Re-posted from an earlier similar thread at:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...s&pagenumber=3
--------------------------------
This years Natwest survey shows Uni graduates on average have £10,000 of debt when they leave University.
3 years and 10 grand.
Hmmm.
Personally I might be tempted to avoid this.
I might be very tempted to take the following route.
Get 3 good A-levels and make sure you get decent grades. Maths, English, Geography, Physics, Chem, Electronics. That kind of thing. If you get some A's and B's you have more or less proved you have academic ability. Three years in Uni will only confirm what the A-levels indicate.
With your brains proven on paper I would now apply for a Modern Apprenticeship. There will be a couple of decent local firms that offer them. I used to run such a scheme in an electronics company and we had 30 MA's.
What you will get is 4 days a week at work on proper grown up pay. 1 day a week you are day released to College where you will complete something like an ONC HNC in your chosen Apprenticeship. Usually your work in the workplace will be assessed continually leading the issuance of an NVQ level 3.
Most MA's run for 2, 3 or 4 years. Usually your first year will be minimum wage (take home £220 a week) and this increases each year and when you finish you are up to Technician normal pay scales.
So. You can spend 3 years, £10,000+ getting a degree in a field in which you have NO experience.
Or. You can spend 2, 3 or 4 years earning £10,000+ a year getting an ONC, HNC and NVQ3 in a field in which you are now fully qualified, experienced and competent.
You could complete distance learning ATPL modules in your final Modern Apprenticeship year during months when the colleges are closed. You can live at home and have saved up at least half of your ATPL course. Or perhaps done your PPL and hour building over a couple of years.
If the market is buoyant then you can walk out of your MA any time you like with 4 weeks notice and carry your qualifications and experience to date with you. If you walk out of your Uni place even a day before finals you have blown years of study.
A Modern Apprenticeship will provide for you a FAR better fall back career than a degree coupled with no experience to go with it.
Trust me - you will be able to earn more as a HNC qualified electronic test engineer than you will as a Electronics graduate with no experience. MUCH more.
Similarly - do a MA in something that trains you up as a qualified Plumber, Sparky or Bricky and you will have a rock solid fall back trade that is needed from one end of the country to another.
I have a friend who works as a builder. He got into Chippying. He know specialises in changing and fitting locks in doors and windows in London for commercial premises. He has a bag of chisels and a van. He makes £58,000 a year of which the tax man sees maybe half. He picks his own hours and holidays and is his own boss.
If I lost my medical I would my insurance payout not to refresh my Psychology degree - I would do a plumbing course and buy a van, a mobile and an ad in Yellow Pages... an airline gets me out of bed at 4 in the morning very regularly for no extra compensation... many plumber now charge £75 callout fee in unsocial hours...
Good luck,
WWW