University Grads - A quick question

KaHn

KaHn

KaHn

Soldato
Joined
13 Oct 2004
Posts
13,177
Location
South Shields
Right,

This has been a bit of a pet hate of mine for quite some time, on this forum we see quite a few threads start up with people who are unsure of university/did a degree they didn't like/or did a degree with no prospect and then seem to whinge and moan on here.

So this has lead me to believe that I must be different to most of the forum as I knew what I wanted to do after uni before I even picked my degree. One of two career paths, RAF Pilot or Engineer, when I spoke to the RAF at 14 about them sponsoring my uni degree I was told they would not if I was doing a course like maths of physics, which was my plan, I withdrew my application and went on to the second choice.

So my question to OcUK Grads, when you chose you uni course, did you pick it on a subject you enjoyed? Did you look at your career path afterwards? Or did you do something you thought you'd have a lot of free time on and be with a load of girls?

KaHn
 
I did something I thought I would enjoy and be good at, but also give me a good career afterwards.

I'm intrigued, if the RAF didn't want something like maths or physics, what degree type did they want? Or is it just a case they don't sponsor at all?
 
What about the people who are not at University yet?
I have picked my course from what I enjoy,which coincidently has one of the best job prospects for any course.
It's quite hard to know what you will enjoy at such a young age, I have just completed my first week of work experience on something that I thought I would not enjoy but in fact I did. My degree is still related to it though and it seems this degree that I am looking at doing leaves a lot of doors open.
 
Last edited:
Personally I picked a subject which I was going to enjoy rather than aiming at a particular job afterwards. It was suggested to me at the time, by a university head of department whose wife my Dad worked with, that unless you want to do something that requires a specific degree to do, it's better to do something you are interested in as you are more likely to stick with it and hence do better.

I did a four year MPhys course in Astrophysics and thoroughly enjoyed it. I did consider that this was a course which covered physics, maths and some computing and applied them to an area I was interested in instead of being more just theoretical.

I still can't say that I really know what I want to do ... after university I fell into IT and have been doing that ever since. It's interesting some of the time but there are time when I feel I should be doing more.
 
KaHn said:
So my question to OcUK Grads, when you chose you uni course, did you pick it on a subject you enjoyed? Yes, but I enjoy computer things just as much as engineering things

Did you look at your career path afterwards?
Yes!!! I could have been earning money but instead I am broke and owe money. I chose something that I deemed was worth my time and effort to jump up the career ladder after graduation.


Or did you do something you thought you'd have a lot of free time on and be with a load of girls?
Not at all. The purpose of University was to further educate the top few %. It seems now any 'tard can get in somewhere (like my cousin who got 78& average in first year maths at Hallam - He really is thick as pig **** so what he is doing must be exceptionally easy).
Click to expand...

The PRIMARY reason for being at University is to better your career by taking a tough course in a subject useful to the real world.

The amount of people who say 'Isn't Uni easier than 6th form' are on a completely other wavelengh to the engineering, medical and law students from top end Universities.

'Oh I did computer games design'. Well congratulations, can I have fries with that please.
 
After GCSE I knew I didn't want to continue any of the subjects. So I chose completely new subjects for A-Level.
- ICT
- Economics
- Business Studies

I was designing websites as a hobby for about 5 years by the time I finished A-Levels.

I decided to go into programming, because I'd realised the money wasn't in web design.

I knew I needed a degree, but I didn't want to drop the web stuff completely.

so I did BSc Internet Computing, ended up with a first.

Still found it hard to find a job, first job was rubbish. Second job is where I'm still at after 4 years. I was recently promoted to Senior Developer.

It's an easy career path though, very focussed. I'd hate to be in a position where I'd done a degree that didn't directly lead to a job - of course I wouldn't put myself in that position to begin with :P
 
mglover070588 said:
'Oh I did computer games design'. Well congratulations, can I have fries with that please.
Click to expand...

Cool story bro.

I'm doing computer games design, its the exact same course as computer science except we do extra modules every year, and extra assingments (and our course is 5 years with placement, CS do 4 with placement). But, the assingments we do do that are the same as computer science, we have to do extra stuff in them. Its an advanced compuer programming degree and we have to work very hard.

So what you probably did one of those engineering/law degrees you boasted about well I googled your name and your bebo profile Matt Glover shows your working in tescos.

So congrats, can I have a bag of tesco brand oven fries with that please.
 
Last edited:
I picked a subject I enjoyed but the career is hard to get into, I've been involved in some cool projects and got some great experience in the industry during my second and third years. I've just finished my degree and taking a gap year as I need a driving lincese and London is the place I need to move but these are things I cannot afford yet.
 
I chose accounting and finance as I thought I'd be decent at it, I'd enjoy it and it would be relevant to a number of jobs once I graduated. I've since got on to a graduate accounting scheme so I guess it was a good idea.
 
petemyster said:
Cool story bro.

I'm doing computer games design, its the exact same course as computer science except we do extra modules every year, and extra assingments (and our course is 5 years with placement, CS do 4 with placement). But, the assingments we do do that are the same as computer science, we have to do extra stuff in them. Its an advanced compuer programming degree and we have to work very hard.

So what you probably did one of those engineering/law degrees you boasted about well I googled your name and your bebo profile Matt Glover shows your working in tescos.

So congrats, can I have a bag of tesco brand oven fries with that please.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you are trying to convince us that your degree is superior than Computing Science. I am not saying that you are incorrect as I know nothing about your course however why are you taking such a defensive stance?
 
I chose something I was good at, and ended up thoroughly enjoying it as well.
Now in the real world, the degree I chose is pretty much irrelevant - not enough jobs require what I have.
If i was to go back to Uni for Masters / Doctorate, I'd have to think long and hard as to what I'd study in.
 
Garee said:
It sounds like you are trying to convince us that your degree is superior than Computing Science. I am not saying that you are incorrect as I know nothing about your course however why are you taking such a defensive stance?
Click to expand...

Because mglover070588 implied it was a waster course with no job at the end of it and I just wanted to explain to him how he doesn't know what he's talking about :)
 
[TW]Fox;19707605 said:
What job did you get at the end of it?
Click to expand...

I believe he is currently doing the degree.

Out of interest petemyster, what year are you in and what courses/modules have you taken?
 
I picked my first uni cours eon something I thought I would enjoy and was also currently enjoying as an outsider looking in, architecture. I think maybe the uni was wrong for me (E.C.A) as I found the course a truly awful teaching environment.
I then went to do a course on subjects/modules I enjoyed at school and which was my back up plan, CGI....well design for digital media was the uni course title. Turns out this course I was basically missold, along with a lot of poeple in my class, but hey-oh soilder on I can concentrate what i want to do in 2nd half of 3rd year then 4th year.
Depression struck me bad, failed 3rd year once, dropped out during my second attempt. Turns out the course lecturers and direct contacts (apart form one guy) didn't seem to care about the mental well being of their students and constantly ignored any emails (the way to book a meeting) for help with the course and course work.

Both cases I was sure what I wanted to do, had career plans mapped out, and both have left me back in square one, and possibly even worse than not going to uni due to being a "drop out."
 
Jokester said:
I'm intrigued, if the RAF didn't want something like maths or physics, what degree type did they want? Or is it just a case they don't sponsor at all?
Click to expand...

When I was speaking to the recruiter they wanted me to do a degree which would help me be an officer, I was told they prefer politics or the likes, I was 14 at the time so didn't chase it up after that.

KaHn
 
I chose a subject I wanted to do in a city I wanted to live in through a University with a pedigree that I was comfortable with. I don't really see that as being any better than someone who just goes anywhere to study anything for whatever reason, though. It's just decisions that teenagers make, rightly or wrongly.
 
I'm going to start my A2 course in september, so my applications have to be in then, and I'm taking maths. I have no idea where it's going to take me, but I'm taking it because I love it. I previously wanted to take medicine and be a doctor, but when I realised that I was looking at universities based on the ability to study maths at the side just for personal enjoyment, that I realised I wanted to do my degree in it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom