University degree not worth as much as touted

StevieJ

Good luck Pobby you always sound like a very pleasant and interesting person
to know.

dopester

snugglepet20 wrote: »

nurse training is 50% theory and 50% practical including the degree version which has been available for many years and indeed many nurses currently hold degrees and masters degrees. The training is incredibly hard going and nurses are at university all year not the 33 weeks most students get and it is 50 hours a week minimum so by the time you qualify you are quite experienced.

I was visiting a relative in a hospital the other week. The nurses in the ward I was in worked hard whilst I was there (6 hours)... remaining nice and pleasant with me and my relative.. whilst always busy and having some not-so-nice tasks to do. I saw a minor celeb crying having received bad news about their relative that day.

There is this girl working in the NHS I've recently met who I could easily fall in love with... but I added a policy rule to follow a while back; 1) 'Never fall in love during a house price crash.' Last think I need is to lose focus, get giddy, and do something stupid like massively overpay for a house.

As for University degrees... now is not the time to be taking on big style old-world debt going into heavy deflationary conditions for jobs and pay - unless you are pretty confident the degree will give you a real jump ahead of the competition for jobs and pay.

I'm not saying people with 2:2s and below are stupid... but a relative recently had to weed out the applications/CVs for 2 positions for anyone who didn't have a 2:1 and above. Their firm has to narrow down the 1000+ applicants somehow, and they don't have the time to spot possible bright sparks/late-developers/alternative creative types who didn't make the academic grade.

Although this relative of mine would have now been on £40K now, as others just before them on the same path went on to earn... if deflationary conditions hadn't forced a total pay-freeze during the past 2 years... seeing them stuck on £25K. Although they are perhaps lucky still to be on £25K and not have lost their job as their other friends at other companies have.

fc123

Pobby wrote: »

Given that I don`t fall out with the people I have drawn customers to, there is no reason that I should not carry on what I do into retirement. That would be interesting because I wouldn`t have to draw on any form of retirement benefit, not even the state pension.
However, I also have as fall back ( still got a few years to do before retirement ) the local taxi knowledge, got that a decade ago between businesses, always worth a few bob. Also studying a computer certification. Picked up some years ago that if you are self employed it`s possible to do quite well using different skills to earn a few bob.

I am also in the process of doing an e-commerce course and already I am talking to a California based e-company regarding a UK distribution deal. Got to keep the old brain cells ticking.

All sounds good Pobby

Unfortunately, my dad has had to give up his political stuff and some academic work as he is now, finally, stone deaf. The hearing aids and loop systems stopped working recently.
As far as I know he still writes etc (he is an Emeritus prof) and is involved in research but it has really changed things quite quickly. Apart from that@ age 78, fit as a fiddle.

I miss talking with him...it's different communicating by e-mail and in person I have to gesticulate and try to express what I am saying but it's not the same as having an in depth chat.

I am passionate about getting educated even if it's just to learn how to research things for yourself. My MIL is uneducated (left school @ 14) and it has hindered her all her life. Not in terms of earning (though that too) but she just accepts everything 'as is' ...has caused her all sorts of problems over the years.
It's causing massive problems now and OH and I have to try and sort out the mess.

fc123

dopester wrote: »

There is this girl working in the NHS I've recently met who I could easily fall in love with... but I added a policy rule to follow a while back; 1) 'Never fall in love during a house price crash.' Last think I need is to lose focus, get giddy, and do something stupid like massively overpay for a house.

. .

I fell in love in 1985. There is bound to be a graph somewhere showing some dire economic event during Sept 1985. There could have been a plague or something somewhere too.

If it's right, doesn't matter what else is going on...tents are cosier with 2 in them anyway. Don't let it go...I know 3 people very close to me who let the right person go as 'it wasn't the right time' on a practical level.
They have big regrets now.

It's my 22nd anniversary today and I nearly let him go in 1986 to go to Italy to work post college (it would have been amazing and fabulous for my career...I even had learnt the language 4 years prior in preperation to go)...and I dithered (because it felt special) and then fell pregnant and the rest is history.

You just watch the HPC 2 as a team instead.:o

dopester

fc123 wrote: »

It's my 22nd anniversary today and I nearly let him go in 1986 to go to Italy to work post college (it would have been amazing and fabulous for my career...I even had learnt the language 4 years prior in preperation to go)...and I dithered (because it felt special) and then fell pregnant and the rest is history.

You just watch the HPC 2 as a team instead.:o

Aww fc. Happy 22nd anniversary to you both. From other bits of info I've gleaned over time, yours in a very appealing example to what a successful and happy marriage (or 'long-term relationship' for those who are Labour 'anti-marriage') can and should be all about.

lostinrates

dopester, honestly, don't let anything get in the way of love..seriously. You are a dear, dear person..and having someone you are in love with loving you back would only improve your life: crash/no crash.

SingleSue

niccatw wrote: »

:rotfl:I can't believe they're quizzing you about O levels/GCSEs when you have the above! Either they're scard of your qualifications or they're too young to ever have heard of O levels. :eek:

It's all a bit bizarre really. When I applied for my second degree, I had to go through individual and group interviews, plus submit a piece of timed written working "because I'd been out of education" (for a whole 2 years -shock horror!) I think I was 24ish at the time... none of the girls (my profession is very female dominated ) coming straight from school had to do that. Boo!

It was the questioning which gave me the incentive to finish the ECDL and do the degree...the counselling course was taken to cover the eventuality of working in a school, not that the new qualifications have made any difference yet!

When I started my degree, I had been out of education for 23 years (eek, if I say it quickly, it doesn't seem too bad) apart from taking a GCSE in 1994 via night school and starting an A level in 1995, which was cancelled after a year because the student numbers dropped below a certain level, unfortunately, no AS levels back then. I did worry about how I would cope, especially when it came to essays as someone said refresher courses were needed in how to write an essay if you hadn't done them for some years (and I didn't have time for a refresher course)...strangely, the essay assignments were the ones where I scored highest!

vivatifosi

SingleSue wrote: »

When I started my degree, I had been out of education for 23 years (eek, if I say it quickly, it doesn't seem too bad) apart from taking a GCSE in 1994 via night school and starting an A level in 1995, which was cancelled after a year because the student numbers dropped below a certain level, unfortunately, no AS levels back then. I did worry about how I would cope, especially when it came to essays as someone said refresher courses were needed in how to write an essay if you hadn't done them for some years (and I didn't have time for a refresher course)...strangely, the essay assignments were the ones where I scored highest!

I left school with 5 'O' levels too Sue. I don't believe that young adults should be shoe-horned into taking degrees that aren't suitable when they leave school, equally I feel sad when I read posts like fc's (and its one that I can relate to with my own family) about those who find it hard to get by with very little formal education. A key message should be that education is always there to engage with if you want it and it is never too late. I got my only A level 13 years after leaving school, then went on to do my degree in my 30s and finished my masters (at a Russell Group uni) in my early 40s. People should follow whatever path is right for them.

However I do have a bit of a problem with media studies degrees. Many years ago (when I just had the five 'O' levels and a gobby attitude), I worked for a film company. None of my colleagues in that company, or in any of the associated businesses had a media studies degree. Many had degrees that were related to what the business did: some were in fine art, graphic art, etc; others in journalism, business-related subjects, etc. I'm not entirely sure where this particularly ubiquitous degree sprung up from. I can understand why you might want one person in a small firm like mine to have it, but not all of them, so why churn out so many grads?

ninky_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

However I do have a bit of a problem with media studies degrees. Many years ago (when I just had the five 'O' levels and a gobby attitude), I worked for a film company. None of my colleagues in that company, or in any of the associated businesses had a media studies degree. Many had degrees that were related to what the business did: some were in fine art, graphic art, etc; others in journalism, business-related subjects, etc. I'm not entirely sure where this particularly ubiquitous degree sprung up from. I can understand why you might want one person in a small firm like mine to have it, but not all of them, so why churn out so many grads?

the popularity of media studies i feel is not so much that the course is easier but rather the jobs it leads to are perceived to be fun.

courses vary but on my degree we studied media law, semiotics, psychology, quantative and qualitative methodologies, history of the media as well as practical areas such as video production (multicamera direction etc), radio production, journalism and digital media (in it's infancy in the early 1990s). attendance was 9-5.30 monday to friday with many putting in longer hours to finish projects etc. we still had to complete lots of coursework in our own time too as well as sit exams. there was also an entrance exam for the course itself as it was so oversubscribed.

i had offers of places at several so called russell group unis to do eng lit but on balance i chose media studies at a then poly. i had a job lined up straight off the back of my course.

The_White_Horse

i haven't bothered to read this thread - so the point i make may have already been made.

This is obvious. The more people that attend university, the less worth a degree has.

if everyone attends, then they will be worth nothing - until subdivided. So then, only having a first will mean something, or only having it from a redbrick or oxbridge institution will mean something.

Or will a 1st class law degree from an ex poly be worth more than a 3rd in sociology from Bristol? who knows.

The point is, Uni should not be for everyone. Only the top 20% or so should have it. it is HIGHER education. It is not for everyone -despite what labour thinks.