Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think degrees are overrated?

28 replies

orangelavender · 16/08/2017 10:22

I went to a good uni and got a first, I also have a post grad dip and an MA. Getting those felt really important to me and when I was 18 I'll admit the experiance of going away to university was formative but that was because I was very young, from a working class backgorund and it did broaden my horizons.

I did go back to uni for two higher degrees which I was lucky to get funding for and considered a phd but by then I was already a bit disillusioned with university. Perhaps it used to be different but it almost feels now that having a degree is the bare minimum that a person has to have and that higher degrees are also becoming the norm. I know a lot of people who really want to get a degree or a masters and run themselves ragged to get one while working and raising kids and I feel like a lot of people place a lot of value or self worth in having a degree, value it doesn't really deserve.

Since leaving education I've found myself learning so much more and being able to apply it to my own work (self employed) which has little to no relation to my degrees and I know many smart, even scholarly people with no formal education beyond high school and yet as a country we are so hung up on the bits of paper we get from an institution because they validate us as worthy.

I know I probably am being unreasonable and its easy for me to say now as I've got the qualifications but I'm really not sure how much value the degree has aside from certain in science or medical professions?

OP posts:
Original poster
orangelavender · 16/08/2017 10:23

Just to note all my areas of studies were in the arts and humanities.

OP posts:
owwmyelbow · 16/08/2017 10:27

Degrees have never cost so much but been worth so little.

I also have a problem with the way the government gives huge amounts of money to students in few installments which makes it more difficult to budget that weekly/monthly payments, then gives them discounted booze which distracts them from why they're really at uni in the first place - to study.

As an aside, every job I've had has listed a degree (at least a 2:1) as a requirement. I don't have a degree at all and still got the jobs.

makeourfuture · 16/08/2017 10:27

arts and humanities

Almost the entirety of what we know about the development of civilisation and society comes from the study of these subjects.

Grace789 · 16/08/2017 10:28

I suppose it depends what you want to do, in some jobs a degree is mandatory.

Iseesheep · 16/08/2017 10:32

I see where you're coming from. I don't think it's so much about self-worth than the fact that employers just slam 'educated to degree level' into the must haves for even the most basic/entry level positions. I've no idea why they'd prefer someone with a degree in child care over someone with 10 years experience in office work for an admin role!

I don't know which came first. Everyone expecting to go to university or the new requirements of the job.

Original poster
orangelavender · 16/08/2017 10:40

I'm not knocking education as such or study and researching. I love the Arts and Humanities, its just that degrees as a pp said are now the bare minimum and universities are now businesses churning out degrees for customers i.e. students.

I feel uneasy saying all this because I hate the vibe I get sometimes of ohh too many people have degrees these days and its become devalued because that always feels to me like what is really being said is too many working class kids are going to uni and getting degrees making things hard for middle class kids to get on.

I know its more complex than that but it feels that way.

OP posts:
Ifailed · 16/08/2017 10:41

in over 40 years of working, I was never once asked to produce my degree certificate.

Summerloves · 16/08/2017 10:44

I couldn't do my job without a degree. Having a degree tribled my income the second I graduated.

Original poster
orangelavender · 16/08/2017 10:47

Yes for some jobs that is true you need to study for them and get a degree. I guess its more the expection you need one and that so many people beat themselves up about not having one, you see it on here all the time.

OP posts:
Allington · 16/08/2017 10:52

A friend once asked me if the job ad he'd just placed was one that I would apply for, as I was the sort of person he was looking for.

I said I wouldn't, as a degree was listed as 'essential' and five years experience in a similar role, and at that point I didn't have a degree and had about 3 1/2 years experience. He then said that what he meant by 'degree essential' was someone articulate and able to analyse, and the 5 years was to see a track record of success.

I suggested that in future he put 'articulate and able to analyse' and 'track record of success' as the essential... but he didn't seem to get the point.

He obviously wasn't able to analyse and articulate.

Notmyrealname85 · 16/08/2017 11:03

It's a formality to employers - shorthand for "are you a hard worker, disciplined" etc.

In reality there's nothing I got from my degree that I apply to my job now - I had the above qualities already and would still have developed them further if maybe I could've gone straight into the job I have now.

Would've saved me a lot of cash too!

Camomila · 16/08/2017 11:06

I think it depends on what you see the degree as being for? Personally, I feel that learning for the sake of learning is as (if not more) important than how useful a degree will be career wise.

I'm about to start my second masters and can't wait :)

user1498921160 · 16/08/2017 11:06

I think degrees have become seriously devalued over the past couple of decades. Nowadays you can get a 'degree' in all kinds of subjects, including ones that are far more appropriate to practical training or on the job apprenticeships.

In fact, a lot of degree courses nowadays sound like the kind of night classes people used to do as a hobby years ago - photography, heritage studies etc.

Maccapacca88 · 16/08/2017 11:16

Yadnbu. I know a number of high earners and a number of graduates. Only one person I know falls into both categories.

makeourfuture · 16/08/2017 11:31

I'm not knocking education as such or study and researching. I love the Arts and Humanities

It is of interest.

But let's look at it differently. There is an on-going thread regarding a small business person dealing with an overdue payment. Now if you read it you will immediately see that some sort of emotional element is present. The business person feels weird, almost ashamed, to pursue the debt. Why? It seems cut and dried.

You and I know why. Because of this painting.

There was a movie once - They Live - with the great "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - and in the movie he finds a pair of sunglasses that when worn allows him to see the world as it truly is (we are controlled by evil aliens).

Humanities and Art are like these glasses. When you put them on a new world and a new understanding opens up. And far from being recondite, as seen with the debt collection dilemma, these glasses allow one to spot the Weberian roots and adjust accordingly.

To think degrees are overrated?
eddiemairswife · 16/08/2017 11:44

Today it seems that many degrees are more about training than education. I went to university in what was probably the golden age, when you went to study a subject you loved and were good at. No tuition fees, and a means-tested maintenance grant. Very few of us, apart from medics and lawyers, had any idea of what career we were going to pursue.
And for those who didn't go to university, plenty of jobs where you could start at the bottom and work your way up gaining expertise along the way.

ghostyslovesheets · 16/08/2017 11:48

Yes a degree is worth so much more than just a job at the end - it's the opportunity to expand your knowledge and experience

Learning is never a waste

QuiteLikely5 · 16/08/2017 11:49

I think it depends what you expect to get out of your degree.

They certainly help you get jobs - there are many roles that ask for a degree.

You might think they aren't useful but I'm afraid I don't agree

lljkk · 16/08/2017 11:56

I disagree about degrees meaning nothing. Speaking as a foreigner, from a background where everyone has paid since forever to get any degree, so I don't understand the purist "you should study for love on the taxpayer's dime" attitude, either. Friend works in a tech industry where almost no one has a degree (friend has 2 science degrees). She says the chasm in world outlook between her & colleagues is huge, and she puts this down to them never having been to Uni.

MiraiDevant · 16/08/2017 11:59

Agree OP.

There was a quote I heard while driving this week from a Radio 4 programme. An academic said something along the lines of a degree is not a Voucher for a Good Job that you buy when you enroll at university.

It does seem like that sometimes though.

Fauxtatoes · 16/08/2017 12:04

I never went to uni and I work with people who have masters. It's never had a detrimental effect to me being able to secure employment. I fear that some degree programs are just for the sake of it and unless you're planning to stay in academia have no influence on the type of career you will have. I'm in IT operations working with someone who has a degree in Politics another has a degree in Archaeology.

However some degrees are absolutely essential. I'd like my roads and bridges built by graduated engineers, my dentist to have completed a degree etc.

Stinkbrain · 16/08/2017 12:26

I am applying to start university next year, I want to be a teacher and without a degree it's not possible. However at the moment all I see are frantic advertisements from universities desperately trying to fill courses through clearing no matter what. That to me is depressing, maybe if they cut down the nonsense degrees and upped the quality then the "devaluation" may stop.

Mrskeats · 16/08/2017 12:29

I could not do my job without my degree and post graduate study
Neither could my dh
It depends on the field
Wouldn't fancy seeing an unqualified doctor

notgivingin789 · 16/08/2017 12:32

Well, the degree I achieved to get, whilst single-handling raising DS was in no means "worthless".
My education was a way out of poverty and so I could provide a brighter future for my DS.

I'm not sure about others as I cannot speak for them but having a degree has enormously helped me in terms of securing employment. Not only that, without obtaining my degree, I wouldn't of been able to apply for a specific Masters course which wouldn't accept any applicants without a degree.

Also, job requirements specifying that an applicant needs to have a degree with such and such grade is usually done to filter out so many applicants.

Gromance02 · 16/08/2017 12:35

I agree too OP. You need a degree to be a nurse and a teacher these days. Bloody ridiculous. My DF was a teacher for 30 years when you didn't need a degree. He won awards and still now has people come up to him and say what a wonderful teacher he was and he was the one they remember most.