Uni's and the worth of your degree

The Halk said:
Do you feel your degree was integral in your success? Do you feel if you had not gone to uni, but instead had worked your way up in a company for 3 years in the same field, and then applied for the job you got leaving uni you could be in the same position you are in now?

(Those are real questions!)
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I think my degree was a necessity from the perspective that it was mandatory for my job. My CV wouldn't have even got past HR without the degree. This is not the same for all positions but more so when you're fighting others to get on the first rung of the ladder.

I don't think I would be where I am today without my degree because I applied for the first rung of the ladder after I got my degree. There would be little or no way to get where I am from just experience because of the job type and nature.

However, on the flip side I was the first person that my company ever hired straight out of uni into my position. The only reason they did so is because my project and dissertation were about two things that were core to them and they took a punt. Tomorrow I would have been with them (a well known IT company) for 5 years :)
 
Liefrich said:
I'm going to guess that you are not a graduate.

Graduates over time earn more money than non graduates on average (fact). Of course if you’re dedicated enough from 18 you can be successful but it is easier to earn more money with a degree.
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Please don't use correlation fallacies.

As for your guesses. I am a graduate. However, had I not wasted 4 years at university I'd have made better use of my time. All my degree got me was a job interview, which I could have obtained with a good CV and no degree.
 
Deyvy said:
I also agree with everything you've said there. But can anyone, from an employers perspective, suggest a better way to select prospective new employees/graduates?
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Unfortunatelly not, but its still a flawed way of doing things imo.
Until better methods are adopted however, then we're stuck with it.

It's impossible to interview everyone who applies for a job. Even from my own experience, they might come across well in the interview but when it comes to work, its a different story.
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Ive heard of interviews being passed/failed based upon the interviewee's performance in a hands-on test during the interview, perhaps expanding that further is a possible method?
 
The Halk said:
Please don't use correlation fallacies.

As for your guesses. I am a graduate. However, had I not wasted 4 years at university I'd have made better use of my time. All my degree got me was a job interview, which I could have obtained with a good CV and no degree.
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Well that's your individual experience. But i'd rather spend 3 years of our one life enjoying myself and gaining a qualification that is respected throughout the world rather than slugging away for 3 years.

As a hopeful solicitor the best way I could become one was to go to university, the same can be said for plenty of careers. Most people I know who went to work from 18 are earning more than me currently, but in 5 years time I would hesitate to guess that my wage will surpass theirs and keep growing.

But looking back over my life when I'm 80, I will have fond memories of my time at University. That is what counts.
 
I wouldn't necessarily call it snobbery.

I got a first in my BSc without having to try that hard. Looking back, I'm under no illusions that I wouldn't have learned a lot more and had to work flat out at high end university.
 
Liefrich, I'm sorry you're not enjoying your job...

I enjoyed my time at uni and I have great memories. But I don't feel that I would have had a terrible time if I'd worked instead. I still enjoy my life... It's different than it was at uni, but I wouldn't be able to say better or worse.

These days (especially for the poor English and Welsh) you have a lot to make up for after uni, thanks to the way things work. Average debt for a student is huge.

I now make a comfortable salary. Other than spending it on property I actually do struggle to spend all my money. Sure I could thow it away stupidly, but I won't do that. I have pretty much everything I want, I go on 3 foreign holidays a year etc. But I'm 34. And when I was 30 i wasn't in that position. In fact I was 25 when I finished university, and it took be a while to get up to a decent salary and pay off the debt. If I'd started wisely at 18, without the debt I'd have got to this point faster. Instead I got a bad job at 18, and stuck with it for a couple of years, then went to uni, changed course after a year and 4 years later finished uni and got a "proper job". If I'd mucked about for a couple of years first and then got a proper job I'd be just as happy, except I'd have the comfortable income faster.

But I guess it's not the same for everybody. I'm still motivated to earn more money of course, and I still resent the way my tax is wasted. But ultimately I'm financially comfortable and my job challenges me, which people don't seem to make enough of a deal about.

Ultimately it's unrealistic to say "I wish I had done this" and state "Because this is how it would have turned out" simply because we don't know. You could have enjoyed 3 years working in sales earning a packet under high pressure and really living it up in the way students cannot before settling into a proper career.
 
A lot is about the degree you study rather than the university you have gone too.

Have to help out with the recruitment where I work now and I can honestly say that this is the order I take things into account when I look at any CV's;

1. Type of Degree (degrees like law etc rather than those mickey mouse degrees)

2. Mark

3. Extra cirricular activity (useful stuff here, not I play 5 a side on a wednesday afternoon crap that everyone puts down)

4. The university itself.

Not saying I would never consider the uni people went too but I would rather have someone with a law degree from random "X" university than I would someone with a 1st class Tourism degree from Cambridge.
 
I couldn't do my job without my degree.
Without it I couldn't gain professional accreditation stating my ability/fitness to practice!
On the other hand, my brother is studying towards an accountancy apprenticeship - his friends who are doing accountancy degrees will not have the same level as qualifications / experience at the end of their 3yrs degree and will be in debt - where as my bro will be professionally acceredited, have 3yrs experience and have earned 3yrs wage while doing it!!
 
I spent 4 years back in the day studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering, where I graduated with a 2:2 BEng (Hons).

But the degree is not at all relevant now I work in wildlife rehab! To be honest I could never see me doing an office type engineering job even when I was studying. The point to this post, well, I'm trying to say sometimes things don't work out as planned (I certainly didn't expect to be working in the field of wildlife rehab, but I do enjoy it!)
 
I left school with nothing, was really ill for last six months of school and did not finish anything.

Could not do a great deal for years, one dead end job to the next, ended up not being able to work, lousey muscle wasting condition was unstable and I had a permenantly dislocated hip. Managed to struggle though a HNC in computing with dam good grades (not a struggle with work, a struggle to attend in a drug fueled haze caused by painkillers for the hipand the pain which did not want to go away).

Had my hip resurfaced in January 2005, the muscle wasting has become very stable and ive now got the best in orthotics "carbon fibre" money can buy for my paralysed lower legs.

With the HNC I got into uni and now im just starting my final year at 37.

So I dont have any GCSE's or A'levels but ive got a damn good determination to make the best of where I am going. I chose Sheffield Hallam as it was easy for me to attend without moving anywhere.

Ive been planning to take a PGCE when I graduate or an Msc, or on the other hand an Msc then a PGCE incase I dont like teaching.

I asked the first post question as ive been disheartened with all the comments ive seen around saying degree's from Sheffield Hallam are no good or are low grade and I did wonder am I just wasting time, seems the answer is objective, depending on where you want to, thinking my degree will do me just fine.

Oh and incase anyone is wondering, ive got an excelent shot at a first.
 
Well, as much as I admire your determination I think you've probably had enough people patronising you over the years, so I'll be blunt and honest.

In your circumstances a degree is very worthwhile. It proves that despite your medical condition you can achieve results - which is what a prospective employer would want to know before employing someone with medical issues. If it ends up as a 1st class degree then it will reinforce that further. Everybody would like to employ someone with a disability, but equally everybody wants to make sure they don't employ someone who will be unproductive.
 
BoomAM said:
As a shame really, as i think everyones intelligent in their own specific way, theres different types of intelligence quite frankly.
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All the same, some people are more intelligent than others - and a degree from a decent university is a better indication that you're reasonably intelligent than one from a mediocre university. It's not a guarantee, but it's a fairly strong hint.
 
I'm still totally stuck with where to go uni wise; went to visit Leicester today and it felt brilliant, much better than anywhere else I've been... but it's not that respected for Maths. The Uni tables have it rated too high due to the weighting student satisfaction is given.

If I pushed hard enough I could in all likelyhood to go OxBridge for maths but I didn't really like the feel of either one.. completely stuck with what to do.
 
Hxc said:
I'm still totally stuck with where to go uni wise; went to visit Leicester today and it felt brilliant, much better than anywhere else I've been... but it's not that respected for Maths. The Uni tables have it rated too high due to the weighting student satisfaction is given.

If I pushed hard enough I could in all likelyhood to go OxBridge for maths but I didn't really like the feel of either one.. completely stuck with what to do.
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Basically, if you don't go to Bristol, you have made an error. I couldn't recommend it enough and I know several people who have done very well out of their maths degrees.
 
Moses99p said:
Well there are some Oxbridge students/alumni on here, talking to a few of them might ease fears about how the life would be... but then Oxbridge isn't the holy grail. You have to live wherever you go for three years, so I wouldn't say go someone you don't like, just because of its reputation. Where have you visited so far? When you say you didn't like the feel of Oxbridge, why was that? What was so good about Leicester?
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Oh and to add to the above, my home town is Oxford and it's the most dull city ever. You will have a good time will other students, but if Oxford social life was a forum member, we would all be posting 'lol Oxford social life' in response, every time.

Naturally, I was a local there, so students won't have the same experience.

The best cities in terms of student social life are, as far as I am aware, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Leeds and London.
 
I just didn't like the feel of the city, the place, the people. Regardless of the stereotype that they attempt to dispell, I really don't think I'd fit in there. Cambridge was nicer but I still don't think I'd fit well with the people there, the people who were on the tours and the like rubbed me up the wrong way a bit.

I've visited Durham, York, looked around the Warwick area, and Leicester. I also know the London area around Imperial and I don't fancy living there, in all honesty.

Leicester felt welcoming, a nice place, and the city is just fantastic, loads of shops, good looking nightlife and all that. I don't know. It just felt "good".

Bristol is an idea, unfortunatly no open days left so I'd have to just like, go and look at the city.
 
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