Anyone else's degree end up being worthless?

[NaePasaran]

How did you deal with it? Carry on that path with a postgrad? Pivot to something else? A 180 and did something completely different and unrelated?

Decided to go back into further education as a mature student and graduated last year. Around 16 months on and i've now reached the conclusion that a First, from one of the best Universities in the country, ain't worth the paper its written on. (Funny, people think i'm a huge success because of that certificate, a right brainy bd, but I feel a total and utter p***k for falling for it. 4 years and 30 grand down the toilet (I know its not totally worthless, I did learn alot, visited great places and made good pals).

[Mr E]

With the understanding that it’s a leading question. What is the degree?

(Congrats on achieving a great result. Did you enjoy it? Do you feel fulfilled having spent the time studying something you obviously cared about?)

[Peterpetrole]

If it turns out to be in Media Studies from Abergavenny please can I request this thread does not turn into a pile on

[Nicetobenice]

NaePasaran said:

(I know its not totally worthless, I did learn alot, visited great places and made good pals).

Sounds well worth it to me.

You should be proud of your achievement and enjoy the other benefits it has brought you.

I wish I'd made more effort back when I was a younger - I was too preoccupied with beer and women's bottoms.

[hyperblue]

NaePasaran said:

30 grand down the toilet (I know its not totally worthless, I did learn alot, visited great places and made good pals).

That doesn’t sound like the worst use of 30k over 4 years tbf!

[TomTheTyke]

Absolutely as others have said, education is a benefit in and of itself, and should not be measured by the earning potential someone subsequently derives from it.

However, I suppose if the reason you went back as a mature student was specifically aimed at that, you might feel differently.

[Dave Hedgehog]

i trained as a charted quantity surveyor, spent the last 35 years in IT lol

[fiatpower]

What's made you say it's worthless?

My degree was useful from the point that I needed one to get onto the grad scheme I applied for but I haven't touched anything I actually learnt for 3 years.

[ziggy328]

Peterpetrole said:

If it turns out to be in Media Studies from Abergavenny please can I request this thread does not turn into a pile on

[TheK1981]

Not completely useless, but my ex has a degree and masters in maths from Cambridge but teaches GCSE maths, so few students do A level maths they just need 1 teacher so the head of maths does that, said she could have gone to a fun uni and still do as good a job

[Panamax]

If you want a useful degree it's best to study something useful.

IMO fees should be lower for useful courses to help steer people in a sensible direction to get long term value from their studies.

[Hoofy]

I guess you have to look at the overall skills you get rather than the specifics, although that is like buying a 10 year old Kia Picanto for £50k and then trying to find the silver lining in having spent 10 times what you should have spent.

One of my mentees did a Digital Media degree, and it looks like with me faffing about trying to figure things out with social media, FB ads, SEO etc I've learnt more than him that is actually useful to a business, in a shorter time and without drumming up nearly £100k in debt.

[TomTheTyke]

Panamax said:

If you want a useful degree it's best to study something useful.

IMO fees should be lower for useful courses to help steer people in a sensible direction to get long term value from their studies.

Sorry if this derails the thread somewhat but I think my earlier post addresses this so I’d be keen to know your thoughts.

Who decides what’s useful and how do we measure utility?

I think there are some specific cases where expectations are wrong. I’m sure I read somewhere that many multiples of people study criminology vs the number of people actually required by the police.

But I tend to lean the other way. If someone’s passionate about a subject and wants to devote 3 years to broadening their mind, debating with others, improving self discipline, I’d call subsidising that an excellent use of taxpayers’ money.

[Fred Smith]

My job history... I got a "starter" job. Most other "starters" were graduates, but not all. That got my foot in the door. Then I got jobs based on experience.

Then I got fed up and changed industries - I firmly believe that I could have got that job with no GCSEs and simply based on an interview.

Then I decided I wanted to get a Professional qualification, which required a relevant degree or masters, and having the degree meant I could get the relevant masters in 1 year instead of doing a 3 year relevant undergrad degree.

The Masters was of some use when I went for the professional qualification, but not much.

So yeah, degrees have helped me, but not much beyond the "might have helped me get a foot in the door, and the masters I needed before the Professional qualification".

I know someone going to university this year... he is going to a top university to study a subject he loves and which offers him genuine opportunities to either go into very well paid work, or academia, both of which he is open to, in theory. For him a degree is a no-brainer, IMHO.

For people who want to become doctors or lawyers ditto.

For other people, not so much. Woke is destroying the arts and social sciences, and genuinely, I'd rather someone with BBB at A level, and common sense, than someone with AAA and a woke degree.

[Chris Stott]

Not me, but my nephew.

Did a degree in English, couldn't find any meaningful employment. Ended up working in an opticians. Loved it, did various dispensing courses and eventually applied and was accepted to do optometry. Passed all the exams last year and has just finished his final qualifying exams to practice unsupervised.