Apprenticeship or University

Currently finishing highschool, in the UK, with about 18 months to go.

The plan was to get into a top university, e.g. LSE. After that, attain a graduate position in IB and then look at getting into PE or HF.

But today, I just found out you can get apprenticeships with some big IB firms. The benefits being:

  • you get a salary

  • No student debt

  • You gain work experience

  • They're typically shorter than your regular 3-year uni degree.

This sounds too good to be true to me. A couple of examples include Morgan Stanley apprenticeship and Goldman Sachs. J.P. Morgan run some too.

Is this worth looking at, or should I continue the current, traditional route?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful
  1. Is that really an IB apprenticeship or something like Business Analytics (I know Bloomberg has those apprenticeships)? You should triple check that.
  2. Are you guaranteed a position after the apprenticeship?
  3. Are you that desperate to start working so early? You have time to study whatever you want, build up knowledge in whatever interests you, get friends, pursue hobbies you wanted to pursue, why jumping right into employment?
  4. Not having a degree will hurt you in the long run, both psychologically (you will be working in a very elitist industry) and opportunity-wise. Get your Bachelor's first. Believe me, I dropped out from college due to financial reasons and now have to manage FT employment and studies (undergrad+postgrad) at the same time, whilst all of my other HS peers have already graduated. It really sucks.
“Destiny is a gift. Some go their entire lives, living existences of quiet desperation, never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon their shoulders is really a sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights. Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero. Don’t think. Become.”
 

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