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Best thing to do in year off to improve application for business course?

Mature student looking to improve application, although i contacted some unis and they said they dont even look at personal statement which is a bit demoralising
Original post by Maizeak
Mature student looking to improve application, although i contacted some unis and they said they dont even look at personal statement which is a bit demoralising

It depends on the uni.

If you look at the entry requirements for the specific degree that you intend to do, you can see what sort of candidate they are looking for.

If you meet the grade requirements, then the next thing you would naturally look at is your personal statement (if they even bother looking at it at all). If they are looking for well rounded applicants, then you can consider:

Reading more widely in business - more so business related newspapers than business books (the latter being more helpful than the degree in practice, but won't help you in the degree much)

Join a club and try to be more involved in the management side of things

Start a side business, if it's something you are really capable of doing and really want to do

Do credible business courses that the university recognises (I can't particularly think of any other than the standard professional qualifications in accounting, marketing, quality control, project management, and HR) - do not go above the equivalent of NVQ Level 3 if you intend to do a bachelor's degree, or NVQ Level 6 if it's a master's (you would otherwise have difficulty getting the funding, or at least until 2025 when they say the ELQ policy stops)


A more important question in my book is why do you intend to do a degree in business? Unless you love learning about business, intend to teach about business, or intend to go into business research, it's not a very good way to spend your time and money in my opinion.
Reply 2
Original post by MindMax2000
It depends on the uni.
If you look at the entry requirements for the specific degree that you intend to do, you can see what sort of candidate they are looking for.
If you meet the grade requirements, then the next thing you would naturally look at is your personal statement (if they even bother looking at it at all). If they are looking for well rounded applicants, then you can consider:

Reading more widely in business - more so business related newspapers than business books (the latter being more helpful than the degree in practice, but won't help you in the degree much)

Join a club and try to be more involved in the management side of things

Start a side business, if it's something you are really capable of doing and really want to do

Do credible business courses that the university recognises (I can't particularly think of any other than the standard professional qualifications in accounting, marketing, quality control, project management, and HR) - do not go above the equivalent of NVQ Level 3 if you intend to do a bachelor's degree, or NVQ Level 6 if it's a master's (you would otherwise have difficulty getting the funding, or at least until 2025 when they say the ELQ policy stops)


A more important question in my book is why do you intend to do a degree in business? Unless you love learning about business, intend to teach about business, or intend to go into business research, it's not a very good way to spend your time and money in my opinion.


Really why do you say it’s not a good way to spend time/money? If you go to a good uni you can get a good salary which is not the case for a lot of courses

Mostly bcus I don’t know exactly what I want to do, I think i could find a niche and become good, and it had good return on investment compared to other courses
Original post by Maizeak
Really why do you say it’s not a good way to spend time/money? If you go to a good uni you can get a good salary which is not the case for a lot of courses
Mostly bcus I don’t know exactly what I want to do, I think i could find a niche and become good, and it had good return on investment compared to other courses

Really why do you say it’s not a good way to spend time/money?

I have yet to find a role anywhere in the country (or the world) where they specifically and legally require a degree in management or business. Where they do, it's usually for academic purposes and posts e.g. teaching business, academic research in business.

If you want a job in management, your degree often doesn't matter (they don't even look at your subject). Your relevant experience in a management role would.

If you want qualifications that would show that you're suitable for business related roles, you're better off with professional qualifications for the specific role in business, which contain more practical knowledge than theoretical knowledge (as opposed to a business degree)

If you want a role in business, often you can go into it with no prior qualifications. You do need to showcase that you can do the job.

If you want to learn how to start a business, you don't need a qualification to start one. You do need business knowledge, and often you can get that through a selection of many business courses that you can take outside of uni

Business related degrees are often rehashes of material in A Level Business Studies, with an academic slant

Business degrees often teach you things from the ground up, meaning you don't need any prior in depth knowledge to do them

Unless you work in a highly regulated sector and in a role where they require you need to do a specific degree (e.g. medicine, nursing, dentistry, etc.), you don't need a degree for the job (or at least start the job).

Whilst there are some careers where it's beneficial to have a degree to aid progression and promotion, none of them are really in business. Careers that do include those in engineering, architecture, project management. However, a lot of these do require relevant experience alongside the qualification.

If the degree is of value to employers, it's usually more to do with who you're networking with as opposed which degree you're doing i.e. it's more about the uni than which degree you're doing it at. In which case, it means that you could have done a degree in any subject and got the same "value".

A lot of the knowledge in business degrees is academic and theoretical. If you apply the same knowledge in practice, you will quickly find out that about half of it doesn't work very well.

A lot of the business courses taught outside of uni on the other hand teach material that is more relevant and up to date with current market conditions than that in business degrees where a lot of the material is outdated.

In terms business courses outside of uni vs those in uni, most courses outside of uni are cheaper (tens of thousands vs a few thousands/hundred), shorter (at least 3 years vs a year/few months), more comprehensive, more practical, and work better

Business degrees often don't teach you a host of other specific skills that you would need to start a business e.g. selling, networking, people skills, decision making

Business degrees alone doesn't give you enough information or a replicable environment to practice the skills you need in order to thrive in a business environment i.e. a business degree alone won't prepare you for the business environment

You can sometimes get more value and better experience learning from a business mentor than through a business degree. If I have the choice of getting tutelage from big name entrepreneurs (e.g. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, etc.) or get a business degree, I would always get the tutelage. Even if the entrepreneur is not a big name and is a local businessperson who is reasonable successful (depending on your definition), I would still prefer the tutelage over the degree.

Most lecturers in business aren't entrepreneurs or successful businesspeople themselves



If you go to a good uni you can get a good salary which is not the case for a lot of courses
Doing a degree does not necessarily equate to a good salary. Getting a high paying job equate to a good salary (provided the job is healthy and you can last in the job). People don't pay high salaries just for having specific qualifications; if they did, people with PhDs won't need to work for peanuts in academia.
Employers also don't pay you just for having a qualification. You don't get paid for having letters after your name (you definitely don't get paid for sitting around, or rather you're not supposed to). You get paid for what value you provide to the organisation. Your degree doesn't automatically translate to providing value. If you can use your degree to provide any specific value, you need to ask what specific value you are providing.
If one person with a geography degree is able to solve the same problem you are trying to solve and does it better, the geography graduate with either get a higher pay or would get the job over you. Likewise, if someone with no qualifications whatsoever does a better job than you, that person with no qualifications get the job over you. It only makes business sense.
Whilst I agree that some degrees would provide you with more job opportunities than others (primarily because of regulatory reasons), business isn't necessarily one of those subjects.

Mostly bcus I don’t know exactly what I want to do
Then this is where you sit it out and think things through. You don't jump into a minimum 3 year commitment paying thousands of pounds without a goal in mind and have good reasons to back it up.

I think i could find a niche and become good
This is fine.

and it had good return on investment compared to other courses
How would you realise this return exactly? Through jobs? If so, what types of jobs and what do they specifically ask for? What other courses are you comparing this to?
Whilst I agree that you would learn some material that are more economically useful and relevant for most areas of your life than say a degree in classics, you can still learn the same material outside of uni. So what are you getting from a business degree that you can't outside of uni?
Reply 4
Original post by MindMax2000
Really why do you say it’s not a good way to spend time/money?

I have yet to find a role anywhere in the country (or the world) where they specifically and legally require a degree in management or business. Where they do, it's usually for academic purposes and posts e.g. teaching business, academic research in business.

If you want a job in management, your degree often doesn't matter (they don't even look at your subject). Your relevant experience in a management role would.

If you want qualifications that would show that you're suitable for business related roles, you're better off with professional qualifications for the specific role in business, which contain more practical knowledge than theoretical knowledge (as opposed to a business degree)

If you want a role in business, often you can go into it with no prior qualifications. You do need to showcase that you can do the job.

If you want to learn how to start a business, you don't need a qualification to start one. You do need business knowledge, and often you can get that through a selection of many business courses that you can take outside of uni

Business related degrees are often rehashes of material in A Level Business Studies, with an academic slant

Business degrees often teach you things from the ground up, meaning you don't need any prior in depth knowledge to do them

Unless you work in a highly regulated sector and in a role where they require you need to do a specific degree (e.g. medicine, nursing, dentistry, etc.), you don't need a degree for the job (or at least start the job).

Whilst there are some careers where it's beneficial to have a degree to aid progression and promotion, none of them are really in business. Careers that do include those in engineering, architecture, project management. However, a lot of these do require relevant experience alongside the qualification.

If the degree is of value to employers, it's usually more to do with who you're networking with as opposed which degree you're doing i.e. it's more about the uni than which degree you're doing it at. In which case, it means that you could have done a degree in any subject and got the same "value".

A lot of the knowledge in business degrees is academic and theoretical. If you apply the same knowledge in practice, you will quickly find out that about half of it doesn't work very well.

A lot of the business courses taught outside of uni on the other hand teach material that is more relevant and up to date with current market conditions than that in business degrees where a lot of the material is outdated.

In terms business courses outside of uni vs those in uni, most courses outside of uni are cheaper (tens of thousands vs a few thousands/hundred), shorter (at least 3 years vs a year/few months), more comprehensive, more practical, and work better

Business degrees often don't teach you a host of other specific skills that you would need to start a business e.g. selling, networking, people skills, decision making

Business degrees alone doesn't give you enough information or a replicable environment to practice the skills you need in order to thrive in a business environment i.e. a business degree alone won't prepare you for the business environment

You can sometimes get more value and better experience learning from a business mentor than through a business degree. If I have the choice of getting tutelage from big name entrepreneurs (e.g. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, etc.) or get a business degree, I would always get the tutelage. Even if the entrepreneur is not a big name and is a local businessperson who is reasonable successful (depending on your definition), I would still prefer the tutelage over the degree.

Most lecturers in business aren't entrepreneurs or successful businesspeople themselves


If you go to a good uni you can get a good salary which is not the case for a lot of courses
Doing a degree does not necessarily equate to a good salary. Getting a high paying job equate to a good salary (provided the job is healthy and you can last in the job). People don't pay high salaries just for having specific qualifications; if they did, people with PhDs won't need to work for peanuts in academia.
Employers also don't pay you just for having a qualification. You don't get paid for having letters after your name (you definitely don't get paid for sitting around, or rather you're not supposed to). You get paid for what value you provide to the organisation. Your degree doesn't automatically translate to providing value. If you can use your degree to provide any specific value, you need to ask what specific value you are providing.
If one person with a geography degree is able to solve the same problem you are trying to solve and does it better, the geography graduate with either get a higher pay or would get the job over you. Likewise, if someone with no qualifications whatsoever does a better job than you, that person with no qualifications get the job over you. It only makes business sense.
Whilst I agree that some degrees would provide you with more job opportunities than others (primarily because of regulatory reasons), business isn't necessarily one of those subjects.
Mostly bcus I don’t know exactly what I want to do
Then this is where you sit it out and think things through. You don't jump into a minimum 3 year commitment paying thousands of pounds without a goal in mind and have good reasons to back it up.
I think i could find a niche and become good
This is fine.
and it had good return on investment compared to other courses
How would you realise this return exactly? Through jobs? If so, what types of jobs and what do they specifically ask for? What other courses are you comparing this to?
Whilst I agree that you would learn some material that are more economically useful and relevant for most areas of your life than say a degree in classics, you can still learn the same material outside of uni. So what are you getting from a business degree that you can't outside of uni?

As someone with over 30 years experience of working with hundreds of businesses across commercial, Government,and private sector at exec level I would completely disagree.

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