Thoughts Of University

Next, university. Is it what everyone makes out to be. I think there's arguments for and against. I know a lot of people reading this will be waiting for me to lay into uni like its the worst thing ever created on the planet. I did feel like that, but it was a situation not the truth. University means different things to different people and there are actually a surprising amount of variables. Obviously, it is expensive. This automatically changes how someone might view something. You can put a monetary value on whatever benefits or drawbacks you see at university. At the moment its £8,000 a year for most unis outside London.

There is a question which has to be the starting point. Why do people go to university? The answer is as varied as the amount of people who go to uni. Some go for the chance to get to a better place in life, this is my personal motivation. Some go for the experience, the life changing experience that shapes who you become. Some go to network and some go purely because of peer pressure, because they feel they have to or because they want to avoid getting a job/ paying tax. These are all valid reasons (minus probably peer pressure). But this means uni can be enjoyable or not for different people because of their own motivation. If you go for the experience and worry little about work then you will obviously enjoy it more, and vice verse. It can be very stressful as i have found myself. Everything familiar dissipates and you have to learn to make your own comfort zone, maybe this is reason enough for going to uni.

i am still of the view that vocational jobs do not require degrees and working for the 3 years would be a far better idea instead of a degree in tourism or film studies. Maybe i'm being elitist but the fact remains the more people who go to university the more diluted degrees are and the less mine will be worth (should i finish!) i don't think that people who do not go are particularly missing out, working 9-5, they are probably learning similar life lessons. In fact i respect people who do this a hell of a lot as it is easier to go to uni and just flunk. There is a theory that the government encourages as many people as possible to go to university as it is a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for people to be supported by benefits and be economically inactive.

I think a lot more should go into making people aware of what uni LIFE is like. There is an obscene amount of reading involved and depending where you go you are expected to do it. It can be overwhelming, everyone else appears to be further ahead and/or far more intelligent than you (keyword: appear).

The fact is no one can tell you whether to go to university or not, there are so many variables to think about that you have to think long and hard yourself and then think some more.