Forums > Social Discussion > Where to after High School?

Posted: 19th Jul 2006
High School or college?

After college I applied to uni, but deferred for a year to make sure it was what I really wanted to do... lots of pressure from family telling you what's best can make you lose sight of who's actually making the decisions in your life!

I worked for 8 months, then travelled round Asia for 3 months before uni. By the end of that I knew I really wanted to go to uni and study what I'd chosen (social anthropology and communications).

I don't regret any of it, whatever you do it will always give you new insights, experiences and ideas that help you grow as a person and find what you love.

You have to keep doing what you're passionate about and what makes you happy, that's the best advice I ever got. So if you already have a hobby don't give it up. Only thing I regret is thingsa I've stopped doing that I loved.

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 19th Jul 2006
I couldn't wait to get out of the town I had grown up in and move to the big smoke. I got a job within a few weeks of finishing high school, moved to the city and began a working life...

... that was a few moons ago...I was happy with the choice then, and I am happy with the choice now - given my time over, I'd do the same.

good luck

Posted: 19th Jul 2006
I dunno. The future without a college education is pretty bleak.

Oh sure there are plenty of people who haven't gone to college and who are fine, happy, well-adjusted and successful. But they're a small minority.

College is where it's at.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 20th Jul 2006
Jai, have I met you down at the Sunday meets?

As for after high school.
Unfortunately, Doc is right. Most things these days require a university degree, and increasingly, a bachelor degree is not enough. However this isn't to say that you have no other options if you don't feel uni is for you.

The trades in Australia are severely lacking, which opens up the opportunities such as apprenteships. Getting the apprenteships are hard though and life as an apprentice can vary greatly, but that is another option open to you.

But immediately after high school,you don't have to get straight into it. I took a year off and worked/travelled Europe, and it was the best thing I ever did. It helped me to find myself and to grow as a person in ways that I will never forget and will always take with me.
But you don't always need to go overseas. You can take a break in Australia and jut work and get some money up, get a break from full-time study before hitting the books again.

Deferring has it's pros and cons, but it's most definitely worth looking at!

i would have changed ***** to phallus, and claire to petey Petey

Rougie: but that's what I'm doing here
Arnwyn: what letting me adjust myself in your room?..don't you dare quote that on HoP...

Posted: 20th Jul 2006
Rouge has a point, it doesn't have to be university, it can be trade school.

But a simple HS diploma is a ticket to...nowhere.

Sure, Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart) didn't even has a HS diploma, blah-blah-blah. And so-and-so won the lottery, too. Those are stories that apply to 0.000001% of people.

You need to have some post-secondary training, whether it's in a trade or in an academic field. Otherwise your options are limited, and not very appealing.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 20th Jul 2006

 Written by: rougie

Unfortunately, Doc is right. Most things these days require a university degree, and increasingly, a bachelor degree is not enough. However this isn't to say that you have no other options if you don't feel uni is for you.

There's something wrong with this, imho. If you spend three years learning to do something, you should damn well be able to find a job pretty much straight after those three years. Nowadays, you're probably better off getting a job as a courier at a law firm and working your way up to taking the bar over a few years than actually going to law school.



Oh, wait. You need a bachelor's in applied science (interpersonal information relocation) to become a courier now. Personally, i think there's far too much value placed on academic learning today. How long's it going to be before you need a masters in interpersonal business resolutions before you can be a checkout chick? Are we heading for a time when working at macca's is going to need a phd in digestible consumables preparation?



And what really worries me is technical degrees, like engineering. It's all well and good being able to know every equation behind electrical interference and gaussian planes, but these people having never picked up a screwdriver in their life, have no idea how it actually works. I think that might be a separate rant, though.



Maybe its the government, maybe it's society in general, maybe it's both. There's too many people going to uni to be able to continue in this manner. we're going to end up with a whole society of people that have utterly worthless degrees. Univeristy level schooling will become the new senior school, and only further learning, like masters and phds, will become what a degree should be.



And while we're at it, why the hell do we have some of the degrees we do? A lot of arts degrees come under this banner, some sciency type ones do, and there's a few others scattered around that make little/no sense.



That's my rant, i'm not sure if it's even on topic or not, but it's been bugging me a while...

"beg beg grovel beg grovel"
"master"
--FSA

"There was an arse there, i couldn't help myself"
--Rougie

Posted: 20th Jul 2006
I worked really hard at school in South Africa (where I am from) and had the option of taking a couple of extra subjects at university level, which I did.

I managened to get a scholarship to a good university but my whole issue was that I didnt know what I wanted to do with my life.I couldnt bear the thought of putting all my energy into one thing only to later discover I had made the wrong choice.

I decided not to go to university (much to the disappointment of others) and worked my butt off for a couple of months to add to the money I had alredy saved throughout the years in my parents' club. I sold my car and moved to England. I wont lie, it was the scariest thing I have ever had to do.I've now been here 5 years, working in all different sectors (Ive been a waitress, done security for big gigs and managed hotels) and I'll honestly say I still don't know what I want to do with my life...I dont think I ever will. I now find myself in an account executives role in client and campaign management for an outsourcing company. I have been doing this for a couple of years now and although it can be a bit numbing at times, the pay is really good, I dont work weekends, and I leave at 4 everyday. I got this job with no qualifications by just working hard. I follow the wind mostly. I think the best thing is that I know that in a few years I will probably in a different part of the world doing something completely different. Because of this I think that further education is very overrated and I dont regret my choices one bit. Especisally over the past few years I feel like I am having the time of my life.

Good luck with whatever you choose.
X

"I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.." - Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Posted: 25th Jul 2006
I wish i'd had blu's foresight. but hindsight is 20/20.

I left high school 2 weeks before my year 12 exams and took up a traineeship with my local council in IT. I was going to be a network admin and that's all there was to it. i worked my butt off for five years taking first every IT subject avaliable in highschool, then the certificate III though the traineeship, and an industry qualification at night, once i finished my traineeship i went to work in a junior computer operator role at workcover and took some more classes at night.

After a year and a half of that, most of which was spent under so much pressure that it brought me to the brink of suicide i've now decided perhaps IT isn't for me, at least not at the level i wanted to be at. so i'm chilling for a while, doing my sandwich artist thing and taking time to decide what, if anything, i want to do as a career.

So that's my story.

My Advice?

I agree with MiG, there's too much emphasis on uni qualifications these days, and you honestly don't need them as much as people will have you think (Sorry doc, rougie).

I applied for a number of jobs before workcover that asked for uni graduates, and when i got to interviews i was told that i won them over alot of uni grad's because of my resume writing skills. Getting professional jobs is all about selling yourself.

I'm on a tangent again.

Sit down, think hard about what you ENJOY doing NOW. nevermind what you think you're good at academically, that comes into it later.

then think about doing those things 8 hours a day 5 days a week... would you get sick of them?

If not, think about how you could use those things to earn a living. THEN think about what education you need to make that happen.

"i am exotic, and must keep my arms down" - Rougie

"i don't understand what penises have to do with getting married" - Foxie

Posted: 25th Jul 2006
*puts on former university administrator hat*

I'll say to you what I've said to many a person ringing up saying "I don't know what course to do at university..."

Don't.

Not yet. If you're thinking about uni but don't know what you want to do, then defer, work, travel, stay in bed, whatever, but do not just do a course for the hell of it.

If you want to get your hands dirty and get a bit of cash, do an apprenticeship in something that interests you, and don't think that if you do a car mechanics apprenticeship (or whatever) you'll be stuck changing clutches for the rest of your life; there's lots of fields that need that first few years off you, then you're in the clear.

I have to admit to being dubious about travelling when you're just out of school. Having seen a lot of backpackers come through (my best mate runs a YHA), the ones who seem to get more out of it are the ones who've had a bit of independence for a while; they don't tend to do the whole "must be with my own people wherever I go" thing that 18 year olds tend to do (ducks from howls of outrage).

Get a job and think about it for a while. If your parents want you to go to university explain that it'll put you stupidly in debt and you want to make sure you're chosing the right course. Otherwise, it's up to you.

(I did 3 degrees straight from school, travelling while I did them. The joys of fieldwork...)

There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.

Posted: 26th Jul 2006
Well, I'm starting to get the picture now.

- Do whatever makes me feel good, because i have to do it for a long time.

- Dont get pressured into a career choice.

- There is nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to do when your 40.

- Enjoy life.

Thanks heaps everyone. Its great to see that there are so many people that are willing to help out a stranger with the rest of their life.

Please keep posting notes because i love to read what everyone else has done with their life.

Peace to all.

Jai.

Posted: 26th Jul 2006

a very nice summary.

"i am exotic, and must keep my arms down" - Rougie

"i don't understand what penises have to do with getting married" - Foxie