Aerospace101 - True to say but even though the whole entire industry is going downhill.....i am going to go integrated some time in the future....
its still hard decision to make because as if i do go uni and study and 2 years into the course the airline industry is starting to pick or has picked up i presume i will need to be in a position where i am trained and ready to go rather then start.....but all in all uni is an option for me aswell .....patience is probably key in my circumstances .....lets see how the airline industry is around 2010....

just to throw in aswell vince cable recently visited my college and is been proven that he was 1 of the few people to predict the recession,i posed him the question when do you think economy will start improving? ....he said to me no-one has the answer but his prediction was mid 2010......

Kiev23 - yes ive thought about it hopefully going to do it in august some time ...hopefully shouldnt have any problems.

Kiev23 - just to mention to you its easy to say ill work for a few years and save cash but as you work many things change from you day to day circumstances and you have certain desires that may make you spend money rather then save things such as fancy cars ,relationships,and plus many say you should get education done and dustied when your a young person,others may have different opinions but the point im trying to make is that once mooney is in your hands you may have other desires to spend it on ....and most probably youll end up working for the low sector jobs such as retail ,waitress,(unless you have links) .little pay and youll have to work your way up and once your up at the top in a company youll have doubts on weather to leave.

just my opinion.......but still its a viable option.

James:

What a complete load of bs... off course you're entitled to your opinion but i doubt you have worked for any city banks..

drivel...

Well I have, and I'd rather take on someone with a 3rd in Maths from Cambridge than a 1st in sociology from Middlemarch Poly. :}

Cheers

Whirls

Thats a bold statement, I've actually worked at two full time and a summer internship at another whilst at uni years ago. Most recent position trading interest rate & volatility derivatives at a large European house.

Its not so much my opinion but more an observation of how my superiors have gone about selecting which cvs to call in for interview at the banks i've worked for.

Are you a real "quant" or one of these middle office/IT fantasist types??

Whirlygig-Well said.

I saw plenty of candidates CVs, whose degree ended in "studies" or similar, fast tracked to the shredder bin by my boss.

It's quite clear you work in IT and have no experience what-so-ever working on any desk. Keep dreaming noobie and maybe one day you'll make it to the front desk with your 3rd class degree.

Quant, stop digging now - no need to get personal.

Your original premise

is flawed. Don't know how much actual recruiting you've done but I've done a fair amount including graduate recruitment programmes. Whilst your initial examples of biology, zoology and aviation being degrees of sufficient standing to get a job as a quantitative analyst do stand up to scrutiny, your sweeping generalisation above doesn't.

Life sciences and engineering subjects are sufficiently mathematical to warrant an interview for any finance analyst postion; media studies isn't.

Don't forget, when recent graduates are doing the milk rounds and graduate fairs, it's often some crusty old middle-aged pedant like me who's doing the recruiting and sifting the CVs.

Cheers

Whirls

Quant I have done many years in the City and have worked in "front office" roles at many banks on top ranked teams (GS, UBS, ML etc etc) and the fact is on many of the Citys "graduate training schemes" what has been mentioned is true... to get on them you need a top degree from a top uni (social studies won't cut it).

There are of course other ways in but I have spent many years interviewing candidates to join our desks and if you are a fresh faced grad you simply have to have a top degree to get in (prefer a numerical bias).... the competition straight out of uni is intense.

Once you are in and have a few years under your belt then I don't give a hoot where you came from... then I can check you track record/talk to clients to find out what you are like.

Anyway all a bit off topic.... as for BA 038.... "ive worked at my bro`s law firm in the city for 6 weeks and also have many retail experinece so dont be rude".... in light of this comment I suggest going to uni and then work for a few years to help you grow up a bit.... also drop the "text speak" makes you look like an idiot and is not typically well received by those a few years older than yourself.

I might want to spend my money that i earn, but if i want to be a pilot ( which i do ) i know iam not going to be able to. If i have a huge desire to spend the money, then i can just get my dad to look after all my wages, that way he wud prevent me from spending it, but iam not even gonna let it get to that.

I appreiciate its a tough decision, just for me i didnt think i could afford to go to uni, come out with 12k debt sumet like that, then get a job and pay off the debt and save up to be a pilot.

Can i ask whos actually paying for your integrated course?

"wud"... "sumet".... "get my dad to look after my money".... are you for real??

I don't mean to be rude but if people can't write properly and have to ask their dad to look after their money because they aren't responsible enough to do it themselves... how the hell do you expect to get through an interview/selection process??

No wander flight schools survive.... like taking candy from a baby... :oh:

Quant;

Oh dear! Appears I hit a bit close to home with that last statement.

I only started down this track as I didn't think your first statement was true to the reality I’ve seen, wasn't expecting you to throw the toys out of the pram nor was i expecting a slanging match.
If you'd like to have a willy waving competition regarding our comparative city careers please PM me and I’ll be be more than happy to enlighten you.

Whirlygig has it about spot on with her last post. She sounds like someone who has actually done some recruiting in a technical field.

I didnt say i HAVE to ask my dad to look after my wages, iam perfectly capable of looking after them myself. All i said was IF i kept spending my wages, which i know i wont because it makes the whole idea of saving up to be a pilot pointless, i could always ask my dad to look after them.

As for the abbreviations.........iam hardly going to go through a selection process abbreviating all my words.

The danger, is whether you (plural) are actually aware of the number of grammatical and spelling mistakes you make? It's all very well to say that typing on a forum doesn't warrant correct English and if you were completing an application form, you would complete it correctly. Is your knowledge of English good enough to do that?

Making the effort to write/type correctly is a sign of respect towards those who are reading. I have had to backspace a number of times and make corrections as I believe it is important to get things right. I am, in effect, whilst making a point, showing some respect for the other Ppruners who may be reading this. I also want to make sure that the points which I make are intelligible to everyone else. We all make mistakes and everyone makes typos. However, it is easy to spot the difference between a typo and genuine sloppiness.

Sorry but if you do know how to write properly and don't, it is indicative that you have no pride in what you do and no respect for how others percieve you.

If you want professional people on here to take your views seriously, then address those people in a manner befitting of that.

These points are addressed to anyone of any age who doesn't see the importance, not just you Kiev so don't take it personally. :ok:

Cheers

Whirls

I totally understand what your saying, and yeah I agree, from now on I wont type in abbreviations.

Thank You Whirlywig sound advise.....:)

The thread appears to have crept away somewhat from the question the chap originally asked. Should he start now? Well no-one can really say I'm afraid.

My own personal advice would be if you wish to start sooner rather than later, I'd seriously consider going modular, the timing of which is a bit more under your control. However you could wait until things start to look like they are picking up in the economy, then do an integrated course to get you through in a year or so. That way, even taking into account a years lag to do the course you should hit any upswing that might occur. (Although my personal opinion is that we won't see any significant upswing for quite sometime to come yet, however none of us have a crystal ball, that is solely my own personal opinion).

Anyway, good luck whichever way you do it.

If you work in city banking then of course you will have had to do a job specific degree at a university recognised by that sector. Thats no different to going in to medicine or law. However, not everybody has the means, grades or inclination to do this and, without entering in to a debate about universities and courses - in some respects anything is better than nothing.

I know plenty of people who are in good jobs earning good money who have qualifications completely unrelated to their profession.

I think its easy to be elitist about further education. My advice would be do something that will interest you enought to stick to it, is at least somehow likely to help you in the job market (ie not a degree in David Beckham if they still do them!) and try to keep your uni costs down.

When all is said and done I feel fortunate I am not having to make the difficult decisions that some posters are at 18/19/20 years old. Its a difficult tiume for anyone making their way at the moment.

No, the point has been made by several people that many roles in the finance industry can go to trainees with mathematical/scientific/engineering degrees, not business and finance. I did a degree in nuclear physics before I became an accountant and, at the time I joined, the preference was for trainees who didn't have relevant degrees as they were less likely to start with preconceived ideas and had some experience of a different field - useful when auditing British Nuclear Fuels :}

The upshot is, if you are going to do a degree, stick to the traditional maths/science/engineering degrees from one of the old universities rather than an ex-poly (Salford and Hatfield being exceptions :ok:).

Personally, I would also advise modular training at the moment.

Cheers

Whirls

Grass strip basher


All you give out is negative comments -----




--If you actually read the previous posts i have apologised for it -----


"text speak" makes you look like a idiot"

I'm afraid that any pilot, whether qualified or not, needs to learn to accept negative comments and criticism.

What are perceived as negative comments are equally as valid as the positive ones and should be taken with equal measure. As long as comments don't get personal (which is a matter between the posters concerned and the moderators), then take them with the spirit in which they were meant.

Cheers

Whirls