The Student Room Group

What is considered a useless degree?

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Original post by im so academic
Yes.

For this post, you just need to have good spoken/written German skills, so if you did a science degree with a year abroad in Germany, it would certainly be OK: https://atsv7.wcn.co.uk/search_engine/jobs.cgi?SID=amNvZGU9MTM1MTI2MSZ2dF90ZW1wbGF0ZT02NzImb3duZXI9NTAyNzczNSZvd25lcnR5cGU9ZmFpciZicmFuZF9pZD0wJnJlcXNpZz0xMzc1MDQ1MTA3LTQ1ODE0NGMwMTUwMGQ3MDZkNGI5MGQzZTI5ZjIwOTA0OTA1ZWU5ZDQ=


It certainly would not, it also says you must have past experience in working in a museum.
It might have crossed some of your minds that some of us actually study our disciplines because we have a genuine interest in them; not because we want a 'job' or a big shiny car. No degree is useless if you study it out of interest and curiosity; and as such you'll find that many disciplines overlap and teach a wide variety of skill-sets.

As for philosophy being useless (i'll avoid discussing subjects I know a little less about to keep the post short but the idea of disciplines such as literature being useless is also laughable) Einstein said he owe a great deal to Ernst Mach; who was a logical positivist (a philosopher of science), (he actually said this himself according to A.J Ayer in an interview) apparently this helped him with his theory of relativity - I guess someone should have told him philosophy is useless.

Take a look at the following: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xq6dfYUfOmMJ:www.nd.edu/~dhoward1/AEquotes.pdf+Ernst+mach+einstein+site:edu&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
(edited 10 years ago)
As others have said, a degree is only useless if you don't use it in some way. And it's not just about learning the subject.

For example, if you study a history degree, you learn how to evaluate sources and use them, debating skills, how to write essays, etc.
Reply 383
No knowledge is useless. And if someone is interested enough in something they will MAKE it useful in some way or another. With enough passion any degree can transform from a generally considered "useless" degree into one that serves a significant purpose in society.
Reply 384
English.
I did Coronation Street Studies with Bengali an have found this very useful I gaining a fulfilling and lucrative career.
Wow. So many snobs on this forum.
Reply 387
Original post by Basiji
All Arts degrees are useless, like wtf are you gonna do with an English degree, or History (apart from the obvious Historian or teacher/lecturer)? ROFL. Maths and Science FTW.

Yeah, exactly, my cousin became head teacher at a prestigious grammar school, on £150k +, with a history degree. Mind you it was a 1st from Cambridge.
I find it extremely halarious that people here are saying history and English Literature are useless... There are loads of jobs that those degrees are worth for such as people who want to become
News reporters
Journalists
Historians
Lawyers
Ministers
Governments
Solicitors
Archeologist
Teachers
Tour guilders
And many many more....

English and history helps a lot if you want to get into politics and government sector jobs and if you want to be a lawyer it's useful.

A useless degree would be a Btec national diploma in Health and social care for those who want go to university and to become nurses or midwifes (except its good for those who wish to study social work at university and want to become Social workers)
(edited 10 years ago)
I'm going to study History at university and I would say the most useless degree is History of Art.

It's just a hobby. Its bull****


Posted from TSR Mobile
Haha!

I have realised the answer:

A useless degree is a third!



Posted from TSR Mobile
anyone googling it will discover that this is a degree offered in partnership with a global controlling organisation (the PGA), in a growth area, and has a 100% post-graduation employment rate.
Reply 392
Philosophy
Reply 393
I guess none are totally useless. The question is more, what provides best emotional and/or financial return on an investment of £27k+.
Original post by ihatebrownbread
David Beckham studies- come on, how can anyone argue that's not a useless degree


What if your aim is to do a Masters in Victoria studies?

Posted from TSR Mobile
Women's Studies is probably the most useless, and probably retards the intellectual growth of the person taking it.
Original post by SamKeene
Women's Studies is probably the most useless, and probably retards the intellectual growth of the person taking it.


lmao true
Reply 397
I don't think any degrees are completely useless. Obviously, some degrees are more practical and can be more easily associated with certain jobs than others such as law and medicine etc. but all subjects develop different a wide range of skills that can be applied differently to a wide range of jobs.

Why all the hating on media studies? Social media/ TV/ journalism etc have all had a huge impact on pretty much the lives on every single person living in a developed country. It's basically how we communicate all our information. Who doesn't watch the news/read newspapers online/use a social networking site/buy online/communicate by email/watch videos/movies or listen to music online? It's one of the main components of our everyday lives now.

And arts degrees develop skills in languages/communication/presentation/debate/creativity/independent thought/team and independent work/basic IT skills/time management and project management skills which apply to basically every job that's not solely for scientists/mathematicians like business/design/teaching/marketing/PR/sales/recruitment/media. One could even argue that they open more doors in different sectors and create well rounded students... although I have nothing against STEM subjects of course! :smile: Just that I think both have pros and cons.
Original post by SamKeene
Women's Studies is probably the most useless.

no undergraduate degrees in women's studies in the UK or did you mean degrees with some modules on gender studies?

(criticising the intelligence of people studying a topic without even doing some research on whether that topic is available as a degree doesn't really show your own intelligence in the best light :frown: )
Original post by PQ
no undergraduate degrees in women's studies in the UK or did you mean degrees with some modules on gender studies?

(criticising the intelligence of people studying a topic without even doing some research on whether that topic is available as a degree doesn't really show your own intelligence in the best light :frown: )


OP didn't specify it was for just the UK. I saw no reason to exclude degrees from say, the US.

(criticizing an aspect of someones post by applying arbitrary restrictions on the thread doesn't really show your own intelligence in the best light :frown: )

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