If you have a university degree

[Crackerofdoom]

Do you have buyer's remorse for the subject you studied?

If you were doing it now, would you study the same thing?

I did a joint honours degree in history and French.

DH never went to uni but is really passionate about history, constantly reading books and watching documentaries and he really enjoys discussing history.

I realise I don't have a fraction of his passion for the subject but love languages and if I was going back now I would definitely study another language instead.

Just wondering if it was just me really.

Not the UK one, I'm happy with the subjects. If I had to do it over, I probably would have done different activities though - I was a bit too career focused.

I also studied in the US at a community college, and I do have regrets there. Mainly I wish I'd taken more of the practical electives rather than being so academically focused. I find it harder at least where I am to find those kinds of practical courses so I kinda wish I'd taken them when it was right there.

For my children, I mostly try to encourage them to think university is a option, but it is not the option, and not one that needs to be done right away. I don't think it needs to be something one is passionate in, I'm not sure most people have a passion, but something they're interested enough in, enjoy and get enough meaning and benefit with the risks of student loan/graduate tax for a while depending on how things go.

I studied physics and have no regrets. It is a subject that I still love and find interesting. Still so many new areas to discover and learn about. Went on to teach it and love when my pupils get satisfaction learning new concepts - from my junior classes up to the ones going off to Uni to study it.

I went back into education in my 40s and did a psychology degree at Manchester. I was already qualified in a profession but I was being bypassed by younger graduates and wanted to increase my career prospects. I became involved in academia and stayed on to do a masters and doctorate in computer related disciplines. Never went back to my previous career. Stayed in academia. Because of the time (1980s) I was on a full grant and although it was a huge drop in finances I enjoyed the university experience.

I did law and MFL, and did some history as part of my course. My mother was very keen for me to do law as she thought I would always be able to get a decent job with it, and I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I did law alongside the MFL.

I fell into law as a career, I did think of journalism but the legal practice course was paid for by the law firm I trained with, and had I done the journalism post-grad I wouldn't have got funding. But I now write about the law rather than practising it, so I sort of ended up doing journalism of sorts.

I did History, Politics & Economic History nearly 40 years ago and had a great 3 years. I went into primary teaching after and have since retrained as an accountant through the Civil Service. An alternative option for a degree would have been Maths. I have often thought about which A' Levels I would like to have taken (I did Maths, History & Economics) - I would add French & Geography if I could and maybe subjects like Psychology & Sociology which were not an option at my school - Economics was a fairly new subject at A Level only.

I did chemistry and then a PhD in biological chemistry. I’ve worked all over the world and am currently a scientist for big pharma in Switzerland. Love my job, love science! So much so that I also do some private tutoring in chemistry & biology, for fun! I’m passionate about women in STEM and volunteer a lot in this area.

I’m a fluent French speaker now, never having formally studied the subject, by virtue of the fact I live in a Francophone place and DH is French. Better than some friends who have a degree in French in fact! Downside is that I’m having a hard time getting my little boys to speak English 😬

I did engineering, and have no regrets even though I've never worked as an engineer. I went on to have an interesting, enjoyable career.

Is there a difference in regret between art and STEM subjects?

Does choice of institution factor into this? An Oxbridge degree guarantees a great career independent of degree choice however I know people with degrees from the new universities that have struggled I find graduate career paths and wonder about the value of their degrees.

I’ve got a palaeontology degree, did a lot of volunteering & working in this field & now I work for the NHS & looking to do a degree in a few years to be in the career I am now passionate about yet I am still passionate about fossils just will never work in that field.

I feel with my children I wouldn’t rush them into university & let them find their feet before spending thousands of pounds.

Do you think your university experiences will influence your suggestions to your children about university/career choices.

I did a geography degree, which I found interesting on the whole. I was particularly keen to go to Durham so the subject was possibly of secondary concern, other than I wanted it to look half-respectable for graduate jobs. I joined one of the big accountancy firms then an investment bank so, from that perspective, I have no regrets.

That said, my son is studying Politics A level and I've been enjoying watching politics programmes/following the news with him. So, if I had my time again, perhaps I'd have picked Politics as a degree.

Though, frankly, neither subject would have been particularly useful for my job so they're both a means to an end. I'm not even very good at the geography rounds in pub quizzes...

@abc31 Interesting post

I think there is less chance of regret when the degree comes from an institution where graduate job opportunities naturally arise.

I had a friend who did American History and joined a big 6 accountancy firm back in the day and I am guessing institution was relevant as much as degree studied.

I think there would be limited regret for someone studying English at Oxford but there may be for someone studying English at the University of Sunderland simply because of employability.

So maybe this is partly regret at institution choice, failure to get high A level grades and poor career advice??

The main piece of advice I give to anyone at open days (I work in higher education) is to do what you enjoy.

I picked the wrong undergrad subject because I did what I thought I should do (because it was a ‘hard’ subject that I was good at) rather than what I really enjoyed. It all worked out ok in the end though.

I chose a degree because it had a very specific job that it led to and I knew no one who had gone to university so I just didn't know about what options different degrees have. But I'm happy because it led on to a career I enjoy. If it had completely free choice I'd do a degree in the classics

I did Economics and Politics - was heavily influenced by school and my father. It led to a well paid career in Marketing, but I have regrets as I think if I'd done English and Politics I would have been happier and probably gone into the media/journalism.

I've recently gone back to uni as a mature student to scratch the itch and study English Literature.

Yes! I did law. When I met DH, I was the breadwinner; ten years later, he is without a degree. I have a “play job” to keep me going until baby #1 makes an appearance.

I wish I hadn’t studied so hard, knowing I’d end up not practicing anymore! Kinda wish I’d done English literature instead.