When I leave college, I can do one of 2 things;
- Go to Higher Education
- Look for employment or become self employed
Higher Education:
I can look for Higher Education in universities and colleges, both have their own good and bad qualities to bare in mind when it comes to price, availability, course content, success rates, etcetera.
I will look at more universities than colleges because there are more factors to consider with university options.
University Options:
- Huddersfield University
- Manchester BIMM
- Edge Hill
- University of Nottingham
Links:
courses.hud.ac.uk/2019-20/full-time/undergraduate/creative-music-production-ba-hons
courses.hud.ac.uk/2019-20/full-time/undergraduate/sonic-arts-and-composition-bmus-hons
www.bimm.co.uk/study/courses/manchester/music-production/music-production-mr/
www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy/courses/music/music-and-music-technology-ba.aspx
What I’m looking for in a University:
- I want my Universities to be close by if possible, so I don’t have to pay for student accommodation as it would be cheaper for me to pay for travel, so it would be ideal for me to have a university West Yorkshire as the cost for a train and bus pass would be cheaper as it’s single county. This is only a big thing for me as my student loan would be the minimum amount as my parents earn way over the set amount for the minimum student loan, and so money conservation is a big thing for me.
- High quality resources, for example, easy to access equipment and information, etcetera. This is important for me because, if I’m traveling, I wont have access to all the things I would have at home, like my studio equipment, computer, etcetera, and so having these things on campus for use whilst I’m there would be ideal, especially if the equipment is of a higher quality than my own.
- High quality teaching (TEF Gold). A university with TEF Gold would be great as it shows that the teachers and their standards of teaching are some of the best in the country, and I would be getting some of the best teaching and tutoring possible.
Because of these reasons, Huddersfield University has been, and will be, my first choice since I began looking at Universities as it fits into all these categories and would be ideal for me, and the more I’ve researched into it, the better it has become for me, as I’ve found that Huddersfield University is amongst the best when it comes to music technology, thanks to its wide variety of specialised courses, for example they have a course for sound design, a course for designing audio software, and more creative courses, like the Music for Sound and Image course, or the Creative Music Production course, which I have a lot of interest in. After looking into the courses in more detail, I also found that the courses are very similar to the UAL in structure which would allow me to have a lot more freedom and independence when it comes to the actual content of the course. I especially like the final year project that Huddersfield do, which is just like the final project for the UAL course, where you get to choose what you do to represent the skills you’ve learnt as best you can.
Also, I found myself discouraged from the other Universities for multiple reasons. For example, Edge Hill and Nottingham University are very far away and would leave me with no other choice but to move away and live in student accommodation, and even though Manchester’s BIMM is still quite close to me, it would be much more expensive for travel as I will be travelling across county borders and my bus and train pass would cost a lot more, if I’m not already driving by that point anyway. As I’ve already explained, student accommodation would be too expensive for me, as I’ve witnessed with my sister Robyn’s experience with it. After she left for university, she found herself immediately short on funds and had to rely on borrowing £100 a week to pay for her food and other living costs because her entire student loan went on paying her rent. She got to experience hardly any of the fun parts of university life and she found herself focusing more on trying to secure a job than her work and education. I believe, for my ventures into university to be as successful as possible, I would have to make the best out of my funds as I see huge benefits in driving, which I am going to begin lessons for during the coming holiday, which is incredibly expensive. Having a car would mean I could take performance, recording and production gear with me, and make it much easier to develop myself and follow my career as a producer and musician.
Employment:
Instead of choosing to go into University, I could also choose to enter into employment as soon as I leave college. This would have certain benefits over education, however it will also have downsides in comparison.
Positives:
- I will be earning more money and costs would be much lower than university.
- I would gain much more experience in my field of work.
- I would have much more freedom when it comes to what I spend my time on as I will not have assignments, etc.
Negatives:
- I would miss out on gaining a degree in my chosen field of expertise.
- I wouldn’t learn many of the thing I would at university.
- I would miss out on university life, which many people say is a key stage for them in their lives.
My Experiences with Employment:
“I currently work on a day to day basis for two companies, I am a labourer for Transform Ltd, and an Assistant Heating Engineer for Fluetech Ltd, I have gained a large amount of experience with safety equipment and procedures and customer service and interactment from both of these jobs. I see myself as highly approachable and technologically adept due to my skills with customer service and my experience using technology and equipment in a work environment.” This is an extract from my CV in which I explain my skills I have learnt from being in employment so far.
Curriculum Vitae:
Update (10/12/18):
As of today, I have secured another job with Pound Bakery in Bradford, starting this coming Friday. This job was secured after I went out and actively handed out my CV in as many places as possible, I found out after my interview today that I was the only person considered for the job available.
Self Employment:
Being self employed has certain benefits and downsides over regular employment as well.
Positives:
- Being your own boss gives you complete freedom over what you do.
- You would earn 100% of the profit you gained, minus the costs.
- You can expand your business and increase your profits, provided you put the hard work in.
Negatives:
- Being your own boss means you are completely responsible for your own actions.
- Being self employed is usually incredibly costly to begin with and takes a lot of work and re-investment to become even slightly successful.
- Financial stability is non-existent, as you don’t have a set salary, and the amount of work you are getting can sometimes drop immediately, leaving you with no choices as a business.