• Question: Would you recommend to go to university or an apprenticeship?

    Asked by anon-208300 to Tori, Titus, Stuart, Hannah, Gill, Alessandro on 12 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Gill Harrison

      Gill Harrison answered on 12 Mar 2019:

      I think it depends on many factors including
      1. Finances (university is costly, apprenticeship will give you a small salary)
      2. What you want to do and where they do it. If you have an apprenticeship in the subject you want to study at the same level as university it might be worth thinking about. If they don’t offer an apprenticeship then you might have no choice.
      3. What the university offers v apprenticeship.
      4. What the environment is like. Visit places, speak to people and see which you think is best for you.

      Apprenticeships are being developed in many more areas now, so I don’t know what will work for you.

    • Photo: Stuart Higgins

      Stuart Higgins answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      As Gill says, it depends, on what you want to do.

      To be the kind of scientist I am (working at a university, doing experiments) you normally need to go to university and do a degree. Depending on the course you will need to have good maths and science grades.

      Other jobs, for example becoming a science technician (where you help solve particular problems using science or engineering), can be done through an apprenticeship or other route. These don’t necessarily need a degree, but you should be good at problem solving and understanding details.

      There’s a good website that has stories from different people who became technicians (there’s a ‘student’ section).
      Technicians Make It Happen: http://www.technicians.org.uk/

    • Photo: Hannah Dalgleish

      Hannah Dalgleish answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      It really depends on what you want to do. The UK desperately needs more apprentices right now, so you’d definitely find work if you did that – but I think the priority is always – do what you are most interested in doing. You could also always try an apprenticeship and see if it works for you, and if not you could go to university when you’re older.

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