Do you have a good job because of your university education

[zippitippitoes]

like the government says people do?

sp management

grrrr - forgotten how this still makes me.

Nooka, that's what ds wants to do, International Politics.

Ds1 wants to go to uni but I'm not sure if it's because he wants to study, because he wants to get away from home or because he thinks it's what he should be doing. To me (even as his mum ) he isn't what would have been called university material when I was at school. Caligula, your description of graduates you've worked with is him to a tee!

I'd like him to take a gap year and see if it changes things for him (he's an August birthday too, so actually barely 17)....only problem is if he does that and then decides to go, I'll probably have two of them at uni together and be in the bankruptcy courts.

Caligula: I am only talking about 5 employees admitedly, and they were/are employed in various aspects of building websites (from marketing to coding). 3 have been non graduates and 2 of those really were a pain in that their own quality control was not up to scratch and they had much less initiative. The one who didn't have a degree and does really well is DH, but he is a bit of an exception in the industry.

DH excels in a career in which a degree in usually a requisite (animatronics and digital electronics), but in order to get a foot in he has had to set up a small business alongside his FT job (also demanding- traffic co-ordinator for a large haulier), he hopes to build it up gradually, and I hope to fund him at Uni when I graduate should I say IF?)

potty- a lot of mycourse would suit your Son too, Global Civilisation and Culture, which includes stuff like the Israeli conflict, Indian Film, international politics. Although some people on our course are academic (although a mature student I am naturally 'bookish' I guess), many are not, an interest seems to be sufficient, the rest they try and teach you in the first year. It can be combined with lots of things too- It's a requisite on the World religions Degree I am doing, but also an option on Sports Studies, Psychology- all sorts.

Can't say I was Uni material at school either. Mum says she always knew I was bright, but (I think) due to problems at home, I ended up in remedial education classes and wasn't even allowed to take some options I wanted, such as Physics and Biology (I was top of class in my pre-options exams for these and a few other subjetcs including Geography, but they said it was a fluke).

I did Access last year to go to Uni, it was a 2 year course but I did it in 1. Some poeple on my course are there with 'prior interest', which I think I could have got in with, but the confidence I gained through Access has been worth every second of the slog.

Where are sudying Peachy? - He's been looking at International Politics/History/Strategic somethingorother. Likes the look of Aberystwyth but the offer might be a little (!!)out of his reach.

Potty, if it's any help, a friend of mine did history and international politics at aberdeen uni. His first choice was leeds for a similar course and he missed the grades so aberdeen may require less points. But, it's very bloody cold up there.

I'm doping Religion (as in World Religions, not Theology) and philosophy, although TBH the title is a bit misleading as we don't do phil until year 3! I am at Newport, relatively easy to get into (and as it's not in Newport itself, very nice area to live). I am doing Psychology as my Elective, which I hope will be handy as I want to teach eventually.

I'd recommend the Uni, BTW.

What's his offer? I got in with Access (But I scored maximum), most people seem to be via clearing though. There are very few who 'chose' the course. But as the subject goes, it's highly respected with excellent Lecturers. Myself and at least one other specifically selected it over offers from Bristol.

Obviously I am NOT doping religion (!!). Doing. Oh, what an unfortunate mis-type!

Yes, I do have a good job cos of my unviersity education. I did get cross cos I got my first job purely based on the alleged "quality" of my degree (I found out a few years later that the guy who came second was told in his debriefing that "the other candiate had a better degree." I asked what his degree was, and it was a 2.i like mine ... but not from Oxford.) This annoys me because he was every bit as good as me, and having an Oxford degree doesn't mean you're going to be a good teacher (I knew people at Oxford who couldn't conduct a one to one conversation!), so it was only for pure snobbery that I was employed.

I just asked dp the question that is the title of this thread and we both agreed that our lives would be totally different if we'd not been to university. It did change our lives. Neither of us values money, and our education has given us the confidence to follow our interests and happiness in our careers, rather than accumulation of wealth. We definitely would not have met each other or stayed together if it wasn't for our education (although we didn't meet at university, we'd both been to the same one - he left years before I even got there!).

In fact, I was thinking about this question recently - what one event was the major turning point in your life. Dp said the birth of ds1. I said it was getting into university. That one event has had the biggest impact on my life of any - for good and bad!

Actually, I think I might start that thread right now!

Peachy - the standard offer is 320 points. He'll be lucky to get 240.

yes - I'm a sahm with 3 university degrees

Neither I or DH have degrees, my DH has a really good job and a lack of a degree has never held him back, he works in Computers, so perhaps that is just the way that particular industry works. Seems to be that good varied experience is more important than a degree and he started 4 years earlier than his counterparts that have degrees. The only way it has affected our plans is that we are in the process for applying for australian visas and a degree would have made the process a little easier but we have managed to get around it.

I'm currently doing a journalism and publishing studies degree... And Media studies is a large part of that course.

Again, I agree with everyone who says that when you go looking for a job, it's not maybe the actual name of the degree the employers are interested in, it's the fact that you stuck Uni out for 3/4 yrs and learned how to hand your assignments in on time, time management, multitasking etc.... ((All of which I put on my application for for Uni.. I said I am capable of all of these things as I am a mother and HAVE to be able to manage time and multitask

DH and I both have PhDs.

I work as a university lecturer, so, yes, couldn't do it without my university education and higher degree. I work in an 'old' university and in a traditional arts/humanities area, and am a stickler for grammar, clarity in writing and oral presentation, but it's feasible that I am just an old codger.

DH does a job that he could have done after A'levels (had he passed any at the time ... he was a mature student!).

Agree with almost everything Caligula has said.

My degree hasn't helped me in my career (unless it helped me get interviews, in which case I wouldn't know). In fact in my first job it was a negative point - I was up against an A level student and my potential boss (an ex-graduate herself who was only 25!) thought that most graduates had their head up their backside. What got me the job was the fact I had done extra-curricular stuff (unpaid job as a local newspaper reporter in the vacation) and it was a Poly degree, not a university one. So the prejudice of bosses works both ways.

My youngest brother is the only one of the three of us NOT to have a degree and he earns shedloads more than my other brother and me put together.

Plus I have managed/employed other graduates who were employed as writers and on the whole their spelling and grammar was appalling. (Please don't check this post for errors!)

I think that today, unlike 20 years ago, a degree (unless it's vocational like a medical degree) means bugger all. You have to look past it and see the person behind the certificate.

MY DH is in his mid-40's and doesn't have a degree, and has found that moving into other types of profession is totally impossible as there is always the criteria 'graduates only'. WTF does that matter 25 years after you did or didn't graduate?

I agree, having a degree should only matter at the beginning of your career (unless it's for something specific where you have to have done the study, like medicine).

In a way, it's a very subtle form of class discrimination to insist on a degree for a job where you expect most applicants to be at least over 40 (because they'll need to have built up the experience to do it - I'm talking about chief executive roles etc.) When I went to university, only about 8% of the population went, and they were mostly middle class. In my generation, people who have degrees are mainly middle class. So those who didn't come from a cultural background (or go to a school which encouraged them) where a degree was the norm, are still being discriminated against, even after years of proving they can do a job/ career as competently as someone who came from a middle class background.

Well yes I did have a good job due to my University education in that my degree got me onto a fast track 'elite' graduate training programme some years ago.

Now I don't give two hoots about my 'career' and will be a SAHM from 22 December

Just out of curiosity Caligula what does the 8% referring to vis a vis numbers of graduates..i wanted to look up the figures but I wasn't sure how to look them up ie the criteria (age based, population based ) and I couldn't find the figures anyway..eg (geek alert) what are the figures for 1978, 88 etc and when did the figures really change?

Grumpyfrumpy... good point. My sister did this and did brilliantly (having been desperate to get out of education as fast as possible at the age of 16). She is now doing an MBA... all paid for by her employer.

My dh does.

zippi - don't know where the figures come from, it was just the one that was always bandied about when I was young and whenever I got myself into a panic about results, I reminded myself that as only about 8% got a degree anyway, it didn't really matter if I didn't pass!

I'm not sure when the figures changed, last I remember hearing was 30% going to university but I might have made that up. (Whether 30% were getting degrees is another matter - obviously, drop out rates were also higher than they'd ever been, but I don't recall ever seeing any figures.)

I started a degree, and left afetr a year. I am NOT a good student. However I am in a job, that supports my WHOLE family without it I do beleive degrees are useful for some, but for others it is a waste of time and money. Lots of people just do not have the type of intellegence that means they can sit down and write a paper/essay on a subject. Others like me just cannot be bothered to write 10,000 words on why scissors are a good design (WTF!) Anyhow, I seriously think that vocational subjects are much maligned these days and should be seen as a real alternative to higher education. We all hear of plumpers/builders/electricians who earn shedloads. The reason they do is that there are less and less good tradespeople around.

I watched that programme the Unteachables which was facinating as it explained how everybody has different types of intellegence and for some it is very visual, and practical learning is the way to go there. You could see that kids were actually learning stuff if it was practical. Combined with that other TV experiment with teh 60's comprehensive where the kids were taught practical skills, who had teenagers who were unlikely to pass a GCSE taking apart car engines and building walls. These are also important skills and personally I feel the government should get off there 'degree' bandwagon and look at proper aprentice schemes, even as early as 14 in some cases. It is pointless keeping some of these kids at school when they don't want to be, introduce them to practical skills at an early age and I am sure some of them would not them be playing truant etc.

I think it is different now than say 15 years ago. These days there is more emphasis on where your degree is from and what it is in (relevance to job). More people have degrees and the government's policy is to increase the number of people with a degree.

I work with 10 or so people doing similar level jobs, they all have degrees I don't, we get paid the same. I have got where I am (middle management) through work experience. I have experienced quite a lot of prejudice because I haven't a degree but in reality it hasn't made any difference to my chosen career. It used to bother me when I was in my early 20s however I am much more confident about my abilities now that I don't feel inferior to those who have a university education.

Is a good job the only reason to go to Uni, anyway? For me it's just as much about proving to myslef that I CAn do it, and also study is fulfilling a strange need in me.