Is University Worth It?

Ever since tuition fees went up and with them set to rise again the question on every students lips is "Is University even worth it?". Well from someone who is at university I will try my best to answer this question.

My initial response to this question will be yes, it is worth it. People these days look at university as just obtaining a degree, but is more than that, much more. The steps you take toward achieving that degree are some you can't possibly take outside the university world. First of all it is not just the degree you get at the end of uni. Instead you gain experience, friendships and a whole bunch of other stuff. Getting into university in the first place whether it's Cambridge or UEL (sorry UEL students) the fact that you got into university says a lot about you. Not only does this show that you have academic potential but it also shows you have ambitions in life and want to achieve something greater than working in retail or a boring 9-5 job. So credit to all you guys who are at Uni or applying.

As I previously said the degree is obviously the big part. And I hear a lot of people saying that "employers no longer look for degrees, they look for experience" and even though to a certain extent this is true, just to say "I have a degree in so and so" is a great achievement. But also i think people are forgetting that experience comes with a degree. If an employer sees you have a degree this automatically tells them a lot about you. University is no walk in the park. It takes a lot of independent work and all nighters in the library to bang out a 2:1 or a first. I don't know about other courses but for my course it is compulsory that we do at least a 4 week placement which means not only will we have a degree but experience in the industry as well. Winning.

Moving away from the academic side going to university is great for meeting new people. You will meet a whole range of people from different backgrounds and cultures which is pretty amazing to be honest. You will create friendships that will literally last a life time. Who knows, these friends may be future collaborators of yours. All about networking you see. When one of your uni friends gets a job at some top business you already have a connection to someone that can maybe bring you in. It's so important to make those connections and just meet as many people as you can.

University also just teaches you skills that will help you live life. It will help with independence because you're living away from home. If you get a job straight after college/6th form chances are you're still going to be living with your parents and then when that time comes for you to get a place of your own you won't have a clue what to do. Or even worse you will become so accustomed to life at home you're going to stay there... forever.

I was going to answer the question from an anti-uni perspective but yeah that would mean for a gigantic blog post and I don't want to bore you guys. I hope this has persuaded most of you to apply to university, remember this is just the surface, it has so many other benefits. I'm pretty biased but I stick with my original answer and say yes... University is worth it.

OOP. ONE DOWNSIDE TO UNIVERSITY IS HARVARD REFERENCING. NOW THAT IS A BITCH!