In terms of postgrad degrees (and not professional qualifications or what other jobs that you can do), you can do postgrad degrees in philosophy and theology by default. The other subjects can include (because they accept undergrads in any subject):
If you want to go into specific areas of research not listed above, you would need to look into doing a conversion course prior to enrolling into the respective master's degree. These subjects include:
There are other conversion courses for other subjects, but they are often for subjects within a similar discipline. For example, conversion courses within life sciences are suitable if you have an undergrad in a life science subject; conversion courses in physics and engineering are suitable if you have an undergrad in physics or engineering.
•
Computer science (some degrees)
•
Anything in business (except for finance) e.g. marketing, accounting. You cannot do a business management degree if you have done it at undergrad
•
Anthropology
•
Nursing
•
Some criminology degrees
•
Nonquantiative economics degrees
•
Some film degrees
•
Hospitality
•
Some media degrees
•
Some journalism degrees
•
Education
•
Linguistics
•
Social work
•
Some politics degrees
•
Some agriculture degrees
•
Some fine art degrees
If you want to go into specific areas of research not listed above, you would need to look into doing a conversion course prior to enrolling into the respective master's degree. These subjects include:
•
Economics (for quantitative degrees)
•
Law (what you're looking into)
•
Psychology
•
Computer science (if you want to look into advanced computer science)
If I’ve done Phil/Th, would I do the masters or conversion course, and (I know with law, you are) but would you be anywhere nearly as successful with employment having not done a economics or computer science course, and then the conversion?
You're fine with the conversion courses. I am not sure about employment with the economics diploma though, as it would depend on the employer, and it's a very hypercompetitive industry (for good reason). With tech, it's an industry where they don't really care about your degree (kind of like hospitality); it's more about experience, skills, and what you can do, not what qualifications you have (kind of like most jobs),
“In terms of postgrad degrees (and not professional qualifications or what other jobs that you can do)” what does this bit mean?
Not sure if you know, you can get professional qualifications that are equivalent to a postgrad degree. Thing is professional qualifications tend to be relevant (and preferred) in the workplace and holds little merit in academia. For example, you can work your way up to CIM or CIPD to level 7, which is the equivalent of a master's degree in marketing or human resources.
To answer the second part of the question, a degree in any random subject would allow you to go into a number of fields, partly because you never really need a degree to go into them in the first place. For example, you can become a diplomat without a degree, as well as becoming an author or marketer. Out of the 800+ sort of careers available to people, only about 200 or so would require specific degrees in order to secure entry level roles, and they are in healthcare, education, and academia. Most other careers that require degree level education can be done via degree apprenticeships.
With your degree, you can become an accountant, surveyor (I think), programmer, fashion designer, UX designer, artist, administrator, etc. If you want, you can become a plumber, electrician, dog walker, factory worker, street cleaner, or a monk.
It's kind of open ended, and I want to avoid typing out a novel where possible. Let me know if you want resources or links for the above.
You're welcome.
You're fine with the conversion courses. I am not sure about employment with the economics diploma though, as it would depend on the employer, and it's a very hypercompetitive industry (for good reason). With tech, it's an industry where they don't really care about your degree (kind of like hospitality); it's more about experience, skills, and what you can do, not what qualifications you have (kind of like most jobs),
“In terms of postgrad degrees (and not professional qualifications or what other jobs that you can do)” what does this bit mean?
Not sure if you know, you can get professional qualifications that are equivalent to a postgrad degree. Thing is professional qualifications tend to be relevant (and preferred) in the workplace and holds little merit in academia. For example, you can work your way up to CIM or CIPD to level 7, which is the equivalent of a master's degree in marketing or human resources.
To answer the second part of the question, a degree in any random subject would allow you to go into a number of fields, partly because you never really need a degree to go into them in the first place. For example, you can become a diplomat without a degree, as well as becoming an author or marketer. Out of the 800+ sort of careers available to people, only about 200 or so would require specific degrees in order to secure entry level roles, and they are in healthcare, education, and academia. Most other careers that require degree level education can be done via degree apprenticeships.
With your degree, you can become an accountant, surveyor (I think), programmer, fashion designer, UX designer, artist, administrator, etc. If you want, you can become a plumber, electrician, dog walker, factory worker, street cleaner, or a monk.
It's kind of open ended, and I want to avoid typing out a novel where possible. Let me know if you want resources or links for the above.
You're welcome.
The 101 questions that follow...
Oh my god….I was so wrong about how this worked….
If I only had a penny everytime someone said that to me...
what do you do after conversion?
Normally those who do conversion courses go on to do postgrad, it's kind of what they're designed for. For specific degrees, it's to go into specific professions e.g. someone who did a degree in biomedicine can then go on to do a degree in physiotherapy to become a physiotherapist (because you legally need a recognised degree to become one).
Bristol and University College Dublin offer conversion courses with any degree that is not CS
I personally like these universities, but just to open up your options, they aren't the only degrees in computer science that you can apply for. For example, consider the following:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/computer-science-msc
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/computer-science/computer-science.aspx
https://www.bath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-2023/taught-postgraduate-courses/msc-computer-science/#entry-requirements
https://www.bbk.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/computer-science
About half of the MSc Computer Science degrees accept people with undergrads in any subject, so long you have a high enough grade. You will need to check the entry requirements for each degree to be sure.
conversion courses with any degree that is not CS: this would probs do alright for entry level positions
If you have zero experience in industry, any degree that you have would only allow you to go in an enty level position. Having a degree does not negate the need for experience or skills.
I have a friend who did a UK MSc in Advanced Computer Science and has 3 years experience as a programmer in his home country; couldn't find a job in the UK despite his qualifications. The sort of jobs he got shortlisted for were jobs that were similar to what he did before. Experience needs to be relevant.
Having said that, you can go in and do entry level positions in IT now if you want. You don't need a degree for it. I have come across people who have gotten jobs immediately after school or college in tech.
See the following; https://community.spiceworks.com/blog/2639-it-career-statistics-who-is-the-average-it-pro-infographic (only 71% majored in IT; that means 29% of IT professionals don't have a relevant degree)
See the following for videos by people who got into tech without a CS degree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4c3ZOg3O8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xsn4-EwYc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WJZ3wbUtTc
https://www.makeuseof.com/get-tech-job-without-degree/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fi4t9jQf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLW-q3ES870
I could be here all day finding such videos.
how do you get more specialised?
By applying for the right job, developing the appropriate skills, and getting the appropriate experience, I think. The employers tend to care more about your proficiency in the job than anything else. You need to be sharp, fast, and on point. There are specific professional IT certificates that are extremely helpful. If anything, these certificates are more credible than the degrees should you wish to stay in industry.
There aren't always specific certificates for certain roles. For example, there aren't any official certifications for app development or web development that I think the industry recognises. We want official certificates from the people who made the platforms as opposed to the casual course that you found online e.g. a certificate from the Python Institute is more credible than your casual course on Python from your local college or a random Python course that you found online; these certificates require you to be tested in an independent proctor centre.
Do note, a number of these professional certifications have some at enty level e.g. CompTIA, Microsoft, Python Institute, Google, etc.
Would you do a masters at that level? Or as conversions count as postgrad, would you go straight to doctorate? Is there something in between?
Do you intend to go into research? If so, you can try to skip doing a second master's and go straight into a doctorate but it will be hard because of the level of competition and the level of expertise the universities expect you to be at.
After doing your conversion course/MSc, you could try doing a second master's degree in a more advanced area of computer science e.g. Advanced Computer Science, something in artificial intelligence, or something technical. Having this normally help fill any gap for your doctorate, but I would check with the admissions team of the doctorate degree course before doing any further courses just to be sure.
Just to throw it out there, you can do some master's degree involving AI with an undergrad in any subject so long you have the right grades. So like the CS degrees you would need to go through the entry requirements of each one to check whether you're eligible e.g.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=107&r=site/view (accept undergrads in philosophy for some reason)
https://www.wlv.ac.uk/courses/msc-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/artificial-intelligence-msc-2023-24#entry_requirements
https://www.aston.ac.uk/study/courses/applied-artificial-intelligence-msc
https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/pg01399/1/msc-artificial-intelligence-and-its-applications
Do note, under the ELQ policy, you would likely need to self fund your second master's and not be able to get student finance for it. Choose wisely.
if he wanted to go into Ai (which I think is a masters or something) would he have to do the masters in that field as well as the conversion, even though they are both postgrads? (Basically: can you have a conversion and a masters in the field of the conversion?)
See the previous answer on AI degrees. Do note that you don't need a degree to go into AI, but you would need it to go into academic research (I feel like a broken record every time I say that).
Yes you can do a conversion course, and then do a master's in that field. However, I would check to see why you want to do that and whether it's necessary. For example, you can do a conversion/MSc in computer science, then do a second master's in Advanced Computer Science. With AI, I don't think there's a master's in advanced topics in AI, since AI is pretty niched as it is (i.e. it's a subject that's normally available at master's level, so it's expected that you have an undergrad in computer science or something in engineering). Having said that, it doesn't stop you from doing a computer science MSc then an AI MSc if you choose to do so.
On the other hand, if you did an MSc in computer science and then an MSc in AI with about 60% of the topics overlapping or are a repeat of what you have done before, I very much doubt they would let you on the course purely because there would be very little point (money, time, or academically).
If it wasn't clear to you, a master's degree is essentially half of a bachelor's + a master's dissertation. Half of a bachelor's is sometimes referred to as a postgrad diploma/conversion course, which is why they would validate you to go onto certain courses in specialised subjects. This is also sometimes why that if you did an undergrad in a specific subject, they won't let you onto the master's degree unless the content of the master's is significantly different or far more advanced e.g. you would be refused to be on an MSc in Management if your undergrad (or half of it) was in management.
The basic prerequisite for a doctorate is a degree, but it doesn't need to be a master's degree. In some cases it needs to be in a relevant subject for obvious reasons.
I suggest you consider your options carefully.
Oh my god….I was so wrong about how this worked….
If I only had a penny everytime someone said that to me...
what do you do after conversion?
Normally those who do conversion courses go on to do postgrad, it's kind of what they're designed for. For specific degrees, it's to go into specific professions e.g. someone who did a degree in biomedicine can then go on to do a degree in physiotherapy to become a physiotherapist (because you legally need a recognised degree to become one).
Bristol and University College Dublin offer conversion courses with any degree that is not CS
I personally like these universities, but just to open up your options, they aren't the only degrees in computer science that you can apply for. For example, consider the following:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/computer-science-msc
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/computer-science/computer-science.aspx
https://www.bath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-2023/taught-postgraduate-courses/msc-computer-science/#entry-requirements
https://www.bbk.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/computer-science
About half of the MSc Computer Science degrees accept people with undergrads in any subject, so long you have a high enough grade. You will need to check the entry requirements for each degree to be sure.
conversion courses with any degree that is not CS: this would probs do alright for entry level positions
If you have zero experience in industry, any degree that you have would only allow you to go in an enty level position. Having a degree does not negate the need for experience or skills.
I have a friend who did a UK MSc in Advanced Computer Science and has 3 years experience as a programmer in his home country; couldn't find a job in the UK despite his qualifications. The sort of jobs he got shortlisted for were jobs that were similar to what he did before. Experience needs to be relevant.
Having said that, you can go in and do entry level positions in IT now if you want. You don't need a degree for it. I have come across people who have gotten jobs immediately after school or college in tech.
See the following; https://community.spiceworks.com/blog/2639-it-career-statistics-who-is-the-average-it-pro-infographic (only 71% majored in IT; that means 29% of IT professionals don't have a relevant degree)
See the following for videos by people who got into tech without a CS degree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4c3ZOg3O8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xsn4-EwYc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WJZ3wbUtTc
https://www.makeuseof.com/get-tech-job-without-degree/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fi4t9jQf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLW-q3ES870
I could be here all day finding such videos.
how do you get more specialised?
By applying for the right job, developing the appropriate skills, and getting the appropriate experience, I think. The employers tend to care more about your proficiency in the job than anything else. You need to be sharp, fast, and on point. There are specific professional IT certificates that are extremely helpful. If anything, these certificates are more credible than the degrees should you wish to stay in industry.
There aren't always specific certificates for certain roles. For example, there aren't any official certifications for app development or web development that I think the industry recognises. We want official certificates from the people who made the platforms as opposed to the casual course that you found online e.g. a certificate from the Python Institute is more credible than your casual course on Python from your local college or a random Python course that you found online; these certificates require you to be tested in an independent proctor centre.
Do note, a number of these professional certifications have some at enty level e.g. CompTIA, Microsoft, Python Institute, Google, etc.
Would you do a masters at that level? Or as conversions count as postgrad, would you go straight to doctorate? Is there something in between?
Do you intend to go into research? If so, you can try to skip doing a second master's and go straight into a doctorate but it will be hard because of the level of competition and the level of expertise the universities expect you to be at.
After doing your conversion course/MSc, you could try doing a second master's degree in a more advanced area of computer science e.g. Advanced Computer Science, something in artificial intelligence, or something technical. Having this normally help fill any gap for your doctorate, but I would check with the admissions team of the doctorate degree course before doing any further courses just to be sure.
Just to throw it out there, you can do some master's degree involving AI with an undergrad in any subject so long you have the right grades. So like the CS degrees you would need to go through the entry requirements of each one to check whether you're eligible e.g.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=107&r=site/view (accept undergrads in philosophy for some reason)
https://www.wlv.ac.uk/courses/msc-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/artificial-intelligence-msc-2023-24#entry_requirements
https://www.aston.ac.uk/study/courses/applied-artificial-intelligence-msc
https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/pg01399/1/msc-artificial-intelligence-and-its-applications
Do note, under the ELQ policy, you would likely need to self fund your second master's and not be able to get student finance for it. Choose wisely.
if he wanted to go into Ai (which I think is a masters or something) would he have to do the masters in that field as well as the conversion, even though they are both postgrads? (Basically: can you have a conversion and a masters in the field of the conversion?)
See the previous answer on AI degrees. Do note that you don't need a degree to go into AI, but you would need it to go into academic research (I feel like a broken record every time I say that).
Yes you can do a conversion course, and then do a master's in that field. However, I would check to see why you want to do that and whether it's necessary. For example, you can do a conversion/MSc in computer science, then do a second master's in Advanced Computer Science. With AI, I don't think there's a master's in advanced topics in AI, since AI is pretty niched as it is (i.e. it's a subject that's normally available at master's level, so it's expected that you have an undergrad in computer science or something in engineering). Having said that, it doesn't stop you from doing a computer science MSc then an AI MSc if you choose to do so.
On the other hand, if you did an MSc in computer science and then an MSc in AI with about 60% of the topics overlapping or are a repeat of what you have done before, I very much doubt they would let you on the course purely because there would be very little point (money, time, or academically).
If it wasn't clear to you, a master's degree is essentially half of a bachelor's + a master's dissertation. Half of a bachelor's is sometimes referred to as a postgrad diploma/conversion course, which is why they would validate you to go onto certain courses in specialised subjects. This is also sometimes why that if you did an undergrad in a specific subject, they won't let you onto the master's degree unless the content of the master's is significantly different or far more advanced e.g. you would be refused to be on an MSc in Management if your undergrad (or half of it) was in management.
The basic prerequisite for a doctorate is a degree, but it doesn't need to be a master's degree. In some cases it needs to be in a relevant subject for obvious reasons.
I suggest you consider your options carefully.
(edited 11 months ago)
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