Your thoughts on university

Pechow

I'm almost finished with an OU degree now, Computing (and a second subject). I've enjoyed it but really wonder how much it will help or not with getting a job afterwards. Are OU degrees seen as good things?

Before I started my OU course, I did one year at an actual physical university. The subject was close to my heart and I enjoyed that, but otherwise it was a terrible experience. It seemed like university was just what you were meant to do-I don't remember ever really being told in school about alternatives. Uni is really pushed on you, but it really isn't for everyone, and not having a degree doesn't mean you're doomed to working in McDonalds forever-and I really wish they'd mentioned that and talked about other options, and that they were okay to pick too.

**professor~yaffle**

claire21 wrote: »

Professor Yaffle

You think those days are gone too, I really don't want to upset anyone with a degree as I know they must be very proud to have it and worked hard.

But if those days have gone why are we saying you have to have it (in quite a lot of circumstances) ? Eg employers

Do employers think a degree today is the same as a degree 30/40 years ago?

I do think it shows you "stuck at something" and "saw it through" which I see as a quality when employing someone.

That is true, but in my opinion employers ask for degrees to whittle down the number of applicants. There's no way you need a degree to do many if not most of the jobs out there.

Fwiw I have a degree, but I do acknowledge that so does almost everybody else, hence it probably isn't worth that much. I loved the subject, I enjoyed studying and gaining a higher level of understanding, but it's never paid for itself and I doubt it ever will.

notanewuser

Pechow wrote: »

. It seemed like university was just what you were meant to do-I don't remember ever really being told in school about alternatives. Uni is really pushed on you, but it really isn't for everyone, and not having a degree doesn't mean you're doomed to working in McDonalds forever-and I really wish they'd mentioned that and talked about other options, and that they were okay to pick too.

^^^^^ this.

GwylimT

It depends what university means to you, when I was younger university was free, when I was 16 I started training to be a mechanic while still being at school, so I only took my compulsory subjects. When still on my apprenticeship I also went went to university, I did a degree in physics, not because I wanted to work in that sector, but because I find the subject very interesting and at that time it was much harder to broaden your mind in certain areas, where as now, I could do so without the guidance of university.

jenhug

Hubby is going to Uni as a mature student. He left school at 16 with nothing, worked on the roads in a manual job all his life. Made redundant, thought to himself "Do I want to dig holes for the rest of my life"? And decided that he would retrain. He starts his journey to become a Diagnostic radiographer in 2 weeks. He is 40 this year.

NHS are crying out for staff, so not only will we come out of it with no uni fees, they also give you a bursary while you train.

neverdespairgirl

claire21 wrote: »

Daisigg

What is the university experience ?

See in my eyes and I'm well out of touch, it just seems like living with a load of mates and having a bit of a party with only x hours a week of education and study? And then coming out of it with a big debt (again really have no idea about fees costs etc just see people talking about uni debt)

Academically, for me it was both concentrating and learning my own subject, and also talking to other people about what they were studying. That was great.

I also joined a number of societies, doing outside-law-work things that are harder (not impossible) to experience easily outside uni, such as debating, sailing, that sort of thing.

claire21 wrote: »

I had no idea that which Uni you went to made a difference to the qualification either!

It makes a very, very big difference.

For more specialised courses, some of the best are in newer universities, or ex-polytechnics. For example, if you want to do anything sports-related, Loughborough's fantastic. Or engineering, at Brunel. Or ship / marine related at Southampton.

But as a general rule, older and harder-to-get-into universities are more well-regarded. When we recruit in Chambers (I'm a barrister) we'd probably not even interview someone who did law at a university not in the Russell Group, which is a group of older universities. Someone who does law at the University of Greenwich / Thames Valley / etc is really going to struggle to get to be a barrister.

claire21 wrote: »

Ok I don't want to side track it and I had to look up hierarchies lol

So what you are saying is the exam pass levels can be the same but it's a bit of snobbery where you got it from, for what of a better word?

Partly snobbery, but the courses, exams and levels are set within each university. It's not like A levels, which are external exams. So a 2.i degree from one university certainly isn't the same as a 2.i from all the others.

poet123

jenhug wrote: »

Hubby is going to Uni as a mature student. He left school at 16 with nothing, worked on the roads in a manual job all his life. Made redundant, thought to himself "Do I want to dig holes for the rest of my life"? And decided that he would retrain. He starts his journey to become a Diagnostic radiographer in 2 weeks. He is 40 this year.

NHS are crying out for staff, so not only will we come out of it with no uni fees, they also give you a bursary while you train.

That is a great story, you sound so proud of him, and quite rightly. Did he do the access course?

System

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

(I'm a barrister)

Do you think Oscar Pistorius will be found guilty?

valk_scot

My DS had the choice this year of doing a degree at one of the Russell group unis that is so generalised in his field that it trains him for nothing or doing a more vocational degree at a college that has a phenomenal track record for relevant employability within its graduates. Guess what he's going for and with our blessing? But we're getting some stick from various relatives that can't see why he's turning down the chance to go to a "real" university and get a "real" degree. As I said the chances of him walking out of the "real" university and finding a job in his field are about 0%, the chances if him getting a job straight from college are about 90% going on recent stats. He has done his homework and made his choice! But in this particular case the degree from the Russell group uni is worth less, just because it's not training them to be employable.

Woolwich_Kim

I didn't go.

Agreed that so many people have got degrees now and also, many people don't end up working in the industry they studied in anyway.

I'm 30 and have loads of work experience which is more worthy than qualifications as you can't buy years of experience. My friends who did go, are still paying off student loans and starting at the bottom as without experience they are unlikely to be in a position to demand a good starting salary. I'm also at a point in life where I'm realistically able to be a first time buyer and already own a car, have no debts and never brought anyting on finance/higher purchase.

However, given my working experience (and my increasing age), I have seen that people with degrees do eventually earn more than those without (even in a unrelated industry). In the long run, those careers where you definately need a degree (social worker, teacher, doctors, engineers etc) will earn more in 30's/40's onwards. It also opens doors to working abroad. Whilst jobhunting, I've seen some basic jobs require you to be a graduate.

A couple of my friends who did go now regrets it as they believe it's held them back from earning (often being told they're too qualified), saying it's only worthwhile if you know exactly what you want to do with it.

I never regretted not going uni, but I am starting to. It has always been a goal of mine to emigrate abroad but without specialising in a certain industry, it's not possible (unless I marry someone from there) as what I do have bags of experience in, there isn't a shortfall of people who can do the same job.

Another thing is, whilst I earn more than my degree qualified friends, there is a limit to what I can earn. An office worker isn't ever really going to earn more than say 35k by today's standards whereas if you did have a degree you could be earning more of a luxurious salary.