doing philosophy and theology- not sure where it leads

i am set to do philosophy/theology at durham.
i have heard terrible things about it in terms of job prospects
"a degree in starbucks"
"useless"
"little more than a weird holiday"
"pathetic"
i have heard this so so much- that despite me being interested/good at it, and having no idea what career i want, it seems like an expensive waste of time, and i dont know what to do?

is it even worth doing uni this year, or ditching it, taking a year out, and applying for something that can get me a job.

as far as i see- at best. i have to do either a law conversion/loads of post grads to get a decently paid job, at worst- a career killer
i am so angry at the people who told me to do what i was good at/enjoyed- because it is awful advice that seems to have doomed me to unemployment.

I like how your commentators demean the degree/subject. I would be curious about what they are studying.

If you're saying a degree in theology/philosophy won't set you up for a specific career like a degree in engineering or medicine will, then I would see where you're coming from. If you're saying the degree won't get you any jobs, then I would disagree.

A degree in any subject would allow you to go into 600+ different careers. That is because you can often go into these careers without doing a degree in the first place. Those areas where you would need a degree where you can apply with a degree in theology or philosophy include trainee solicitor roles (you don't need a degree in law for this) as well as teaching, investment analyst.
I don't know what sort of career you want, but I am not going to go through all 600+ different careers in a post. If you can give a better idea of what sort of jobs or industries that would suit your taste, it's going to make things significantly easier for me. If you need a list of questions to help you decide of think, let me know.

At the very least, a degree in theology should allow you to become a church minister of some sort. See: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/religious-leader

If on the other hand you wish to tell me that you want to become a philosopher, anthropologist, archaeologist, go into film, theatre, history, then I would be a little concerned (due to the limited prospects and the level of competition for these roles).

I don't know what you consider a decent paying career, since it varies like crazy across the country, and industries change all the time. However, you're not doomed to be stuck in this situation throughout your life; you can often pivot into other roles through apprenticeships, professional qualifications, and further courses at college. If you really really need to, you can do postgrad as you have referred; the range of subjects you can go into would be limited to, as with any subject.
Unless you're specifically telling me that you want to go into something very quantitative (and somehow I think you strongly prefer not to), architecture, a specific subject for academic research, or something in life sciences/specifica areas in healthcare, then I would not be that concerned in doing a completely different subject at undergrad.

As a bit of a constellation (as if it's needed), I have seen philosophy graduates gone into accounting, finance, management, marketing, property, teaching, and tech (I think). If you want the option with the least thinking, the public sector tend to regard people with degrees highly. Does this mean that you can get into some of these sectors quicker without doing the degree in the first place? Yeah, but you can say that about most sectors.

Most grad schemes also don't specifically require you to have an undergrad in specific subjects for similar reasons.

thank you so much for your reply-
most of the ppl on reddit who demean the course are STEM (surprise surprise)
i do not want to go into the Church- i just find this subject fascinating.
i picked it because i dont really know what i want to do yet-, and RS has been my go to A* subject since pre-GCSE.

law looks fascinating, but ive also been told in this day and age- if its the non law route- you should try and get a sponsor, because its so much money- and to quote a particularly agitated person "saying you want to do well with the law conversion is like saying "im doing acting, so i am gonna be as successful as johnny depp"- i have seen/heard of ppl who go into law with history/anthropology/my awful ole degree no problem- but its much more complicated/hard than just doing the straight degree= but Law is really my only plan.... besides the Diplomatic and Development Fast Stream- which is apparently basically a personality test and you only need a 2:1.... but only 8/40,000 people get on, so its not a wise thing to plan on. Alternatively, civil service looks cool- but mostly becuase i don't see where my degree could lead me otherwise.
I've been considering changing to something like Politics/philosophy or philosophy/history- because it sounds better/looks as interesting, and hopefully i can do that- and i've heard that (politics specifically) could lead to economics/think tank stuff (with the right masters and stuff).Submit reply

i am very curious about Accounting and finance- as you said.... that doesn't make any sense at all- im not considering that area, but how would one theoretically go down that path (i know Macron did with philosophy and ended up in IB- but he's Macron, he's a bit weird)?