dont understand degrees anymore

getmore4less

It is not always necessary to have a path, some career take so long it is better to have a plan and start early others picking a good uni and sensible courses give a foundation for lots of jobs/careers.

Engineering is a good example of a foundation that can lead to lots of options.

There are still some undergraduate apprenticeship/training programmes out there that combine education with working.
Some careers it is compulsory anyway.

Zeni

As others said it depends what he wants to do in the future and if a degree will make that possible for him I had to do one in order to be a teacher, and my pay is less than 30k a year but its the choice I made. Then again its also depends on the degree, some are going to be lucrative and open doors than others - a close friend has a degree in quite a specialist area but chose not to go into it so has a job now she could do without her degree.

I think the other side of the coin is if he wants a 'Uni experience' being someone who grew up in a rural county in a small town part of going to university for me was a chance to live in a city away from home for three years and all the independence and skills that taught me - I don't think I would be the same person if I hadn't had that.

Pennywise

scoobydoothedog wrote: »

if he wants to be in one of the professions then a degree is largely a must.

Not all professions. You don't need a degree to become an accountant. In fact, having a degree doesn't help much as you still need a "trainee" job to get the few years of work experience and study for the professional level exams. Even with a degree in accountancy, you're not an accountant.

michelle09

I left school at 18 and got a job - the only person in my school year not to go straight into FT university education. No-one was overwhelmingly supportive about it, the school didn't like that I ruined their 100% figures and my parents were a little nervous.

As it happened, I found the career I wanted and the company funded a part time degree. And a masters degree. Then another place funded another masters degree. They are all from old polytechs but have hopped into a junior management position a decade earlier than most people in my field do.

I go into schools to give talks on STEM subjects and the main piece of advice I give to all teenagers - don't go to university just because you feel you should/all your mates are. Work out what you want to do for your career and work your way back from there.

I think a lot of the issues with graduating students these days is that they do a degree in a subject they enjoy, but don't actually check if it's useful in the workplace. My undergrad wasn't really interesting, but it was the exact degree I needed to progress in my career (that I do enjoy). You spend a hell of a lot more years in the workplace than you do at university, so make sure you end up where you want to!

martinsurrey

Pennywise wrote: »

Not all professions. You don't need a degree to become an accountant. In fact, having a degree doesn't help much as you still need a "trainee" job to get the few years of work experience and study for the professional level exams. Even with a degree in accountancy, you're not an accountant.

My wife was chartered at 22, straight from school to AAT with a big firm, straight onto ICAEW at 19/20.

I did my degree (Maths) and ended up training at the same place as her, but I had a big old pile of debt and she had bought herself a new car with the cash she had saved while I was at uni!

warehouse

My Daughters school told us that 80% of Uni fees will never be paid back. That got me thinking that university might not be all it's cracked up to be.

xapprenticex

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

Although I'm not 100% sure of what you are saying, I think I agree with you.

Thanks man :money:

in very brief i was saying the state of universities today are represented by the state of their students who happen to be drunk and disorderly most of the time.

We have had a couple graduates come on here lamenting because they just realised the criminal record they picked up by being a yob at uni has now stopped them from getting that job with kids they were hoping for, the very reason they went to uni in the first place......... at least they had fun during their 3 years at uni though. thats something i guess.

Akahotpot

Electronic Engineering used to be an fairly even split
Uni for a BSc design and incorporation fields
City and Guild/HNC/D for repairing and maintenance
Then if you wish to progress to management down the line you would seek professional registration which you could achieve with or without a degree as it experience based

However now most engineers are pushed to getting a degree the same as nurses and coppers etc

SeduLOUs

clairec79 wrote: »

Personally unless they know what they want to do and it requires a degree I'd rather my children not go to uni at 18.

If they work for a year or so and decide they need/want one I'll support that for them - but so many people seem to go to uni as thats whats expected and it delays them having to decide what to d.

Had I gone to uni at 18 Id have then had to go back anyway when I decided what I wanted to do and it needed a specific degree so I'd have been faced with going back again in my midtwenties

Sounds sensible but in practice giving up a salary after a year of working to go to uni full time can be a very difficult thing to do.

I'm doing a degree now with OU in my thirties, and it's not even a remote possibility that I could give up work to do it, so it's going to take me six years to complete and it still feels impossible to juggle with full time work sometimes. It feels like it's lasting forever (3 years in), and I really wish I'd just got on with it at 18 but unfortunately there's no such thing as a time machine.