Is a Media degree THAT useless?

Basically, I have an offer to do English at Leicester. Woo and yay. But the BSc Communications, Media and Society course is looking appealing, so before I phone up and beg for a swap, could people give me opinions?

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place.

Reply 1

Good bloke

19

The answer is yes, they are.

Reply 2

xJessx

18

I don't think there'a anything wrong with a media degree. There are so many jobs available and I can see why you find it interesting. I hate the whole mickey mouse degree debate - I think vocational degrees are just as worthwhile. If you want to do it, go for it but first you might want to look at the course description and units. x

Reply 3

Good bloke

19

Most people who get really good media jobs have got English degrees, or something else that is well respected.

Reply 4

AdamEx

do not swap....media degrees are truely worthless, i have a teacher who used to work for the BBC and he says that most of the new employees with media degrees in the BBC know nothing and need to be taught it all anyway.....i guess you could be lazy and have lots of fun though..

Reply 5

billet-doux

14

To be honest, i don't think they are!
A friend of mine has a media degree from Keele university (I think), and she really enjoys it. She has been getting lots of part time jobs working with Tesco, Asda etc, and they pay her up to £300 a week!

Reply 6

Glutamic Acid

17

As far as opportunities directly resulting from the degree are concerned, then pretty much.

Reply 7

Ad-Alta

14

xJessx

I don't think there'a anything wrong with a media degree. There are so many jobs available and I can see why you find it interesting. I hate the whole mickey mouse degree debate - I think vocational degrees are just as worthwhile. If you want to do it, go for it but first you might want to look at the course description and units.

Agreed - the 'media' degree at Birmingham is NOT a Film Studies course (which Brum does offer incidentally). It is completely theory-based (Althusser, Foucault, Baudrillard anyone?), so people coming thinking it will be like A-level Media Studies are unfortunately going to be disappointed. Even Film Studies doesn't actually involve making your own work (as far as I'm aware), but there is a new degree called something like 'History and Television' which does involve some part of film-making in the assessment criteria.

My degree certainly hasn't prevented me from going on to do stuff that I want to do (points to sig) - I also got offers from Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield. I guess the only way you'd be limited is if you want a science-type job, then yes, you're barking up completely the wrong tree.

But yes, to answer the OP, doing anything vaguely Media-related is stigmatised (I was asked at my Cambridge interview to explain the media part of my course and once they realised it was theory it was fine), but if the course at Leiceister is more practical, then yes - you could find yourself in rather a difficult corner coming to jobs, unless of course you do want to go into the media sector?

Reply 8

Titch89

14

piece_by_piece

To be honest, i don't think they are!
A friend of mine has a media degree from Keele university (I think), and she really enjoys it. She has been getting lots of part time jobs working with Tesco, Asda etc, and they pay her up to £300 a week!

Which she could probably get without a media degree.

Reply 9

Colourspinner

2

I have nothing against people doing a media degree. And it isn't useless, although I wouldn't say it's very useful. I guess people have that perception simply because you've picked the one degree with less academic content from a pool of hundreds of much more academic degees.

Reply 10

Demoskratos7

8

Do English.

Reply 11

milly.

OP

12

Thanks for all the replies.

If you want to do it, go for it but first you might want to look at the course description and units.

I've had a look, and it's mostly theory. There are quite a few optional practical modules, but theory interests me more so I don't think I'll be taking those.

But yes, to answer the OP, doing anything vaguely Media-related is stigmatised (I was asked at my Cambridge interview to explain the media part of my course and once they realised it was theory it was fine), but if the course at Leiceister is more practical, then yes - you could find yourself in rather a difficult corner coming to jobs, unless of course you do want to go into the media sector?

So, if I were to swap, it wouldn't be too damaging? I mean, Cambridge is alright with it...

Reply 12

Mad Vlad

19

piece_by_piece

To be honest, i don't think they are!
A friend of mine has a media degree from Keele university (I think), and she really enjoys it. She has been getting lots of part time jobs working with Tesco, Asda etc, and they pay her up to £300 a week!

It's so tragic that people have to work 50-odd hours a week as a media graduate and call it part time; pushing trolleys and stacking shelves...

Reply 13

Rocking-Rob

7

piece_by_piece

To be honest, i don't think they are!
A friend of mine has a media degree from Keele university (I think), and she really enjoys it. She has been getting lots of part time jobs working with Tesco, Asda etc, and they pay her up to £300 a week!

pretty sure part time work at tesco and asda arn't the aims you should have after doing a degree.

Reply 14

FyreFight

14

piece_by_piece

To be honest, i don't think they are!
A friend of mine has a media degree from Keele university (I think), and she really enjoys it. She has been getting lots of part time jobs working with Tesco, Asda etc, and they pay her up to £300 a week!

Holy ****, I could've applied for a degree that would let me work at Asda, and I didn't?? WHAT HAVE I DONE!?

Reply 15

krisss

9

I think english is just as useless as a media degree in some places.

Reply 16

FyreFight

14

To answer your question OP, media degrees aren't useful for anything at all. If you want to work in the media, get a degree in English, History or something else that's respected. If you want to work anywhere else, get a more relevant degree or 3 years work experience, either would be more useful.

Reply 17

RyanT

15

Take English, its the "proper" media degree if you will. The media degree won't damage you just in terms of not being taught anything for 3 years. Its also like waving a flag and saying "I'm either too stupid to be at university or I'm incredibly lazy".

For your own sake, please avoid it. If you're taking a degree for the employment prospects then don't take something that will get laughed at. If I was an employer i'd prefer someone with OK a levels+3 years work experience then ok a levels and a "media" degree.

Real journalists etc have English degrees for a reason :smile:

Reply 18

Ad-Alta

14

boys-play-rock-and-roll

I've had a look, and it's mostly theory. There are quite a few optional practical modules, but theory interests me more so I don't think I'll be taking those.

So, if I were to swap, it wouldn't be too damaging? I mean, Cambridge is alright with it...

Well, they invited me for interview without having my degree explained to them, and then they explicitly asked me about it there (they said that they were concerned about what the 'media' part entailed) and once I said it was theory, and reeled off some theorists they seemed fine with it.

I was there with a candidate from UCL studying Classics, so there you have an idea of the competition that my 'degree course' was up against. However, seeing as the people in this thread keep ranting on about English, I should perhaps point out again that my degree is joint (English with Media, Culture and Society) so I don't know if that made any difference...

So long as you explicitly make clear that the media in your degree is theory-based instead of practical, you should stand as good a chance as any.

Reply 19

billet-doux

14

No no guys! Sorry i phrased that badly. I mean, working as part of their production team (if that's what its called). Producing adverts etc for television ads!

Is a Media degree THAT useless?

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