to you, find out when open days are, and, most of all, approach universities at the What University Live? event to get the answers you want – that’s what they are there for!
So, consider these further questions that will help you find the right course at the right university:
Who offers the courses that interest me? Where is the university? There are some universities that specialise in certain subjects or have a leading reputation for this area – are you prepared to move in order to study for the degree of your choice? Even if you are, you can still expect a lot of applications for a highly regarded course at a reputable provider, so if that’s your goal, look into –exactly what sort of candidate they want to attract.
What careers do graduates in my field go into?
Just because you study a particular subject for three years does not mean you are necessarily destined to remain in that discipline. Of course, some professions – such as law, medicine and teaching – require particular qualifications, but a wide range of
Spring 2018
WhatLive.co.uk 7
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