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Original poster

Can people who don't have a Degree or have the intelligence to gain one be successful?

105 replies

UrbanMan27 · 25/03/2023 19:45

Hi,

Im just wondering does not having a Degree or having high enough intelligence to get one make you a failure? As I feel like Society makes people feel without a Degree like a failure and that they'll be working jobs and not having a career in such jobs as working on minimum wage or just above for the rest of their lives.

What's your thoughts?

OP posts:
SueVineer · 25/03/2023 19:46

dep what you mean by successful I suppose but I would say definitely. Lots of business people don’t have degrees

ZeroFucksGivenToday · 25/03/2023 19:47

I've not got a degree, I manage a team of people that all have. I just went the apprenticeship/experience route instead. I'm on a very solid decent wage, enough to not be able to claim child benefit anyway.
I think you can be really successful without a degree. I just think it's harder to get your foot in the door without one as much.

Soonthen · 25/03/2023 19:48

no degree for me but if you mean ££ I’m the most successful in my group

isitaline97 · 25/03/2023 19:48

Degrees are not everything! My partner is a gas engineer running his own business (he started out as an apprentice) and is far more successful than I am in terms of earnings, and I have a degree 😂🤦‍♀️

Rogue1001MNer · 25/03/2023 19:49

I find your OP goady and unpleasant.
Did you mean it to be?
It's this line I think
or having high enough intelligence to get one

How many of the highest paid sports stars/influences have degrees? To name just 2 groups who are very well paid

Luredbyapomegranate · 25/03/2023 19:50

No. There are lots of people who are successful without degrees and there always have been.

Why do you think there aren’t?

HerRoyalNotness · 25/03/2023 19:51

I didn’t have one had landed a starter job in a good career. I learn by doing, and was able to learn everything on the job. I’m not management material and that’s ok with me. I’m capable of being a senior person in the team and teaching/mentoring others. I earn 6 figures full time.

Luredbyapomegranate · 25/03/2023 19:51

Rogue1001MNer · 25/03/2023 19:49

I find your OP goady and unpleasant.
Did you mean it to be?
It's this line I think
or having high enough intelligence to get one

How many of the highest paid sports stars/influences have degrees? To name just 2 groups who are very well paid

I think that says more about you than the OP.

Lindy2 · 25/03/2023 19:53

I think you'll find plenty of people with practical skills or trades earning very well.

Academic ability isn't the only type of intelligence or success.

To be honest I think there's far too many people doing degrees that really aren't necessary or going to provide good value for money. Learning a trade, work experience, apprenticeships etc are all good routes to good careers without a massive price tag of university fees.

Feckedupbundle · 25/03/2023 19:54

I've run a successful business for over 20 years and I left school at 16.
DHs left college after taking A levels and has a very well paid,flexible career.

lululu16 · 25/03/2023 19:55

I would say success is all down to confidence

RiktheButler · 25/03/2023 19:56

I don't have a degree, I don't even have A levels.I've held well paid managerial positions in different industries earning relatively high salaries. I'm now self employed with a mortgage free house. But apparently I'm not intelligent enough to be successful.....

BMW6 · 25/03/2023 19:57

Loads of people with degrees are working minimum wage jobs.

Loads of very successful people do not have a degree.

Artemisty · 25/03/2023 19:59

Plenty of people are intelligent enough to have a degree but didn't want to go to university or need to in order to do what they wanted to do as a career.

Plenty of people go to university to get a degree that probably should have done something else.

I don't think there's societal pressure in terms of thinking 'you're not intelligent enough' but I do think young people walk into it without really understanding their options. It's pretty bold to go against the grain.

Spendonsend · 25/03/2023 20:08

I am not sure what you are asking.

Lots of people are succesful (and intelligent) without degrees.

Are you asking whether the succesful people all have average to above average IQs too and whether there succesful people with below average IQs as well?

Fairyliz · 25/03/2023 20:14

The most successful people I know at the moment are those working in trades, they are raking it in.
A carpenter who was doing a job where I worked, told me he only had one ‘O’ level (in woodwork fortunately) and was earning £80k pa. This is in a fairly low cost area of the country.

TimeForMeToF1y · 25/03/2023 20:18

*As I feel like Society makes people feel without a Degree like a failurex

Does anyone else think that? Its not something I've ever felt or heard expressed, do you have a chip on your shoulder about not having a degree? Maybe my society is a totally different one to yours

mindutopia · 25/03/2023 20:22

You can be very successful without a degree, but if you don’t have the ‘intelligence to get one’, that’s something different.

There are lots of careers that don’t require a degree. Dh does have a degree but is self employed in an industry where he wouldn’t need it one. He makes more than twice what I make and I have a PhD!

But if you don’t have the motivation/organisational skills/‘intelligence’ (whatever that means really) to get a degree, you probably won’t have a wildly lucrative career. You will need the same sort of skills and perseverance to gain experience, but doesn’t mean you ‘need’ a degree.

PurplePosies · 25/03/2023 20:24

My DH left school early, never went to college or uni, and is director level now. The majority of my family are tradespeople, some are in business together some are self employed. I have 2 degrees and would think they all earn more than me.

Changingthegame · 25/03/2023 20:25

I know a lot of people with degrees who were written off at school but went through the Open University, got full support for undiagnosed dyslexia and the like and came out with Upper Seconds and Firsts. Equally I know a lot of people who got degrees straight from school who I wonder how they got dressed in the morning.

Academic success isn't a measure of intelligence. We don't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree do we?

RandomUsernameHere · 25/03/2023 20:33

Most people who don't have degrees would have the intelligence to get one though. Not necessarily a top one from a top university, but a degree of some sort.

Changingthegame · 25/03/2023 20:37

A "top" degree? A degree is a degree. A history degree from cambridge is the same as a history degree from the local poly. Id far rather employ someone who got a 2:1/1st from the poly than Cambridge because it shows the person can apply themselves and knows the value of hard work.

Soontobe60 · 25/03/2023 20:52

I know quite a few people with degrees who work in Tesco / McDonald’s / nowhere… is that what you mean?

EllaPaella · 25/03/2023 20:55

My son isn't doing a degree but is working his way up in an engineering company. He's doing very well for himself and has a decent graduate salary already and only early 20's. His prospects look pretty good.

Middletoleft · 25/03/2023 20:57

Common sense goes a long way. I know some very clever, intelligent people and wonder how they clean their teeth!