MSE Poll: Is a degree earnings-enhancing and life-enhancing?

AR2012

For me i started as a apprentice having got the minimum a levels required for a Bsc in aerospace. I thought about my options took a gap year. In that year did a Apprenticeship. I lucked out because the Job i went into was a developing market so i spent time learning under the guidance of a Master (Microsoft Qualification) of the specialism. Poor pay during and after i finished the 9 month apprenticeship. i moved on 3 years later, but the time i spent taught me its best to specialise. Now im in my mid 20s no debt fantastic job at a prestigious consultancy. Working as a senior level engineer (with a very good wage + benefit package). Working my way to a consultant role. I can say i dont regret not getting a degree and i have plenty examples of people who didn't get a degree and made it to C level. It can be done just takes grit and talent.

shadowxsong

Regarding this poll I feel the question asking is a little flawed? I did my degree 2 years later than average so whilst I am 25 and had to answer in this bracket I only graduated in Sept 2015. I feel like the poll is assuming that a person started their degree at the normal age and therefore when they answer has x years of experience of being a person with or without a degree? Just a thought.

Regarding my answer I absolutely believe my degree has enhanced my life and my career prospects, but I begrudge the student loans a bit since I am in the first year of those who were charged the higher rate and actually could have started my degree two years earlier!

I was accepted to study English at Surrey in 2014 before the higher rate, but sitting in the classes decided to quit as I didn't see where my career would go with an English degree (basically being told in lectures I could qualify as a teacher or convert to law psychiatry etc). My thinking ended up being why not just do something more practical in the first place. So I left in December and chose last minute to study law at my local university (which is not very well renowned at all) the following year and loved it. I have loved studying the subject so much and being able to now earn money from that degree is the most fulfilling thing.

My career progression is as follows > Law degree > scholarship masters degree in human rights law at QMUL > working in a very small law firm in my local town not getting paid an awful lot, but really enjoying the work.

I think when people choose a degree they shouldn't just choose the course or the Uni they need to think ahead. I made the mistake of not doing that when I picked English because of the pressure that was put on me during A-Levels to go to a good Uni and to go *now*. Taking the year out and thinking I picked a course I wanted to do rather than what I was told I could or could not do, stayed at home (and saved a lot of cash this way as I was lucky my parents didn't charge me rent) studied hard as the local Uni isn't very big and there's not much of a nightlife/social aspect as there is at other Unis, got good grades and am now in the position two years later where my degree is already earning me money, but more importantly the job satisfaction because I love what I do.

Doing a degree changed my life fundamentally for the better, it unlocked this part of my brain I didn't even know existed and I felt that in the first month or so of studying. I feel like if you don't love it immediately maybe there's a reason for that? Also I think the university is a big factor - I'm not a corporate person (which a lot of lawyers are) going to the smaller Uni for undergrad was good for me because I gained so much confidence being nearer the top of the class. When it came to my Masters I actually liked it a little less because everyone was *so* smart and it knocked my confidence a bit.

But whether a degree is right for a person depends on so many different things and I don't think young people should feel the pressure they do to apply straight out of A-Levels. I'd have made the biggest mistake of my life if I stayed and finished that English degree because it wasn't for me even with the fees only being £3,000 a year my life would have been so different.

PegasusPJ

The poll itself shows the problem with the UK system.
I answered under not been to Uni because I know you mean doesn't have a degree.
Except I went to Uni, in another country, and did 2 HNDs.
So I had the student experience, but not a degree (both were, and still are, free there, difference is HND was selective and degree wasn't ).
Too much is focused on degrees to the expense of higher vocational training, which would be more suitable for many.

Here, especially at the current fees, it's only worth if you're going for a profession that NEEDS a degree. Lawyer, medical, engineer, teaching etc.
Otherwise you're wasting your money. It's a good experience, but not a good investment.

Most of my friends have degrees, the only one that have better jobs opportunity than me have professionals degrees, the others with more generic ones (business, journalism, film studies..), obtained years before I would have and when less people when to uni, are no better than me (they predate tuition fees though). And I have worked with younger graduate that made me wonder if they gave degrees to everyone!

Ironically, I just lended a job at a Russell group uni..

smala01

Part of my role is as a graduate recruiter for a blue chip company. The quality of applicants with degrees is like night and day. So many people go to university these days, that you are presented with very good and capable applicants but you also see many people who would have been (IMO) better served in an apprenticeship.

Graduates today have begun to view a degree in the same way as investment product that they EXPECT to get a return on the financial commitment no matter how good they are. Often we are the first people to break the news to those in the lower attainment bracket that they have significant personal development remaining to reach the level of their peers and consequently will not be hired.

I have no doubt the top 60% at university will go on to do great things, but i do worry the bottom 40% may have wasted their money. Perhaps we as society need to do a better job of diverting those less able/academic into a more suitable higher education rather than preaching degrees are universally good.

LHW99

It seems to me that the UK have only perpetuated a trend that began in the 1900's. When I began school in the 50's, you could get a good job as long as you got your school certificate / GCE's. By the time I reached secondary school, many more people had GCE's, so you needed A-Levels to stand out. By the end of school, you needed a degree to stand out, as many people had A-levels / OND's / HND's. Now you need not just a degree, but a second (or even 3rd) degree level qualification to be ahead.
I was lucky, as I got a degree under the old grants system, although I have never worked in the field I qualified in. I do think the loans system is unfair. In particular, I think the government should cover the tuition fees part, since it has been a government drive to get the number of people going to uni up close to 50%.