Is a top-up degree frowned upon by employers?

Mugla

As opposed to a regular hons degree (it would be in Business & Marketing). Or is it more or less the same?

Reply 1

Xarao

A degree is a degree, I don't get why you guys need to complicate things. It doesn't matter how you get their.

Reply 2

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Mugla

As opposed to a regular hons degree (it would be in Business & Marketing). Or is it more or less the same?

It depends. It's not generally the most academically rigorous way to get a degree, so if academic rigour is important to an employer, it's a problem. On the other hand it shows determination and persistence, and that might be valued by an employer. Business and Marketing isn't always the strongest degree, so more important to employers might be accompanying practical experience/project work. It really depends on what the individual employer values.

Reply 3

Mugla

Original post by threeportdrift

Ideally I would like to do an MSc when I finish it and then get a job in Consumer Insights (is academic rigour generally important in that sector?). I would start the HND online next January while at the same time continuing with my BA in English, that would show determination to the employer, right?

Reply 4

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Mugla

No, it would show you were confused or indecisive. How come you are doing an BA in English? That's more than enough and better than most Business and Marketing degrees in terms of getting into marketing etc. You can perfectly well get into consumer insight via a BA in English.

Reply 5

Mugla

Original post by threeportdrift

I'm doing it at Spanish university, and correct me if I'm wrong but a BA in English from a Spanish university probably isn't worth 1/10 of an English BA from an British university, lol. It's a vocational thing for me, I'm studying it because I love like 90% of the course content and because it's easy for me as I'm good at English (I'm also doing the minor in German so that's pretty useful for learning another language), but career prospects aren't great for this degree (teaching and that's about it), so this is why I want to do the HND + top-up degree. I could do the full Business & Marketing degree online instead but I feel like I would be unnecessarily putting too much of a strain on my parents if an HND + top-up isn't that different to it.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Mugla

I'm doing it at Spanish university, and correct me if I'm wrong but a BA in English from a Spanish university probably isn't worth 1/10 of an English BA from an British university, lol. It's a vocational thing for me, I'm studying it because I love like 90% of the course content and because it's easy for me as I'm good at English, but career prospects aren't great for this degree (teaching and that's about it), so this is why I want to do the HND + top-up degree. I could do the full Business & Marketing degree online instead but I feel like I would be unnecessarily putting too much of a strain on my parents if a top-up degree isn't that different to it.

You're wrong, an online degree in Business and Marketing, from a low ranked university (pretty much the only providers) is worthless.

Do some research into the backgrounds of people doing the sort of work you'd like to be doing. Use LinkedIn and sector websites, careers websites, company websites etc. Look at the original degree and any subsequent training. Business is a practical subject, and it's easy to put together a cheap and valueless course on material that could much more effectively be learnt in half the time, in employment. Marketing has a few more academic niches, but it's still perfectly possible to enter with a degree like English.

In the UK and English degree is very flexible and opens a lot of opportunities. I wouldn't touch an HND and top-up degree to get into business or marketing if I already I had a BA in English.

Reply 7

Mugla

Original post by threeportdrift

In the UK and English degree is very flexible and opens a lot of opportunities. I wouldn't touch an HND and top-up degree to get into business or marketing if I already I had a BA in English.

I've considered this option, but like I said my main concern is that a BA in English from a Spanish uni just wouldn't be seen as half as good as a BA in English from a British uni. I guess I could do an Erasmus year at a British university but I'm not sure if that would do the trick.

I was thinking about doing the online top-up with the University of Essex; it doesn't look so bad in the rankings: top 30 in Britain and top 150 in the world for Business.