• Question: Did you have to do lots of work experience prior to getting into uni?

    Asked by meredith grey to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 4 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Matthew Round

      Matthew Round answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      I actually did, I went to uni as a mature student when I was 21 years old (I believe the age has been raised to 25 now) which meant I sort of had an elongated gap year.

      I just didnt feel ready for uni at 18 despite a lot of my friends disappearing off to various parts of the country. My first job was working for an engineering company that specialised in the field of vibration analysis (this could be used to predict imminent failure of large machines on factory production lines and thus remedial work could be carried out before that happened). I also went off and worked in a Butlins camp on the south coast. Had loads of fun there.

      I believe all my experiences prior to uni made the whole uni process a much happier one.

    • Photo: Maedeh Borhani

      Maedeh Borhani answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      To be honest, I didn’t do any work experience before university. I was studying most of the time even during summer break!

    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 5 Mar 2016:

      No. All of my paid work before going to university was through an agency and included stacking shelves, cleaning cars and filing. None were very exciting and none helped me when I got to university.

      If you can get some experience in the right area it may be interesting. I don’t think it is at all essential. If it is very competitive getting on to the course that you want, some relevant experience would probably help though.

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 6 Mar 2016:

      Hi Beth, no you don’t need any work experience to get into uni. If you’re interested in a course like biomedical engineering, you could maybe look to get a weeks experience somewhere like a hospital. It’s not necessary but it might be useful.

      Some people get jobs during uni to help them financially. During my uni years, I worked part-time in Monsoon Accessorize. It was a great way of building my peoples skills.

    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      Not prior, but I worked between terms to make ends meet / be able to afford shiny things. I did some work experience directly related to my degree between years. That was extremely helpful and something I’d recommend. I’ve hosted lots of students and pupils at my work, all of whom are looking to gain some level of experience before choosing their career.

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