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 ?

Whenever I've been involved in recruitment the degree is just a yes/no as a passport to the interview.
Do they have a degree in a relevant subject yes/no.
I'm NHS.

most prestigious employers usually only consider

My 1st thought is ... how can they hope to stay competitive and dominant with such a blinkered strategy that means that their weaknesses will become more and more entrenched? Such a narrow recruitment strategy makes no sense at all, the antithesis of flexibility & agile development.

@Iamthewombat I've had lecturers who have worked in more than one university/college at a time.

Plus a lot of recruiters do now uNdertake take blind recruitment when it comes to which university applicants attended. So hopefully they’re of the same opinion now.

No, it's enriched my life far more than my eventual career

Can’t say I ever have but I’ve worked at more than one university including RG and post 92. Personally for me I don’t care too much about the ranking of the university when I’m job hunting. It’s far more about work life balance.

I’ve attended 7 different universities as a student and I’d say the best teaching I ever had was at an ex poly compared to the RG university where I did my second degree. I cringe when I think how bad the teaching and organisation was there.

This is another MN myth. Graduate recruiters (on the whole) don't just target RG/elite universities. It would be hugely shortsighted.

Between us me and my DH have worked across and with a number of universities and all of them have worked with a range of graduate employers.
In fact, the best examples of employer engagement I have seen have been at post 92 universities.

No. Never regretted. Did Russian, and had loved Russian and German history since aged 11.

For those arguing university doesn't matter when it comes to employment ; why do we encourage our children to get the best set of GCSEs and A levels possible through hard work and dedication if it's pointless as you can attend a low tariff new university and have the same life chances? Surely this is completely disingenuous?

It is worth doing a non vocational degree but make sure you understand the currency of the HEI. A Law degree from Greenwich isn't the same as a Law degree from Oxford. The employment opportunities are completely different.

But that's not what people are saying though.....

I'm challenging the idea that going to an elite university is the ONLY route to success. Im challenging the idea that top graduate recruiters ONLY target a small number of institutions because it's simply not true.

Of course there are advantages to going to a high ranking university BUT it's not the be all and end all.

I'm also challenging some PPs very narrow definition of success.

It is entirely possible to go to a mid to low ranking university and still get a good, well paid graduate job.

This, exactly this.

Quite agree.
Especially in the world most of us inhabit where a good salary is 40 - 60k, very much achievable with an average degree from an ok uni.

I would argue that the employment opportunities aren’t that different, but going to Oxford and studying Law may get you to your career goal more quickly and with less effort.

An Oxford student may get a top training contract and have a straightforward path to the bar, or a surgical training scheme etc.

doesn’t mean a great student from Greenwich won’t be able to reach the same career heights, but it will be harder and may take a lot longer, and they will need to be exceptional in their early career.

A salary if 40-60k is achievable without a degree though, with no student debt.

depends on what field you want to go into.

For sure, that's true as well.

A salary if 40-60k is achievable without a degree though, with no student debt.

depends on what field you want to go into.

True, a degree isn't the only way to get a well paying job, but we currently have skills shortage in the uk and the shortages are in sectors where a degree in necessary. Plus, all the statistics tell us that graduates are less likely to be unemployed and if they do lose their jobs they find employment far quicker than non-graduates.

DD’s boyfriend dropped out of uni after one year and went straight into his first job at 40k a year and good benefits. Coding. He can code really well though (self taught) and had to do loads of tech tests.

I did and it was the best thing I ever did. It wasn't just about the "degree" but the other stuff like social side, living independently (I was already living independently when I went to uni but still 🤣), connections I made which I still use now. The list of benefits were enormous!

Also to add I paid the high fees and still no regrets. The amount I pay off each month/year is next to nothing in all honesty, and it's not a "debt" like a car or mortgage is a "debt"

Not at all. My degree was in Fine Art and I use it everyday and earn a good wage.

Some of the arguments on here remind me of the debates about death statistics.

Whilst it is obvious from data and trend analysis that poverty and smoking both contribute to earlier death, you’ll always get somebody leaping in to claim that their granny lived in a coal scuttle in Middlesbrough and smoked 60 a day and yet lived until she was 110, so the data must be wrong, so there.

Yes, it is possible that somebody studying law at Greenwich or Oldham or Edge Hill or Wolverhampton might become a KC one day, just like somebody studying law at Oxford might, but it’s just not very likely, is it?

It’s possible that somebody studying a mediocre subject at a low-ranked university might end up with a prestigious and lucrative career, but it’s just not very likely, is it?

Some employers might not care about who issues a degree, but plenty do. Those who don’t care are those keen to recruit graduates trained in vocational subjects: a PP mentions the NHS. Of course they don’t care: they are desperate for nursing and AHP staff. How does that help the OP, whose daughter is considering a degree in geography and wondering whether the university at which she studies makes a difference to future career outcomes?

There are lots of people working in higher education with a vested interest in claiming that all degree-awarding institutions might turn out graduates who will walk into well-paid careers. Nobody wants to admit that certain universities and certain subjects make that result far more likely.

It’s possible that somebody studying a mediocre subject at a low-ranked university might end up with a prestigious and lucrative career, but it’s just not very likely, is it?

Wow, what absolute nonsense.

I did a mediocre subject at a low ranked university and I'm now a senior academic at a well regarded university currently in a role just below associate dean and I'm on track to be the youngest professor in my faculty. Not bad for someone who is not likely to end up with a prestigious and lucrative career eh?

I specifically focus on employability and have spent a significant amount of my career working with university careers services and I know for a fact that there are many universities who might not feature highly in the league tables but perform very well in terms of graduate employability and are producing graduates who are going on to forge very successful and lucrative careers. Manchester Met, Northumbria and Nottingham Trent are notable examples ( I don't work at any of those before you accuse me of just trying to promote my own uni). There are also pockets of excellence in universities you might not expect as many of the post 92 universities have a long history of vocational education and have continued to build on this excellence.... Huddersfield and their courses on transport and logistics is an example of this. Graduates from that course have excellent prospects and earn high salaries.

The world of HE and graduate employability has moved on.

Oxbridge degree followed by graduate entry into big 4/magic circle is not the career route for everyone.

It works for a particular type of person. Not a better person just a type of person.

Now I am in the latter stage of my career I see how much time averages everything out. The early high flyers are not immune to career trials and tribulations.

The subject I studied for my degree is of no importance now as is the place I studied. Having a vocational degree possibly helped me secure my first job but possibly didn't make that much difference as any vaguely numerate degree would have done just as well.

I don't regret it but professionally speaking it was a total waste of time and money.

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have bothered.

I work in marketing, when they screen CVs they always expect a degree, even if it's totally unrelated. We have lots of people who did history, English Lit etc. Most marketing directors I know wouldn't hire someone without a degree. It's just a tick box