We love being asked what we do, because our response is always ‘NotGoingToUni’…and to be honest, this response is generally met with some slightly blank looks.  But the blank looks are soon followed by a series of interested questions regarding what we do, how we do it and, perhaps most importantly, why we do it.  In a nutshell, we’re a careers service for school and college leavers.  We offer advice and opportunities for guys and girls like you who’ve consciously decided that you’re NotGoingToUni (see how it all ties up? Genius).

We’re not like your average careers adviser, you’re average parent or you’re average tutor.  We’re you.  Literally.  We’re a coalition of young, able, intelligent individuals, just like you, who’ve decided that there’s another way; a way to avoid the inevitable cycle of debt accumulation and repayment, a way which can absolutely fulfill your vocational aspirations: three years quicker than if you’d gone to uni.  For all you curious folk out there, the following information should answer your questions and quandaries about us.  But if it doesn’t - if you still want to know more about us - then don’t hesitate to drop us a line at info@notgoingtouni.co.uk.  Our emails are manned by friendly, capable human beings and they’ll get back you as soon as they can with the info you need. Hurrah.

So Who’s NotGoingToUni?

NotGoingToUni was founded by Tom Mursell.  Tom’s just your average 18 year old who found himself under that strange, ubiquitous pressure to go to uni - the same pressure you might be finding yourself under right now.  But Tom wanted out.  He knew the situation well, and he could see that he wasn’t being shown all the options available.  Tom took a deep breath, stood up slowly, and said ‘No.  No, there’s another way.  There are options.  There are alternatives.’  Tom started NotGoingToUni to share the options and alternatives he’s discovered with the thousands of young people in the same situation.

NotGoingToUni’s unique right now, because we’re an organisation run by young people, for young people.

What is NotGoingToUni?

Primarily, NotGoingToUni exists to disseminate information, to act as a portal for school/college leavers so they can see the real alternatives to uni for themselves, so they can make decisions for themselves.  One of the most important things you can realize at this stage - the stage between college, uni, and the actual real world - is that you’re not alone.  NotGoingToUni offers you a place where you can be with like-minded individuals, and we can all benefit from each other’s experiences.  But that’s not all.

We’re also here to help university students who are currently unhappy.  It’s important that you know we’re not in any way anti-uni, and even less anti-student.  If you’re at uni, or you’re going soon, then congratulations.  NotGoingToUni sincerely hopes it works out for you.  But if you’re a student currently struggling to come to terms with the fact that uni’s not exactly what you thought it would be, we can help. Perhaps recently you’ve felt an indefinable sense of frustration; a feeling of negativity which doesn’t seem to have a source you can point to, and which therefore can’t be fixed.  Perhaps by visiting NotGoingToUni you’re just keeping your options open; keeping an eye on the market.  It doesn’t matter to us why you’re here.  You’re here and we can help.  Because we’re like that.

But if you’re NotGoingToUni (look at that! Seamless…) then we can help you find the career you want.  Not only that, we can offer you tips for interviews, how to start job hunting and all the other info you might need to bag the career of your dreams.  Why settle for anything less?!

Why are you NotGoingToUni?

‘Why’ really is the big one.  Why should we be doing this?  To understand that, let’s get a little intimate with the facts.  There are stories in the media every couple of weeks, and if you’re up to date on the latest educational news (and why wouldn’t you be?  It’s exciting.  Honest.) then you probably already know that, despite £800 million being spent on curbing it, university drop-out rates continue to stand at almost 1 in 4. That’s a really huge amount of people.  That’s several tens of thousands of young people who will be feeling very low, very let down, disillusioned, disenfranchised, isolated and without any real direction.  This is why we’re NotGoingToUni.  And it might be why you’re thinking about NotGoingToUni too.