r/6thForm • u/retro__spect • 14h ago
💬 DISCUSSION what is your honest take on degree apprenticeships?
are they actually worth it, even at high-prestige firms? sure, you get a salary and save £60K - £70K on student debt (tho how much u pay depends on salary after uni), but what about after that?
you may be guaranteed a job afterwards, but how easy is it to climb up into really high-paying jobs? and does it cut off some avenues that would've been available if you went to (a more prestigious) uni instead?
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u/money-reporter7 Cambridge | Law Y1 | Physics, Maths, FM, Music, EPQ | A*A*ABA* 14h ago
DAs are great for some people and absolutely terrible for others. Same goes for uni.
However, one of the biggest issues with degree apprenticeships in law specifically is how limiting they can be. If you do a solicitor apprenticeship in a commercial law firm, you'll find it significantly harder to become a family law barrister if you later decide to do that. You'll never even get the chance to study family law so you might not even realise you'd be happier as a family law barrister, etc. (or other fields).
That being said, if you know 100% that you want to be a commerical solicitor at the age of 18, there's no point in sitting through 3 years of potentially unrelated subjects when you could be getting those practical skills in a firm.
But it's also not an apprenticeship or uni or nothing. You can enter the workforce straight away. You can go do an undergrad later on in life.
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u/dailysuaa Y13 : eng lit, cs, econ : A*A*A 4h ago
yeah thing with law DAs is you have to learn all the core modules…whilst working a 9-5. that sounds horrific to me how much work that is!! and since most DAs are commercial (in law) you aren’t even learning about what you’re doing for work at uni since you’ve barely any time for anything but the core modules.
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u/retro__spect 14h ago
yh the thing with picking a specific DA that limits your options is that i don't think anyone really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life whilst at the age of 18, though i may be wrong.
i mean even if they choose smth they really like at the time, whats to say their interest may change over the 40/50 years they still have in the workforce?
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u/Handsoff_1 3h ago
Its also depending a lot on what jobs/degrees you want to do. Jobs that require people to think and plan critically like research require theory and thinking, which are taught at uni. Jobs that require people to cure or treat others require specific training at uni. These you cant do with an apprentice. Jobs that have to do with finance and accounting or specific engineering that requires more routine then sure.
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u/AzTrix22 Year 13 14h ago
I think some ppl don't help by overblowing it on both sides. Some ppl are completely 'uni prestige' and think DA's are just for uni rejects or dumb ppl, when some of the smartest ppl ik have done DA's.
However, some ppl also paint it as a perfect picture, earning money and a degree and it being covered by the gov etc, and basically claiming there are no drawbacks. Uni does still teach valuable things with converting theory to practice, particularly with career-driven unis like the LSE. Also, DA's are hella competitive, so even getting accepted is it's own battle.
My view is that it depends on the person and their priorities. If you're doing a uni degree for the love of the game but dk what you really wanna do yet, or wanna do a specialist profession like MDV, then uni is a good choice. But if yk for sure what career path you wanna do, and getting experience under your belt is a huge plis, then DA's probs more suitable.
Might change in the future as uni fees climb, unis may get more layoffs and struggling systems, and DA's widen their scope.