Is it worth going to university for the “uni experience”?

Poll

Should you go to university for the experience?

I was on a long bus journey and there were seven people who were talking about going to university.

They wanted to go to Manchester Met and they didn’t have enough money to go out of town. To raise money one of the guys was selling drugs. The others had loads of jobs and were talking about how they are going to take bank loans out for university. And they were all having problems with student finance.

They are looking to get D’s and E’s and some of them C’s. They will be in serious debt when they finish. They don’t care about their course they just want to get in through clearing etc.

Is it worth it? That is go to university for the experience?

Reply 1

JW92

18

Depends on the individual, I suppose. If I was in that situation, probably not.

Reply 2

Deano88

12

I doubt they will make it through their first year.

Reply 3

King4eva

17

If you want to go to uni just for the experience, you may as well just spend the 27k+ on a trip around the world.

Reply 4

Antonia87

14

I'd say its not worth it. With ever-increasing fees and ever-rising mounts of debt, I'd question one who was going to uni for the experience alone, as opposed to a degree.
Essentially, thats what universities are there for - education. They were not built for 3-year parties. Some will face coming out of university up to £20,000 in debt. That seems a lot for an "experience". I could spend months travelling Europe for less than that.

Reply 5

WhatTheFunk

17

the uni experience is only good if you get a degree thats worth it in the end, no point getting in debt, studying some you don't like and failing

Reply 6

jesty

Unless you have money to burn I wouldnt bother.

Its definately one of the major reasons but number one should always be to actually obtain a degree in the long run

Reply 7

L i b

19

robinson999

the uni experience is only good if you get a degree thats worth it in the end, no point getting in debt, studying some you don't like and failing

I completely disagree. A degree is barely of any importance in comparison to receiving a rounded and universal education, growing as an individual and so forth. That is what universities are there for, not to be some sort of vocational college for job training.

Reply 8

Svenjamin

17

In the pre-top up fees system I'd say it was alright to do a degree for the hell of it. There wasn't that much debt and quite a few people didn't really put a lot of thought into what they chose to study.

But these days fees are way too high. It's not worth going to uni unless you have a planned career path that requires the degree. Why leave with 15k+ debt for something that won't help achieve your dream job or earn more money than you would without the degree? Experience is regarded much more highly than a qualification in quite a few fields, so working up the ranks is much more worthwhile if it's at all possible.

Reply 9

im so academic

15

No, not with all the debt etc. Going to university is supposed to be a privilege, but nowadays it's taken for granted - i.e. only going to "university" to get wasted.

Tbh, in that situation I think they would be better off just finding a job now and working their way up. As like you said OP, it doesn't look like they care about their education.

Imo, I think the prospect of having a university degree is distorted. I.e. I find that some ill-informed people think that by having a university degree, you're guaranteed a good job; which is not true. Skilled people are being laid off, graduates from top-ranking universities can't find jobs or are working at minimum wage etc.

Tbh, I think times have changed - definitely. I find that going to university in a few years, probably decades ago was seen like furthering your education, nowadays it seems even if you get 2 passes or a vocational qualification you can just going to university.

Maybe our perception of university is also distorted. I mean there was an article in a newspaper a few days ago I think that a 2:1 from one uni is not the same as another. Well isn't this common sense? But yet people believe that a 2:1 from a high-ranking university is the same as a lower ranking. Just because they are "universities".

Anyways, going to university is supposed to be furthering your education and gaining something rewarding and useful. Nowadays it seems you can study literally anything at university, and yet people still believe their degree is the same as one another. No it isn't.

Yes there are many opportunities one can get from university, e.g. study abroad, but it seems university is just another time of your life to get wasted and get a degree. No it isn't. This is wrong.

Personally, if someone is in there for the experience, they may as well not go. Universities are supposed to be places of learning. It doesn't seem like it nowadays. I believe universities should be made accessible, but not accessible so that anyone can get in. Labour's predictions of getting 50% of youngsters into universities is just blown out of proportion.

So to answer the question, no it isn't.

Reply 10

Jeremy-Bentham

OP

L i b

I completely disagree. A degree is barely of any importance in comparison to receiving a rounded and universal education, growing as an individual and so forth. That is what universities are there for, not to be some sort of vocational college for job training.

Baleful

Well said. Too many people regard universities merely as places to gain a certain qualification to gain access to a particular profession. A university education ought to be about so much more than that - what about the importance of developing into a more well rounded person, gaining life experience and so on.

If you study something you don't like e.g. social science because thats all you could get into. Chances are you would struggle or just drop out. Or if you get into computer science and your bad at maths etc.

Reply 11

Baleful

L i b

A degree is barely of any importance in comparison to receiving a rounded and universal education, growing as an individual and so forth. That is what universities are there for, not to be some sort of vocational college for job training.

Well said. Too many people regard universities merely as places to gain a certain qualification to gain access to a particular profession. A university education ought to be about so much more than that. What about the importance of developing into a more well rounded person? Gaining life experience?

Reply 12

vander Beth

13

Yes (I assume we are talking about the personal growth experience, not the getting smashed experience)

I do think I, personally, am doing it for the experience in my life rather than job prospects.

Reply 13

WhatTheFunk

17

L i b

I completely disagree. A degree is barely of any importance in comparison to receiving a rounded and universal education, growing as an individual and so forth. That is what universities are there for, not to be some sort of vocational college for job training.

it worth taking the uni experience in that, its not good sitting in your room for 3 years reading books, get out have fun, play sports, join societies, go on political protest, and growing as that whole well rounded person, but its no use forgetting about your degree, pays to work on it and not fail

i hope the uni experience the op is talking about is not the whole, sex drugs, drink and parties, good in gaining social skills, but not much else,( i jumped the gun thinking that it was more this the op was on about)

Reply 14

Baleful

im so academic

So to answer the question, no it isn't.

Surely that ought to be for the individual to decide, no?

Reply 15

Jeremy-Bentham

OP

robinson999

it worth taking the uni experience in that, its not good sitting in your room for 3 years reading books, get out have fun, play sports, join societies, go on political protest, and growing as that whole well rounded person, but its no use forgetting about your degree, pays to work on it and not fail

i hope the uni experience the op is talking about is not the whole, sex drugs, drink and parties, good in gaining social skills, but not much else,( i jumped the gun thinking that it was more this the op was on about)

These people are going out to drink, have unprotected sex etc...

These people work, go out late, play sports allready at home. I thought the uni experience for a lot of people was to go out late at night and drink.

Reply 16

ColdVein

13

Uni is primarily about advancing academically and becoming more employable. Giving away three/four years of your life and getting in huge sums of debt is a pretty foolish thing to do for the sake of joining a few societies and getting drunk a lot (which can both be done without going to uni at all).

Reply 17

WhatTheFunk

17

Jeremy-Bentham

These people are going out to drink, have unprotected sex etc...

These people work, go out late, play sports allready at home. I thought the uni experience for a lot of people was to go out late at night and drink.

to be fair i do it go out and drink, rich of me moaning about, i'm normally the first one for it, its one side of the uni experience, uni is what you make of it