Which Degrees are pretty 'pointless'?

[DreadLock]

Just starting to look at courses with DS. So many choices. BUT I am sure there are some which are not particularly going to lead to much. Employers - what do you look for on a CV and what would you avoid?
And any other 'views' are welcome.
DS not even sure if he wants to go to UNI so we are having a good look into stuff.

[frostyfingers]

When we were looking at courses we had a presentation from one university who gave some advice which I think is really relevant. He put up a list of degree courses, and next to it a list of jobs/careers and asked us to match the degree to the job. It was almost impossible - the point of this was to highlight that unless you have a specific career in mind which obviously needs a specific degree (eg: medicine/law) then in a large number of cases just the fact that you have a degree is sufficient.

He also said that it was more important to pick a course that really interested you, rather than one you thought would lead to a good job as when the going got tough if you love your subject you are far more likely to carry on.

It has been helpful for our DT's as they made their choices and they are both off in a couple of weeks (gulp) to do courses (which also have a year in business) in subjects that they really interested in.

[nooka]

Personally I think that very vocationally orientated studies make a lot more sense when you are in the workforce, especially if you can get your employer to pay :) I do think it is easier to study practical type stuff when you are actually doing it otherwise it's all a bit abstract and meaningless.

[thegreylady]

My ds did a History degree at Bangor and got a 2:2. He then did a TEFL course which he used on his 'gap year' during which he taught in Turkey, met his wife and gradually became a HoD in a boarding school there. He now has a prestigious position with a publishing company and an MA in linguistics.

[niceguy2]

in a large number of cases just the fact that you have a degree is sufficient.

I personally disagree with that Frosty. I certainly think in the past that was the case but no more. There are so many graduates leaving uni every year now, all chasing the same jobs that having a relevant degree is going to stand you in better stead than any degree.

Take for example business. Let's say a large corporate wants to take on a few management trainees. Who would be more suited? The graduate who did a business related course? Or the one who studied archeology?

Sure if you absolutely outshine the competition then your degree subject may not matter as much. But given competition is so fierce nowadays I'd say that anything that can give you a little edge has to be a good thing.

[Abra1d]

Large corporates often want clever people with good analytical skills and people skills and a degree of creativity and curiosity. Those might be as evident in an arts graduate from Bristol as in a business studies graduate from a less highly regarded university.

[frostyfingers]

TBH niceguy I wasn't entirely convinced about that bit - but the bit about enjoying the subject rather than doing it because it might lead to a career had more impact. I think it just depends on the job, which is something you have no idea about when you are actually doing a degree. I'm glad I'm not in the position that my children are in, it is all so hard and there is so much pressure - much easier 20 years ago when you could actually get pretty good jobs without degrees and weren't looked down upon because you didn't have one.

When I was back on the job market 2 years ago, quite a few companies wouldn't take me because I didn't have a degree (I was looking for admin type work), and seemed happy to ignore 20 years of office based experience. It seems very short sighted, but not something that I had any influence over and is so frustrating.

[DreadLock]

Oh glad to see this thread is still rolling, am learning so much just from reading all the different points of view.

[HeyJudith]

If a teenager isn't sure what to do, business degrees are well thought of in most commerical companies and provide a good all-round platform from which to specialise career.

[mirry2]

You will never go wrong with a First class classification from a reasonable university, no matter what subject.

[lainiekazan]

I'm a bit at the poster who says she shortlists applicants based on their class of degree rather than the institution.

So, a 1st from Southampton Solent (as it seems to be agreed that that institution is not too hallowed!) would trump a 2.1 from Bristol? Really?

If I were recruiting (last done 15 years ago ) I would go on institution + subject which surely is just common sense. Clearly it would be more difficult to get to do History at a top ten university than at some place founded three weeks ago with entrance requirements of a beginners swimming certificate. (Disclaimer: if I were recruiting for a golf course manager then of course relevant vocational degree would be more than acceptable.)

Furthermore I wasn't interested in Gap Yahs. In fact orphanage building was a turn-off. When people started droning on about "travelling" I cut them off at the pass with, "Right. You like holidays. Me too." [mean face]

[Beastofburden]

carpevinum- you can see the empployment stats for that course here unistats.direct.gov.uk/subjects/employment/10006022-BCGDF

65% of graduates are in work after finishing, of which 40% in a ICT job- so only 26% (40% of 65%) of graduates get a job in the field he is after. I think you can do better for that kind of money.

You can search all similar courses and rank them by employment or further study six months after graduation, here

unistats.direct.gov.uk/searchresults/

(probably it wont have saved my example search but you will be able to work it out...)

[MoominMammasHandbag]

This is interesting. DS is doing geography at a Russell Group University. Would love to map the Antarctic or something but accepts he may well end up being a geography teacher. But could he in fact do law or accountancy or some general business graduate traineeship then? DH and I did very vocational degrees so I'm not really clued up on this.

[ErrolTheDragon]

slev - things may have changed nowadays, and also I've no idea if the people accepted to train as accountants with low first degrees (a) made it through training or (b) found good jobs at the end.

It just didn't make sense to me then that people would spend 3 years doing something they either weren't all that good at and/or weren't willing to put the effort in to get a good result. It makes even less sense now they have to pay for it. (and the taxpayer still has to stump up quite a lot for lab based courses)

[Beastofburden]

Moomin _ yes, of course he can. He can take a law conversion course and become either a solicitor or a barrister (slightly different routes through and barrister tends to be more expensive and less likelihood of a job). Or he can join any one of a number of accountancy firms as a graduate trainee.

I did the latter myself (first from Oxford, just to redress the comment about low entry standards..) and as my degree was modern languages, I found the combination really saleable. People are interested in modern langauge graduates but it is much better if you have something you can do in that language apart from make lovely conversation.

tell him to go to his Uni careers service and engage with the milk round.

[wordfactory]

moomin any degrees can be converted to law. You just have to spend two years in law school rather than one.

The main downsides are;

1. Bloody expensive way to do it. Though some of the large law firms help with fees.
   

1. Booooooring. Law school is like living death. Two years would be like Dantes thrid circle.
   

1. Not all those who convert find jobs easily. Some degrees say 'analytical thinker' more clearly than others.

[specialsubject]

I would second the comment about 'travelling', which often means 'long holiday getting drunk far away, but spent most of the days in the hostel watching TV, on the internet and sleeping'.

go on a long holiday by all means, but don't expect any employer to do anything except laugh.

[kerala]

There is snobbery too sadly. I worked in a magic circle law firm and had an excellent paralegal so I lobbied the firm to give her a training contract she had proved herself to be better than most of the trainees. Noses were turned up though because although she had a 2.1 it was in American studies which I know to be a rigorous proper degree the partners saw it as inferior. If she had done history at same university she would have got the job.

[kerala]

Or do law joint with a fun subject but take core topics to get your exemptions that's how I got round it

[Contrarian78]

The starting point should be: Does this degree represent value? (value being the interplay between price and quality). It's still the case (though students would contend otherwise) that University education in this country is subsidised to such an extent that there is a disconnect between what employers want and what undergraduates want. Accordingly Universities pitch to the undergraduate, which does everyone a dis-service. Too many people use University as a rite of passage - as a way of flying the next only to have to return to it when they realise that nobody wants to pay them for the useless degree they've done

I'd discourage my children from doing anything that wasn't:
A) From a decent University; and/or
B) Allied to a deifinte career choice

Ths whole notion that 50% of people should go to University (I'm not sure it's still govt. policy) is a nonsense.

[Contrarian78]

I stand corrected.

For what it's worth, I'd usually always employ somebody with an OU degree over anyone else. That should be the de facto route for a lot more people.

[RussiansOnTheSpree]

Slev You can become an ACA (or rather, get accepted as a trainee) with just A levels. But then you will be made to do AAT first. And how many people who take that route end up on partner or director track? There are always exceptions that prove the rule. But not many up to now, for sure. The same with people with ordinaries - yes, they might get accepted as trainees somewhere that needs lots of fodder, but they might be forced to do AAT first and then the likelihood of them actually qualifying at the end might not be high. That having said though, there are now schemes being run by some of the big 4 - maybe all of them - where people sign their lives away at 18, start work straight away but as part of a sandwich degree at one of two or three RG universities (and the universities involved are properly good ones. Not ones you're always surprised to be reminded are RG). The upside? Fees paid. Earning. You get a degree and a professional qualification at the end of it. The downside? 18 is a bit early to sign your life away. You end up with an accountancy degree. This may still hamper your chances of career progression later on (very people at the top of the profession have accountancy degrees).

[ConfusedPixie]

Outdoor leadership degrees aren't to be snurked at if you go into the work it intends you to go into. I know loads who have done it and now all work in outdoor instructing and various other outdoor-based jobs because that's what they are passionate about and that degree will get you loads of instructing qualifications, which are very expensive and some very difficult to get (such as the Lead Climbing or Mountain Instructor Awards).

Just like any degree that is that specialised or 'pointless' in other industries, you need to be really interested and actually go into that field.

Though there are truly pointless degrees which make me wonder why people go into them

OP, there is no point in your son doing a degree if he isn't sure about it. I went to uni at 18 and dropped out after three months, I regret doing it and wish that I'd waited as I had no clue what I wanted to do apart from "work with kids" and ended up in a degree designed to end in doing a PGCE, which I didn't want to do. DP worked for four years and went into it knowing he wanted to do engineering as a career though four years ago his choice of degree would have been completely different.

My sister started a photography/journalism degree. Dropped the journalism after first year and left with a BA in Photography a year or so ago. She's now an estate agent. Completely pointless for her but having a degree alone makes her stand out in a town where it's extremely difficult to get work which is why she finished it.

[thegreylady]

Another example from my family my stepson did a Mechanical Engineering degree at Leeds then went on to do Accountancy qualifications and is very successful in that career.

[mirry2]

Apart from the degree classification, where you go or study isn't always important. Many organisations act like clubs for university alumnis. ~So if your interviewer went to the same university as you, whether Southampton Solent or Oxford) or did a similar degree to yours, IMO you will be in with a chance. I have worked in places where half the 10 person team had got their degree from the same place.