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mark_jones13

I feel sorry for you Daveboy. You think that it is better not to go to university? I'm sure you're the most successful person on this board what with your high powered job in Sainsbury's working nights.

FACT.....There's only so far you can go in life without a Univesity education. You'll come to your dead end one day.

I also feel sorry at the fact you missed out on one of life's greatest experiences.

nearlyrich

mark_jones13 wrote:

FACT.....There's only so far you can go in life without a Univesity education. You'll come to your dead end one day.

I think that's more true now than it was previously. I didn't go to university because I met my ex and settled down to have children in the mid 80's ( They will both be at uni this September). I am lucky I got a "graduate" job because of my experience and although I know my work colleagues all have degrees they respect me for what I acheive, I don't suppose they are aware that I learnt my business skills in the real world and not at uni.

Mister.G_3

I hate to be argumentative but i'm pretty sure Richard Branson doesn't have any sort of degree.............

Ember999

Mister.G wrote:

I hate to be argumentative but i'm pretty sure Richard Branson doesn't have any sort of degree.............

You are quite right, Richard Branson does not have a degree. In fact, lot's of very successful people, millionaires, do not have any degrees. What these people do all have in common is the desire to succeed. Gritty determination, the ability to calculate risks and take them, a burning urge to make lots of money and no degree gives you these basic characteristics of the very successful. Some of the richest businessmen in the world do not have degrees. I personally have met several people who do have degrees who seem thick as a plank! Often these people never actually ever go out to work, they just stay in their safe little world of university getting one useless degree after another. I know one such man like this who is now 37, has long hair and has never earned a penny nor paid a penny back to the state in taxes. He stays at university, getting more degrees that do nothing to improve his life nor this country's.

I think it is foolish to say you need a degree to succeed in life. Not true at all! In fact, you are more likely to earn BIG money if you have never had a degree and you utilise your burning ambition and your common sense.

Mister.G_3

I don't have a degree. I recently dropped out of a foundation degree becasue the college couldn't give our group the support we required (it was the first time the course had been ran in the country and the lack of co-ordination behind the scenes was astonishing) I have ambition anyway but over the last couple of years this has intensified - i feel that signing up to the course in the first place and completing the work i did has given me more focus that actually completing the degree would. I'm currently getting my own business off the ground as well as working a full time job and would get far more satisfaction from seeing my own venture succeed than i ever would from completing a degree then having to tout myself around companies who're looking for a glorified trainee (at 28 i feel i'm a little beyond being a tea boy) I feel there is just as much scope by moving sideways as upwards ie. taking a position with a different company for more money doing the same job (wiping the slate clean in effect) than sticking with the same company for year on year waiting for them to decide you're worthy of a promotion. I've worked for the same company for 5 years now and feel that job/role progression has come as far as it can here (it's not so much what you know as who you know) therefore i feel that by going elsewhere and utilising the skills and knowledge i've gained here i can progress my career further.

Anyway, i digress, i was just trying to illustrate that not having a degree doesn't need to be a barrier as long as you have the drive and hunger to succeed!!

pitbull

lipidicman wrote:

I would like to balance the argument and point out that you can get a lot more out of university than a degree (although I am very happy with my degree I would point out). You get to make a clean break from home. Live independently, learning to cook, clean and budget for yourself. It is a great opportunity for making friends and getting on with all sorts of people. You will never have such a varied social life.

You can learn all these lessons in life by joining the Forces or just moving out at home, this is not something exclusive to University life.

ceegee

A degree is absolutely not essential. What is more essential is work experience. I've read about and heard so many people in their early twenties who have got all sorts of qualifications but can't get jobs because they have no work experience.

Half of them can't spell, either!

Mister.G_3

pitbull wrote:

You can learn all these lessons in life by joining the Forces or just moving out at home, this is not something exclusive to University life.

Agreed!! I moved out originally when i was 18, went back home after a couple of months with my tail between my legs when it didn't work out, then again a year later (this time i lasted 6 months before my housemate joined the army) then finally again at 23. I learnt from experience each time and am now a not too shabby cook, reasonably competent with money (though by no means perfect) and reasonably worldy wise. I would've liked to experienced the student life but don't feel like i've missed out academically.

nearlyrich

Half of them can't spell, either!

This is so true;)

mark_jones13

All this "University is useless" talk is just people trying to delude themselves. The Richard Branson thing is always used by the dregs of society to tell people in University that they're wasting their time. That along with "I'll win the lottery one day"

You have to remember that Branson set up his own business and came from a wealthy background. Anyone can go as high as they want if they set up their own business. But i suspect that most of the non graduates on this board haven't quite reached the top yet because 99.99999% will just open one little shop and leave it at that.

If you want a good job working for someone else then you need a degree. If you look at the appointments section in the Times you'll see all of the £100k jobs in the City all ask for degrees.

It shows that you have transferable skills.

Work experience is useful yes but you could work as an office secretary for years and I doubt you'll ever become one of the top brass because you simply don't have the skills.

You cannot say that someone with 5 GCSEs is more likely to succeed than a person with a 2.1 in Chemistry.

The person with the degree has already shown the drive and ambition while the school drop out is just a lay about doing whatever job they can get. That person will delude themselves that they are happy and successful but they'll feel a lot less successful when they see that Univesity graduate driving past in a brand new car.

Where I came from there is a lot of jealousy of success. It seems that is rife here also. You always hear the excuses about the debt and the call centre jobs at the end. But the graduates with crap jobs are just the ones who are not prepared to move away to do a good job or never actally wanted to learn at University anyway and got a 3rd.

I'm sure all you non graduates are very happy with your average £25,000 a year wages. But I wanted more so I went to University.

Besides while you are earning lower wages you are paying a lot less tax compared to graduates so do take a minute to thank us graduates for subsidising your healthcare and police won't you.