Placement year

[adolf hamster]

on the flip side of this, not sure if you can avoid doing a placement year? It makes getting a graduate job easier however, you could graduate a year early, try harder for graduate job and get a job that pays 25k+ (ie circa 10k more). Depends how competitive a field you want to go into.

depends on the uni, my tech course it was voluntary [if recommended], my uni course [currently] will deny you access to final year if you dont do it [there are some exceptions, like if you're a mature student with plenty of experience under your belt]

not all places will have it compulsory, but its still a good idea. the problem with this issue is that [in my opinion] students arent yet in a position to be chopping and changing offers, company gets wind of that you'll soon find yourself without. tbf, if you accept an offer do you want the company turning round and saying 'nah mate, i know we said, but then we found someone better'.

There is no downside to doing it really. Yes I could finish my degree a year earlier and potentially be on ~25k but I think taking a placement year will mature me in many ways, teach me lots of new things in the workplace related and not related to engineering.

that's the attitude man, accept or deny is your choice but i'd only say no if there was something truly awful [in which case i wouldnt have applied] about it and i had a good stack of reserve applications.