Do you have a good job because of your university education

[zippitippitoes]

like the government says people do?

[hana]

in Canada it's pretty much the norm (if you do go to university) that you'll need to do another qualification afterwords to get a decent job, a plain old BA or BSc just doesn't cut it anymore

[Hulababy]

Yes. I can't do my job without having my teaching degree, although I no longer teach. I get a really good PT pay - more than many FT salaries.

[Nightynight]

in theory, I could have got to my present job without having a university degree. however, in practise, it would be hard to do my job without having learned to absorb large amounts of information quickly and make sense of them. So, what has been more useful to me, is the actual study, rather than the paper qualification.

[bobbybob]

Not initially, tried working in Marketing and TBH would have been better starting work at 16 and working my way up.

But once I had ds I needed something I could do from home part time and lo and behold - that music masters degree commands big bucks and a waiting list an inch long from people wanting me to teach little Jill and Johnny.

So in the long run yes, in that it was paid for years ago - but is useful now when we really need the money.

[Kaz33]

I have, but DP doesn't even have a CSE to his name yet alone a degree and he clears more than I did as a 7 year qualified lawyer. Obviously he has me . Imagine what he could have achieved if he did have qualifications.

Now he is looking for a new challenge and it is becoming clear that enormous hole in his CV called qualifications is going to stop him progressing any further so he is thinking of starting consulting to clear some of our enormous mortgage.

[ediemaybeabat]

Yes and even more so after an MA.

As much for the contacts as anything else and, as nightynight says, for the techniques learned. Both my degrees have taught me to absorb information effectively, to write concisely and to be able to be both focussed and discursive - skills which I use every day.

My MA improved my problem-solving skills, has given me a broader vision and enabled me to work internationally with more confidence.

[Tortington]

although its not a guarentee to a better job having a degree does lift a ceiling.

i know for certain the reason i was taken on in my line of work some years ago was becuase i had a degree. made no fking difference to the job i was doing.

in fact the degree discipline itself isn't important to many employers as long as you have one.

i reckon you could prolly work somewhere for 5 years and get to an assistant managers job or equiv. the same as coming out of uni and walking straight into one.

the reason i would like my dd to have a degree is that i really want her to get terribly pissed dress up as something really outragious, join a far left of far right society of some sort. get laid numerous times and generally have some good years to look back on.

[Gobbledispook]

Love it custy!

[Nightynight]

getting pissed and getting laid better not happen on the same night

[Rarrie]

I have a degree.. and I'm a teacher. I earn part time (50% time) more than what some of my non degree friends earn working full time.

My Hubby didn't have a degree... worked his way up the company, then got made redundant and found he couldn't get another job... because he didn't have a degree! (Was told on three occassions the reason he wasn't given a job / interview was specifically because of the lack of degree, even though it was in the same field he had previously been working in!!) He is now in his final year getting that degree.

I think it makes more of a difference if you're younger though. Most of my friends are in their late twenties / early thirties so we all bough our houses at the end of the 90s when house prices had/ were rising. In my circle of friends you can really see the difference between those that have the degrees (and largely three bed detached houses) and those that did not (mostly two bed semis/ terraces). But I think that is an age thing. If we had all been a few years older, I think the distinction would be less noticeable.

[Nightynight]

too right rarrie - nobody would be able to afford a house, graduate or not!

[edam]

Yes, having a degree allowed me to get better jobs. I dropped out, worked for a while, and went back - definitely wouldn't have been able to change career without a degree.

Don't diss media studies btw - once upon a time people used to look down on English as a degree subject (because universities should 'only' teach classics). Now English is 'respectable' but media studies isn't. In 20 years time there will be something else we can all look down on and media studies will be 'respectable'.

The media has an awful lot of power to shape our thoughts and beliefs. That's a worthy field of study. I'm all in favour of having people who understand how the media works.

[Tanzie]

Interesting thread. I don't have a degree, but blagged my way onto a graduate entry scheme aged 19 with a couple of crappy A levels. Still no degree, and a lot of people won't employ me because of it. The 20 years experience doesn't count for anything when they use the degree as part of the sift process.

But am doing quite nicely, thank you, prob earning more than some but not as much as others.

[joash]

Yep - had brillian job before I chose to give it all up for GS.

[Nightynight]

actually, I agree edam. when I read that 5 year olds were going to get media studies lessons, my initial reaction was 'oh no' but then I thought, actually, I would quite like my 5 year old to think about the meaning of tv ads instead of just believing them. teach 'em cynicism young

[muppet73]

I worked for 5 years whened I left school at 18 and could not get any further as I was constantly told I would need to study further so I went to Uni and now it seems its experience I lack so whichever way you go you can never win.

Found it hard to get the experience because people thought I would not stay anywhere very long because I had a good degree.

And the job I have had most fun doing.....working in a bookstore

[gingerbear]

What REALLY annoys me is when folk say that I have wasted my 5 years at uni now that I have given up the quest to be CEO of BP or Shell or whatever to raise DD.
Even if you live in a yurt in Mongolia, a uni education is never wasted.

[PottytheVampireSlayer]

Interesting thread.

Been visiting universities this last few weeks with ds1 and definitely wondering if the debt mountain is going to be worth the end result! 9k in fees alone needs serious thought......plus two others following in his footsteps.

How many of you would have gone/been able to afford it at today's cost?

[Nightynight]

potty, I honestly dont know. University was like a religion in our family, and we would have qualified for maximum state help. Can students from the VERY poorest families avoid the debts, or do you have to pay regardless of your parents income?

[spookylucy]

No, I'm a teacher which to be honest after 12 years, is neither mentally or financially rewarding. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have done the degree I did. I still would have gone to uni though!

[Caligula]

No.

I did have, but then I had kids and became a lone parent, so it was impossible to function properly as either an employee or a mother in the career I had.

[edam]

Not sure I would have gone if I'd had to rack up scary debts like teenagers today. Can't understand why they are treated like children dependent on their parents when they are legally adults - and their parents aren't obliged to help them out anyway.

No idea how we'll ever afford to put ds through university. But I do want him to go. I want him to have a good education that teaches him to think for himself - and how to do research.

[GeorginaA]

Have a degree in Astrophysics.

Got a third so any "graduate programme" wouldn't accept me because I haven't got a 2:1 no matter that my course was much harder than many (so in MaloryTowers example, someone with Circus Skills 2:1 would have got a priority over me).

Had completely lost interest in Physics or anything sciency by the end of it, so there went any direct career in Physics.

Tried a PGCE, but a term in realised that I wasn't cut out to be a teacher (full respect to all teachers - it's bloody hard) and I was wasting everyone's time.

Cue a thrilling career in entry level Customer Service (first job £5000k a year!) Got up to the lofty heights of Demand Management then quit the second I was pregnant in relief.

Currently looking at getting more into a career in writing

All that said, I loved the university experience and it was of more value to me than the bit of paper at the end (just as well really). I'm not sure it would have been as worth it with the level of debts now being run up though.