Settle an argument for me - should DS study marketing or an academic subject?

[Istory]

DS is smart but perhaps has always enjoyed having fun more than working hard. Likely to get BBB or perhaps ABB.

He's keen on going to a good but more vocationally oriented University to study marketing. It does seem to set graduates up with good employment options after graduating and I can see it's a solid choice.

However it does give me pause. I didn't really fall in love with my traditional academic degree subject until I went to university and studied it at that level. I don't know who I'd be without it now, I really feel it shaped me as a person. While it didn't give me any clear employment opportunities after graduating it did give me a huge range of options. I did various bits of professional training after graduating and am now a high earner in a profession where I think everyone I've come across did a traditional academic subject at University.

It's DS's decision of course but I just want to give him the best advice possible. I'd prefer for him to study any traditional academic subject at a good university and we'd support him throughout and afterwards if he wanted to do internships or a CIM qualification or something like that. He does enjoy his A level subjects and in my own experience I only really became passionate about them at University.

What do you think?

“It’s a very specialised and quite niche field” says Piggy. That’s the problem. These degrees are like being a surgeon before you’ve studied medicine at university. I know several people with marketing degrees and none has worked in marketing. Employed yes. A great job in marketing, no.

Doing a general business/management degree or economics opens up more doors for jobs. Marketing degree holders are not in the queue for a lot of them and there is over supply. The universities feed the line that it’s better to go to them and be a specialist from day 1. That’s not necessary for many excellent grad schemes. You train with them. HR, Advertising, PR, Marketing, Accountancy, Media Coms, Merchandising are all prime examples. Often the best companies will offer grads movement around the company to get a flavour of it before any specialisms are decided upon. Therefore grads with the best degrees that have a variety of transferable skills are employed. Experience in marketing might help but it might not be as worthwhile as other work experience or the high calibre generalist degrees others offer.

Pure Marketing degrees are generally not offered at all academic heavy RG universities but they do offer marketing modules within business schools. Even Bath is Management and Marketing. Ditto at Durham, Exeter and Leeds. It’s not marketing on its own. However you can find it if you look but putting it with Management does give wider employment options. That’s what I would suggest. Keep it broad. Take marketing modules if still interested and go down that route rather than the specialist degree.

What @My0My says is what I was trying to get at precisely, and my experience of these sectors and the view of specialist degrees. Just phrased far better than I did.

Aside from the snobbery about academic vs vocational degrees (which I think there still is) personally I think it would keep more options open to do the academic degree and do plenty of marketing internships and work experience in the holidays.

Your son might change his mind about marketing anyway. Doing internships would help him to decide and also boost his CV if he does decide to continue with the marketing route.

I'm a marketer. I train marketers for companies (running marketing academies for the big global companies).
Too often graduates with marketing degrees need to unlearn a lot of the 'academic theory' they got at uni as it's out of date or just not applicable in the real world. They learn a thousand frameworks but most are old hat or over complicate things.

When I recruit, a marketing degree doesn't tell me much. I don't reject them but don't prioritise them over a solid 'classic' subject like history, economics, politics etc. From a good university.

The only slight advantage when I interview marketing grads is they can show lots more passion for the subject and a better understanding of what it is. So 'which brand do you admire' gets a richer and more interesting answer than 'apple', which is what 50% of people who aren't really that into brands say.

But if he's really interested in marketing as a topic he should be able to do this without a three year degree

THIS isn’t your decisions to make, your ds should study something he loves, something he is keen to learn more about and something that he will enjoy now and in the future.

There is no point studying something you don’t enjoy.

Maybe a business degree. Possibly combined with a language could open more doors?

Business is NOT Marketing!!

What's your marketing background My, out of interest?

Yabu OP. There is no argument to settle. It's his life.
I think marketing is a sensible choice and one that would better his chances of employment than an academic subject that he doesn't even want to do.

Lots of the big advertising and marketing agencies recruit directly from Strathclyde and Lancaster. 'Pure' marketing degrees are indeed rare.
I don't see how a generic (and arguably vocational) business or management degree is better.

History from top uni is a whole different argument and, yes, opens a wider range of future prospects.

Is he genuinely interested in marketing? I think this is a key question.

I agree, or is he avoiding other subjects? Does he think it sounds like a constant episode of The Apprentice?

Does he think it sounds like a constant episode of The Apprentice?

Okay, so I'm the only person apart from my immediate family who is ever going to as this, but Why in God's name would watching that ghastly programme encourage anyone to want to have anything to do with marketing, or any other aspect of the business world, for that matter?

I know!

He could do a mix of both. I know someone who did a philosophy degree and gradually added more marketing modules to her options. She now works in marketing and it has given her a very particular angle on her marketing!

My son was the same and did a business studies degree. Certain members of the family voiced their disapproval, but he is now mid twenties and has a well paid secure job in the civil service

Piggy: there is a reason why Bath offer only Management and Marketing. It’s considered a higher calibre degree. It undoubtedly requires good grades to get on it and Management leaves so many more doors open. If he’s got the right A levels, a general degree is better.

The numbers getting recruited from just two courses will be a tiny number of the marketing grads. With so many more very bright motivated grads to look at, no employer just looks at grads purely from one or two universities. Most can afford to have a very good look and make sure their grads tick all the boxes, even if a certain degree is liked. Other attributes, and even universities attending, might be more far more important!

If you say so.

OP , if he aspires to great things in the world of marketing, he should looks at Bath, Strathclyde and Lancaster. But may need to up his grades! He needs to be clear what marketing IS though before he applies.

Other unis are available, obviously!

Stirling also : these are the unis with the long running marketing schools within their management suite of subjects.

Well yes. He isn’t likely to get the grades so that will limit university and subject!

The requirements for Lancaster marketing are AAB

www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/marketing-bsc-hons-n500/

With BBB predictions, 'any traditional academic subject at a good university' may not be realistic.

It sounds like maybe the first thing the OPs DS needs to do is buckle down and try to improve his predicted grades if he wants to go to a 'good' uni, whatever the subject. He'll be competing against people (both for uni entrance and eventually jobs) who are either smarter, or harder working, or both.

Realistically, what will matter is that he gets onto a good course and gets relevant experience if that's the field he wants to get into. He would probably be better working a little harder to improve his A Level grades so he can take his pick from the better courses: traditional academic or marketing.

Agreed. And agreed.

Although only on MN does the world stop turning if you get BBB at A level!

Although only on MN does the world stop turning if you get BBB at A level!
Very true.

Though one thing we find ourselves telling our reasonably able, but lazy A Level students is that their attitude will affect their prospects and they'll be kicking themselves later if their lack of work at A Level sees them in a course that doesn't maximise their potential. The world won't end for them, but it's always a shame seeing some students throw opportunities away because they've found a decidedly average course that will take them on lower grades.

Although only on MN does the world stop turning if you get BBB at A level!

Nonsense. No one is saying the world will stop turning - it may just be appropriate to turn in a somewhat different direction to another part of their cohort. Some of the accepted wisdom re 'academic' courses or what constitutes a 'good uni' may need reassessing realistically - obviously, a good uni/course for one person won't be the right choice for another.

But it may be the case that they'll be able to have more fun at uni if they have a little bit less in the sixth form.