Graduates expect to earn more than they do....

shouldbeshot

I don't expect to graduate and start in a graduates job. I'm only doing English Literature so I either need to pursue the teaching route (but then I worry so will every other english student) or just start at the bottom in a non-graduates role. At the end of the day, I will have a two year old child to support when I graduate so my aim is to be able to support him no matter what job I take on. I will have no qualms about working in a supermarket just because I think its stupid as a graduate to turn my nose up at a job as its "below" me. That is if I graduate.....

southoftheriver

I guess i'm fortunate that I did a vocational degree with a very structured training pathway. We also apply for and recieve job offers during our final year of university so finish knowing what we will be earning. I am very aware that the situation isn't like that for everyone though, and I have spent 7 years at uni so have watched my friends rise up in their careers whilst I feel like i've still been at school!

greensalad

I've never expected to earn more than £30k, in fact £25k even seems far too high for me (I study Multimedia which is software engineering mixed with web design and other similar type things - but want to go into web marketing). Lucky for my boyfriend as he's hoping to train as a solicitor.

Seems like if you want to earn more, the army is a better option than uni...

Reactive

£25k/ year is not at all unreasonable, all of my fellow class-mates who graduated this year (chemical engineering, MEng + BEng) have landed jobs paying at least £28k/year, one even managed starting salary of £33k/year. But these are all highly technical graduate engineering jobs.

I went into post-grad study (PhD), and have netted a tidy little tax free sum for myself.

I guess it all depends what you study. Unlike the above poster, I did expect to be earning £25k+ with lots of potential for moving up fast. Otherwise I simply wouldn't have went to university...

melancholly

Reactive wrote: »

I went into post-grad study (PhD), and have netted a tidy little tax free sum for myself.

I guess it all depends what you study. Unlike the above poster, I did expect to be earning £25k+ with lots of potential for moving up fast. Otherwise I simply wouldn't have went to university...

what stipend are you on?! i don't know of any funded places that pay enough to be more than the equivalent salary of £18K (and a lot pay a lot less!).

i went to uni to learn more about subjects that i enjoyed......i wasn't motivated to go to uni to get any specific job; just love of learning. i suppose in recent times that puts me in a small minority!

Reactive

melancholly wrote: »

what stipend are you on?! i don't know of any funded places that pay enough to be more than the equivalent salary of £18K (and a lot pay a lot less!).

i went to uni to learn more about subjects that i enjoyed......i wasn't motivated to go to uni to get any specific job; just love of learning. i suppose in recent times that puts me in a small minority!

My stipend is approx £20k, plus benefits.

Oldernotwiser

Reactive wrote: »

I guess it all depends what you study. Unlike the above poster, I did expect to be earning £25k+ with lots of potential for moving up fast. Otherwise I simply wouldn't have went to university...

Graduates - don't you just love 'em!

antrobus

Reactive wrote: »

£25k/ year is not at all unreasonable, all of my fellow class-mates who graduated this year (chemical engineering, MEng + BEng) have landed jobs paying at least £28k/year, one even managed starting salary of £33k/year. But these are all highly technical graduate engineering jobs....

Well that's because Chemical Engineering is up there with Dentistry and Medicine as one of the most lucrative subjects to study.

See the most recent HESA return detailed on 'What do Graduates Earn and Do' at http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/what-do-graduates-earn/

melancholly

antrobus wrote: »

Well that's because Chemical Engineering is up there with Dentistry and Medicine as one of the most lucrative subjects to study.

See the most recent HESA return detailed on 'What do Graduates Earn and Do' at http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/what-do-graduates-earn/

great link btw! went to the HESA website yesterday and couldn't find anything that clear!

it does show that while chemical engineering may be lucrative, it has only 48% going into a graduate job immediately..... which is interesting in and of itself. it has a similar unemployment to rate to lots of other degrees like classics, business studies and history of art. maybe surprising, maybe not....!

this page is linked off the link above, but makes for an interesting read:
http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/all-graduate-destinations/
44% of physics and astronomy students go on to further study! who knew?!

melancholly

Reactive wrote: »

My stipend is approx £20k, plus benefits.

you have a very good stipend there; the EPSRC minimum is about £13.5K, at the Engineering Doctorate centres you get about £15K and even with a CASE studentship in London, £17/18K is about the top end (but not exactly a common amount!). just wanted to add that in as you're clearly in a very small percentage of people getting that level of support and most phd students, even with chemical engineering backgrounds, won't be getting anything like that amount of money.

good luck with the phd.