University degree not worth as much as touted

ninky_2

Asheron wrote: »

A college education may not be worth as much as you think...


For years, higher education was touted as a safe path to professional and financial success. Easy money, in the form of student loans, flowed to help parents and students finance degrees, with the implication that in the long run, a bachelor's degree was a good bet. Graduates, it has long been argued, would be able to build solid careers that would earn them far more than their high-school educated counterparts.

:rotfl:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703822404575019082819966538.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEFifthNews

comes as no surprise to me. the real thing that makes statistical differences in future earning is parental background / status. those with a degree are also more likely to have a higher status background (and all the trimmings that go along with this). the truth is though, those with a high status background still tend to do well even when they drop out or flunk education.

a working class kid doing an arts based degree is less likely to do well than a school dropout from the upper classes. plus they will have saddled themselves with a lot of debt.

unfortunately, it's not what you know it's who you know as they say.

i'm from a not particularly privileged background and got a first class media degree (no sneering please!) but i'm financially worse off than my sister who flunked her a-levels and got a job in a call centre and a foot on the property ladder sooner than me.

lostinrates

Really2 wrote: »

That kind of sums up what I am trying to say. The latter degree there gains you knowledge but is it really worth it (if your reason to going to university was to gain a good career)

OK, lets use DH as an example. He has a BA (Hons) (Arch. and Anth.). (and sme irrelevant post grads) to get on to a Law conversion course he needed a degree...any degree in any subject. He could have saved a year doing jurisprudence or law, or gained 3/4 years of interest and diversity. Ultimately, in his shoes (even if going straight on not having a different career first) I'd have done the same.

Really2

lostinrates wrote: »

OK, lets use DH as an example. He has a BA (Hons) (Arch. and Anth.). (and sme irrelevant post grads) to get on to a Law conversion course he needed a degree...any degree in any subject. He could have saved a year doing jurisprudence or law, or gained 3/4 years of interest and diversity. Ultimately, in his shoes (even if going straight on not having a different career first) I'd have done the same.

Sorry you lost me are you saying doing a degree in art is good idea to do a law degree?

I suppose my look at it is my family member is an EA and has a degree in psychology and sociology. He could have started work in his chosen career 3 years earlier:)

As I have said lots of time now I am not anti degree, but I do think doing one for the sake of it because the state pick up some of the tab is wrong.
An educated workforce is a good thing, but there are saturation points and also an educated workforce does not guarantee a productive one.

Like carol said about Germany, they do apprenticeships (well she did not talk about that but germany is a good point on education and work).
I think sometimes this country should go back to a education/work related system other than just purely academic.

Some of the cleverest sharpest people are usually some of the lowest academic achievers as they are constantly waiting for others to catch up.
This then leads o them being seen as disruptive and the cycle then begins. Perhaps a more mixed system would highlight these and pull them forward instead of pushing them back.

Pretani

I've been through the education system and what I've come to realise is that if a student excels in one discipline at A-level or equivalent (even if they are poor at other subjects), they have a greater chance of getting employed in the profession they graduated with.....[eg A + A* at A-level]

If a student doesn't excel in one discipline at A-level, but still does well overall, they tend to find it harder to find the job they studied for at degree level....[eg B + C at A-level]. They still get graduate jobs, but not in what they studied for.

When I finished my degree around 10-20% of the students got graduate jobs in the profession they studied for. Approx 30% got graduate jobs, but not in the area they studied, and around 20% went on to study another course.

If you don't hit a high grade at A-level the chances of you graduating in your chosen profession is slim. If you don't hit at least a B, the chances of you getting some graduate job is also slim.

If you've hit not higher than C + D at A-level, don't waste your time or your money going to Uni.

Frozenace

I was fortunate to go through private education abroad, got to the UK, speaking 3 languages and then got a BSc in Computer Science.

Back then it was pretty easy to get a job, but now the more I work, the more I think i want a Masters to give me time to study what I really want (I want to do Business, Management or Economics).

However, the mortgage and ever increasing tuition fees doesn't help.

tomstickland

I regard my degree as well worth the effort and cost.
I did a very untrendy mechanical engineering course and all of my contemparies that I've heard from have been in full time employment since the end of the course.

Pretani

I agree with Tom, mechanical engineering and any type of specialised engineering which doesn't involve mass production is still alive and well in the UK.....that's a good degree to take up.

Really2

Pretani wrote: »

I agree with Tom, mechanical engineering is still alive and well in the UK.....that's a good degree to take up. it's a specialised job and doesn't necessarily involve mass production.

I agree any degree towards a career is worth it, I did not agree with carol that people who do work based training are basically unemployable if they lose their job, if your work disappears no matter your education you either have to mover or take a massive cut and retrain.

I have employed had grads and non grads and TBH education is a very small part of how suitable a person is for a job unless the job demands a qualification (EG like Tom or doctor, teacher etc)

Pretani

Really2 wrote: »

I agree any degree towards a career is worth it,

but if you don't excell in that degree you'll not get employed in the profession of your choice.

ILW

Cleaver wrote: »

I'd still look at someone's experience, skills, how I reckon they'd fit in to my team and (for a more junior role) their potential and attitude. Not really that bothered if their degree is a 2:2 from Luton or a first from Cambridge to be honest. And I find if you only pick people from similar universities, with similar high grades you end up with a very one dimensional work-force.

Good that we're all different though and I guess it depends what sector you're recruiting to.

What if someone had all the above qualities in abundance, but no degree, would you employ them?