Did you go to University?

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by hotblonde

MedSci (Sci bit in virology), MSc, PhD (altho' not had viva yet, so the last one is putative )

When is your viva? The girl I share my office with just got her date.

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by Zippy

Don't get me wrong Am-Y, I sometimes wish I had one and I've been toying with the idea of going to Uni next year to try and further myself.

Actually thinking about it, if it weren't for the social aspects of university and all that growing up independently of my parents then I would go back and sign up for the OU instead of traditional Uni. Could have worked at the same time and saved myself a hell of a lot of debt.

Originally Posted by hotblonde

These billionaires eventually have to resort to 'buying' their degrees thru' some trickery and are so damn chuffed when they do, the world has to hear about it. It's not always about money, but having money gives you the option of saying with confidence "it's not always about money", I suppose.

I think there probably are billionaires out there with degrees - folk with science and engineering degrees who discover or design something incredibly useful and make loads of the patents. I just reckon that getting rich without having a degree, or a similar advantage, makes for a better headline then "middle class lad makes millions" or "rich guy gets even richer"

[Ghostsuit]

Amy everyones different, obvious as that may sound it doesn't matter if I enjoyed uni or I think it made things better for me or wither I think it matters at the end of the day it's what it means to you and for you.

Maybe this isn't the right time for you or the right course. I dropped out of my first course got a job for a couple of years then went back. Did I do the right thing? No idea I had fun but I had fun working too. Lifes what you make it and the same goes with jobs. You can work your way up or drop into a graduate place but regardless you'll really only get some place if your good at the job.

Obviously some jobs do require specialist training which unis can provided. So really it depends what you want to do.

[sarabee]

The 'Suit says it all really.

[Withnail]

If yes, why? Had no idea what else I was going to do at the time, tbh.
Did you gain anything from it? Yeah, a first class honours! More importantly - the ability to sift through lots of information and pull out the important bits.
Did you actually enjoy it? Mostly
Are you glad you did? Yes.


In your opinion, is getting a degree actually that important in terms of getting a well-paid job and getting ahead in life?
Depends entirely on what you want to do. If you want to do the kind of thing I'm doing, then absolutely.

[hotblonde]

Originally Posted by LesMTS

When is your viva? The girl I share my office with just got her date.

I don't bloody well know. I was hoping for before xmas, but if I've not been advised yet so it will be after. I know my external examiner is called Kevin O'Shaughnessy (Cambridge) so no pressure there.

[StuntGirl]

If yes, why? I never really had any choice. It was always just taken for granted that I would go to uni. As it happens, I applied for drama school when I was 15 (when I finshed my fist lot of Highers) and got knocked back for being too young so I went to college and by the time it got to applying for uni I just wasn't interested at all, so i applied for something I thought I'd enjoy because I was convinced I was going to be a singer or marry a rock star or something stupid like that anyway and not need a job.

Did you gain anything from it? I guess. I gained a First Class honours in Mass Media and Communication (have absolutely no idea how i did that), while I was there I thought that just about everything I was doing had no bearing on my life whatsoever. Its only when I left uni and started my own business that I appreciated learning stuff like PR and marketing, because its made life a lot easier for me. On a more personal level, I gained a huge amount of confidence, learned how to look after myself (o moved into my own flat in the first year of uni because my wee sister couldn't handle my 3am study sessions) and made some solid friends for life. The only downside is the huge amount of debt im in.

Did you actually enjoy it? I didn't think I was enjoying it at the time, but I would gladly sell a kidney to go back and do it all again. I'd maybe choose a joint honours though, either something academic that i'd really enjoy (art history, music, etc ) or something to compliment my vocational degree (like management or business studies).

Are you glad you did? sometimes when I'm sitting in my shitty job, applying for other shitty jobs, all of them demanding experience over a degree, I wish I thought things through a bit more. But the experience of being a student helped me mature, it broadened my horizons in that i got to travel and meet knew people and learn new things. So overall, I'm glad I went, even if I moan about it on occassion.


In your opinion, is getting a degree actually that important in terms of getting a well-paid job and getting ahead in life?

[Withnail]

Oh,can we do letters after name game? i've only recently acquired some of mine...

[Devastator]

Originally Posted by poprock

The trick to getting a good job is to be a useful and interested person. If you ain’t enjoying or getting anything out of your degree course, then you’re studying the wrong subject. If you ain’t engaged with the subject now, you can’t expect to enjoy working in that field for the forseeable future either. If you don’t enjoy something, you’re unlikely to be great at it.

I may have just said the same thing four different ways. Hmmm.

See I enjoy 3 and a half of my 5 subjects, well at least I find them interesting. It's more the lecturing and how impersonal the whole thing is I just don't like.

Next year I can do 2 subjects, hopefully both of which will be really interesting and relate to what I want to do with my life (not that I know what that is yet).

Although seeing as sarabee's just quit second year of my course, it can't be that good

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by endless psych

I think there probably are billionaires out there with degrees - folk with science and engineering degrees who discover or design something incredibly useful and make loads of the patents. I just reckon that getting rich without having a degree, or a similar advantage, makes for a better headline then "middle class lad makes millions" or "rich guy gets even richer"

Just like popular musicians, the people who are most successful in business are hardly ever the people who've taken some course in the subject.
Same with a lot of disciplines, I suppose. My dad's a reasonably successful engineer, in charge of a lot of people and a lot of equipment, he left school at 16 and has never studied engineering. Couple of years back his work employed a guy, for a reasonably high position, straight out of Uni. My dad was constantly complaining that this guy didn't have a clue, he thought because he had a degree he knew better than everyone else when, in fact, he soon found out that finishing his degree and getting this job was the start of the learning curve, not the end.

[russianfaerie]

Originally Posted by Devastator

I'm now on 'Getting a Degree - Attempt 2'. I'm doing a completely different course from last year (BA Arts & Social Sciences as opposed to BEng Product Design), and basically I still don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it. Just wanting some different perspectives on the whole thing really.

You made it sound like I must have really sinister reasons, haha.

i've just started mines - ba applied marine biology - i know how you feel, right now some classes are simply boring me, the lecturer either going to slow, doing things i've done higher than or they themselves aren't engaging as others.

but i know after this first year it will change, hell just been giving my new subjects for january and they look so much more interesting.

i took 2 years out after school before hitting uni, i feel i wish just taken a year but can't change that.

[Devastator]

Originally Posted by Withnail

Oh,can we do letters after name game? i've only recently acquired some of mine...

Can I be Amy Devastator C.O NFU SEd?

[Foxglove]

Forbes has said everything that needs to be said. Even in a job that requires a degree such as a law or medical career, the people who achieve most generally have more to them than a piece of paper so it is important to enjoy what you are doing as much as simply being able to do it.

[poprock]

Originally Posted by LesMTS

… finishing his degree and getting this job was the start of the learning curve, not the end.

Amen to that.

[spoonie]

i went because it seemed like the logical next step between school and employment at the level i saw myself entering the job market.

i gained a 2:1 MA (Hons) in Management and Computing, most of my best friends, opportunities that I'd never have got elsewhere and the best five yeras of my life

I enjoyed it all. Five years in total, including my year as a sabbatical officer and I'd do it all again if i could. there are times when it's tough and it all seems too much, but they're far outweighed by the great times.

I'd not have changed it for the world.

In my opinion, there are loads of ways of getting a well-paid job and getting ahead in life but this is the one that fitted me best.

/x