To got to uni or not?

Question

Yo i got into Lab science at RMIT in the the city in melbourne and its a tafe course that i wanna use to get my foot in the door to RMIT in other similar courses, or so i thort. I'm about to get my P's and i am very envious of my friend who has his, got a car loan, car, nine to five job, and is moving in with afew good mates. I'm not sure if i am jealous that he has his life sorted and i dont but i am second thinking uni to be honest.

Go to uni and try my luck for a 3-6 year course and possible poverty as a uni student?

Or with my P's and the money saved, get a car, get a job, work my way up the ranks and get certificates and qaulifications as i work and move in with friends?

Uni would involve going to melb while i'd prefer to stay local to be honest but if the majority of oppions say go uni i will look more into it, while vice versa about staying local.

Cheers.

Answer 1

Sounds like you're looking for more freedom, by wanting to live away from home and hang out and stuff. But living in the city away from your family would give you the same freedoms, while getting qualified at the same time. If you defer your course, will you really ever go back to school? You can take a gap year, move in with friends, party for a while, and then go to tafe next year, but if you're not committed to it it may not work. I would say give Melbourne a shot, theres a great student atmosphere, and you can always head home on the weekends! True, a lot of students are living in poverty, but (i'm assuming your from a regional area) you may qualify for centrelink assistance, especially if you are studying full time.  

Answer 2

I'd go to uni.  I've finally decided to go to uni 10 years after I left school.  When I left I went and got a job straight away.  You have money, and it's great, no doubt about it.  Of course, when my friends were finishing their degrees 3 or so years down the line and I was still stuck in a dead end office job, i knew what I should have done.  I found it so much harder once I was in the workforce to go uni as the more money you have the more bills you have and so you've got to keep working to pay for the bills.  You've got a life time to worry about doing that.  Of course, as you say it is going to mean moving away to Melbourne and living in poverty (not really but you won't have too much money to throw around).  Maybe you could take a gap year.  You can get a job and a bit of money then head to uni the following year.  It's your choice but if you want to do lab science then you've got to go to uni at some point.  Might as well do it sooner rather than later.

Answer 3

Hi,

I'm not sure how the university system works in Oz, but I would say if you have city colleges, get all your mandatory classes and tough classes out of the way at a junior college. Make sure that all the units you take there are transferable to the University you are interested in. Then, when you transfer to University, (which in the west of California is very difficult to get into directly out of high school) you will be saving the higher tuition Uni's normally charge and you will get a good taste of what the demands of a graduate degree entail. The same classes here at a Junior College are so much easier (grading wise) than at University.

Sorry, but not quite sure what the "P's" stand for, but bottom line is that you will either pay sooner or later, may as well attempt to keep it as cheap as possible whilst still get a University degree. The hardest Universities here are much easier to transfer into when you have our AA completed.

Best luck,

Ti