Five 2013 graduates: five futures. Imogen Watson, Online Features Editor, seeks to reassure new university recruits by speaking to five people of five different disciplines, at four different universities, and from two different countries who have just done it all themselves…
When you’re just starting out at university, graduating and life afterwards might seem like a very long time away. On the other hand, it might feel all too close. Perhaps you’ve got a plan sorted, perhaps you haven’t, but is there a right way to do postgraduate life?
There are certainly mixed feelings abound amongst my graduate interviewees about being released from studying for a BA and BSc into the big, wide world.
“Knowing that all the hard work paid off is fantastic,” says Hannah, a BA Geography graduate from the University of Sheffield, “it definitely gives you a feeling of success and graduating with your friends and family around you is brilliant.” Lauren, a graduate of Law and French from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, explains it as “surreal actually – you are working towards it for such a long time and then all of a sudden it’s done!” Although despite the inability to comprehend, Marie – Human Biosciences at our very own University of Exeter – says “it feels a lot like being a student at the moment”. Maybe some of us never quite grow up.
As one might expect, with varying skills, interests and opinions, each of these new graduates has somewhere different to go and something different to take their fancy after university. Tom, for example, having been Exeposé’s own Editor for 2012-13 informs me that he is London-bound after his English Literature degree, heading for City University’s prestigious Masters in Newspaper Journalism, with ambitions to take this into national news reporting afterwards.
“I’ve wanted to go on to City ever since my first year,” he says, “when I brazenly asked the then-Exeposé editors how to crack into the industry. I now read four papers every day and can’t get enough of it.”
Hannah, too, tells me she is doing a Masters, although in the rather different field of Geographical Information Systems at the University of Leeds (well, somebody has to!). And for Marie, a Masters is also on the cards, although not just yet. “My plan is to hopefully get a job in a laboratory this year, gaining some experience in the field [of cancer research] before going on to do a Masters next year.”
The situation is somewhat different in Australia, however:
“My graduation was atypical in the sense that I was back studying less than a week later in the same university. For my Law degree, you are given Honours if you achieve above a certain GPA because it is a four-year program. However, Arts is only three years so in order to achieve Honours, you have to complete an extra year. I am now doing a yearlong thesis program to achieve Honours for my Bachelor of Arts. This means writing a 15,000 word thesis in French which is both an exciting and intimidating prospect.”
For those of you less academically-minded or at least worried you may have had your fill of studying after graduation (for those of you who have even considered it – I am appealing to my own first-year self, really), do not fear. Step forward Stefanie, Bath Spa graduate in Drama Studies. What are your plans for post-graduation?
“Well I have saved a lot of money for a trip around America this summer, and seeing everyone else’s plans to do PGCEs and Masters I have often wondered if I should use the money to fund more education, but I’m going to do this for myself while I have the chance.
“After that I’m going to stay where I am for the moment [in Bath], keep my bar job while I look for jobs in my field, spend some time building up a portfolio and save some money so that a masters degree could be in the pipeline if I decide that’s what I need to do.”
If it is something that worries you, then it might interest you to know that despite the cynics I have no doubt are among you these graduates do not feel like their choices have been made by being backed into a corner by current economic climate or government policy. “From job hunting it didn’t seem to be as much of a black hole for jobs and internships as I expected, it’s just a question of having the right experience and finding something that’s right for me,” says Stefanie. Although not easy, Marie tells me she “feels confident” that she will be able to find a position over the next few months, and Hannah explains that “it’s almost a necessity to have a Masters if you want to progress within GIS, and I’m just lucky that it’s something I really enjoy.”
These five graduates of course are also part of the generation “lucky” enough to have paid around £3000 a year in tuition fees. So I asked them: with your miraculous gift of hindsight, would you pay £9000 a year for your university experience?
Hannah : “I don’t envy people in that position. I’m not sure whether I could do it… I couldn’t tell you what my conclusion would be. I think I wouldn’t go to be honest. No one else in my family went to university and my younger brother hasn’t and they’re all doing ok!”
Stefanie: “It’s hard to say whether I would pay the higher fees. Since I was unsure about university to start with, if the fees had been that high three years ago I probably would not have gone, but having had the experience I do think it is worth the money, if you put in the work and take the opportunities to make it worth it.”
Marie: “I’m not sure. I think that the £9,000 fees are too high for the number of contact hours current students receive. However, I also feel that without going to university I would not be able to become a scientist and pursue the career path that I have chosen. Therefore I probably would pay the fees but would expect a lot more from Exeter as a university in terms of support and teaching quality.”
Lauren: “Wow! Up front or as a loan? I mean, I have racked up a $50,000 AUD (£29,000) debt to the government for my 6 year dual degree so tuition doesn’t come cheap here either but wow that is steep! I guess, if you are not paying up front, you do what you have to do to get where you want to get. But ouch! That has got to hurt the wallet.“
Despite the mixed bag on the issue of value for money, you will be pleased to know that three out of five of our graduate interviewees said that they would not be prepared to change anything at all about their time at university. Hannah, maybe typically of a student, told me of occasions with a “few drinks too many”, and Stefanie brought the tone back up to a human level whilst speaking of making “more advantage of the facilities available”.
It is fitting, therefore, that the advice most of them gave me to pass on to new students joining Exeter and indeed any university was to meet as many people as you can, make yourself aware of and then make the most of any opportunities you come across, even if you initially only have a passing interest.
Having done three years of the student lifestyle myself, I would concur with my interviewees. “It is important to pass with decent marks, but don’t forget that you will also never have this much free time again,” says Lauren. “Whether or not uni is worth it depends on what you make of it; whether you bother to go to lectures or join in with campus life,” Stefanie adds.
However, I think I will leave it to Hannah to impart a few wise words of advice:
“Yes, it is worth the extra couple of pounds for Sainsbury’s basics vodka than the dodgy stuff with no name. Trust me.”
Imogen Watson, Online Features Editor
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