What’s Next After A-Levels? A Guide To Your Options

It can often feel like your entire academic career is laid out before you. It is simply expected that you are going to do your GSCE’s and then your A-Levels, and then what? What are you meant to do after that? Most students today are incredibly fortunate; they have a lot of options. Let’s take a look at your options.

Get A Job

If you have completed your A-Levels, you find yourself simply exhausted by the idea of further education, then you can always choose to get a job. You don’t have to work out your career aspirations right out of the gate. You could choose to get a job in retail or hospitality to help you to earn some money while you work out what you want to do.

Speaking of getting a job, you could decide to start your own business. The internet has made it easier than ever before. You can create an e-commerce business incredibly cheaply. You don’t need to rent a space or take on any staff. All you need to do is to procure the stock and create an online storefront.

Find An Apprenticeship

After you have done your A-Levels, you could choose to do an apprenticeship. They come in different levels, and often they are seen as a combination of getting a job and a degree. You gain industry-standard training and qualifications while also receiving a salary. If you already have an idea of the field that you want to go into, an apprenticeship can be a great way to get your foot in the door, and there is also no student loan debts to worry about.

Go On To Further Education

If you don’t feel ready to leave education just yet, you can choose to go to college or university. For some careers, a degree is at the very least advantageous if not necessary. Think about the type of career that you might enjoy. Or think about topics or subjects that you enjoyed at school and want to learn more about. Further education can go beyond an undergraduate degree too. There are postgraduate degrees, masters and doctorates.

Some careers demand further education, and in being more qualified, you can make more money. For example, dentistry is a pretty well-paid career, but in learning more and obtaining a postgraduate degree, you can widen your scope and take on higher-paying roles. However, after the initial undergraduate degree, further learning doesn’t necessarily have to be undertaken within a standard learning environment.

Instead, they can be done online, alongside your job, meaning that you don’t have to take any more time out to complete them. To use the dentistry example again, there are a number of postgraduate courses in orthodontics. This offers a fine chance to break into a career that could change your life, and earn you a decent salary at the same time.

Conclusion

Thinking about your options can be a little overwhelming. It can often feel as though your whole life hinges on the decision that you make. However, this is not the case; you can change your mind. Try to think about choosing something that you will enjoy. If you enter into a job or further education for the wrong reasons, you will likely come to regret it.

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