Over The Fields And Far, Far Away.

I know we discussed this earlier, but I'll post something for you to think about:

You're at the point in your life where you're too young to make important decisions and too old not to. Fortunately, you have a lot of people with a little more experience around you in your family and right here on the forum.

I'm not one of those people .

I'll say this, though. Life's not perfect. Sometimes, things don't work out. It's important to have back-up plans. Even if your plan does not include a university degree, just remember that, if anything, it's a nice security policy if things don't go the way you expected them to. It's nice to have if you ever need to have it. That's all.

Glad you're enjoying your time off and good luck with future endeavors.

Go to University when you're young and life hasn't strapped you down. The Prof has given good advice in his first paragraph.

Thanks guys for the comments. I think another point that'll influence on whether I go to uni or not is who wins this election. Currently, Labour want to increase the cost of going to uni and cut university funding, whilst Conservatives want to do the opposite.

Is there a way you could get the job on an apprenticeship whilst they support your study? I'm 33 and went back to uni last year. Got my head down (literally!), still studying and got head hunted through my coursework marks being the highest in the country. Not bragging, but trying to say to you it can be done. You just want to want it bad enough. And you're a very intelligent young man. No doubt opportunity will carve a path through your life. It all starts here James dude. You've got my support and if you want any help, you know you can always ask and I'll try.

You can't let cost deter you because, at least here, 98% of people aren't going to be able to just pay without student loans or financial aid.

If things work in the U.K. as they do in the U.S., there are all sorts of programs and schools to choose from. Do your research and don't write anything off; you might find some option you never really considered to be ideal.

And get perspectives from anyone who can offer one. You may meet one person who talks highly of not going to uni, but that's just one person; see everyone's side first.

A suggestion...if you want to see what life will be like without a uni degree, get a job this summer. If you find acquiring work to be easy, and if you enjoy the work, well, that's your call and you're no less of a person if that's your decision. If you decide that finding a job without a degree is hard, and if you decide that the kind of work you can get without a degree is not your thing, perhaps you'll look into uni again. Just a thought; it's good to be able to try things out before you commit to them, you know? A lot of students (myself included) take uni courses before they go to uni and all of us go on visits to the unis and take tours and all that to get a feel for things before we go, so if you're looking into going directly to work, you might want a small taste of it with a summer job to see if it's really what you want to be doing.

And if you do choose to stick with work and no uni, well, you'll have already some job experience and perhaps a connection to help you get a full-time job when you're done with high school.

Going to uni can be stressful, and having a more complex job can be stressful, but everything's how you perceive it. If you can manage stress and find things in your free-time to please you, and surround yourself with people you really like, and do something you really want to do, it's going to be okay. Remember that even the simplest of lifestyles have stress. For example, a simpler job may not be as stressful, but the income could cause stress when it's time to make mortgage or car payments, or pay your Internet service bill, or go grocery shopping...and later in life, when you want to retire. Just think about it; I'm not trying to force you into doing something you don't want and I'm by no means saying it's "wrong" to not go to uni.

The first debate between the three leaders was last night. None of them really touched on the subject of what'll happen to universities, so none the clearer on what'll happen there.

Another gripe I have with uni really is the sort of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" attitude.

I mean, what with raising the costs and cutting the funding, it's becoming elitist. Obviously you don't want the thickets to get to university, but at the same time, you don't want to shut it off to people who have the ability to get there but can't because of the costs and what not. With the funding to unis being cut, universities are now less likely going to want as many people to come in as in previous years. It seems like you'll have to be triple A* students with a heck of money to get in with the way this country seems to be heading currently.

One the other hand, if you do get into university, it stills seems a bit.....well, some many people recently have been coming out of university with degrees in almost everything and anything pretty easily. Unlike before, getting a degree now doesn't assure you of a job, because with so many people getting them there's nothing that companies can really see that will make you stand out. Indeed, I was recently told of a company that even if you go to them with a degree, they'll say "so what?" and send you away. Now you need "life experience" too apparently, or that's what we're being told in school.

I guess I'm just questioning a lot of things. Sure, I'm not ruling it out, but whilst uni does have it's upsides I don't want to be screwed afterwards. The economy is still weak and with fears Britain could go into a double dip recession, that would mean getting a job would be even harder. I guess quite a lot of companies are hedging their bets by seeing who is the new PM. Cameron wants to cut now, Brown wants to cut spending later.

But anyway, thanks for all your kind words, much appreciated!

Lots of wise words written so far J, your own included of course!

Your last post is interesting.... most people can get to complete a Uni course at sometime in their lives if they want to, I did mine in my 40's.  One of the reasons being I'd been catching up for the previous 20-odd years!  But, I should have tried harder and done as you have - to work hard and leave yourself with choices.

Now I have to hire people, and I promise you, there is one thing that stands out as a huge advantage for graduates (no matter what you graduate with!), you've proven to a potential employer that you can work hard, you've shown you have the maturity to leave home and study, apply yourself to a task and complete it.  That's the kind of mind most employers would ideally want, and for those that haven't been to Uni, they would have to be mighty to get picked over them.

Good luck, and best wishes for whatever you choose to do.