To think law and social science degrees are a waste of time?

[Wowserz129]

Are law degrees a waste of time? I wanted to study law through OU but everyone thought this was a silly idea and hardly anyone actually manages to get work after.

6 people (not many I know) that I know have studied social science, one studied social Policy and criminology have had to go on to study masters or not gotton jobs. 5 out of the 6 said they wished they studied something more useful.

What is your opinion on these type degrees?

*that's why I have done ILEX.

I did have the requisite qualifications to do a law degree at an RG Uni, but I enjoyed working, and I have small children. This fits with my life, and my end goal.

I have worked in law firms for a long while now, and have a great range of contacts . Unfortunately, that tends to be rather useful in this environment.

Sorry Reindeer am on phone so posts are a bit jumbled and am missing stuff.

I would always say for LLB grads without a training contract to do the Ilex fastrack route. Sorry, am making no sense!

At the moment we are just producing shedloads of overqualified PPI and MOJ Portal Paralegals. Whole system needs a massive shake up and the amount of LPC/BVC places needs trimming heftily.

Thank you very much everyone that replied with there experiences.

I am a single mum now (just seperated). The original plan was I would attend a university full-time once my son is in school as I was supported by my sons dad as we were all together as a family.

Now its just me and my son, he is 7 months old and I have just started on income support etc to help pay for my living.

This has scared me quite a lot as it was an unexpected break up and I have now realised i need to make use of myself to give myself a good chance of having a good life for my son!

So i started looking into the open university but I am having real trouble knowing what to do. I have a young son so as shallow as it may sound i need to do a degree which is going to give a job to upgrade our life. I am wary of doing a degree which I wont get a job in and it will all be a waste of time.

I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere so no real oppertunitys around.

Decisions!

It doesn't sound shallow at all, it sounds very practical and sensible.

I did LLB for my undergrad degree and I have to say, in the main, I found it pretty dull. I have worked since graduating, although not in law, and in general people are generally quite impressed by it as a degree (that sounds wanky, but I dont mean it that way!)

In my honest opinion, if you want to pursue law as a career, I would study a subject to degree that you love, get a good degree result, and then do the one year conversion course. I wish I'd done that and then maybe I would not have been -put off through sheer boredom-- have gone into the profession.

It is a useful subject though.

I studied Sociology at university as a lone parent because I loved the subject. So for me it wasn't a waste of time as something I really wanted to do and i knew I would regret it if I didn't go to university.
If I was to study for a degree with the aim to getting a career I would look at social work, nursing or teaching.

One thing to add is that whatever you choose to study, it has to be something you will enjoy as well as something that is going to lead to a job/career at the end of it. This is especially true with OU study as motivation is a huge factor - when you put your baby to bed in the evening, come back downstairs, sometimes the last thing you will want to do is open the textbook and start reading, or sit at the computer typing a 2000 word essay when there is that programme you've been meaning to catch up on, or that pile of washing in the sink that suddenly seems more interesting now you have uni work to do!

Browse the OU website, read the module descriptions etc. You will be starting at level one and a lot of the level one modules are quite broad and draw on different fields. They can also be a base for lots of different degrees so you can start with the broad level one module which covers a bit of everything and then decide which direction to go in.

Like I said, if you want any OU specific advice, feel free to PM me :)

I'm not at all against the ou, sorry if it came accross that way. I plan on doing an ou course when my dc (currently 6 months and 22 months) are alittle older.

I just ment that doing a law degree at the ou may not get you very far in the job market.

Op it sounds like you need to sit and make a list of all the things you enjoy doing (I love my lists!) Then see if there is an over riding theme and if you could make a carter out of it then what you need to do to get there.

Goof luck

Having degree does not guarantee a job - it helps but there are lots of unemployed graduates. Just look at the number who then take a PGCE in hope to get into teaching but there are just not as many opportunites in the current climate.

Study a subject that you are interested in.

have a law degree and work in the field so obviously useful to me.
But even if I didn't want to work as a solicitor or barrister the amount of job offers I've had and well paid jobs class mates have gone into is incredible.
Put simply companies love their management and executives to have a working legal knowledge. It's not a requisite but it's a huge bonus.

I am interested in working with people, i do have a interested in legal/crime type stuff hence why my through was social policy with criminology. Just a bit worried employers wouldnt think it was a good degree?

Thanks for info on OU anna, will do, its nice to hear that other mothers manage it as its really my only choice!

That post made no sense! Auto - correct haha! I meant I have any interest in crime/legal field hence why i thought social policy..

info on the social policy and criminology degree

There are so many careers open to you, off the top of my head I can think of jobs in supported housing, prison work, probation, youth offending, advocacy etc.

Wowserz I was in a similar position to you, a single parent living a long way from a uni. But I took the plunge, applied and was offered a place at a RG uni in a city where I knew no one. We moved into uni family accommodation and made good use of the nursery :)

It was the best thing I ever did, and several years later I was able to get a great job and support my kids properly. I studied sociology and social policy BTW

Social policy and criminology was my first thought. Wouldnt be my first choice but was the one I thought would be best from OU. But then i begin to doubt myself and people ask what degree you are going to study and tell you its a crap degree and then i wonder if it is!

Thanks anna, that is the kind of jobs I am interested in. I just want to make sure I have a degree which gives me good grounds to progress. :)

What is a RG uni? Sorry for silly question no doubt!

what do lawyers contribute to society? at least sociologists and social policy students may be able to help us in some way.

What would be your first choice wowserz? Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks really, you should go for something you will be happy with!

No problem, the modules for that degree look quite diverse so could apply to a variety of job roles.

RG stands for Russell Group which are supposedly the best Universities in the country.

What do lawyers contribute to society? Are you actually serious?! God forbid that you should ever need help because you're in trouble with the police. Or you split up with DP. Or you need to make a will. Or move house. Or get a visa. Or have to claim benefits but the Jobcentre doesn't know what you are entitled to and process your claim wrongly.

Lawyers help people without specialist legal knowledge negotiate a minefield of laws. WE. HELP. PEOPLE.

Well I've done both! Degree in Politics for my undergrad study and then Law, and went on to be a solicitor.

Politics I did because it was interesting, I was 18 and had no idea what to do so just went to a good University (Bristol) and did something that interested me, planning on deciding on a career later on.

2 years later, decided that law seemed a good option.

I would say that the good bits are - if you're academically clever with a very good memory and an ability to understand quite complex issues quickly, and willing to work very hard, you'll hopefully do well. You need good A Levels as well, and also build up some work experience in any area of law (I did some at my local Council, and two paid summer internships, one of which led me to my training contract).

It is competative and if you live in an area without many jobs, you may need to take that into account. Look at the areas you're interested in going into. I worked in London for a top 20 firm and the hours were long, the work often boring, often exhilerating - but this isn't the same for all legal roles for example doing probate in a small firm, you'll probably work "normal" hours.

It is a long road to get there and I would really recommend doing some work shadowing or experience before you throw yourself into years of further study.

I'm a lawyer and when I was doing the LPC (the vocational year you have to do before you can start a training contract but after your degree) there were a couple of people also on the LPC who had done law degrees through OU. They already had training contract offers (i.e. they were definitely going to qualify as lawyers).

I did a non-law degree but at Cambridge. It was still hard to get a TC, and I understand it is even harder now. Probably OU makes it that bit harder, but it depends on circumstances. If you have done an OU degree by the grit of your teeth while working full time as a single parent using left school at 16 because you were pregnant and your parents threw you out (as one girl I know did), I think that is a lot more impressive to a future employer than having gone to a top university ad got a good result because you had every help along the way.

So in short, no a law degree from the OU is not a waste of time but be realistic about how likely you are to be able to use it in this job market. Do you have a good story to tell?

I think the important messages above are about getting work afterwards. You don't want to move away to a university but any decent jobs using your degree will require you to work in a city with associated commuting and childcare costs. My biggest trouble competing with colleagues is around me having DC and associated restrictions and I have a fairly established career so I think you need to consider what jobs will work well with DS. Nursing degrees need not mean working as a nurse but you could work for an insurer assessing claims for example. Good luck!

Education, knowledge and the skills gained by learning something to a high level are all important in their own right. "Getting a job" is only one of many reasons why education can be valuable.

I was told that lots of employers like law degrees as it teaches analytical thinking. Lots of banks/ insurance companies at the law fair but it was a naice university.

I graduated in 1998 with an English lit degree and I never used it either .

I only went to university to escape from my controlling mother who at the time had chosen my gcse options and then my A levels.

I would never have chosen English degree again, its been useless

I did the GDL and though I don't work as a solicitor, I have used my law degree (a LOT - I work in the City and advise on some legalish issues)

Law is tough, and some of it can be very very dull, so make sure this is definitely what you want and will be able to stay motivated (particularly doing it through the OU).

But - I would say it's very useful. It's not the kind of degree where you can only do law when you finish, there are so many options. I work with many people who studied law, but never went on to practice as a solicitor or barrister. As others have pointed out, it is VERY competitive at the moment and there are literally thousands of law students being churned out every year, and very few jobs.