What should I do after University?
The biggest question every final year student tries to ignore
At some point in your final year as an undergraduate, you’re going to have to answer this question.
Here are some of the options and the plus and minus points of each one.
Stay at Uni: Do a Masters
Pros: There are many pros of staying at university and doing an MA.
Firstly, it avoids going into the ‘real world’ for another year.
Instead, you can happily live in your boozy student life for another year. It is also a great chance to expand your knowledge of a subject you already love.
Alternatively, you can choose to do a Masters that has absolutely nothing to do with your undergraduate course. This means you can learn a totally different skillset!
The biggest plus of doing a Masters is that it provides you with more expert knowledge, making it easier for future employees to fall in love with you!
Cons: As mentioned before, Masters can be a way of putting off real life, therefore sometimes you’ll end up doing a Masters for all the wrong reasons.
You want to be passionate about what you’re studying, not just doing it because you don’t know what else to do!
Also, with another year of studying, comes another year of student finance. That’s more debt that future you is gonna have to deal with.
Find a graduate job/scheme
Pros: If you manage to grab a graduate job or get on a graduate scheme, you are gonna feel like the most successful student ever.
Straight out of uni with a job? Tick.
After all, the goal of uni is to bag yourself a good job in the future. Doing this straight away feels awesome. Plus, these types of jobs tend to be well paid and offer excellent career progression, so if it’s all about the money then these jobs and schemes are great!
Cons: These jobs and schemes are incredibly competitive.
Despite how many applications you complete, you still might not even bag yourself an interview.
Plus, the application process and interviews take a lot of time. That’s time away from your studying and enjoying your last year at uni.
Imagine you do get yourself a Grad job! That means you’ll have no break from studying and then head straight into full-time work.
You will most likely be stuck in an office 9-5, five days a week, while your friends are off enjoying themselves.
Take a Gap year – go travelling!
Pros: You can now be that annoying person who went on a gap year that loves to talk about it at any given opportunity.
To be fair, it will give you hundreds of really awesome stories. Plus, if you didn’t have a gap year before Uni this is the perfect time to take some ‘you time’ and might be a welcomed break from education and studying.
If you use your gap year productively it can be a great chance to volunteer and gain work experience, as well as see as much of the world as possible. Getting a gap-year job also shows you have done more than just get drunk on a variety of beautiful beaches, which will help you stand out to potential employers in the future.
Cons: If you don’t have much money saved, travelling the world can be really difficult to do. Sure, you can get a job while travelling, but you still need some money so you can start your trip. This is the riskiest of all the proposed things to do after university, because there is no certainty of what you’ll be doing and you don’t want to spend lots of money to have a miserable time.
Sadly, there’s no 100% right answer to the question ‘what should I do after uni?’ But it’s important to remember that, whatever you’re doing, you don’t have to do it forever. You can always try something else!
By Charlotte Booth