I’m 17 and aim to go into journalism or politics. I don’t intend to go to university, but can I get anywhere in my career without a degree?

An undergraduate degree isn’t necessarily essential for a successful career. If you can get relevant experience, through paid or voluntary work, this may be just as valuable. Employers will always be looking for experience, whether or not you have a degree. However, think carefully about what you want to do — it’s likely that you’ll be competing with people who do have degrees. Look at job adverts for the type of thing you’d like to be doing in five years time and see whether a degree or other qualification is one of the criteria for that job.

Think about what university can offer you apart from an academic qualification: you can get useful experience, for example, working on a student paper, running a student society or getting involved in student politics. University can provide an opportunity to study subjects that interest you in more depth than you may have time for while working full-time. If you’re keen to get out there and get real work experience, remember that this isn’t your only chance to do further study. You can always choose to go to university later in life, study part-time, or do a distance learning course if you find later that a degree would be useful.

Email this article | Printer friendly page | Top of Page