Success at school = Success in life ?

[Oreo]

Is it really that true, the better you do at school, the better you do in life ? money wise that is.

It seemed true as of 30 or 40 years ago, but recently it seems it's possible to make something good of yourself without doing so well at school and getting grades.

I am talking generally by the way, ofcourse there are isolated incodences of school drop outs at 14 who are now multi millionairs.

I'd just like some insite, doing my GCSE's at the moment and it's not going quite as planned. I should get 7 A* to B's, but two subjects (french and design) will be a lot less, between D and F at a guess, and these days, Uni's hate people with grades less than C's and just disregard them.

 

[Peter.Cort]

If you graduate top of your class from college/uni, you're more likely to get a well paying job because it shows that you have dedication and stuff. In saying that, if you're top of your class but you do nothing else, a lot of companies will look to the person who excelled in extra curriculars and were like class president and did all sorts of other things, but didn't get top marks. I would generally speaking, the better you do in school the easier it can be to make more money, but also people who can make the transition into college/uni from high school and then from college/uni into the first job period stand a better chance of making more money. That's my personal feeling.

 

[Oreo]

Would you say employers prefer and prioritise University and A level degrees over compulsary education degrees like GCSE's ?

 

[Peter.Cort]

Depends. That's probably something you can find out easily enough though. Just ring a few local places that would interest you in terms of a career, like some place that does something you're interested in doing, even if working at that specific place doesn't interest you, and just ask what they look for in terms of education and if they value anything over another. Chances are they will value one over another.

 

[saltynay]

Most definately unless you are going into a specialist skilled work, A-levels are the bare minimum for education and they have always been talks of making them compulsary and you don't want to be left out in the lurch if you haven't atleast tried them. Don't worry about the GCSE's so much aslong as you do well enough to get into a good college then they start to lose significance.

 

[Poizen22]

you guys need to think out of the box as well. not every job requires education, my dads bosse's brother dropped out at 15 started laying tyles. Now he is one of the best guys in the area for it. he is married with 2 kids i think, he has a very large house, and a 3 car garage, as well as a work shop about the same size as his house. Its all dependant on what you want to do. heck you could go work at a restaurant as a waiter work your way up to management, then maybe eventualy open your own restaurant. there are many oportunities, what needs to be noticed is sucess isnt based on your education it is based upon your drive to want to succeed.

 

[Peter.Cort]

You're right, drive is extremely important, but it's much easier to get to a good start if you get a good education. Specialty jobs are a different boat though, like tile laying, that's a specialty thing.

 

[Harper]

Finishing off school is the better thing to do. I know that a lot of employeers will flat out not consider any one that dropped out at Year 10.

Your high school marks will most likely be look at for the next 5 years or so at job interviews. At my last job interview, I did have my employeer question my marks in high school (no, they were not crash hot) and I just told him "Don't mean to be rude here, but are you going to judge me on the punk I was 6 years ago"
Funny thing happened after that was that I got the job.

Later on in life, at the your late 20's employeers then start looking what you did your past few jobs as appose to whether or not you where a ratbag in school.

 

[Oreo]

Good this has instilled a bit of confidence in me. I have already chose my A levels and decided on Maths, Physics, Computing and Geography. Would you say these are okay ?

If i do well in maths and physics and don't find it to much of a struggle i will then go on to do Physics and Astrophysics at University as a degree, is this a appreciated and respected degree or are there others i should try and get ? But if i find the maths and physics to hard i am going to do Computer Science instead.

 

[Jorsoft]

I would say finishing off school is the best thing to do. As far as how much education matters, it's going to depend entirely on the company. Smaller companies will usually place a lot more importance on experience and certs rather than a degree. It's usually the opposite with larger companies. They like seeing a degree on your resume.