meaning: 上不了大学做别的工作也一样

[kavanin]

上大学当然很好， 上不了大学做别的工作也一样。

This is what I understand first:

"It's of course good to go to university, unable to go to university makes other works also the same."

Thinking about 5 mins,

"..., (those who are) unable to go to university also do other works as well."

What would you say?

[li3wei1]

Of course it's good to go to university, but if you can't do that, doing other work is also good.

[fanglu]

Of course its good to go to uni, but if you can't, working is just as good.

[kavanin]

Thank you.

[creamyhorror]

You confusion partly stems from how you aren't aware that 做工作 = "do a job".

[陳德聰]

I think the trouble is in the implicit 'if' here.

（如果）上不了大學（就）做別的工作

[anonymoose]

Also, I don't know if the same logic carries over to Chinese, but translating literally into English, this sentence seems strange. Unless you consider going to university as working, then it is odd to include "别的" in the sentence.

[Kenny同志]

I don't know if the same logic carries over to Chinese, but translating literally into English, this sentence seems strange.

Yes, the same logic applies to Chinese as well. And the original is strange too.

Unless you consider going to university as working, then it is odd to include "别的" in the sentence.

I agree. The sentence is flawed.

[YuanShikai]

I understand the sentence as referring to the common situation that uni graduates in China can't find proper jobs and have to do low level jobs. So if you don't get into a university and start working right away you might end up with the same job as a graduate.

[skylee]

Re #9, I don't think that the sentence conveys so much. It just says that working could be just as good as studying in university if one can't get into one in the first place. It does not elaborate how working is "as good".

[TToPE1871]

is it valid or at least gramatically correct to say 去不了大学 ?