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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask which degrees you think are useful / useless?

137 replies

fizzthecat1 · 18/10/2017 17:32

I was just on this thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3062891-to-think-dd-should-pick-to-study-what-she-is-interested-in-and-not-what-she-ll-get-a-job-in

There were so many comments of "I did a degree I enjoyed but couldn't get a job, wish I'd done something more useful" etc.

I'm just curious what degree you did and whether it was the right decision, or what degree you'd have done instead. There were so many of these comments and I may retrain in the future so want to know what to avoid / what's good.

OP posts:
blodynmawr · 19/10/2017 21:32

You will be successful if you work hard and enjoy what you do which means it will not always feel like hard work....
My degree of choice was a science one from a Russell Group Uni and I have had a very good career as a result. This degree gave me various post graduate and career choices. I have had to have good communication, emotional intelligence, tenacity, drive and leadership skills as well to progress in my career. These skills I think you either innately have (and polish as you go through life) or don't.

Bodicea · 19/10/2017 21:42

I got a 1st in a vocational degree. I work for the nhs and have an ok salary, after lots more post grad study, but I’ve hit my peak earning potential unless I do something very drastic. I will always have a job but I am pretty stuck in It as it’s so niche and I can see myself getting burnout in the next ten years.

My dh did a business degree and got a 2/2 at a red brick uni. He now earns about 2/3 time as much as me and has the potential to earn a lot more in the future. No cap on what he can earn.

Depends what you want in life really.

Vocational is safe but you are never going to be rich.

Headofthehive55 · 19/10/2017 22:25

raving
Lots of chemists do work in finance. (Doesn't interest me at all)
I wasn't bad at it as I was offered funding to do a PhD but I didn't love it.
I agree it's often about the person, rather than the degree. However I found doing a broad academic degree was useless when my interests lay in health orientated vocations. The jobs and careers that were available just didn't interest me. You also have to build a career with that sort of degree , whereas I want the ability to work more flexibly.

Headofthehive55 · 19/10/2017 22:30

I am not a leader in any sense and would be a hopeless manager so really I am left with jobs where you use your technical skills rather than progressing in a company.
I think you need to understand yourself as a person to choose the best degree for you.

spankhurst · 19/10/2017 22:37

History. A traditional academic subject. I teach it now, but did several other jobs before.
I think that, as other posters have said, the experience of doing a degree is the most valuable thing. It changes you.

BarbarianMum · 19/10/2017 22:45

Zoology here. When I studied it, zoology graduates were high up in the "unemployed after graduation " stakes (after drama and philosophy) but I've always been employed in my field. I think it's important to study something you feel passionate about- better a first rate zoologist than a third rate accountant.

Pastacube · 19/10/2017 22:48

my vocational degree would probably be classed as crap on mn but it's given my confidence and experience to get a better job even if the job only pays £25k it's still more than I would earn without it.

am paying £££ back for the priviledge

SuperBeagle · 19/10/2017 22:53

In Australia, Law and Psychology are woefully oversubscribed. Virtually no employment opportunities unless you go on to further your studies/have connections/are the best of your cohort.

STEM courses are some of the more useful degrees. Maths, especially when combined with something like Economics, are particularly worthwhile.

Alicecooperslovechild · 19/10/2017 23:04

I did law with accountancy and then went to train with one of the big accountancy firms. A relevant degree was actually seen as disadvantage in some ways. I trained with people with a wide range of degrees (from Zoology to English). The firm was more interested in whether you had learnt how to learn rather than the subject itself.

I've recruited people for graduate level accountancy jobs with equally diverse degree subjects - the chap, on the university rugby team, with a degree in creative writing and interpretative dance being one that springs to mind.

sweetbitter · 19/10/2017 23:15

It's so hard at age 18 to know what to do. I think if you enjoy STEM subjects and want to do a degree in one of them eg maths, physics, economics, computer science, engineering, the decision is easier to make, as doing that kind of degree is likely to pay off career-wise in terms of job opportunities and earning back the cost of your degree.

What's hard is if you are not a STEM person and prefer arts/humanities, knowing what to do then. Because the degrees don't lead to obvious careers, the directly related careers that there are like art curator or journalist or whatever are incredibly competitive and often not very well paid.

cazzyg · 19/10/2017 23:34

I posted on the previous thread. My degree subject could be seen as quite specialised. I don't use it in my current job, but it did help me get into a grad scheme with an IT company.

I do wonder how much of the problem is graduates thinking their degree only qualified them to work in a certain field e.g. zoology degree means they must find a job as a zoologist. I almost fell into that trap too until I realised that a decent degree actually gives lots of options if you're prepared to think laterally,

I still think it's better to do a degree in a subject you're interested in as it's much easier to study something you like, and therefore get a decent classification. There's no point being miserable studying something because it's more 'employable' and getting a crap classification.

Cocoafortea · 19/10/2017 23:58

IMO people are snobby about courses such as Sport Science when they dont know the content. Yes the degree may not get you a job in the area but there transferable skills...use of statistics (SPSS) psychology, knowledge of physiology, performance analysis, business placement modules eye are great. But as it's a course most popular with working class boys must be useless Hmm

permatiredmum · 20/10/2017 00:00

DS finished MEng at a RG uni (one with a very good name in engineering) last summer (fiest class). He and all his mates got graduate engineering jobs nearly straightaway without any relevant work exp. The only work experience he had was a summer at McDonalds many years earlier.
There are loads of engineering jobs which aren't badly paid for raw youngsters (average is about £28k) according to uni sats .DS gets a bit more (south coast).
DS says he has noticed that many employers do not advertise graduate jobs but use specialised recruitment agencies who they have longterm relationships with, and also contacts of existing employees, and through the unis.
DS and his friends have been prepared to relocate. I think that is probably important.I think probably the university is quite important too .We would wholeheartedly recommend an engineering degree though !

Agustarella · 20/10/2017 00:09

Classics was a waste of time and energy.

Cantshedmymuffintop · 20/10/2017 00:51

I shared a house with 2 media students and tbf they both have really good jobs. They were both very persistent though so I guess it's down to that. I did art which also gets slammed, but have a related job. Downside is that because it's subjective everyone thinks they have better design flair than you, even after a decade in the field and they demand stuff that quite frankly looks a bit poo which is a bit soul destroying. Money's not great. Think I'm talking myself into a new career here!

DeadDoorpost · 20/10/2017 01:10

Just finished my Creative Writing degree and will be continuing with it to an MA and PhD later on once I've had my baby. I wouldn't give it up for the world! I was never going to do something i wasn't interested in, and I learned so much about what I enjoy doing (writing). The best bit is that my lecturers were and are published authors, poets, academics in feminist writing, black women writers in history etc... one lecturer even has an Oscar award.
We also had good links and contacts with people working in different sectors so we got to meet literary agents, authors and poets (John le Carré was one and was awesome to meet) journalists and had the opportunity to work on live briefs so we could experience first hand the sorts of jobs we wanted to pursue.

Saying that, one friend of mine dropped out of uni first year due to anxiety and depression and has gone on to write for DreamWorks, Netflix, and works as an editor freelancing. She also writes her own stuff and has a large fan base online.

Treesaregreen88 · 20/10/2017 01:47

No degree I'd useless.

CaretakerToNuns · 20/10/2017 01:57

Nowadays it's more about personality and people skills than your actual degree.

Personally, I have a 1st in Maths from a well respected university but bugger all to show for it.

AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered · 20/10/2017 02:10

I think a it depends on where you study - a degree in English from Oxbridge is obviously going to make you more employable than the same degree from East Anglia for example. If you choose a less prestigious university look for one with good employer links, and examine graduate employment statistics.

lljkk · 20/10/2017 05:58

Oxford is 5th in the Graduate Prospects table for English. Sussex & Lancaster are 12-13th/108, and they aren't even RG.

SheffieldStealer · 20/10/2017 06:32

I read English Literature, and I'm now a writer. But unless you have an ego the size of a planet, an English Literature degree will probably put you off ever starting a novel of your own for some time.

If I was going to retrain, with this same brain, I'd probably drag myself through a law degree. Not sure I've got the patience for the minutiae of corporate law, but on a human level, people are always going to get into trouble, get divorced, buy houses, want to take their neighbours to court over the size of their electric gates, etc.

Jugoo28 · 20/10/2017 06:44

I have a BA majoring in communications (ie media) and English. I'm now the Comms manager for a very large (NZ) government department and earn a lot more then many of the lawyers I know. To get any media or Comms job you need a degree and pr pays well here!

FluffyMcCloud · 20/10/2017 06:47

I did Psychology. Couldn't get onto any further courses (tried immediately after uni and also several years down the line with experience under my belt) for both academic (I'm not clever enough) and financial reasons - I looked into psychotherapy courses among others and it would have cost an absolute fortune - so there's nothing specialist I can do with it. I've never used my degree (as in I've never been able to get a job that required a degree) and I regret going to university at all...

Ktown · 20/10/2017 06:47

I think anything containing a decent amount of maths is useful.

I think psychology has become oversubscribed and the language used in it sounds like mad jargon. I worked on a psychology trial once and thought the questionnaires were a subjective nonsense so that has probably coloured my opinion badly!

Headofthehive55 · 20/10/2017 06:50

nuns
I agree it's about the personality of the person. The degree, not so much. Unless you want to use the content.
A degree won't change a shy person who likes working quietly in the background to world leader.