Is a music degree useless?

Final year music student here

This is absolutely balls.

Got not a single lecture this year, just three 1 hour long seminars.

one 4000 word essay

3 6000 word essays

1 10-12000 word essay (dissertation)

It's crap value for money (£9000, not a single lecture) and to top it off, all my friends that graduated with a music degree are either jobless or flipping burgers/making subway sandwiches.

I seriously regret doing a music degree, it's all well and good 'studying what you love' when mummy and daddy are supporting you financially and SFE is giving you loans but the fact is, I f*cking hate this degree because it sucks and the career prospects for a music degree are just awful.

I'm too deep into this to quit now but holy **** I think I just wasted 3 years of my life.

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Reply 1

ikhan94

Not necessarily any degree is useful because it counts as a qualification to your name, but regarding your course you should try and see if there any graduate jobs from your university.

Reply 2

John55

I don't know anything about it really but couldn't you get work as a session musician or something? :dontknow:

Reply 3

Duncaaaaaan

Original post by John55

I don't know anything about it really but couldn't you get work as a session musician or something? :dontknow:

Nope you have to be ridiculously good at performing to do that, which I am not. my modules are much more academia focused..

Reply 4

John55

Original post by Duncaaaaaan

Nope you have to be ridiculously good at performing to do that, which I am not. my modules are much more academia focused..

Couldn't you go into teaching?

Or, I assume you play an instrument, start a band, write some badass songs and get a record deal...

Reply 5

The_Lonely_Goatherd

No degree is useless imho. Are the career prospects really that awful for music? I'm a music graduate and I didn't think the career prospects were dire :nah:

And when you say no lectures this year, is that this calendar year or this academic year?!?!?! :headfire:

Reply 6

urbanlocations

I think most people that have a music degree end up going into Teaching etc.

Reply 7

LiquidGold

What do you want to do? Do you actually want to do something to do with music?
If not there are plenty of good jobs and grad schemes (altho you've missed a lot of the best ones for this September, but you could apply for next september from the autumn) out there that don't require a specific degree subject.

Reply 8

Incongruous

Yeah, Music is pretty much a dire choice of subject unless you go to one of the top unis or music colleges...

I studied Music for 4 years. Now I am going to do a Masters in Computer Science from a top uni hoping someone will hire me.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

Incongruous

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

No degree is useless imho. Are the career prospects really that awful for music? I'm a music graduate and I didn't think the career prospects were dire :nah:

And when you say no lectures this year, is that this calendar year or this academic year?!?!?! :headfire:

A career as a performer, only for the 0.001%...

Career in teaching music? Hardly any of what you are going to learn at uni will be relevant or useful.

Lower ranked unis tend to have quite dumbed down music courses.

Academia? Oxbridge is about your only choice to even have remote chance of success.

Reply 10

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by Incongruous

A career as a performer doesn't mean you have to be a world-famous concert instrumentalist. Realistically, I don't think many people from ANY degree use what they learnt at uni in any meaningful way once they've left uni, unless they go into academia. I don't agree that Oxbridge is about your only choice to have a remote chance of success in academia. If you want to TEACH at Oxbridge, yes, but not otherwise imho.

In short, as a muso, I only agree with your third sentence :tongue:

why did you pick it?

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Well as someone who went to a music school in my teens and then went on to do a 4 year music course at a top London music college, this is my experience:

Do you know how hard it is to make a career out of being a performer? Being a classically trained instrumentalist, I do not know anyone who manages to earn a sufficient living out of just being a performer. The amount of money offered for performing is quite poor, it is an overcrowded profession for very limited amount of opportunities.

Having an BA (or whatever initials) in any STEM subject, at least the title (presuming you have good grades) of it on your CV allows you to convert more easily into many other subjects. This compared to music, which allows you to do... music...

Music degrees are often very very broad and don't really specialise in anything. If you want a decent course, go to one of the top 3 music colleges in London (RAM, RCM, GSMD) if performing is your thing or Oxbridge, Edinburgh, Durham (maybe KCL joint course with RAM)...

Being in my last year, looking ahead to the future, looking at how people in the years above have coped with it, it really scares me. Thank god I am heading to UCL next year to do something else.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by Incongruous

I never said it was easy or lucrative - I was just making the point that I felt you original post was highly exaggerating the situation :tongue:

Not so sure about doing a performance music degree at a music college (top or otherwise) - I think that does pigeonhole one more than a uni degree - but a university music course from a good uni, with good grades, can (with conversion courses) take you onto career paths like law and medicine even! I know people who have done this :yes:

I do agree that picking a decent course is important, and think that more people need to be aware of the realities of a music degree. I was under the old tuition fee system and certainly would not have done a music degree at 9K per year anywhere other than Oxbridge, personally. But that's not to say a music degree is as awful as the OP makes out, or as limiting as you seem to want to make out...

Reply 14

1secondsofvamps

Maybe you could become a music therapist? They help people express their emotions through music

Reply 15

Incongruous

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

1. I never said it was easy or lucrative - I was just making the point that I felt you original post was highly exaggerating the situation :tongue:

2. Not so sure about doing a performance music degree at a music college (top or otherwise) - I think that does pigeonhole one more than a uni degree - but a university music course from a good uni, with good grades, can (with conversion courses) take you onto career paths like law and medicine even! I know people who have done this :yes:

3. I do agree that picking a decent course is important, and think that more people need to be aware of the realities of a music degree. I was under the old tuition fee system and certainly would not have done a music degree at 9K per year anywhere other than Oxbridge, personally. But that's not to say a music degree is as awful as the OP makes out, or as limiting as you seem to want to make out...

1. I wasn't exaggerating. I've witnessed several people struggle after music college - even Oxford grads.

2. Most degrees with very good grades always allow you to convert to many other things. My point about STEM degrees was that they usually lend themselves more directly to convert to other subjects.

3. The thing is not many people are aware of the realities of a music degrees.

It's not the kind of degree you should take unless you really have a passionate heart-felt desire and a purpose to do it.
You get a much easier ride if you're unsure doing many other subjects.

I can completely sympathise with the OP.

Reply 16

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by Incongruous

I personally feel you did exaggerate but we'll just have to agree to disagree, otherwise we'll be here all night going around in circles :tongue:

I do recognise it is a real struggle to make a living from music - I don't think anything I said denied that...

OK, I now understand your point about STEM degrees a bit better.

I'm sorry that you sympathise with the OP - it sounds like you perhaps were not very aware of the realities yourself when you were younger and choosing to go to music school and then music college. I guess I'm quite lucky that I was always reasonably realistic and pragmatic about things like job prospects and whether it's worth the money. Though like I said, I was under a different tuition fee system.

I hope your new course at UCL helps you to feel happier about your life in general and that you'll keep up the musical skills you've no doubt gained in extra-curricular form :smile:

Reply 17

username738914

Original post by Duncaaaaaan

It's not useless. You could be a bit enterprising and start your own music tutorial business, apply to top grad schemes (i.e. exploit the fact that 70%+ of these don't even require a specific degree), apply for the PGCE for secondary school teaching, go abroad to teach English/music to kids in a different country. Hell, why not go down to mayfair and be a rich kid's personal music tutor?

Grad prospects are what you make of them - it requires a bit of thinking outside the box on your part, not just relying on what your degree 'should' do. You've got a decently sized noggin so use it.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 18

Lawbringer

Unlucky OP, you could drop out and change degrees if you have the money and aren't too deep. I know many people make similar mistakes, especially on the clearing day where you get whatever is left. I kind of try my best to advise people doing similar stuff to reconsider and make sure they are sure they know all they will get into. Either way, it's not useless, you can go into accountancy and many other stuff that requires a degree only. Yep you won't be as competitive as STEM grad from a Russel group or higher but you will defo stand a good chance as long as you do well these years and really try your best.

Reply 19

Duncaaaaaan

Wow this thread got busy over night! Thanks for the responses all.

Okay, a lot of people are suggesting teaching, I've done a lot of voluntary work teaching small kids/people with disability and tbh I feel burnt out on it.

As for performing (solo performance or in an professional ensemble), you have to be insanely, insanely good to actually make a living from it. It's not classical music elitism, it's just true. If you want to do classical music performance you the standard is higher than a band. None of us at my university (and it's a russel group one so it's pretty good) are good enough to go into it right out of graduating. The performance module students would have to do a post grad at somewhere like RNCM so that employers won't bin their CV immediately (because some dude also applyng went to the 'Oxbridge' of performing arts).

As for musical therapist, already done a lot of that with disabled people, it was fun, I genuinely enjoyed it for my year out but I don't think it's something I can do as a career, I am really tired of it now.

'Or, I assume you play an instrument, start a band, write some badass songs and get a record deal...'

Its not a feasible career option, and to gain a record deal you need luck and skill in performing. Also, I play cello, kind of hard to get in a band and I don't have enough knowledge of pop music to perform it. I'm alright, in all the auditioned ensembles at the uni but I am not performance material.

TeeEM why did I pick this? Because we're encouraged by school and parents to study what we are passionate about...

I feel like the degree is one enormous cash cow.

I am spending £9000 for this year, but where is it actually going? Access to the library and three seminars for £9000... lol. LOL. I am mad.