Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you had your time again would you have done a different degree?

193 replies

malificent7 · 04/10/2016 17:36

I would. English. I was great at it at school (A*) gcse etc. Good degree but imo totally useless. No longer want to teach.
I was also good at science but found the maths component tricky. I wish id done something a bit more useful and scientific like radiography. I will prob go vack and study but i wish id done something more useful in the first place!

Anyone else?

OP posts:
guinnessgirl · 04/10/2016 23:30

Maybe. I did a quite specific vocational degree ( can't say what as it's quite niche and might out me!). It was great fun and I met some brilliant people, but haven't used the degree in my working life at all. So if I could go back and study a different subject just for the love of it, like Classics, but still go to the same uni and meet the same people (including DH!) then I could be persuaded.

DiamondDoris · 04/10/2016 23:35

Linguistics and Spanish - I enjoyed but they were never useful. Linguistics might have been useful if I'd done a Masters. Like some posters, I wish I'd studied archaeology.

PawWavingCat · 04/10/2016 23:35

I did Philosophy and absolutely loved it.

Don't know how much it's helped in getting me jobs (as much as the next Arts degree...), but other people seem to find it interesting and I loved the subject. No regrets at all.

ChickenVindaloo · 04/10/2016 23:39

I did Law, graduated about 10 years ago. The degree itself was good. But as a lawyer, you start out on peanuts with a bunch of debt then often have to work ridiculous hours to climb the pole. I've had my own threads on here about changing careers. My careers counsellor says her main clients, and the most unhappy ones, are lawyers.

My main alternatives would have been English Lit (no jobs) and Medicine (I'm too clumsy to be a doctor).

Having a law degree and the experience of working as a solicitor does open many doors. I'm still not sure though at the age of 33 what I want to be when I grow up!

I'm actually just a bit disillusioned with life to be honest. I thought if you worked hard at school, you would get a good job and it would all be rosy but it hasn't really worked out like that.

I second a pp who said they wished they'd done more extra-curricular activities and paid more attention to finding a suitable mate at uni!

As long as I can pay my bills and come home to my cat, I don't really give a toss, to be honest.

SingaSong12 · 04/10/2016 23:43

Yes - I so wish I'd done French. I have a disability though and at 18 the prospect of spending a year abroad terrified me. I really really regret it.

Canyouforgiveher · 04/10/2016 23:50

Not sure really. I am opposite to OP. I did law but would have loved to do English lit. I loved law and made my closest friend at uni so don't want to change the past but I also think I would have been bloody good at english lit - better than I was at law and might have made a fist of an academic career (I am studying it now part time and doing really well).

But on the other hand, as a woman, I loved having a typically male degree/profession/earning capacity (this was back in the 80s/90s) so maybe I wouldn't change it at all.

gleegeek · 05/10/2016 00:10

I did German and English and then a primary PGCE. Both bad decisions tbh. I would have been better taking a year or two out and deciding what really interested me but with pressure from school and home I just got on with it.
I haven't worked for many years due to poor health anyway so it's all been a bit of a waste. .
If I were starting again now I'd do an apprenticeship and learn actual useful skills.

LaPharisienne · 05/10/2016 00:20

What EyesaidtheFly said.

There's loads if still happily go back to have a crack at tho!

YesAnastasia · 05/10/2016 00:24

We need to coach our children better! My parents didn't give a shit!

AmeliaJack · 05/10/2016 00:43

My parents were the opposite Anastasia they really, really cared what subjects I chose. They were very well meaning. It advised me poorly. If I had my time again I'd have stuck to my guns.

FairyDogMother11 · 05/10/2016 01:41

I'm not sure whether I'd do a different degree having my time again but I'd definitely do my degree elsewhere. That had a huge bearing on everything in my life at the time!

CoolToned · 05/10/2016 01:43

Yes. I'd do maths/comp sci degree. Then MBA.

DeliveredByKiki · 05/10/2016 02:02

Another English (and drama) undergrad here. I do work in theatre but my degree didn't do anything to help that, I learnt on the job and extracurricularly which I could have done regardless what degree I was doing, I only enjoyed one module in the whole degree

Wish I'd done different A'Levels so I'd continued Spanish, and then done joint honoured in Spanish and Geography

LackOfAdhesiveDucks · 05/10/2016 02:27

I honestly don't know. My degree is in Applied Maths, I sort of use it as I teach secondary school maths but I wonder if my life would be different if I had done a different degree. I do love teaching but I really only went into it because I didn't know what else to do and maths was what I was best at.

Feelingkenty · 05/10/2016 03:05

My Science degree and post grad major is Earth Sciences, with a specified program of study (cross major study program) in Resource and Environmental Planning.

No regrets on the degree I did and I have had a reasonably successful career/ job opportunities so far (11 years since graduating now) but I am thankful I gave myself a few years before heading to uni in my early twenties rather than blindly following to do degrees in either teaching or pharmacy like most of my school friends did

BikeRunSki · 05/10/2016 07:04
bumpetybumpbumpbump · 05/10/2016 07:09

I am breaking the mould here and admitting I did a languages and humanities degree but later in life I started (and am studying) and English degree. Never been happier to be following my passion! So many plans and ambitions to use my degree once I've done SmileSmileSmileSmileSmileSmileSmileSmileSmile
Go into the arts my friends !

bertsdinner · 05/10/2016 07:30

I did an English Literature degree, I really enjoyed it and was very into medieval literature and language. I haven't used my degree as such, I've ended up working in finance, but my degree has opened doors as a qualification on its own merit.
I never wanted to teach, ideally I would have liked to have done academic research along the medieval lit lines, that kind of thing though is very niche and not easy to get into.
In way I wish I'd done Law, no interest in the subject but I feel I could have made more money.

TriJo · 05/10/2016 07:43

I did CS - have a degree and masters in it and have been working in software development roles since graduation. The work is interesting enough and reasonably well paid but I can't help but feel like I'm not making a difference to anything but the corporate bottom line.

I had the points for medicine when I did my Leaving Cert 14 years ago. I decided last minute in 6th year not to put it down. I'm still absolutely fascinated by all things health related but at 32 and married with a kid it would be too late to apply for graduate entry.

IceRoadDucker · 05/10/2016 08:10

Absolutely. But I don't have regrets, because at the time I didn't make the "wrong" choice; I was just too young to know what I wanted to do for a career. How many 17-year-olds do?

Groaningmyrtle · 05/10/2016 08:26

I did a wishy washy 'studies' degree first time round and was really bored and got a mediocre degree.

I wish I'd done something health-related and vocational, like physiotherapy, psychology, osteopathy, dietetics. I'm much more interested in those things.

I did an OU degree in something allied to this later in life and absolutely love what I do now.

18 seems really young to choose your career path and it's a really expensive mistake these days. If my kids are not sure what they want to do, I'd prefer them to wait and work for a while, or at least do a degree they're passionate about.

ohgoodlordthatsmoist · 05/10/2016 08:41

Engineering I loved my degree and
Working in industry. Just a shame things are a bit tough in oil & gas at the min. I've never struggled to find a job thankfully but I don't think my heart is fully in my current role.

CoolToned · 05/10/2016 08:43

I did Medicine. I was never into it - my parents wanted me to, so I did. I wanted to become a journalist.

Now I moved to another country and studying a masters in Information Systems, hoping to get into health IT roles.

GuinevereOfTheRoyalCourt · 05/10/2016 09:09

I did computer science - it was a last minute decision and a random choice as I had never studied it or showed any interest in it before. But I absolutely loved it. It depends where you study it, but my course was more academic & theoretical than vocational - which was a good fit for me at the time.

I'm still working in technology and it's a great choice for me - mathematical & scientific but also very creative. Someone further up the thread mentioned that they did CS and that "I'm not making a difference to anything but the corporate bottom line" - whilst that can often be true, it really does depend what area and industry you work in. I'm currently working on a project which (if it succeeds!) could improve many lives.

There are lots of other degree courses that I think I'd really have enjoyed mind - History & French especially - but they wouldn't have been as useful.

insancerre · 05/10/2016 09:14

I did a vocational degree in my early 40s while working
It was the best thing I've ever done
It enabled me to become a professional in my field, get a much better job and better pay in a sector that traditionally has low pay.
But better than that, it means I'm in a position to use my knowledge to make a difference and be an agent of change. Which I love
So no, no regrets on my degree choice or for leaving it so late in life

Swipe left for the next trending thread