But the minimum wage for apprentices in their first year is just £2.73 an hour. After the first year, this rises to £3.79 for someone under 18, £5.13 for an 18 to 20 year-old, and £6.50 for someone aged 21 and over.  Typical starting salaries at some of Britain's best-known brands are around £15,000. This includes first year apprentices at, for example, Barclays (£13,500), Santander (£15,500), Boots (£15,500) and Grant Thornton (£14,000).  These wages tend to rise with each year of work and study. An apprentice at Unilever, for instance, starts on £13,400 but ends on £24,000 by the time they have completed the three-year programme.  What are the entry requirements?  The most coveted apprenticeships demand top grades at GCSE and A-level. A place on the Jaguar apprenticeship scheme, for example, requires maths A-level at A-C, along with a science or engineering subject.  Rejection rates of up to 99pc at the best-paying companies mean the most sought-after apprenticeship positions are as competitive as a place at Oxford and Cambridge, where around one in five applicants for undergraduate study are offered a place.  Pharmaceutical, accounting and retail firms are where competition is fiercest. Deloitte accepts just 5pc of its apprentice applicants, and GlaxoSmithKline received 30 applicants for every apprentice it hired this year.  By contrast, Marks and Spencer's school leaver programme is less stringent – asking that new recruits gain two A-levels of any grade – far below the requirements for any of Britain’s red-brick universities.  However, the retailer also disclosed that it accepts just 1pc of applicants for its 30 school leaver positions.  The real apprentices: how they did it  Sara-Jayne Barker, Nestlé craftwork apprentice  Grades: Vocational course at an agricultural college  Sara-Jayne Barker (pictured, above), a craftwork apprentice, joined Nestle aged 18. Two years later, she is based in their York factory. A typical day will include inspecting the factory machinery and carrying out repairs. The scheme pays £17,850 to first year apprentices, rising to £22,950 by third year – more than the average graduate starting salary of £21,702.  Miss Barker said that would-be apprentices shouldn’t be swayed by other people’s opinions of going straight to the workplace. She said: “For people wanting to move into the industry I would tell them to follow the path they want to.  She said her long-term goal was to study for a master’s degree and become a chartered engineer. “My long term aspirations would be to study for my master’s degree and become a chartered engineer. With this I would hope to travel for the company and gain experience working in factories abroad and hopefully manage one of these factories,” she said.  Average starting salary: £16,000 – rising after six months  Naomi Jennens-Bull achieved top grades at GCSE-level, but with six A and A* grades under her belt, she decided to go straight to work as a Jaguar apprentice.  “Even though I did well academically, as I didn't want to continue with classroom based studies in to sixth form and university,” she said.  But like many apprentices, Miss Jennens-Bull said that there is still a stigma surrounding the vocational route. She said: “Apprentices seem to have the negative connotations of not having the same prospects because you weren’t as smart.  “More needs to be done to at school or college to assure students that vocational routes aren’t ‘cop-out’ choices.”  Elsewhere, apprenticeships differ widely. By law, out hiring an apprentice employers must set out what skills or trade they will be learning. But this must not necessarily to lead to a specific qualification such as a BTEC diploma or degree.  Anna Vellucci from Newport, South Wales joined KPMG’s school leaver scheme aged 18, equipped with top grades in maths, economics and physics.  She isn't missing out on university – getting paid to study accountancy at Exeter University for six months a year and working as an audit assistant in Bristol other six months.  "I get to assist on work with local clients and have worked on a variety of different sectors ranging from aviation to cosmetics.  She said that, although she had always wanted to go to university, she also felt she needed work experience. "University was the next logical step after A-levels," she said.  Miss Vellucci applied to Bath, Exeter, Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff and got offers from all.  She said would have applied to KPMG after graduating anyway, so decided to opt for an apprenticeship instead.  The only drawback is missing out on the long summer vacation, Miss Vellucci said. "In the short term it can be a bit annoying when your fellow students have long holidays to look forward to and you have to work.  "Also, they will have their degree in half the time that it will take me, but in the long term, the work experience I’m getting really helps me to understand my course.  "Not having the stress of the debt hanging over me is such a good feeling."  Connor Sullivan, tax apprentice at Deloitte  Connor Sullivan gave up a place at Southampton University to become a Deloitte apprentice on its Bright Start school leaver scheme, aged 18. He is now an assistant manager at tax in the accountancy firm's London office.  Starting salaries at Deloitte depend on the region (offices are based across Britain) but the average wage starts at £20,000.  The company recruited 83 out of 1,500 applicants in its most recent intake for the five-year scheme.  Before starting work, Mr Sullivan went through a stringent recruitment process that included an online application, two aptitude tests and two interviews. During the final interview, he had to make a presentation and speak to a senior specialist in tax at the company.  Despite entering the workplace so young, Mr Sullivan said that he doesn't feel he has missed out by not getting a degree. "I was concerned about missing the social side of university and building life the skills you get from college.  But as soon as I got to work, I met the other school leavers on the scheme, and ended up having a great social life from living in London."  He also said that, despite being the youngest in the office, he still feels valued by his colleagues. "We are trusted with work just as much as graduates are. I was worried we wouldn't be taken seriously, but that hasn't been the case at all.  "Overall I think I made a better financial decision to doing an apprenticeship."  I'm interested. Where do I start?  You should talk to a school careers adviser, family, friends and look online to find which career might suit you.  Government-run websites apprenticeships.org.uk and the National Careers Service can provide information and advice.  But it's not always an easy route. Top performing teenagers are still being pressured to go to university, and teachers can be ill-equipped to provide guidance on apprenticeships, according to education experts.  Tony Dolphin, a research fellow at think tank IPPR, warned that a stigma surrounding non-university options made it difficult for teenagers to get the right advice.  "There is a lot of pressure on going to university. Teachers are telling kids to go to university – it's what they know and they're better equipped to explain that route," he said.  Spencer Mehlman, founder of information website Notgoingtouni.com, said young people should be encouraged to "think outside the box" and consider apprenticeships.  He said: "You should arm yourself with as much information as possible and get a sense of what the marketplace offers."  Mr Mehlman added that attitudes towards vocational learning were shifting. " Most employers bar a few sectors do not see university as the success indicator it once was."  What should I watch out for?  An apprenticeship is not necessarily an alternative to university – school leavers at Jaguar, for example, also get paid to attends Warwick University where they get an engineering degree after six years.  Even if your apprenticeship does not include a university degree, you will gain valuable training and qualifications.  However, insiders have warned young people to steer clear of jobs branded as an "apprenticeship scheme," which may lack proper regulation.  As it stands, there are minimal training requirements for school leaver jobs. Employers can apply for funding to cover course costs, for example at a local college, but can also provide "on-site training" that varies in quality.  Rob Wall, head of employment at the Confederation of British Industries (CBI), said: “We’re seeing more apprenticeship positions opening, but we want to ensure that those on offer are of a high quality."  "We need better training, and more regulation of apprenticeships, to plug the skills gap in the economy."  More money saving tips: Sign up for our weekly newsletter  – Find us on Facebook and Twitter
The scramble to recruit top-performing teenagers isn't limited to elite   universities &ndash; British businesses are also taking on thousands of young   apprentices. And they pay