Criminology - worth it or not?

[mirahyndley]

I did a BSc Criminology years ago with OU as a hobby degree whilst on an extended career break. I really enjoyed it, it was something different and opened my mind to some new things.
DD is now thinking to apply next year. Entry requirements are quite high, I think she said ABB. Is it useful? Or just another 'I can tick the I've got a degree box'?
Has anyone gone into a job because of this degree? Any thoughts welcome.

I’ve advised mine to think of their bachelors as the first stage highly vocational career comes from the masters
Not the BA or BSc

Although youre super unlikely to get to those jobs even with a bsc psychology. I believe psychology is a hugely popular undergrad choice and I know that getting onto a doctorate and qualifying then getting a job is hugely difficult. With any good degree, graduate jobs are open to yoy if you so wished. I do agree that its no longer worth it to just get a degree in anything but I dont think psychology is necessarily a better shout that criminology.
Does she have an idea of what she wants to do? Or particular skills or strengths she could look into re a job, apprenticeship or course?

I think the Uni where you did it would be really important. I don’t agree with the blanket ‘waste of time’ comments. Taking one end of the spectrum, if you go to Durham or Loughborough or Bath or Kings that would look v strong on a CV for grad jobs not requiring a specific degree. I often wonder if the Uni name stands out more than the subject, among arts and humanities subjects.

Is it weaker than a languages, history or geography degree in terms of job prospects, possibly??? Am interested because DC was also talking about it, although now seems to have gone off the idea as too niche..

The person I know who did it has a fantastic job now in the field. It also lends itself to a law conversion post-grad course or joining the police on the graduate track.

She should think about he jobs she wants to do afterwards and what appeals to her. If it's the problem solving, sense of justice etc.

Why have you named yourself after a child-killer?

No

Our niece studied criminology and got a first from Manchester. She did a postgrad course and is now a probation officer.

I thought that too, @QAOPspaceman. Very strange choice indeed.

My daughter is interested in criminology (after doing sociology at A level) but couldn't think of a career with that degree she would want to do. So she looked at liberal arts degrees where she could do sociology as a major while picking up some criminology units for interest.

What A-levels does she do @mirahyndley ? Specifically, how numerate is she? That can give her more options. Personally, I think "social data science" or something like "quantitative policing" sounds insanely interesting and the statistical methods you learn for that are VERY transferable to other fields. I see that Leeds offers a BSc in "Sociology with Quantitative Research Methods". Maybe this is worth exploring? She would need to like maths though.

Unfortunately there isn’t any guarantee of this. I know people with kids who went to private school and got good science degrees from good unis now doing nails or working in Tesco.

If you want to be a chartered psychologist (clinical, educational, forensic, occupational, counselling) you need to either do a BPS accreditated undergraduate or an accreditated conversion masters. You then need to complete professional doctoral training.

It is cheaper & quicker to do the accreditated undergraduate degree as a first step. However, only a tiny minority of psychology undergraduates will ever become chartered psychologists. It is a challenging journey. To have a competitive chance of getting of getting on to a doctoral training programme you need:
*A 1st (or high 2:1)
*Substantial voluntary & paid work experience with the relavant populations
*Research experience (many candidates have an academic masters + strong undergraduate degree)
Students do make it, but it is a minority. Some specialisms are more competitive than others and may more limited experience. If you make it to doctoral training, it is funded & you get a stipend/wage. However, sadly it is much easier to develop the experience and competences to apply if you have greater financial support. Not impossible without, but you have to be extremely commited and dedicated.
There are lots of positives to a psychology degree if you have an interest and aptitude. It develops lots of transferable skills for generalist roles. It also opens up professional psychology training, but only a tiny minority of the most dedicated students will make it on to it. I dont want to put people off psychology careers and there are allied options that students progress to (acelerated mental health nursing masters, access to psychological therapy roles etc.), but students thinking of doing the degree because they want to be a 'psychologist' need to research what is involved in progression to postgraduate training.

Just noticed this. Really unpleasant.

Yes I agree either way those querying your username @mirahyndley (only clocked it when I tagged you) Wtaf? That’s really not ok, sorry

I agree, it's tone-deaf at best.

Regardless, I wanted to record the following for other people who may be interested in social science degrees. Similar to Leeds, Bristol offers Criminology (and other social sciences) with QRM specialisation in the third year: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2026/quantitative-research-methods/

There seem to be a number of such degrees about now. Search for "Q-step accreditation".

Is this when AI researches degrees? No human being who has done criminology names themselves after a child killer. Reported.

Unfortunately we are not in the position to fund them beyond the enjoyable/thought provoking degrees, they will need to make money out of it!

if you only want your daughter to be wealthy in her career then criminology is not a good fit
career routes generally are police / social work / probation - not well paid jobs

a degree for money is IT finance maths but there was s no point choosing a degree you have no interest in

Can you please explain your user name ? Is it ment to be funny???

you post is extremely money oriented which i understand you think is practical in todays financial climate but you cannot pursue riches at the expense of her actual ability and aptitude otherwise she will be miserable and ultimately fail to complete the degree or fail in the workplace

I have a criminology degree and never used it. I’m now a university lecturer in a more vocational degree and I get at least one or two students a year who have previously done a criminology degree and then struggled to find work afterwards so decided to retrain. I’m sure some people might get into the prison service, etc with such a degree but I’d imagine they’re in the minority.

Possibly could open the door to general graduate schemes but may depend on the university and I’d suspect that a lot of graduate schemes might favour more traditional degrees? I know two people who have recently got into civil service grad scheme, one with a history degree and one with a politics degree.

Thanks for the replies. She is doing maths, Eng lit and history for A levels. Her other degree considerations are accountancy and economics.
I'm certainly not pushing her to be "money driven" but yes I do hope my DC will get a decent career out of their degree. The above link states that the majority of Criminology graduates go on to work in retail or support roles, neither of which require a degree, do not really worth it in my book.
Re the username, this is a thread about Criminology and Myra Hindley was a criminal, I thought that was obvious? There are a few prolific posters who have usernames of famous child killers, it's not against the rules!

This may be of interest as well: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-social-research-degree-apprenticeship-programme

One thing to think about with accountancy is what’s the likelihood of AI making accountants unnecessary in the near future. I have no idea but DD’s career has been impacted by AI so I would say think about it.

Very good point, something she needs to look into, thanks.

Economics is the degree with the best pay outcomes if it really must boil down to that. However, that is an average. The very very highly paid economics grads are pushing that average up. To get on to an economics degree that 'guarantees' high salary, you are looking at A star students , usually with high grades in maths and FM (although my DS's friend has an economics first class from Warwick without FM A level).

You have to be really sure you know what an economics degree is before embarking on it. DS did 3 weeks after an A star at A level and hated it.

My otehr DS's friend has a 2:1 in economics from a less illustrious university and is working nights in Tescos. There are no guarantees.

Beware of assumptions.

There is a LOT of blind recruitment now which removes subject studied and institution. The civil service does this now.