[Miss G]

Up until a few days ago, I was pretty keen on doing something Business related in Uni. I thought it was an extremely useful course in today's world, with great employment prospects.

I did some research, and I found out that a lot of people consider on TSR this to be a 'Mickey Mouse course'... which I can't understand. So why is it considered a Mickey Mouse course?

A lot of people claim that we should all just get Law degrees, because that prepares you for any career, and Journalism is a 'Mickey Mouse' course as well. But if you want to be a Journalist, or a Manager, or work in Advertising, why would you take Law? Why are all these courses considered a joke? Am I the only one who doesn't understand why a Newspaper would rather employ a Law graduate than a Journalism graduate?

[Cephalus]

I suppose business is like economics-lite.

No real content

[Flyteryder]

(Original post by Miss G)
Journalism is a 'Mickey Mouse' course as well. But if you want to be a Journalist, or a Manager, or work in Advertising, why would you take Law? Why are all these courses considered a joke? Am I the only one who doesn't understand why a Newspaper would rather employ a Law graduate than a Journalism graduate?

Most journalists have degrees in the subject they write about; economics journalists usually have economics degrees, political journalists usually have politics/history degrees, etc. Somebody with a degree in journalism has only been taught how to analyse and write; graduates who have degrees in economics, politics and law have been taught how to analyse and write, and have gained enormous amounts of knowledge from their degree subjects as well, which journalism graduates won't have.

It's no good being a journalist if you haven't got a clue what to write about or what you're writing about; try writing a respectable article about the economic downturn of Europe or the instability of the Middle East using Google.

Usually journalists don't start out being journalists, because there aren't that many positions. Many journalists start their careers as economists, researchers, lawyers etc, and do a bit of journalism on the side until they get head hunted, or apply for a journalism job with over 10 years' experience in their field.

[chelseafan]

The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

[Ui95]

(Original post by chelseafan)
The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

Hahaaha


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[madders94]

There is so much snobbery on TSR; if you aren't planning on doing medicine or a science/maths-related course, any degree is a Mickey Mouse subject. If you want to do it, go for it. I want to be a nursery nurse/play therapist; what good is a law/physics degree going to do me? Much better to be doing suitable courses rather than taking up places on courses that aren't going to get you anywhere, when others need them.

[chelseafan]

(Original post by madders94)
There is so much snobbery on TSR; if you aren't planning on doing medicine or a science/maths-related course, any degree is a Mickey Mouse subject. If you want to do it, go for it.

TSR always makes me feel dumb

[Mother of 8 1985]

(Original post by chelseafan)
The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

+ rep, such a good point fella

[madders94]

(Original post by chelseafan)
TSR always makes me feel dumb

Me too; I've never considered myself particularly smart anyway but coming on these forums makes me feel like stupid - and it seems like there are some people on here who get a kick out of making others feel inferior.

[Miss G]

(Original post by chelseafan)
The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

That could apply to Law, too. If your lecturer knows so much about law, why isn't he a lawyer?

[Miss G]

(Original post by madders94)
There is so much snobbery on TSR; if you aren't planning on doing medicine or a science/maths-related course, any degree is a Mickey Mouse subject. If you want to do it, go for it. I want to be a nursery nurse/play therapist; what good is a law/physics degree going to do me? Much better to be doing suitable courses rather than taking up places on courses that aren't going to get you anywhere, when others need them.

Yeah, I've noticed that too! It's ridiculous! Also, people on here are convinced that if you don't get a degree from the top 20, you'll be serving fries for the rest of your life. But there are so many people out there getting degrees in all sorts of subjects that aren't science based or from a top uni, and I'm sure most of them don't end up working for McDonald's.

[Historophilia]

I think one of the problems is that Business is a degree that is too specific and yet not specific enough.

It teaches you a more narrow set of skills and knowledge than a more traditional degree like Economics or Humanities etc. and yet the knowledge it gives you is too general for the purpose.

Let me elaborate. A degree such as, say, English Literature gives you an excellent set of transferable skills but not any specific knowledge that would be hugely useful in the workplace. Employers will value these transferable skills and then give employees the specific knowledge they need.

A Business degree is seen as giving you fewer transferable skills, because it is less research and analysis focused than a Humanities degree and yet doesn't give you the numerical or quantitative skills an Economics or Science degree would.

In addition it mostly teaches you things that most people learn anyway in the workplace.

Add to that, it gives you only a general grasp of the Business world. All Businesses are different and require different skills and in depth knowledge, which a Business degree doesn't give you.

So Pharmaceutical business companies will prefer Biology or Chemistry grads because they have the in depth knowledge that is relevant to the company. Financial service companies (banks, hedge funds etc) will hire Economics grads for the same reasons, Public Relations firms will hire Politics or History grads and so on.

These grads will have the specific skills and knowledge which they want and then they will teach them the "Business" side of things as they go along.

[chelseafan]

(Original post by Miss G)
Yeah, I've noticed that too! It's ridiculous! Also, people on here are convinced that if you don't get a degree from the top 20, you'll be serving fries for the rest of your life. But there are so many people out there getting degrees in all sorts of subjects that aren't science based or from a top uni, and I'm sure most of them don't end up working for McDonald's.

Yeah for example my cousin went to Nottingham Trent through clearing and did quantitative surveying as a degree. A year after graduation he's on a 30k salary.

[NAB]

(Original post by chelseafan)
The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

The thing about law is. If your lecturer knows so much about law why isn't he a lawyer now?
The thing about medicine is. If your lecturer knows so much about medicine why isn't he a surgeon now?
The thing about economics is. If your lecturer knows so much about economics why isn't he advising one now?
The thing about education is. If your lecturer knows so much about education why isn't he teac- never mind :c

[pinkbullets]

(Original post by madders94)
There is so much snobbery on TSR; if you aren't planning on doing medicine or a science/maths-related course, any degree is a Mickey Mouse subject. If you want to do it, go for it. I want to be a nursery nurse/play therapist; what good is a law/physics degree going to do me? Much better to be doing suitable courses rather than taking up places on courses that aren't going to get you anywhere, when others need them.

No one can possibly look down on you for doing a nursing degree. Where would we be without nurses?

[Flyteryder]

(Original post by NAB)
The thing about law is. If your lecturer knows so much about law why isn't he a lawyer now?

They'll be a qualified lawyer and will probably have been either a lawyer for many years and still advises clients, or a lecturer who still practices law when they're not lecturing.

The thing about medicine is. If your lecturer knows so much about medicine why isn't he a surgeon now?

They'll be a qualified doctor/surgeon who probably lectures sometimes and does medical work at other times. To be a medical lecturer you need to know what you're doing; they don't just let anyone lecture who knows how to cut someone's finger off with a knife. There are loads of teaching hospitals where surgeons give lectures for a few hours then go off to operate on real people being a real surgeon in a real hospital with real patients.

The thing about business is business lecturers are very highly unlikely to be managing directors of massive global companies.

[odkfn]

(Original post by chelseafan)
The thing about business is. If your lecturer knows so much about business why isn't he running one now?

The same could be said for any subject - if your engineering lecturer is so good why isn't he a professional engineer, if your medecine lecturer is so good why isn't he a doctor, etc. Most lecturers at my uni, including the business lecturer who taught the engineers one of their modules, have a side business and his is very lucrative.

[funkydee]

(Original post by Miss G)
Yeah, I've noticed that too! It's ridiculous! Also, people on here are convinced that if you don't get a degree from the top 20, you'll be serving fries for the rest of your life. But there are so many people out there getting degrees in all sorts of subjects that aren't science based or from a top uni, and I'm sure most of them don't end up working for McDonald's.

lol ive seen a thread digress into Camb Maths >>>>>> Oxford Maths.

Only on tsr.

[Tortious]

(Original post by Flyteryder)
They'll be a qualified lawyer and will probably have been either a lawyer for many years and still advises clients, or a lecturer who still practices law when they're not lecturing.

Nope, that's true of very few lecturers, in my experience. I know one who used to be a solicitor, and a few who are "barristers" (but who haven't completed the training required to practise), but that's about it.

Most of the academics I've come across are people who are genuinely interested in the subject and who want to consider it in a much more abstract way. They all did exceptionally well at university, but very few of them ever practised.

[hannah60000]

(Original post by Flyteryder)
Most journalists have degrees in the subject they write about; economics journalists usually have economics degrees, political journalists usually have politics/history degrees, etc. Somebody with a degree in journalism has only been taught how to analyse and write; graduates who have degrees in economics, politics and law have been taught how to analyse and write, and have gained enormous amounts of knowledge from their degree subjects as well, which journalism graduates won't have.

It's no good being a journalist if you haven't got a clue what to write about or what you're writing about; try writing a respectable article about the economic downturn of Europe or the instability of the Middle East using Google.

Usually journalists don't start out being journalists, because there aren't that many positions. Many journalists start their careers as economists, researchers, lawyers etc, and do a bit of journalism on the side until they get head hunted, or apply for a journalism job with over 10 years' experience in their field.

When I did a week work experience that wasn't the case...as such but I see were you are coming from, specialist knowledge is needed but not all it is gained from a degree as such.