So, at current a lot of people will preparing to go to uni and others are looking for their first job out of college a good percentage of which very well might be an apprenticeship. I might have touched previously on the fact I was one of the latter but in this post I'm going to talk through my decision.
Firstly, I went through the entirety of my A Levels intending to go to uni. My courses were generally picked with criminology/forensics in mind as that was my end goal. I absolutely loved my college courses and gained so much from them regardless of the outcomes so even though I picked them to get into my uni course, I don't feel I wasted my time having done any of them.
I got good enough grades to build up enough UCAS points to get into the course/uni I applied to and I was buzzing but then the closer and closer it got, the more I felt terrified about the whole scenario. It literally got to my registration day and I was like, NAH. Now, I know most people will read that and be like, you're not the only one Hayley, we all felt like that but carried on. For some reason, I just couldn't. That same day, I emailed my tutor at uni and told her I wasn't going to go and I re-did my CV and got applying for jobs. Before long, I realised without little experience, no where that I wanted to be would take me on which quickly drove me to the apprenticeships website. The thing that attracted me most to apprenticeships was the whole idea that not only did you get the experience in the role, you have a qualification at the end to prove you have that experience too and of course you get paid as you do it! I have both my level 2 and 3 in business admin which I completed at 2 different jobs and if you didn't know level 2 equates to a GCSE level and 3 equates to an A Level. I'm still at the job where I completed my level 3 and I'm really happy in my role and the workplace itself.
Another part of the reason I was happy to give up the idea of university so easily was that I can go back to it at any point, just because it wasn't for me back when I was 18, it doesn't mean that in time I wont decide to do a course via the open university or anything like that, it's always something I'll be open to revisiting when I'm ready, I may wear the mortarboard and gown one day!
To summarise - I decided late in the game I wanted to do an apprenticeship because you gain experience, a viable qualification and money to do so in one. I'd never not advocate uni though, if/when I have kids, I'd hope they would like to go to uni and I wouldn't be like well I didn't go so you don't need to, uni will always be the first path they should head to until they decide otherwise for themselves just like it was for me! Never think that there is only one way to get where you want to be in life or that there is a set timeline to do so... there is always more than one way to make a mai-tai and it is ALWAYS 5 o'clock somewhere x
Hayl xo
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