Feeling downhearted about prospects

across

nobody's any ideas for me then???!!!!!
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
a job isnt everything i'm still smiling!! :hello:

Amba_Gambla

I graduated in 2003 (nearly 3yrs ago :eek: ) and I'm still mucking around...

It's important to remember, once you're in a career, you're there for the next 40 yrs or so (in most cases).

Since graduating, I've worked in an outdoor ed centre in Scotland, worked 2 summers in the USA (summer 2006 will be another one), travelled Australia, and am currently working to pay for my next jaunt. Then I need to start looking for a job.


Don't be so worried about jumping straight into a career or job. Take your time and work out waht you want. There are plenty of 'in-between' jobs for semi-intelligent graduates out there. Don't rush into it

Good Luck!

AG

jr666

I dont agree with that at all sorry. One you're in a career your are most empatically NOT stuck in that for 40 years. people change careers every day.

blackbird_2

Hi JR666. please could I ask where you are studying maths and why you aren't impressed. My son is applying to uni to do maths this year and i don't want him to be unhappy and make any mistakes as he is the first in our family to go to uni and we don't really know how it works thanks

jr666

hi blackbird, I go to Bath; sorry if i gave you the impression im not impressed with my university because thats not true. I love the university and the people and course and facitilites and...everything!

If your son is applying to do maths good for him! we need more mathematicians. I'm not sure what advice i could give him other than to consider carefully the courses he's applying for. A G100 (is that still the UCAS code??) course at one uni may be different from another. Some universities have their professors and staff focused on statistics while others may be more 'pure' in their interests. This will have a major impact on the course with the course taking a definite flavour of the interests of the lecturers interests.

So think about whether you enjoy statistics or pure or mathematical physics or calculus (analysis) etc and take a look around the department web pages to get an idea of what that department will specialise in if you like stats dont apply to a uni heavily intersted in pure maths (e.g warwick). Other than that i think location is important. If you're a city person go to a big city (london, nottingham) and not a small city (bath!). Most of all though i think it all comes down to what feels right when you visit a place. You'll find out with the first 20 minutes of an open day if you're going to want to be spending the next 3 (or 4) years at a place in my opinion.

not sure if ive been any help? good luck anyway

EDIT: take a look at section 2 of this; it gives a nice overview of the diferent branches of university mathematics.

http://www.ma.ic.ac.uk/undergraduate/booklet/Booklet01.htm

blackbird_2

Thanks that's been a big help. He has an offer from Nottingham and we are going to an open day next wee. He likes pure maths so now we will know what to look for as we thought all courses were the same. G100 is still the ucas code. best wishes

Savvy_Sue

Can only echo jr's advice: going to open days is strongly recommended, and even if not invited I'd say phone the dept and ask to visit anyway. Must say I had a lovely time 'doing' open days with my eldest last year, and pleased that his first choice was also mine - although I confess our criteria were somewhat different: I left him on campus and hit the local shopping centres! :rotfl:

The thing about location is pretty crucial too: as I described it to eldest, there are 3 kinds of university: collegiate (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham) where you live cheek by jowl with people doing lots of different things and wander round the city to get to your various lectures, but on the whole everything is quite close; campus (Bath, Essex) where everything academic is concentrated pretty much in one place (although the halls may be some distance away) but not in the city centre; and civic (Bristol, Manchester) where the university is spread out all over the place, but pretty much central.

In my day, the campus universities could be a bit isolated, limited bus services etc, but thankfully these days that seems to have improved. However, being in the city will suit some people (clubbers and night-life lovers) but not others. Your son has to make his own choice (and live with it), but if you can help him see what difference it might make to be on a campus rather than in a city centre, that might help. Of course it depends what accommodation is available: eldest looked at Southampton and Birmingham, where the halls of residence were a bus ride away, as they are in Bristol (where we live), but plumped for Warwick where he can fall out of bed and get to lectures in 10 minutes! And he loves it! (not doing maths though.)

(Admittedly the shops I walked to from the Warwick campus on his open day are not as good as those I bussed to from Southampton or Birmingham, but they include a big 24 hour Tesco which was a great help at the start of this term when we found he'd failed to pack any towels! :rotfl: )

melancholly

blackbird wrote:

Thanks that's been a big help. He has an offer from Nottingham and we are going to an open day next wee. He likes pure maths so now we will know what to look for as we thought all courses were the same. G100 is still the ucas code. best wishes

i did a one year course at nottingham and thought it was a really nice university (and when i applied for an undergrad course a few years ago it was the most popular university in the country!).
hope the open day is good!

KatieF

Nottingham is a really pretty university too, nice site I mean. And I did Maths and Philosophy there so I must have been impressed by the course (I didn't choose Notts in the end because I decided to do another course).

My advice about the open days would be talk to the students, and give your son time to talk to students about things like going out, which often around parents aren't quite honest - you will get far more of an idea about the university itself this way than from the official talks!

I was the first person in my family to go to uni, and I remember how confusing it was (For both my mum and myself!) so if you or your son have any questions I might be able to help with, feel free to PM me!

go4it

to improve your prospects go to a Russell Group University - sim to Ivy League in the US, in the UK the Russell Group includes Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield and others. These unis have the best departments and best student support. I attended a 'polytechnic' for a year and hated every minute, I changed courses and went to a 'proper uni' and loved every minute.