To ask which degrees you think are useful / useless?

[fizzthecat1]

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.

Ive also noticed that it's the women with subject degrees and have worked full time in a company that tend to be on the school run now unemployed as work didn't fit with family life for them.

The ones with vocational degrees seem to continue more often part time.

I don’t have a particularly good degree, but I have had a career where you had to be a graduate, this was in the 90s though when less people went to uni. I’m
Pleased my DCs are going down the science route as it should be easier for them to find employment afterwards. They will prob be going to uni unless something drastic happens!!

I've got a psychology degree from an average university! I'm now a clinical psychologist but the route to get there really does only just start with the degree, there's lots more study and work to qualify as a psychologist. I now employ assistant psychologists (very very sought after post) and couldn't give a monkeys where the degree is from! The main thing is the candidates have at least 2.1 (they need this for later qualifications), have lots of good and relevant experience, have drive, determination, strong work ethic, will work well in a team, are willing and eager to learn, are enthusiastic about the job, and willing to reflect and work on their weaker areas. I've recently employed an oxbridge graduate, but it was not because of the name of the uni. It was because they had all the other things i was looking for, especially strong work ethic, enthusiasm and a willingness and desire and ability to learn. If that same candidate had been to a smaller, newer uni, I'd still have employed them.

Also consider no degree. I chose not to go to university after A levels. Spent almost all of my working life in one firm in various roles and now delivering business change and earning significantly more than all my friends with degrees. I’d say the only ones using their degrees are the few who are teachers. I’m also better paid than those who are professionally qualified to deliver the service that my firm is authorised to provide. I guess it’s about worth to the employer. My advice to young people is to study accountancy. From what I see, there are so many options across all industries and great earning potential.

Do not do a degree in accountancy.Do a professional qualification

Math. Brilliant subject, lots of possibilities for employment, relevant to virtually everything you do and good work prospects.

But apparently it doesn’t help you proof read when you’ve had half a bottle of wine

To be honest, my first degree was in Modern Languages (French/German) and European Studies with a focus on business.
It was my previous working experience, as I went at 21, plus my work placements in tech which opened the door for me. It was actually tricky to get those placements, I remember Ferrero (as in Rocher) wondering what I could actually do with that degree course , but a huge tech giant took me on in Stuttgart, where I sat in the Sales department, learned to code and produce sales reports. That got me the next placement and the next...

Those placements meant I could work in technical writing and translation as a freelancer after graduation, then move across into business analysis in the UK, then half UK/half Germany then moving across for a bilingual role as a DBA/data analyst. I've been in Germany 18 years in related roles and I'm doing very nicely thanks.

On the day we got our results, there were flyers in our university post boxes asking us if we were interested in joining British Airways.
As cabin crew. Not the graduate scheme.
I also discovered huge holes in my language skills and cultural knowledge by actually living here.

So would I recommend a language degree to someone else? Not as a major, no. Would I recommend overseas work placements as part of almost any degree? DEFINITELY. And I will actively select staff with that background.

If you have someone looking for such a post or can offer such things or you know a placement student who needs a support network and a night out AIESEC were great for me.

Agree with *sweetbitter - ' am steering teen DCs towards STEM subjects and not just because I did a Science degree.
Also agree with Karma about taking opportunities when they arise.....

I seem to know so many people with STEM degrees who are working in retail or struggling to get a job at all.

I studied medicine, the employment rate is 99% so I did fine.

An ex of mine studied media and is earning considerably more than me at the same age though.