Degree vs Experience
- Thread starter Verbium
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I 100% agree with you here.
Degree v no degree - just two different ways of getting what you want, both have pros and cons. There is no blanket answer - its down to the individual and the role they wish to acheive.
I'd never advocate a degree for being a technician - experience and industry qualifications will get you further, quicker.
But try being an aerospace engineer without a decent degree. A proper engineer, not somebody with engineer on his name badge.
The article was in the magazine which you have to get subscription to. But heres something else that says the same
http://www.suttontrust.com/news/news/the-educational-backgrounds-of-500-leading-figures/
Its 57% are still privately educated in 2007. This stupidly high considering the ratio between state students and private students.
I completely agree with grade inflation, I probably would not of made it either in the 60's when only chosen few went. But to stay competitive I had to get a degree. I could not work where I am now without it. You simply can not work up, I am considering a masters at Russell group due the snobbery I have faced with Uni selectiveness.
Yes i also agree a-levels are bad indicators of success, I've known people excel at degree level and screw up at a-level and vice versa. But 320 points, you can quite easily go a Russell group uni. A-Levels you tend to learn by rote, degrees to let you loose a bit and be independent.
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That is only giving figures relating to schools attended , and the the figures relating to degrees are only as a percentage of those with degrees who attended Oxbridge and not the overall amount of people in those positions who are graduates.
Being privately educated doesn't automatically mean you have a degree.
I can't find any concrete evidence, but reading between the lines it looks like many of the Fortune 500 have some sort of degree, although it seems many took business degrees later in life after they were successful.
I can't find relevant data for the FTSE250, outside the obvious ones who have little or no qualifications.
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39% of CEOs are oxford educated, doesn't even consider non-oxford uni grads.
No, but I'd be prepared to wager that a high percentage of those who are privately educated go on to complete a degree.
[TW]Fox;18743237 said:
And therein lies my issue, the emphasis on having a degree has become skewed. Too many occupations that have absolutely no reason for a degree are now adding that requirement to their list.
Why?
all it does is devalue degrees so that now, we have many industries ignoring anything other than a Russell Group degree, or requiring a masters/post grad degree, or simply bypassing the entire system and recruiting directly from schools and sixth forms.
It seems an awful lot of money is being wasted on university educations that could be better spent and targeted more effectively by vocational training colleges and apprenticeships.
39% of those you attended University were Oxbridge educated. That is not saying that 39% of all CEO's went to Oxbridge.
I know they are selective on University degrees, and I said i was considering masters at Russell group as a way around this.
The simple fact is, if you choose vocational root, most high ups consider you even worse than plateglass/polytechnic students. I went to a plateglass uni. Its annoying because I regularly had to help out Russell group friends buy hey whatever.
The discrimination is in the following order.
- Oxbridge
- Russell Groups
- Plate Glass
- Ex-Polytechnics
- Vocational - Apprenticeships
I dislike it to, but you know, i deal with it and find ways around such as doing my masters or starting my company.
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A lot of these degrees only exist because the bloated public sector is there to mop up the graduates.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the public sector gets whittled down. All these young people with "under water basket weaving" degrees like philosophy and other useless stuff, with some vague plans of becoming a teacher or some other government job.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the public sector gets whittled down. All these young people with "under water basket weaving" degrees like philosophy and other useless stuff, with some vague plans of becoming a teacher or some other government job.
Hhahaha you say that but engineering and cs grads have some to worst employment percentages. Even arts graduates are beating engineering degrees wtf is up with that?
I don't agree with the apprenticeship route. Evidence suggests that Apprenticeships are becoming more sought after and are highly regarded.
A friend that was on placements line manager was sorting through CV for the following years placement applicants. He was immediately binning any CV's that had D's or lower at GCSE/A-Level. Even if they were in irrelevant subjects such as a language.
It'll depend on just how many applications they've received and how much or little time they have to spend reading your CV initially.
My logic tells me that experience is probably more preferable in most cases.
Apprenticeships train you well for specific job such as becoming a sparky, or a bricky. They are very popular because brings up images of the working class hero type. You have ambitions to move up to management? Argh hell no.
I didn't want to end up doing a job i didn't enjoy(I'm weak, and can't do labour) and wanted to something mentally challenging so I really had to go to uni.
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You see, to get anywhere now you need a degree + really good a-levels.
I simply don't how would survived without first class class degree to offset my 'average' a-levels. JSA probably or trying to manage a job I'm not talented at. The crappy uni's gave me another chance to work in professionally in the field I have done as hobby since I was about 12. Software Development. For that I am thankful. A vocational education would not of provided that opportunity.
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You have a limited view of Apprenticeships I'm afraid.
