If you did a non professional degree at uni, do you regret it?

[Pheonix2023]

By no professional I mean a degree that wasn’t for a specific thing
like medical degree to become a dr, dentist,lawyer,nurse etc ?

I did English lit purely for the reason I loved it and was good at it. I did absolutely nothing with it, and ended up doing a second vocational degree (whilst working) in a completely unrelated subject and a master’s.

No regrets, as I really loved my time at uni doing English.

Never regretted it. I studied later in life as an adult for fun, it was the best decision I've ever made

Interesting to read. My DD(16) is very bright and her school have included her in a mentoring programme for RG and Oxbridge unis. She wants to do a creative subject but I think the group is more geared to STEM and academic subjects.

Neither me or DH have been to uni, or our parents before us so it's completely new for us. I have encouraged alternatives to uni but I don't think the school really mention many other options

(And the cynical part of me thinks the mentoring programme is as much for the schools kudos, as it is for the students, to compete with the other schools in town say that X % of their pupils went to Oxbridge and RG unis.)

Yes, it didn’t really get me anywhere. Thankfully it was so long ago it was free. Then ten years later I went back to uni and did a professional degree. Prior to that I was just doing office admin jobs.

I did a non professional arts degree.

Whilst I wish I'd done something else it wouldn't necessarily have been a professional degree. I might have just done something that aligned better to my interests rather than talent if that makes sense. However the degree I did hasn't harmed my career particularly, I've done fairly well in the end despite the wacky degree choice

I did a degree, could only get low paid work afterwards so went back and did a masters. Was much more focussed second time round and made use of careers service etc and got a grad job. I think a lot depends on how career focussed you are (willing to do lots of applications, change jobs often) rather than degree subject

Non 'career' degree and I don't regret it. Always found grad level work even after a 10 yr gap after having kids. I have always done things to fill my cv though

Not in the slightest, despite the debt. I used my degree in a subject I was interested in plus work experience from part time work alongside it to get a place on a graduate training programme. Most of my peers had arts and social sciences degrees. There were one or two who’d done Accounting or similar who got a few exam exemptions, but they didn’t get professionally qualified any quicker than I did because the work experience requirement was still there, and they lacked the broader skills I got from my History degree (plus had to study a pretty boring subject at university).

I would never advise a degree like Business, Accounting, Finance. The only directly “professional” degrees I’d encourage my children doing are things like Medicine, Dentistry etc. Otherwise I’d much prefer they follow their subject interest. If they were insistent on something like Business I’d look to steer them towards a degree level apprenticeship if possible. This also only works if they know what they want to do at 17/18 when choosing university options. I didn’t, so an academic degree from a good university in a subject I was interested in so was inclined to study hard, was the option that left the most doors open for me.

Some non-vocational degrees are more useful than others. I did psychology and became a psychologist before moving into management consulting and then lecturing in business management. It’s a great choice as it’s in demand by employers- it’s numerate, teaches research methods and critical thinking in depth, and can also be very applied - all highly valued skills. It’s a great choice for people interested in marketing, HR, consultancy, computing (UX design, character development in gaming), and a whole host of other occupations as well as the numerous professional branches of psychology (clinical, educational, etc.). I’d do it again, even if I had to pay for it.

I did a science degree at a rg uni. I did pay fees and had loans. My degree isn't relevant to my current job but it provided the stepping stone to my first job. For me it was more than worth it - I have a well paid job I enjoy. I also learnt a lot at uni. We have apprentices in our work place and it's a very steep learning curve to move from a levels to the expectations in our work place. Lots of them thrive but a few would've benefitted from the space that uni gives you to mature and develop skills.

No. never regretted it for an instant. Humanities degree.

I joined a graduate management programme for a major employer, for which degree subject was non specified.

I did what was considered a Mickey Mouse degree, it's been super useful and led to every job I've had and is a good talking point although I'm not a high earner and work in the public sector, I have since completed a second, more traditional (although not professional) degree through the OU and it seems that fact its from the OU is more impressive than anything else and often gets commented on in interviews.

What was the second degree you did @DillDanding ?

I did Molecular Biology and it secured me my first job and have worked in the field ever since - 30 years now.
Of all the decisions I've made in my life this was one of the good ones!
I was in my 3rd year when loans were introduced so came out with a small debt which I paid off in my first year of working.

I did a professional degree, and regretted it slightly in that it was so career focussed and I missed an opportunity to indulge my interests in something more language/literature based ..

However, with finances and the employment market is now, not as it was then, I will strongly be steering DC to only go to uni for specific courses and no way would we take on the cost of a random degree without a plan!

I think she may be wise to consider doing a masters straight after to specialise.

No regrets. All I've ever needed is a 'degree' it didn't matter what in.

I don't want to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant etc so I studied something I was interested in.

No regrets. (Cambridge NatSci who had planned to be a scientist…did a PhD off the back of it and then jumped ship into accountancy). Had I jumped ship at 21 or 22 I’d have been the same as everyone else on my grad scheme (although I wasn’t the oldest by a long way), sure an accounting degree got you a couple of exemptions but you didn’t qualify any faster. For me it was an amazing gateway and four years of fantastic learning and I would encourage my DC to do the same in a heartbeat.

Yes and no.

I kind of fell in to my degree. I did love it, learned so much, and it’s given me transferable skills which are useful both job and irl.

however, I didn’t know what I wanted to do at 18. I had no idea what careers were out there.

although my degree gave me a lot of useful skills, the usual career paths aren’t for me. I’ve struggled to find a “career” and gone from one job to another.

if I had my time again I’d have taken time out, worked in the real world. I would do something allied to medicine- speech therapy, physio, pharmacy, radiography, dietetics. At 18 i had no idea these jobs existed, or that they were actual degrees.

single parent family who had never been to uni, but thought/thinks a uni degree=a glittering well paid career. So they told me I had to go to uni, but had no advice on courses etc.

pre internet, where finding a uni course was two massive texts 3 times the size of a telephone book. And no way to google “jobs in hospitals” and discover careers that way.

I regret it massively. It’s much harder to get a job when you don’t have a specific qualification that leads to a specific career. People used to say “just get a degree, you’ll get a better job, most employers will accept any degree, is just proof of your ability to study at a certain level“. Is it bollocks. You will be unemployed.

I did a humanities degree and volunteered during it then did a more specific post grad tailored to the career. No regrets, have had a career on an upwards trajectory from the day I graduated, no employment gaps, despite having a family young; in fact I would recommend most people do this unless they really, really know what they want to do (like medicine).

When I was 18, my parents said 'get a degree, it's a good experience and there are lots of jobs for people available'. Neither of these things were true.

Both myself and a friend from different areas of the country were encouraged by some teachers not to study degrees in subjects we excelled in because they knew apart from teaching it was difficult to get a good job with such a degree.

More recently one of my nephews was encouraged not to do an Arts degree by older acquaintances.

single parent family who had never been to uni, but thought/thinks a uni degree=a glittering well paid career. So they told me I had to go to uni, but had no advice on courses etc

This was very common. First generation to go to university, parents had no idea, no support or advice, they just said a degree would lead to a good job. Not true. Millions of pounds owed in student loans because of that scam!

Yes. I did a social sciences degree and never used it. Got around £30k of student debt. I've since retrained, thankfully with the nhs bursary so no debt from this one, and have a specific degree related to my job which is massively more useful.

The thing is our decisions and the choices and opportunities that result are not taken in a vacuum, despite the recent political narratives about choicey choice. They’re made in the context of established societal norms and a culture dominated by elites - lions led by donkeys, famously. Birth circumstances, your sex and wealth, determine your future opportunities and ability to make your way in professions rather more than degrees. The education and knowledge has some worth in itself, to individuals and society. That a corrupted society ruled by elites can no longer recognise that is not our doing.