Making my choice between university and apprenticeships

I've always enjoyed school. I love learning, and I've been lucky that it's reflected in my academic grades. Because of my aptitude, my teachers right from primary school all the way until college assumed that I would go to university. Heck, I assumed I would go to university!

My high school especially really drove home the idea that the only way for me to succeed would be to go to university. To give you a bit of context, I grew up pretty poor. I lived (and still live) in a postcode that unis often pick up on to make contextual offers, especially if your parents haven’t gone to uni.

So in high school had quite a lot of unis coming into school and speaking to us, but I just couldn’t find myself that interested. I thought there was something wrong with me. All I felt was anxiety. Whenever I thought about going to university, scenes flashed in my mind of me being cooped up in a library studying all day. Sleeping late and waking up sick. Being isolated from my family and too busy to see the trees through the forest. Most of all, I love learning, but I couldn’t see myself staying in academia for that long. I wanted to get out there into the workforce and make things happen.

However, unlike a lot of other schools, we also had apprenticeship providers come into our school because not many people in my area went onto do a traditional university degree.

When I was in year 9, Manchester Metropolitan University came in to speak to us about their apprenticeship programme and they explained how apprenticeships worked. Something immediately clicked. So I don’t have to go to uni and worry about performing well on traditional exams and essay writing? I can actually go out and learn from working? I just fell in love with it, and I told every teacher I was doing an apprenticeship.

When I told my parents, my mum, who never went to uni, was really supportive but said it sounded too good to be true. She was worried because she still believed that getting a degree was the most important thing. But then I told her you could get a degree through an apprenticeship and she was sold. My dad’s Persian, and he has a very traditional mindset, so he thought the only way “to survive in this world” would be to go uni, but we warmed him up to the idea. We sat down and explained to him that I could still get the degree but in a way that suited me better.

Let me pause there – I really owe everything to my mum. She is an incredible parent. She did all the research and shared her judgement with me. She also made it clear to me that whatever decision I chose, she’d have my back. I felt confident and secure to try exploring.

And so a bit of credit to myself. Knowing that I wanted to do a degree apprenticeship after college, I pursued some work experience with local employers. I wanted to test my desire in practice: do I really want to enter the workforce that soon? Finding those work placements was scary and made me question if I was just being difficult by not accepting the uni route. But every single work experience just made me more and more certain.

Then I graduated high school, went onto A-levels and got a part-time job. I've always wanted to be a generalist, so I chose general A levels that complemented the world of Management. I chose English Language because you’ve got to talk to people and understand what they’re trying to say. Maths, because you’ve got to understand how data works, and Psychology because you’ve got to work with people. I found myself trying to apply the theory I’d learnt at school at my part-time job – like observing how my manager dealt with me and others, the words they used, the way they dealt with our various personalities.

But then…Another roadblock. Covid-19 strikes. Good thing I got my work experience in early, huh. But I felt frustrated: Covid led to companies reducing or pausing their recruitment intakes. A lot of people found themselves not in education, employment, or training. I was lucky to be in college at that time.

Unfortunately, my college teachers, just like my high school teachers, told me not to do an apprenticeship. “It’s a waste” was always on the tip of their tongue. Our careers guidance team seemed to only have experience supporting students considering university. I got no support and so I was full of spite. I remember once during form time, my tutor still pushed me to fill out a UCAS application for a traditional degree. I started one, closed the tab, and spent that time doing what I knew was right: looking for apprenticeships. When we had time to work on personal statements, I worked on cover letters. By the way, I’d find the apprenticeship on the Government website or RateMyApprenticeship, and I investigated further by visiting the company’s career website. That was the cycle I got into when looking for apprenticeships.

Exploring apprenticeships made me excited. It felt like I could do anything. When it came to applying, I saw that most of them were based in London. I didn’t want to move, which limited my options a bit. Some sectors didn’t interest me, and I wasn’t going to apply to something just for the sake of it and clog the up the pipeline for everyone else.

After doing loads of research in form time and at home, I’d finally settled on three apprenticeships that I spent all of my free weekends crafting three different versions of my CV and cover letter for. I was particularly keen on the BT apprenticeship.

One didn’t get back to me. I got through to the interview stage for another and then got rejected – I knew it’s because I fluffed up a question despite all my preparation. I felt pretty sorry for myself but I was looking forward to the BT one because it felt different – it felt right.

Rejected.

Huh? But it was going so well. My work experience, grades, and extracurricular activities were outstanding. My CV and psychometric assessment and one-sided interview were great.

I read the email tens of times. I didn’t even understand what they were saying. All the effort I’d put in was supposed to pay off. I hadn’t messed up, but they wouldn’t give me a place in an assessment centre.

I screamed. I cried. I texted my therapist, telling her I wanted to die. I’d messed up.

And what was it then? What about me was so wrong that this multinational organisation couldn’t explain why they’d rejected me?

After weeks of emailing, I got a “something something covid” response.

I cried for a while. I wasn’t sure of what to do. It felt like a joke. Me, the safest person in the world took a risk and got punished for it. Fortunately, I had my family and my therapist help me pick up the pieces.

I took a gap year, where I worked evil hours at McDonalds and went to therapy. I waited until applications opened up, applied two apprenticeships, and scored them both: another one at BT and one at AstraZeneca. I got on the Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship with BT, which was the one I wanted because it was what I applied for the first time. And although I was angry at BT for a while, I don’t think it was anyone’s fault. I felt like their apprenticeship suited me better than AstraZeneca’s because you could rotate through different roles. And looking back, I'm really glad I got a gap year.

Now I’m a multi-award-winning apprentice. I’ve led on big programmes that enable my colleagues to do their jobs even better. I mentor fellow apprentices, go out to schools, and lead a DE&I team.

Every day is fun!

 

Hannah Rashidi

Multi Award-Winning Chartered Management Degree Apprentice at BT / NW Apprenticeship Ambassador / UCAS Apprenticeship Advisory Board Member / BT Early Careers Ambassador

You can find out more and connect with Hannah on LinkedIn.