Back to College

[VonKlaw]

So I left college last July, with A-level grades (don't know what they'd be called outside the UK) that were barely passes - it was a mix of not bothering and being absolutely terrible at exams. Been looking for a job since then, but with terrible grades and lack of real job experience, I'm lucky to even get a "sorry, you're too shit for us" letter whenever I apply for a job.

My parents talked to me the other day about going back to college, getting the grades sorted out and then going to university (I wanted to be a teacher before, you basically have to). Money is tight atm, but they wouldn't be much worse off that at the moment (I give them most of my JSA as living expenses). The opportunity to fix what I messed up makes me feel vaguely happy for the first time in ages, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared shitless of failing again.

Looking for a job for this amount of time and having nothing to do has, quite frankly, been a soul destroying and real growing up experience. Should I just do it? Or should I keep looking for a job in the vague hope that something will turn up?

 

[bobmus]

Might I ask what you'd be doing A-Levels in?
And would you be planning on doing university with good enough grades?

 

[pewpewz]

So you got a mixture of C's and D's for your A-levels?

My best advice is to look for a job outside of the UK right now. Nothing permanent, but look around Europe (where you should be able to work without a visa). You want some teaching experience? Go teach English abroad for a few months. Get yourself some money that isn't your parents. Get an idea of what it's like to be independent and living off your own money. If you can't be comfortable on the income you earn, then head back to school and try again.

I dropped out of university and got myself an English teaching job in China (where I am now) for about £1300 a month. It's enough for me to live quite comfortably and in my spare time teach myself a few skills I want for my future career.

There's always an option in life if you look hard enough. If you do decide to return to your college, ask the staff if you could help out once a week as a teaching assistant. Show some initiative and fight for a job to give you experience whilst you learn. Give yourself an edge, and show that even though you've taken time from your studies, you've always been driven and focused.

If you're spending all your time at the job center waiting for a reply, stop immediately. Print out 100 copies of your CV and hand them out everywhere. McDonalds, Boots, Tesco - whatever. A job is a job. Even if you end up hating it, you'll learn some important lessons about life from actually earning your own dosh. Rejection from a job is harsh, but working teaches you much more (hard to believe, I know, but once you get that job it changes you)

You have to remember that you're ALWAYS gonna have to get a job. At the end of the day, all university does is post-pone the process, and MAYBE give you a higher wage, but it's still gonna be hard work. If you can't get one now, what makes you think you're gonna get one in 5 years?

Pieces of paper look good, I admit, but I have friends and family who - after getting their degrees - are still working in a shop on the highstreet. It's not about your qualifications, it's about your experience and your willingness to make things happen.

If you want to be a teacher, go and look up the EXACT requirements for the course you want to get on to. Check how many UCAS points or whatever you need for that course, then work your ass off to fulfill that quota. Don't just go mindlessly back to college without a plan - that's what's gotten you into this mess already.

Right... well, I hope this helps don't give up!

 

[bluepilot]

I think you should identify the factors that made you fail last time and eliminate them. Since you said that the main element was "not caring", so if you care this time round and put some effort into it, I am sure you will do fine. I am also sure that you have grown up a lot with the job hunt and will apply yourself fully. To say that the UK job market is brutal, is a vast vast understatement.

You can still apply for a student loan when you get to University, and since the UK is predicted to have 10 years of recession followed by another 10 years of boom, we are 4 years in, plus 2 years for A-level, then 3 years at University, which means that after you graduate the job market will be better.............or a couple of very prestigious economists will be signing on the dole with you.

I am a 2008 graduate myself, and if that was not bad enough, I decided that I want to do a MD. Since my background is in the arts there are a lot of things I have to relearn and redo all over again. I have failed to get in once but I will keep going.

It is not about failing, and all about getting back up after a fall.

 

[IndomitableSam]

I got C's in University - mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to do and didn't care. I had a deal with my parents - if I was in school full time, I didn't pay rent. If I only took a few courses, I paid a few hundred dollars a month in rent. If I wasn't in school, I was working and paying $400-$600 a month. I worked part time and full time from about ... well, I worked all through University. But after about 21 I was working and not in school. Didn't please my parents, but that's normal. (I paid for my schooling by myself, too, which made me all the more proud of myself when I did well, and ashamed when I did poorly. Your own money is a great motivator.)

I mostly just got by in limbo until I was 24. Then I decided I couldn't work minimum retail jobs anymore and started looking. Eventually, I settled on a college to become a librarian. I figured it was something I wouldn't hate doing for the rest of my life. Not love, just stand for 30+ years. Except I couldn't get in for a year and a half (they only take 30 students every 2 years), so I applied, passed all the testing, interviews and such, and kept working. Never sure I was doing the right thing.

Best years of my life. I was at school for 6-8 hours a day and worked 20 hours a week. If I could give back my condo, disposable income and free time, I'd go back to writing 20-page papers and losing my sanity over exams in a heartbeat. I made lifelong friends, and even if I don't enjoy getting up and going to work every day, it was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. (Also got 4.0's all through school... 85% ish, I guess?)

Spend some time researching what you think you can wake up and do every day for the next 30-40 years and not jump off a bridge. Then go with it.