The Student Room Group

The whole "study what you love" thing is stupid and unrealistic

Whenever anyone asks for advice on what degree to choose, whether online or from careers departments etc, the typical advice given now is "study the subject you find interesting" as if that's the only important thing.

Now whilst it's true that studying something you actively dislike would be a bad move, I think this whole line of thinking (which seems to be quite recent) is giving people seriously unrealistic expectations of university and the benefits that come from it, and to be honest, is massively misleading students

Firstly, university exists to increase your employment prospects, I don't know why so many people dispute that. I find many subjects interesting, and love reading about them, watching debates about them, etc. But I'm not going to dish out £9000 a year plus living costs to study something "cause its interesting" when there is a massive amount of information you can learn by yourself, through the internet, books etc. The reason people go to university is to be able to "officially" say that they have studied a certain subject, ie. get a recognised degree, and the only possible motive for that would be to improve their position in the eyes of an employer, not to "learn interesting things".

Secondly, a lot of people who decide to just "study what they like" and subsequently choose degrees with little employment prospects eventually find that the job they end up in (if they even get a job) won't have anything to do with their degree anyway. So many people who studied easy, soft subjects at university and now are working in bars or retail or something or perhaps can't even find work at all. So it's not like this "subject they love" is even a part of their career

Finally, I think its fair to say that most average students don't really have huge amounts of passion for a particular subject. Every student hates exams, dislikes doing long sessions of work and would probably rather be doing 100 things over sitting at a desk revising or writing essays. So with all this in mind, would it not make so much more sense to advise prospective university students to make employment prospects the number 1 priority when it comes to choosing a degree?

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Reply 1
The whole study for 3+ years in a subject you're not interested in to have a career that you haven't worked in before and then be forced to work in that career (because your degree isn't suited for other jobs and which you lack experience) for the next 50-60 years is stupid.

In short: If you know you want a career in something: Do the relevant degree. If you fancy a decent well paid, interesting job anywhere, any degree is fine.
Reply 2
Original post by combbrah
Whenever anyone asks for advice on what degree to choose, whether online or from careers departments etc, the typical advice given now is "study the subject you find interesting" as if that's the only important thing.

Now whilst it's true that studying something you actively dislike would be a bad move, I think this whole line of thinking (which seems to be quite recent) is giving people seriously unrealistic expectations of university and the benefits that come from it, and to be honest, is massively misleading students

Firstly, university exists to increase your employment prospects, I don't know why so many people dispute that. I find many subjects interesting, and love reading about them, watching debates about them, etc. But I'm not going to dish out £9000 a year plus living costs to study something "cause its interesting" when there is a massive amount of information you can learn by yourself, through the internet, books etc. The reason people go to university is to be able to "officially" say that they have studied a certain subject, ie. get a recognised degree, and the only possible motive for that would be to improve their position in the eyes of an employer, not to "learn interesting things".

Secondly, a lot of people who decide to just "study what they like" and subsequently choose degrees with little employment prospects eventually find that the job they end up in (if they even get a job) won't have anything to do with their degree anyway. So many people who studied easy, soft subjects at university and now are working in bars or retail or something or perhaps can't even find work at all. So it's not like this "subject they love" is even a part of their career

Finally, I think its fair to say that most average students don't really have huge amounts of passion for a particular subject. Every student hates exams, dislikes doing long sessions of work and would probably rather be doing 100 things over sitting at a desk revising or writing essays. So with all this in mind, would it not make so much more sense to advise prospective university students to make employment prospects the number 1 priority when it comes to choosing a degree?


You're not the only one, but please stop making it sound like you are paying £9k a year + expenses for uni, because you're not.

This seems very one sided, you seem to be under the impression that everyone goes to university to increase their chances of employment or whatever.

This isn't true. The pursuit of knowledge itself makes studying a degree (albeit with "little employment prospects") worthwhile, as it has probably made the student a better person anyway.
Is there not a balance between the two? :confused:
Reply 4
Original post by Izzyeviel
The whole study for 3+ years in a subject you're not interested in to have a career that you haven't worked in before and then be forced to work in that career (because your degree isn't suited for other jobs and which you lack experience) for the next 50-60 years is stupid.

In short: If you know you want a career in something: Do the relevant degree. If you fancy a decent well paid, interesting job anywhere, any degree is fine.


Tell that to all the graduates who are unemployed or working in a supermarket?
Reply 5
Original post by Acruzen
You're not the only one, but please stop making it sound like you are paying £9k a year + expenses for uni, because you're not.

This seems very one sided, you seem to be under the impression that everyone goes to university to increase their chances of employment or whatever.

This isn't true. The pursuit of knowledge itself makes studying a degree (albeit with "little employment prospects") worthwhile, as it has probably made the student a better person anyway.


But you can learn pretty much everything about any subject without going to university, so if they don't care about increasing their chances of employment then why wouldn't they do that? It'd be much cheaper and they could work at their own pace/schedule.

Cmon who are you kidding, university and degrees have always been about employment
Reply 6
Original post by combbrah
Tell that to all the graduates who are unemployed or working in a supermarket?


To be fair some of them are probably waiting for their vocational degrees to attract employment
Reply 7
Original post by Acruzen
You're not the only one, but please stop making it sound like you are paying £9k a year + expenses for uni, because you're not.



But taxpayers are paying for students to study a degree which 1) is useless in the job world (regardless of interesting or not) 2) will never be paid back because you won't earn 21K+ working in a supermarket or the likes. I'm pretty sure I'd like to see my tax money fuelled into schools, hospitals etc and not going to someone who has an interest in something that they will never use
Original post by combbrah
Cmon who are you kidding, university and degrees have always been about employment


I don't want to attract any negs or anything, but a teacher once told me it's as much about growing up and maturing as it is about getting your degree and job.
Reply 9
Original post by PKMN TRN JAM
I don't want to attract any negs or anything, but a teacher once told me it's as much about growing up and maturing as it is about getting your degree and job.


How old was your teacher? Maybe things were different back then :P

I know a small handful of people who went through uni and got non-degree jobs after, and still act as if they are teenages, and then I know people (admittedly quite a bit older than me) who didn't go uni but are very grown up and mature :wink: but then the converse applies to each
Reply 10
Original post by PKMN TRN JAM
I don't want to attract any negs or anything, but a teacher once told me it's as much about growing up and maturing as it is about getting your degree and job.


But as the above poster said, taxpayers are having to pay for this stuff. So I wouldn't really consider that a valid reason for going to university unless there's some serious return at the end of it. Not to mention, this is exactly what leads to the whole "college is useless" thinking that is so prevalent right now
Firstly, as a student who is aiming to study art at university, I think your post is aimed in my kind of direction.
I'd like to tell you 3 reasons why I'm doing it:
1) I love art. I have always loved art, I want to do art for the rest of my life.
2) Most of the reason I'm going to uni is so that I can continue to study art for the next four years of my life. I don't want to do anything, even it means taking a less well-paid less successful job when I'm older. I'd rather do something I really want to do for the next four years considering I'm going to have to pay for it.
3) Art is not always a wasted degree. Some design/media/film/animation companies only take on people who have a relevant degree (aka art). So, if you're good, you can still possibly get a well-paid successful job.

Look, I've found some middle ground. Woohoo
50KS8.pngat the idea of doing something you don't like

Who are you to dictate what people do with their lives?
I think we're all a bit jealous of the person who can study Classics or History of Art and still land the city training contract.
Reply 14
But there has always been more to it than just a job. Universities have been around for an awful lot longer than grad schemes at JP Morgan.

It's a bit rubbish that the economic situation has rendered something as worthwhile as knowledge and learning into a means to an end rather than something valuable in its own right.

That said, many people probably do have unrealistic expectations about university, so I guess it's about making sure students are informed and are able to make the right choices for themselves.
If you're talented, dedicated and willing to do whatever it takes to get most out of your degree, you'll be successful in whatever area you choose. win.png
Original post by combbrah
Tell that to all the graduates who are unemployed or working in a supermarket?


Let me guess, you're unhappy with your degree choice and are struggling and thus trying to justify to yourself that your unhappiness now will pay off later by belittling thousands of other people. True?
Reply 17
Original post by Izzyeviel
Let me guess, you're unhappy with your degree choice and are struggling and thus trying to justify to yourself that your unhappiness now will pay off later by belittling thousands of other people. True?


i've already graduated and am working, you sexy little thing
A world without philosophers is not one i would like to be apart of :P
A lot of people don't necessarily plan to get a job in their subject. A lot of history students for example won't become a historian, they simply want a degree, because having one is helpful not just in getting any job but also climbing the career ladder. If they have a passion for a subject who are you to stop them paying 9k a year just because at the end of it they might not get a job in that field. So? A degree is a degree.

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