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History and Politics-worthless degree?

Going to do history and politics degree next year , im wondering what kind of prospects there are for h&p graduates.
If anyone has already studied it, would be great to know where they are now or what they're planning to do.
I know its non-specific career wise. Theres probably degrees with better prospects, but its the only one im interested in.
So any ideas what h and p graduates do ?

Thanks

Reply 1

.Ed.

any degree that dosn't lead to a defined career path useless ? of course not there is endless options for you, not all involve being a prime minister who writes history in his spare time.

Reply 2

mfm89

although i wouldnt mind being prime minister who writes history in their spare time.
I dont mean to say the degree would be a waste of 3 years, more questioning how sought after it is from employers.

Reply 3

.Ed.

Well LSE and York are both top unis so a degree from them is going to be very attractive to any employer. I'm not a H&P person ,but as with many other arts degrees the possibilites are endless...

Reply 4

southsea13

I would say: go back to the drawing board and study mathematics or some science-based path. Arts degrees are about as much value as bog paper and will lead to an unrewarding and unfulfilling career as you jostle for employment

Try engineering - yes, it is hard, but at least you`ll be very much in demand. :smile:

Reply 5

River85

southsea13

Arts degrees are about as much value as bog paper and will lead to an unrewarding and unfulfilling career as you jostle for employment with all the other soon-to-be burger flippers.

Try engineering - yes, it is hard, but at least you`ll be very much in demand. :smile:

Never heard a bigger load of crap in my life. It just shows ignorance of what an art degree is. Don't forget, in the early years of academia degrees centred on the arts. I know lots of people who have art degrees and go into rewayrding careers (law, civil service, journalism).

I also know my brother, an engineering graduate and son of an engineer, who is finding it impossible to get a proper job after uni. Although I think that's partly down to his own indecision and lack of work experience.

YOU are the person that matters, not your degree. Most graudate jobs don't specifiy a degree, only a minorty (the obvious vocational ones).

History in particular is a very well respected degree. Politics isn't bad either. You're going to an excellent uni. Your future has got off to a good start so far, it's just up to you to mkae sure you put the work in and ideally get experience.

Prospects have a section of where your degree subject will take you and what you'll gain from it. This is history

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Options_with_your_subject/Your_degree_in_history/Your_skills/p!edceigX

You'll probably need to copy and paste that. There's a politics one there also.

Take not of this, from PRospects themselves: -

"Bear in mind that it’s not just your degree discipline that determines your options"

There are other things to consider, work experience, degree classification, personal qualities and commitment.

Reply 6

Scotsman1988

If all else fails there is always Teaching :p:

Reply 7

mfm89

Scotsman1988

If all else fails there is always Teaching :p:

I'd do it for the holidays.

Reply 8

Admonitor

Ignore the science guy. A degree from LSE to start with is an excellent start and doing something like H&P is a great "general" degree course that'll give you lots of broad skills.

Reply 9

llys

Research
Law
Journalism
Teaching
...

Reply 10

Lordhenry

1-Politician who writes history in his spare time: Churchil
2-How useful is art? You don't even have to study it and you can become Fuhrer.
3-Its not what you know its who you know.
4-Its not what you study, its where you study.

Some important facts of life everyone should know.

Reply 11

Lit Up!

what's more useful - history or history of art?

Reply 12

Maker

An art degree from a posh uni like the LSE is nearly as good as a science or engineering degree from an ordinary uni as far as employment goes.

But there are a lot of arts grads finding it hard to get jobs and theres always demand for good engineering and science grads.

Reply 13

j3tz

A degree in politics isn't totally worthless. When compared to other arts degrees such as sociology or English lit, politics has the advantage because the degree requires some knowledge of public admin, economics, law, the media, and almost anything else depending on where you go to learn it. Most unis have their own unique way of teaching this degree.

In terms of career prospects, your obvious choices would either be working for political parties or the civil service. However, unless your from a Russel Group uni this could be hard to get into. The people I know who've finished this course mostly start off working for MPs just for experience, then move up to working for wherever they want to.

Reply 14

Samd603

Well I'm a history graduate from a not-so-great university, and all my work experience amounts to since I've left school is catering and bar work. But I got a job last week working in financial services, and the area manager who took me on said he did so purely because of my education.

So they can't be that badly regarded by employers can they?

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