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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you ever actually use your degree?

179 replies

Objection · 26/01/2014 15:36

I'm particularly interested to hear if those with fine art or psychology degrees are actually using them/working in that field? But all degrees really? Do you think your was worth the time and financial commitment?

OP posts:
KingRollo · 26/01/2014 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Commander6 · 26/01/2014 20:27

wiggly. I read your post and thought fair enough.
But then had a rethink and thought that your info is from 25 years ago, so not sure if it is still up to date and relevant info?

ceres · 26/01/2014 20:28

i have a degree in social work and am a .......social worker.

not sure that there is anything else i could do with my degree. many a day i wish there was!

CerealMom · 26/01/2014 20:37

Theology degree.

Made for some interesting milk round questions :-). Ended up working in the city (analyst) because (I think) of my A-levels - science and maths.

Yup, my NT Greek and Hebrew come in handy every day!

Saurus72 · 26/01/2014 20:46

I don't use the subject of my degree (or my Master's), but what I do use is the skills of building a measured case, asserting opposing arguments and generating a well-argued and justified point of view. I also have a level of confidence that I really don't think I would have without that validation. That may be sad, but I think that kind if external validation is important for some people (including me obvs)!

BakerStreetSaxRift · 26/01/2014 21:03

Economics and Business degree, didn't use it for my first job but it probably helped me get it and stand out from other people and their degrees.

For my next job (Analyst), I use it a bit more, and I think it helped me get that one too.

Saurus, I agree with you on the external validation.

SmartiesMakeMeNaughty · 26/01/2014 21:08

I have a fine art degree and MA and a master of literature. I work in those fields, the net result being I am hugely professionally satisfied but deeply financially unstable.
I love my life but it's a constant state of flux - feast or famine and as such is part of me & DH's decision not to have children.

AlicanteLullaby · 26/01/2014 21:16

I have a psychology degree and work as an educational psychologist. TBH my post graduate studies are what I draw on every day but the undergraduate degree was a good foundation.

Ragwort · 26/01/2014 21:18

i have a degree in social work and am a .......social worker...not sure that there is anything else i could do with my degree. many a day i wish there was!

Ceres - my degree is social work & I have never worked as a social worker but have had a very interesting & rewarding career. Until I stopped by choice to be a SAHM Grin

tilliebob · 26/01/2014 21:21

I have a B.Ed (Hons) and I erm...teach for my sins so yeah I use it.

Would love to know what else I can do with it, though.....

Original poster
Objection · 26/01/2014 21:24

tilliebob - you could become a super tutor in London. The daily fail say they earn £300 an hour!

(though in all seriousness you can make a fortune as a tutor if you play it right)

OP posts:
tilliebob · 26/01/2014 21:29

LOL bit of a bugger that I'm the opposite end of the country from London Wink

Original poster
Objection · 26/01/2014 21:31

meh, details!Wink

OP posts:
Pilgit · 26/01/2014 21:37

Well I don't quote satre or Hume daily but my philosophy degree training is used all the time. I am a lawyer now so paid to argue with people. ....

ceres · 26/01/2014 21:39

"my degree is social work & I have never worked as a social worker but have had a very interesting & rewarding career. Until I stopped by choice to be a SAHM"

ragwort - do tell! I'm open to ideas

EEatingSoupForLunch · 26/01/2014 21:45

I have a degree in reading books. I occasionally get time to read a book. On a Kindle.

nickelbabe · 26/01/2014 21:47

I have a materials science degree.
I used it today to explain time-temperature supposition graphs to dh.

in reality I never bloody use it.
it's a science degree ffs and I can't bloody use it!

wigglybeezer · 26/01/2014 22:54

Commander 6, we graduated 25 years ago but are all still working in the field, alongside lots of much younger people. My DBRO works at a famous School of Art ( he has an English Degree BTW) in a dept that helps students and graduates forge research links with industry and other academic fields. Career development and advice is 100 % better now.

Also, we all graduated straight into the big recession of the early nineties so not so different from now( I graduated '92), it took us all several years to get going ( you could argue I never did as I did all sorts and then had babies!) but we all are all fine now, only bad point being lack of decent pensions.

PollyCazaletWannabe · 26/01/2014 22:57

Well I use my English degree... I'm an English teacher!

Trills · 26/01/2014 22:57

I don't "use my degree" but I use the skills that I learned during my degree (and my PhD).

If I had not done it I would absolutely not have gotten, and not be able to do, the job that I do now. (not getting it and not being able to do it are separate points!)

brokenhearted55a · 26/01/2014 22:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YellowHibiscus · 26/01/2014 23:05

I have a degree in Psychology, and went on to do a Masters in Speech and Language Therapy. Part of me wishes I had studied SLT as an undergraduate but I do draw upon aspects of my Psychology degree in my work at times, and it prepared me well for my masters course.

Purplepoodle · 26/01/2014 23:27

Biomed degree and now I'm a biomed scientist. I didn't use it straight away, though. I worked a few different jobs in science field until I fell back on my degree

bluesbaby · 27/01/2014 00:01

A lot of parts of my degree have helped me with my job. It's a related industry so not a million miles away.

It's also helped a ton with side projects and hobbies. In some ways I wish I'd studied something else, but I can't say it's been useless, because it hasn't. Now that I know what it's like, I'd never work in the actual industry I studied in.

MrsGarlic · 27/01/2014 00:21

I have a first-class degree in Philosophy and an MA in a related field too. I don't use my degrees specifically but I suppose I do use some of the skills I gained or improved. Part of my degree involved study of Greek philosophy in the original language, and I can't say I have EVER needed to use that in real life. Very occasionally I use my rusty Classical Greek 'skills' to decipher an English word with Greek roots which I don't know the meaning of... that's about it!

My 1 year old enjoys pulling my philosophy books down off the shelves and pretending to read them. Perhaps he will be a genius, I should hothouse him like Mill Wink

I am "overqualified" for my job - I do admin in a university, which doesn't require a degree. But it's my first job since I left uni myself, and I now have a child and another on the way. I plan to try and get into more of a 'career' after having my children... now I just need to decide what Grin