A Level results day: Is university the right next step for me?
Amid recent criticism for the sheer number choosing to go to uni, amongst former students, graduates are still keen to recommend the step to the next generation.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I suspect there'll be quite a lot of trepidation at the moment, real anxiety about whether
00:06they're going to be able to achieve the results that they're looking for in their A-levels
00:09or T-levels or whatever qualification that they've done, and anticipation about going
00:15off to university. So quite a lot of anxiety. But I suppose the key thing to remember is
00:21not to panic, is that when you do get your results, just take a moment, check that you've
00:27got, you're still going to be accepted by your first choice university, and if not,
00:31there's always clearing. And clearing is a perfectly respectable way in order to be able
00:36to secure a place at university for the future.
00:39Those awaiting results might not know whether or not they want to go to university yet,
00:44but it's worth bearing in mind 65% of graduates would do university all over again for personal
00:49friendships and 57% would do it for the work networks it's given them.
00:53But what these results suggest that actually, not only does it give you great preparation
00:57for your career, 82% of them were saying that, that this was really good preparation for
01:01the careers that they then pursued. About two thirds then saw it as giving them absolutely
01:07key in being able to secure an interview to get a job, and 80% really valued the practical
01:13expertise that they got from their university experience, so real hands-on experience of
01:19work. But more interesting than that, I think, is the fact that the university experience
01:26gives 82% of those people preparation for life, so it really gives them the opportunity
01:32to be able to build the resilience, the problem-solving, and the personal connections that really stay
01:41with them through the rest of their lives afterwards, which I think is just fascinating,
01:45because we can get really focused on that sort of, I'm going to do an education degree
01:49to become a teacher or whatever, but actually the experience that you get from university
01:53is much broader than that and can set you up for a range of different careers.