Is a degree worth having?

OP

Chris_

Well, I would expect an English degree to cover a wide range of literatary topics and styles (maybe including journalism..?), whereas I would expect a journalism degree to focus more specifically on journalistic topics and styles..

Im not an expert in this area, so please, correct me if Im wrong.

A friend of mine did Journalism studies and had to study ethics, law and business relations alongside the more obvious topics such as journalism and broadcasting skills. It is a much broader subject than people think.

Reply 41

Tednol

10

Personally I think a degree is worth having even if for no reason other than most people enjoy university life.

Reply 42

babyballerina

oh_sweet_surrey

It is the whole universe that has the "warped view"...not just me. It is natural that everyone is prejudiced to a certain extent. I'm sorry but a rich soldier with no degree is still not socially respectable if compared to a poor lawyer. He just isn't, even a lil kid knows dat. don't ask ME why.

You seem to be obsessed by status and prestige. When I graduated from Cambridge (which has 'prestige' in the academic world.) I worked for a while on the till at Marks and Spencers. Did I tell everyone I worked with, and every customer, that I had a Cambridge degree and wait for them to kiss my feet? No of course not! I would have had my arrogant head kicked in! I'd like to think I got on with my collegues and customers at M&S because I am a decent human being. I didn't need a degree to be that. It's not like people in the real world can even tell someone has a degree when they meet them. I don't know where you get the idea that where someone went to uni is the most important factor in British life. Yes, in the world of work different degree subjects, degree classes, unis and A-level grades are used to discriminate between job applicants. That's the point of qualifications. That is why we study. At the end of the day it is preparation and training for the world of work. But away from the student library is the real world where, believe it or not, people are valued whether they stuided law, media studies or even *shock, horror* if they don't have a degree at all.

Actually where I come from almost no-one has a degree and I am regarded as a bit of a weirdo. Certainly not in an academic upper class or anything! What century are you living in?

Reply 43

Fluffy

15

babyballerina

You seem to be obsessed by status and prestige. When I graduated from Cambridge (which has 'prestige' in the academic world.) I worked for a while on the till at Marks and Spencers. Did I tell everyone I worked with, and every customer, that I had a Cambridge degree and wait for them to kiss my feet? No of course not! I would have had my arrogant head kicked in! I'd like to think I got on with my collegues and customers at M&S because I am a decent human being. I didn't need a degree to be that. It's not like people in the real world can even tell someone has a degree when they meet them. I don't know where you get the idea that where someone went to uni is the most important factor in British life. Yes, in the world of work different degree subjects, degree classes, unis and A-level grades are used to discriminate between job applicants. That's the point of qualifications. That is why we study. At the end of the day it is preparation and training for the world of work. But away from the student library is the real world where, believe it or not, people are valued whether they stuided law, media studies or even *shock, horror* if they don't have a degree at all.

Actually where I come from almost no-one has a degree and I am regarded as a bit of a weirdo. Certainly not in an academic upper class or anything! What century are you living in?

Nice rant! Totally agreed!

Reply 44

oh_sweet_surrey

3

babyballerina

You seem to be obsessed by status and prestige. When I graduated from Cambridge (which has 'prestige' in the academic world.) I worked for a while on the till at Marks and Spencers. Did I tell everyone I worked with, and every customer, that I had a Cambridge degree and wait for them to kiss my feet? No of course not! I would have had my arrogant head kicked in! I'd like to think I got on with my collegues and customers at M&S because I am a decent human being. I didn't need a degree to be that. It's not like people in the real world can even tell someone has a degree when they meet them. I don't know where you get the idea that where someone went to uni is the most important factor in British life. Yes, in the world of work different degree subjects, degree classes, unis and A-level grades are used to discriminate between job applicants. That's the point of qualifications. That is why we study. At the end of the day it is preparation and training for the world of work. But away from the student library is the real world where, believe it or not, people are valued whether they stuided law, media studies or even *shock, horror* if they don't have a degree at all.

Actually where I come from almost no-one has a degree and I am regarded as a bit of a weirdo. Certainly not in an academic upper class or anything! What century are you living in?

Yea, that question applies to most people in this forum. Most of them seem to be living in the Dark Ages. I was just writing about the general view of society which I thought had prevailed for a long time,and that is by no means my own opinion. Also, I was just trying to emphasize that people from the top-20 unis are more likely to get employed than those from Greenwich, Thames Valley, Teesside etc. Do you get my point? Isn't this logical? And I also believe that what courses you take is not as important as which university you study at, because any degree, as long as it's taught at the top unis, is likely to get you to some career cos employers might look at it favourably.(and surely, the top unis are not so stupid that they would adopt courses that are obviously 'mickey mouse') In, turn, 'traditional courses' that most UKL people seem to love so much, could also turn into "mickey-mouse" courses when they are taught at poor unis. After all, the name of the uni is more important than the name of the course. Am I being illogical here?
I totally agree with you, babyballerina, and I wish the whole English society were full of people like you... I really want people to be broad-minded. I really do. Well, thank you for teaching me that they aren't only splenetic traditionalists in England... after all I love this country, so I don't want to get a negative impression :tongue:

Reply 45

babyballerina

oh_sweet_surrey

Yea, that question applies to most people in this forum. Most of them seem to be living in the Dark Ages. I was just writing about the general view of society which I thought had prevailed for a long time,and that is by no means my own opinion. Also, I was just trying to emphasize that people from the top-20 unis are more likely to get employed than those from Greenwich, Thames Valley, Teesside etc. Do you get my point? Isn't this logical? And I also believe that what courses you take is not as important as which university you study at, because any degree, as long as it's taught at the top unis, is likely to get you to some career cos employers might look at it favourably.(and surely, the top unis are not so stupid that they would adopt courses that are obviously 'mickey mouse') In, turn, 'traditional courses' that most UKL people seem to love so much, could also turn into "mickey-mouse" courses when they are taught at poor unis. After all, the name of the uni is more important than the name of the course. Am I being illogical here?
I totally agree with you, babyballerina, and I wish the whole English society were full of people like you... I really want people to be broad-minded. I really do. Well, thank you for teaching me that they aren't only splenetic traditionalists in England... after all I love this country, so I don't want to get a negative impression :tongue:

The entry qualification for university in this country is A-levels for the vast majority of students. A-level grades range from A-E. The whole point of having grades is to differentiate between students. But a student who receives EE grades may have worked just as hard as a student who got AAA, but they may not have as much natural aptitude. Should we deny the EE student a place at university? Of course not! They got the qualifications. Alternatively, the EE student might have under-achieved but grades are a combination of talent, effort and teaching so students who had poor teaching or are just not focused on studying (I don't really think that's a fault. Some people make the choice to have a life but get lower grades. Depends what you want to do.) need a chance too. There must be levels of university course to cater for the range of levels of student who get A-levels. So the universities have to be ranked.

I also think there is nothing wrong with ambition so if you want to apply to one of the top unis, go for it. I think a lot of people who are researching how to get into a top-ranked uni find this site using a search engone and hence there is a bias towards the higher ranked institutions.

As for jobs, yes if you want to be 'something-in-the-city' you need a higher ranked course. Mainly because the competition for such allows the employers to pick and choose, plus in such a high pressure environment they need very smart people. But a lot of people don't want such jobs.

Student applicants stress an awful lot more about their choice of course and uni than any current university tudent or employer ever will! It's the first major decision most of us make as an adult by ourselves, and it does change the direction of our lives because we meet different people, live in a different area etc etc.

Personally I think there is HUGE over-emphasis on academic qualifications in this country, leading to a glut of graduates and a shortage of plumbers. I think many people feel they have no option but to go to uni, so they spend 3-4 years wracking up huge debts doing a course they hate without any idea of how it will benefit them in the real world. I think every student should consider why they are going to uni. It's an expensive way to kill 3 years. Many people, especially parents, think that any degree will automatically lead to a high paying job with no further effort or experience needed. This is sooooooo distant from the truth!

The problem with media studies is that student numbers have risen so much that there will never be enough jobs in this area for all the graduates. So it's super-competitive for jobs and most graduates won't get their dream media job. One of my friends told me that even if every job in the industry was taken by a new graduate, only 2% of photography graduates would get a job the that industry per year. You actually would probably be alright studying something obscure like golf course management because it's a niche market. There won't be many jobs but then again there are so few graduates in this subject there are enough jobs to go round.

I don't know where you get this idea from that England is full of people who judge you only according to the university you attended and shun people who studied media studies! Yeah the people on this site are a bit obsessed with their uni apllications, but that's what this site is for!

bb

Is a degree worth having?

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