Primrose Kitten

University can be a costly few years, and you may think it's a necessity to get your dream job straight away, but this is not always the case.

Apprenticeships are a viable, realistic, and valuable alternative to doing a university degree. There are loads of jobs where you might assume you need a degree, but you don't. You can go into them straight after school by doing an apprenticeship. For example, apprenticeships are a viable route for accountancy, banking, insurance, HR, public relation, veterinary, nursing, loads of science careers, construction, surveying, IT, or even teaching. You will get the same professional qualification, just without the degree. You'll get the same whether you start your apprenticeship straight after school or whether you go and do a degree first. The same qualifications will still apply, but with an apprenticeship, you'll be getting specific job-related work experience from day one.

You'll also be getting paid a little bit—not as much as a fully qualified person, but you will be getting paid nonetheless—and then you won't have the massive student loans at the end of your degree course. The average wage of an apprentice is about £170 a week, and you'll be learning to apply what you know straightaway right from the beginning, instead of reading it from a textbook and just thinking how to implement it. You'll be learning something and learning how to apply it straight away. People who take an apprenticeship are going to get a higher starting salary. They might also find it easier to get a job because they have the work experience, and they might be offered a job with the company they did their apprenticeship with.

However, university is fantastic. There's the social side being in an academic environment for years. Besides the long holidays, it is lots of fun and degrees still have this particular level of kudos. Both pathways have advantages and disadvantages, and you need to work out which route is right for you.