The Great Hunt: Tips to tell your 18-year-old self

lkane0

Please save 10% of everything you earn - it will enable you to do more of what you like later in life!

System

I would tell myself not to do a degree that didn't gear me up to a specific career. I did a social sciences degree and when I left uni I was trained and skilled for nothing. All I could get was a basic office job working alongside school leavers and have just worked my way up slowly. I could have done that straight out of school. My other friend from uni did a similar degree to me and her 'career' has followed much the same trajectory as mine. But the ones who did optometry, accountancy, pharmacy etc. have all had solid careers with some direction to them.

iamcscott

Youth is fleeting and adulthood is FOREVER!! Play hard but work harder and put all extra cash away. Otherwise you will only get to work hard and no play as an adult which is far worse than staying in on a Friday night.
Boring I know, but life is miserable when you have no money and mouths to feed that want more than baked beans on toast every night and all that retirement offers is meals on wheels, if you're lucky.
You might be able to tell I partied my youth away with nothing to show for it, even the memories have faded.

suchgreatheights

Get a haircut.

gloriouslyhappy

I would tell my 18-year old self not to feel obliged to pay for everyone just because I was working part-time and had more money than my friends who drank their grants and didn't work!
I will buy the first round then pay for my own drinks only after that, and tell myself they're not real friends if they're only friendly while I'm buying! (Took me a while to realise that, as I was so un-confident among all those worldly, sophisticated types who were good at freeloading off naive newbies!)

reflector1

As the mother of a 21yr old just graduated from a top uni I would say:
1. Uni is time and money wasted unless you are academic and pursuing a worthwhile degree
2. Try to put off the travel until the degree/training is over as it's hard getting back into it after a gap
3. Apart from a mortgage, try to avoid debt. For every pound you earn you will be giving a large chunk of it to the banks and it will hold you back hugely throughout your life.
4. Don't take a job to please others or just because it's prestigious unless as a short term step to something you really want. Achieving money or status is worthless if it's at the expense of happiness.

Mars_Bar

MSE_Rebecca wrote: »

We're looking for your words of wisdom on what you would do if you could turn back the clock to 18

If you do decide to go to university, GET PAST YEARS' EXAM PAPERS AND REVISE BASED ON THEM. I know it sounds obvious, but I spent two years not realising the value of this. Most uni exams are set by lazy^H^H^H^Hincredibly busy researchers who will often just copy previous examples, sometimes word for word.

I spent many hours revising and did badly for my first two years; the third year I got past papers and revised what was on those. I did less work and my scores jumped about 20%.

Obviously check that this is allowed on your course before you do it!

dannyd123_2

Enjoy yourself and have fun. 18-25 are the best years of your life especially at university. Go out drinking and meeting new people, remember these friends will stay with you for life. Enjoy your 3-4 years and worry about debt and money later.

takman

I'm 24 and I would just say to my 18 year old self to make the choices that you think are right at the time. I currently have a job in Engineering and I'm just about to start a foundation degree paid for by work and I also get a good wage at the same time. At 18 I never would have thought of doing this kind of job and I have A-Levels in Physics, Chemistry and Computing and I expected to get a job in IT.

I don't think it's a good idea to plan out your career at 18 because your more likely to get a job if your more open minded and take it as it comes.

Doc_N

dannyd123 wrote: »

Enjoy yourself and have fun. 18-25 are the best years of your life especially at university. Go out drinking and meeting new people, remember these friends will stay with you for life. Enjoy your 3-4 years and worry about debt and money later.

Possibly the worst advice I've ever seen in this forum. :eek: