Devil's advocate here,
As a professional quantity surveyor I can say that the role is boring at times, however the prospects are generally much better than those of a building surveyor (I.e enables ease of promotion to senior management)
Quantity surveying basically teaches you how to manage and procure project liabilities (contractually and financially) in order to do this you will need to know your way around a cash-flow forecast, eventually a profit and loss statement and will generally know the margins better than anyone else in the company. I can't speak for all universities, but Heriott Watt(the most highly ranked QS course provider in the U.K) teaches you the fundamentals of corporate finance which helps immeasurably.
Building surveyors on the other hand are concerned with the structural aspects of a project and how that impacts on value etc my friend for example was out surveying footings last week, signing them off if they met his requirements asking for a repour if they didn't.
The key difference here is that with quantity surveying you learn financial management skills that are essential in senior management.
I'm not saying you can't get there as a building surveyor, but I recently went for an interview at a multidisciplinary surveying practice (both BS and QS) where the two MD's were Quantity surveyors by trade and the four associates comprised of 3 QS and one BS. To add weight to my argument, procurement is becoming a highly recognised field, because the people that work there generally have the best knowledge of the business function, the problems that can inhibit profit and consequently the solutions to enable the company to move forward. Have a look at construction / engineering commercial managers and their salaries, most of these people are trained Quantity Surveyors and are on major money generally starting in the 50-60k range.
Like I say quantity surveying can be boring at times, very contractual and often office based so building surveying might be a better choice for those that enjoy being out and about on site a lot (which can be over-rated in the winter months)
It is also important to note that generally QS can work as 1 of 4 different functions:
Sub-contractor (generally site based)
Main-contractor (site/office)
Client (office for the majority)
Consultant (office for majority)
Each of these require slightly different responsibilities.
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