The Student Room Group

Study a degree that will lead to a job

My advice to any student considering studying at university is to select a degree that will directly lead you into a job.

For anyone studying history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, social sciences in general, and any other type of subject, such as music, drama or linguistics, please do not be offended when I tell you to either change degrees now while you can (my university let’s you switch degrees until year 3) or simply do not study the aforementioned subjects outlined if you have not already done so.

Instead, study a subject that will lead to a job.

‘But I want to study History as I performed amazingly well at it in my A-Levels and am keen on learning a little bit more about the Second World War and different perspectives from other academics and...’

Please remove the above mentality from your brain. It is irrelevant. You are good at it? You enjoy it? Well guess what. I could have a First Class Honours in Fifa or Red Dead Redemption, and cant simply wait for the latest game to come out again, but am I going to be employable with it?

The short answer is: no.

When you are 30 like me (well, on May the 29th) you will soon realise that the decision to study a useless degree such as philosophy for four years was a serious error of judgment. I place the subject of psychology into this useless list because I have first hand experience of what it is like to be unemployed with a first class honours degree. It’s pretty bad. Actually, it’s worse than being unemployed without a degree at all. However, it’s not actually surprising that I am in this situation. Luckily, I start a new job soon, but again - it’s far from where I intended that my degree would take me. Did you know many psychology graduates are working in retail? Did you also know that the only fully funded training course is clinical psychology, where the chance of getting on this is about the same as squeezing 400 rhinos into a public telephone box?

The point I am getting at here is this:

For anyone currently in education or is thinking about attending university, then please ensure that you embark on a career that is going to lead to a job afterwards. The list is not exhaustive, but social work, accountancy, law, dentistry, medicine, teaching and engineering are all examples of careers where workers will always be required.

The reason why I am unemployed is actually due to failings within different work environments. It is ironic having a first class honours in psychology to end up unemployed one year after graduation, but the reason I am in this situation is due to the area that I work in. I am a support worker who has worked in numerous caring settings and environments, and had to leave a previous employer due to their values not matching what I believed they should have been. They were exploiting staff by not paying them an honest reasonable wage, which means I personally can’t bring myself to work for a company who exploits people.

This is somewhat besides the point, but as a psychology graduate, I do find myself somewhat trapped in the system of having to work or volunteer in low paid jobs to simply make my CV stand out. If I didn’t have the goal of gaining a job in psychology then the voluntary work that I have done would have probably never happened. Volunteering simply to look good is also a bad answer, as voluntary work is supposed to come from your heart. In my case, it does come from within thankfully, as I did enjoy my time at the places I went, but it has been driven ultimately by a goal of gaining a place on a clinical psychology training programme which I have now considered to be impossible.

What am I going to do with my degree?

Well, I have enrolled on an MSc that actually has a job at the end of it. The thought of being able to apply for a job is exciting. I will then be able to finally say to friends and family that I am qualified. If I am honest, I was getting tired of the comments “is that you a qualified psychologist now”. The answer, for the 150th time, was always no. People don’t understand. What do they not understand? They don’t get that one needs a four year undergraduate degree, an MSc and a PhD probably to even gain a place on a clinical doctorate training course.

The people I feel for most are those who have done an MSc in Clinical Psychology and or Research Methods. They have pushed themselves even deeper into a dark hole that, until the government offer more resources to, has no clear way out. Undertaking an MSc in this area is like driving a train into a dark tunnel at 120mph with no lights. The passengers are every part of your being, from your ego and morals, to your values and mental health, and the sign at the entrance to the tunnel also said “there might be no end”

Look. You could end up unemployable if you go down the route I did. It’s not worth the risk. I highly encourage students to steer clear of psychology, at least until a time comes where the government allocate more resources. Take a different career please.

Just being honest

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areas where there will never be a downturn in demand ( even after Brexit ) include...

Funerals

Hairdressing

Dating Services

( perhaps some people could combine all three ? )

:dontknow:
Original post by the bear
areas where there will never be a downturn in demand ( even after Brexit ) include...

Funerals

Hairdressing

Dating Services

( perhaps some people could combine all three ? )

:dontknow:

This is accurate
I always thought that the "Clinical" route of Psychology degrees is the least useless one.
You’re totally right in that teaching is all you can do with these. How’s many students of the 100 or so each year who start a history degree see themselves standing there in front of a class regurgitating it though? Maybe 1 or 2? I mean surely nobody at 18-19 who starts a degree is thinking that they will actually be teaching it sometime? People go into degrees with blindfolds on. It’s only when they are my age do they realise that it was the worst mistake they made. Thankfully I do still have a way out and I have some funding left as I reside in Scotland, but I could have quite easily ended up trapped. Think about how difficult it must be to become a history teacher too. If you’re saying this is the only job directly related to the subject, then think about how many others are trying to apply for this job. It would be an absolute first fight. Blood and tears would be spilled. The person who got the job would come out disheveled looking like they had been kicked through a washing machine spinning at 50,000rpms
Reply 5
I'm not going to say that studying towards a degree with a 'defined' career end is not a good idea; it is - but implying that studying a degree that has no dedicated job waiting at the end is going to be a disaster, is just plain wrong.

To list just a few areas that hire from all degrees:
Civil Service.
NGOs.
Finance (most of the grad schemes recruit from ANY discipline).
Marketing.
Communications.
HR.
Law Conversion
Many accounting schemes (16.8% of ACA students hold 'Arts' degrees)
Gordon Brown had a BA in History for god sake!
The list goes on...

You are not unemployed because of your degree or because of your profession; you are unemployed because there are people in your field who did more to further their development and therefore had more skills to offer.

To anyone reading this; in an ideal world, try and pick a subject that relates to a field that you want to work in. The best catch-all degrees in my experience are Maths/Sciences/Computer Science. If you are unsure of what you want to do post-uni, it's not all doom and gloom, study whatever you want!

Just keep in mind that you have to work harder to further your development through taking up extracurricular endeavors, courses, and experience to make yourself more competitive in the job market. Although this rings true for everyone.
Original post by CoolBreeze89
My advice to any student considering studying at university is to select a degree that will directly lead you into a job.

For anyone studying history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, social sciences in general, and any other type of subject, such as music, drama or linguistics, please do not be offended when I tell you to either change degrees now while you can (my university let’s you switch degrees until year 3) or simply do not study the aforementioned subjects outlined if you have not already done so.

Instead, study a subject that will lead to a job.

‘But I want to study History as I performed amazingly well at it in my A-Levels and am keen on learning a little bit more about the Second World War and different perspectives from other academics and...’

Please remove the above mentality from your brain. It is irrelevant. You are good at it? You enjoy it? Well guess what. I could have a First Class Honours in Fifa or Red Dead Redemption, and cant simply wait for the latest game to come out again, but am I going to be employable with it?

The short answer is: no.

When you are 30 like me (well, on May the 29th) you will soon realise that the decision to study a useless degree such as philosophy for four years was a serious error of judgment. I place the subject of psychology into this useless list because I have first hand experience of what it is like to be unemployed with a first class honours degree. It’s pretty bad. Actually, it’s worse than being unemployed without a degree at all. However, it’s not actually surprising that I am in this situation. Luckily, I start a new job soon, but again - it’s far from where I intended that my degree would take me. Did you know many psychology graduates are working in retail? Did you also know that the only fully funded training course is clinical psychology, where the chance of getting on this is about the same as squeezing 400 rhinos into a public telephone box?

The point I am getting at here is this:

For anyone currently in education or is thinking about attending university, then please ensure that you embark on a career that is going to lead to a job afterwards. The list is not exhaustive, but social work, accountancy, law, dentistry, medicine, teaching and engineering are all examples of careers where workers will always be required.

The reason why I am unemployed is actually due to failings within different work environments. It is ironic having a first class honours in psychology to end up unemployed one year after graduation, but the reason I am in this situation is due to the area that I work in. I am a support worker who has worked in numerous caring settings and environments, and had to leave a previous employer due to their values not matching what I believed they should have been. They were exploiting staff by not paying them an honest reasonable wage, which means I personally can’t bring myself to work for a company who exploits people.

This is somewhat besides the point, but as a psychology graduate, I do find myself somewhat trapped in the system of having to work or volunteer in low paid jobs to simply make my CV stand out. If I didn’t have the goal of gaining a job in psychology then the voluntary work that I have done would have probably never happened. Volunteering simply to look good is also a bad answer, as voluntary work is supposed to come from your heart. In my case, it does come from within thankfully, as I did enjoy my time at the places I went, but it has been driven ultimately by a goal of gaining a place on a clinical psychology training programme which I have now considered to be impossible.

What am I going to do with my degree?

Well, I have enrolled on an MSc that actually has a job at the end of it. The thought of being able to apply for a job is exciting. I will then be able to finally say to friends and family that I am qualified. If I am honest, I was getting tired of the comments “is that you a qualified psychologist now”. The answer, for the 150th time, was always no. People don’t understand. What do they not understand? They don’t get that one needs a four year undergraduate degree, an MSc and a PhD probably to even gain a place on a clinical doctorate training course.

The people I feel for most are those who have done an MSc in Clinical Psychology and or Research Methods. They have pushed themselves even deeper into a dark hole that, until the government offer more resources to, has no clear way out. Undertaking an MSc in this area is like driving a train into a dark tunnel at 120mph with no lights. The passengers are every part of your being, from your ego and morals, to your values and mental health, and the sign at the entrance to the tunnel also said “there might be no end”

Look. You could end up unemployable if you go down the route I did. It’s not worth the risk. I highly encourage students to steer clear of psychology, at least until a time comes where the government allocate more resources. Take a different career please.

Just being honest
I ain't reading that but I agree with the title
You're chatting rubbish because not all social sciences are bad such as law or economics, even business studies is decent if you know where to apply
Original post by TheYearNiner
You're chatting rubbish because not all social sciences are bad such as law or economics, even business studies is decent if you know where to apply


The list is not exhaustive, but social work, accountancy, law, dentistry, medicine, teaching and engineering are all examples of careers where workers will always be required.

^From OP's post.
So what MSc are you doing now?
Original post by CoolBreeze89
You’re totally right in that teaching is all you can do with these. How’s many students of the 100 or so each year who start a history degree see themselves standing there in front of a class regurgitating it though? Maybe 1 or 2? I mean surely nobody at 18-19 who starts a degree is thinking that they will actually be teaching it sometime? People go into degrees with blindfolds on. It’s only when they are my age do they realise that it was the worst mistake they made. Thankfully I do still have a way out and I have some funding left as I reside in Scotland, but I could have quite easily ended up trapped. Think about how difficult it must be to become a history teacher too. If you’re saying this is the only job directly related to the subject, then think about how many others are trying to apply for this job. It would be an absolute first fight. Blood and tears would be spilled. The person who got the job would come out disheveled looking like they had been kicked through a washing machine spinning at 50,000rpms
This isn’t a question this is a simpleminded person telling someone what to do. If somebody wants to study Sociology at a university what does it have to do with you? Oh, you every care in the world for them?

Get a hobby.
Original post by graceelle
This isn’t a question this is a simpleminded person telling someone what to do. If somebody wants to study Sociology at a university what does it have to do with you? Oh, you every care in the world for them?

Get a hobby.


Firstly, I am not simple-minded at all. Quite the contrary, in fact.

And secondly, I do actually care because I’ve already been through the process. I give back to students what I have learnt, and if this means my honesty then that’s what I will give.

Do you think I would lie about it? There’s nothing to gain from making up lies. If anything, I would rather guide someone away from the hole that I fell down
Reply 12
At this rate everyone will have pulled all their hair out.
Original post by the bear
areas where there will never be a downturn in demand ( even after Brexit ) include...
Hairdressing
Original post by Notsureimsure
So what MSc are you doing now?

The MSc that I’ve taken is social work, as with this I will be able to enter a career that is somewhat similar to the one I wanted with psychology and will lead to a job as a social worker. It made sense to study this given my work experience and goals. I wouldn’t waste my funding on an MSc in Research Methods or anything of a similar standard. I would probably just be digging a hole for myself, whereas with SW it is likely that a job will arise at some point or another following qualification. Jobs for students who have MScs in non-vocational subject areas are limited. In fact, they are almost non-existent. To gain a job as a research assistant anywhere in the UK, for example, you will normally require a PhD. People with MScs in non-vocational subjects are sort of looked at as being very well educated, though equally undereducated at the same time. They sort of fall in no-mans land of their MSc doesn’t have a specific use within the employment market.

So, I decided that at age 30 there’s no point in embarking on an MSc other than something that will ultimately lead to a job. I’m tired of question marks. At the end of all this, I want a family. I want to mortgage a house. I want to live life and be able to provide a stable income. I’m not seeking to become wealthy, but I do need a job that pays more than working in a care home. Social work is a direct progression for me, and afterall, if money and financial security wasn’t an issue for anyone, then nobody would be at university. We would all be sipping Gin in the Maldives on the back of a Yacht.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by TheYearNiner
I ain't reading that but I agree with the title


Come on. Read it. It’s candy for your eyes
Hush hush. No need for sarcasm now.
Yeah, unblock a toilet for £4.40 an hour. No thanks
Original post by CoolBreeze89
Yeah, unblock a toilet for £4.40 an hour. No thanks

still leads to a job. :dontknow:
Reply 18
Escorting?
My dad is bigger than your dad mentality isn’t attractive.

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