Degree Education? Worth it??

vax2002

Depends on how well feathered the nest is or if he is planning to fund himself via loans.
The days of degrees have been severely eroded with the majority ending up doing a job that they could have done without the degree in the first place.
University has two faces, the one where people know the course and target it towards a working choice and the romantic face where it looks a good laugh for 3 or 4 years whilst someone else pays for it, then think about getting a job.

lynzpower

Ive got a degree in politics, whilst it was super interesting and fun, there is not really a lot you can do with it career wise unless you go into one of the parties or go into political research. ( hens teeth type jobs)

if I was honest, I am glad I went to uni, but i went when it was cheaper ( no fees) but it still took many years to pay off. Only now am I ( 12 years later) moving into my "career" although I have had many jobs (none of which needed a degree certainly not in politics)

Those on my course either work in the public sector or voluntary, and have done some retraining ( ie other courses) to get there. That said we all have worked in the Departments on temp basis writing reports for ministers etc dealing with data, PA work etc. My OH has also done this despite not even having A levels, what they want is strong admin skills. That said these jobs are like gold dust and civil servants are seeing huge cuts to their role. .Some others off my course went into banking.Some people retrained into teaching

bristol_pilot

Annisele wrote: »

I was at school with a girl who wanted to do a politics degree. Her parents told her they'd only give her any money if she chose a degree in a science, engineering, law, or a few other subjects they felt were acceptable. The result was that she did politics anyway, now has a very good job, and hasn't spoken to her parents in nearly 15 years.

This example is taken from a time when having a degree meant you were in the top 15-20% in terms of educational attainment. A good class of degree from a good university was in many cases more important than subject - so better to get a 1st in politics than a 3rd in engineering. This was the time I was at uni also and half of vacancies were for 'graduates of any discipline'.

Now that there are so many graduates the market is flooded and I would really, really caution against doing a non-vocational degree. At the same time it is also important to be interested in the subject so that one is motivated to do all the hard work it takes to get a good degree. Could he do something with politics - like law with politics, maths with politics or economics with politics?

lkmc01

So where have I gone wrong then?

alyth

How strange - in my break at work today we were having exactly this conversation! I work part time in a supemarket and I'm a mature student, and some of the younger kids were saying that they had no idea what they wanted to do after graduating. One of the girls there has a 2:1 in I think accountancy and was unable to get any sort of job after qualifying and is working part time with me.

The conclusion we came to, as a brief and random coversation and I think this has been covered earlier in this thread, is that a lot of the time it's not what you can do but who you know. Even when I worked in London in law 10 years ago, traineeships were normally given to those who had connections within the firms.

I worked for 20 odd years as a PA before returning to uni, I think at times education should be held back until someone has life and work experience - certainly there's a huge difference between the teenagers and the maturer students in my classes with regards to work ethics and career paths we want to take.

Saying that I'm studying history and politics for fun - although I do have a definitive thing I want to do when I graduate. But my circumstances are such that I can afford to do so, I'd hate to be in the situation of being 18 and having to survive on student loan and scrabbling for part time work.

vax2002

I am often astounded by how many people do degrees and never thought of sitting down with the jobs section of the newspaper first and thought about making a list of the most in demand qualifications in the jobs section.
It seems a bit odd to spend 3/4 years and umpteen thousands of pounds then decide to look in the job paper only to discover your new degree is pretty worthless in the job market.
But I suppose if you are only going for a laugh and to run down your parents retirement fund then who cares.

t0rt0ise

Nobody should be denied education. It's important for its own sake. If he wants to go to university then he should go. If he doesn't he will always regret it and be a different person for it.

Oldernotwiser

vax2002 wrote: »

But I suppose if you are only going for a laugh and to run down your parents retirement fund then who cares.

Going to university because you have a love of learning and of your subject isn't quite the same thing as going for a laugh. Also, there's no real reason for parents to deplete their retirement fund to pay for it..

lkmc01

Well I'm a MSc Environmental Management (Business) graduate with 12 different voluntary experience roles under my belt. I left school 10 years ago and have not had a full time job yet. I earn nothing. I spent 3 years at college as I changed courses after the first year, spent 4 years studying for my BSc and a year as a new mother. I have a 6 year old son. I have then spent 18 months studying for my MSc and 6 months unemployed. I went to Uni to do well, did do well, didnt mess around at all. I have been with my partner now for 9 years since I was 17, lived with him for 7 of them, 3 of them in a University family flat. I have debts at over 20 grand.

I wouldn't let my son go anywhere need University. Its a waste of time and money.

Where did I go wrong then?

yalisrib

Looking back, uni was a big waste of time for me. I have always struggled at schol and failed half my GCSEs yet due to the insistance of my parents, got into a college where I failed most of my Alevels and then got onto a HND course that led to a Degree. After all those years I followed my heart and got a job in a nursery where 5 years later, I am at a lower level than if I had left school and gone into a nursery training course.

My advice is if he has the ability and enthuasim, then he should try to get a couple of part time jobs in fields that interest him, particulary in areas related to politics - filing in the local town hall office, work evenings as a cleaner in the council offices. After a while of quietly watching and listening to what is going on around him, maybe he will find an area his is interested in and knows for certain he would like to go into; though uni, training courses or simply by working his way up the ladder.