University Degrees and their value...

[tedebear]

Just watching the evening news and the story about the kids waiting for their results tomorrow. Certainly do feel for them and fingers crossed but I do wonder sometimes what they think they are going to achieve with some of the degrees that are on offer.

So to get jobs in Engineering, Medicine, Accounting, Law, Architecture, Sciences etc etc - you need the requisite degree.

But what about History, Philosophy, Art History, Scoiology etc... I'm just curious as to what the kids being advised they can achieve with degrees like this? and yes if the truth be told I do sometime ponder that these may be less than useful degrees but happy to be proven wrong!! Also in light of the increasing expense of Uni, it seems some of these could be considered for Camerons chopping block!

 

[clarkey]

Im doing History and I'll be just fine thanks. Media Studies, Photography etc, they're the ones you need to worry about. Guess it depends on the Uni though.

 

[adrian29uk]

I respect students who get degrees in Engineering, Electronics, Science and Medicine. These are the people we need. We don't need more bloody students with degrees in International Business Studies and Law who go on to become high powered bankers and barristers, solicitors who in my eyes do nothing productive for this country whatsoever, apart from of course having the nerve to charge you 25 pounds for a letter when you need legal advice.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Just watching the evening news and the story about the kids waiting for their results tomorrow. Certainly do feel for them and fingers crossed but I do wonder sometimes what they think they are going to achieve with some of the degrees that are on offer.

So to get jobs in Engineering, Medicine, Accounting, Law, Architecture, Sciences etc etc - you need the requisite degree.

But what about History, Philosophy, Art History, Scoiology etc... I'm just curious as to what the kids being advised they can achieve with degrees like this? and yes if the truth be told I do sometime ponder that these may be less than useful degrees but happy to be proven wrong!! Also in light of the increasing expense of Uni, it seems some of these could be considered for Camerons chopping block!

I know plenty of people (from my generation (God, that makes me feel old) that needed degrees for entry level jobs in PR and what-have-you.

There are plenty of degrees such as History and so on, that garner skills that are far more useful than your average school leaver.

It's good fun to learn as well. Although, I take your hidden point that a lot of people will do degrees for the sake of it.

 

[tedebear]

Im doing History and I'll be just fine thanks. Media Studies, Photography etc, they're the ones you need to worry about. Guess it depends on the Uni though.

What do you intend using your degree for?

 

[tedebear]

It's good fun to learn as well.

Absolutely - learning makes us better people I have no doubt. I'm just curious as to any people who have done the history, arts and the media studies, photography that Clarkey mentioned - and what did they use it for?

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Nails it, learning is a worthy cause in itself sometimes.

 

[HseagullsH]

If anything the university you go to is just as important as your degree. I'm taking maths with economics at hopefully a top 20 university (fingers crossed for tomorrow ) but that is partly due to the reasons you have stated.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy the subjects, but there does seem a risk in taking a less 'academical' subject just incase you come out after three years and be back to where you've started.

There's nothing wrong if students choose courses which will hardly enhance their career prospects but I do think that needs to be made clear to students though. People are so often convinced that having a degree is the be all and end all, when clearly it isn't...

I know a gaggle of history graduates and they have all gone on to things like teaching, PR and law.

Yeh I know someone who has got into banking and finance through his history degree.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

I believe history is the most popular degree for company board members according to a survey by the CBI a few years ago. History is also highly valued by the legal profession.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Absolutely - learning makes us better people I have no doubt. I'm just curious as to any people who have done the history, arts and the media studies, photography that Clarkey mentioned - and what did they use it for?

I know a gaggle of history graduates and they have all gone on to things like teaching, PR and law.

 

[tedebear]

Surely though if you do a history degree then you have to go back and do a law degree or get another qualification to teach?

 

[Spun Cuppa]

It wasn't that long ago that having a degree was the exception, but now it is much more common. It seems the bar has been raised and you need an MA to get into what were previously degree requirement jobs

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Surely though if you do a history degree then you have to go back and do a law degree or get another qualification to teach?

Everyone has to go back and do a PGCE or an LPC, I think.

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

So don't worry guys, if you pass tomorrow it's cos the exams are piss easy, not that it matters cos the degrees your trying to get are worthless.

 

[HseagullsH]

It wasn't that long ago that having a degree was the exception, but now it is much more common. It seems the bar has been raised and you need an MA to get into what were previously degree requirement jobs

Not really. From what I understand having an MA is needed to 'set you apart' from the rest but I know the graduates in maths from Southampton university are able to go straight into decent finance related jobs. That's if they have a minimum of a 2:1 though.

EDIT: I guess it won't be so easy in the current climate.

 

[tedebear]

So don't worry guys, if you pass tomorrow it's cos the exams are piss easy, not that it matters cos the degrees your trying to get are worthless.

*sigh*

 

[clarkey]

What do you intend using your degree for?

Personally Im lucky enough to go to a Uni which means it is a passport to a number of jobs in itself. Im currently applying to a number of accountants, investment banks and management consultancy firms.

Your original point is valid however History is perhaps a poor example. It gives you very highly respected and sought after transferable skills. For example, writing competency, communication, analytical skills, ability to hand large amounts of often complex information and form your own opinions on it. And as others have said, its incredibly interesting. But maybe Im just biased!

 

[clapham_gull]

Im doing History and I'll be just fine thanks. Media Studies, Photography etc, they're the ones you need to worry about. Guess it depends on the Uni though.

Unless you want to work as a photographer or in television.

I've always worked on the technical side of television having originally taken a Media Studies and Business Management Degree. That was back in the days when hardly any Universities did it though. Mine was at Manchester.

As part of that degree we were put on a placement and it was from that I started my career getting a job back in London with the same company after I graduated.

Wonderful time working on location for Channel Four, but it wasn't for me - so I picked up more of the computer type stuff I learnt on the business side, but applying it to the technical media stuff I gleaned from the media side.

I've never really done traditional IT having only ever worked in an actual IT department for a short period of time. I tend to work with the other type people (schedulers, tape operators in the old days, transmission operators) who need some specific IT/TV knowledge that they wouldn't necessarily get from ringing up a help desk.

So it's a bit difficult for me to knock the subject of my first degree. It set me up nicely thanks so I won't waste my time retrospectively worrying about it.

Many years later I find myself taking a break from finishing my final project for my Masters in Computer Science and am posting on NSC. Luckily the my first degree wasn't considered to be wasteful and I passed the entrance requirements. Of course my work experience helped, but my degree helped massively in getting into this industry.

I did that just for fun (and for the sake of it I guess) but would encourage anybody to have a stab at doing one. Obviously I paid to do it, but not as expensive as I thought and all after work.

From experience the degree that's the most useful is Law. It opens all sorts of doors, especially if you don't want to enter the legal profession.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

They seem a bit meaningless at the moment - myself and a lot of people I know with varying degrees ranging between 2:2 and 1st's are either in a job they could probably have got into straight frmo college, or are signed on.

Fingers crossed that will change as we pull out of this slump - but it seems that you have to be a mini genius, rather than just clever, to get one one of the major graduate schemes at the moment.

 

[beorhthelm]

a degree isnt just about the subject, its also about the demonstration of intellect, ability to learn, research and potential to add and improve the body of knowledge. this is why a degree in History and similar still have value. I think generally, if you want to pursue a particular field you need a degree in it, but many transfer or get masters to focus on a career after doing a degree in the subject they enjoy.

the issue of things like Media Studies isnt that they are worthless per se, rather that there are so many of them and they tend to come from the lower teir universities. which btw is equally if not more important than the subject to many, where you got the degree.