What to do at University?

anything that guarantees you a good job at the end of it, so many people forget that when they goto uni. Like people who study media, psychology, sociology etc :p
 
It's not necessarily what degree you take, it's also the university to you go to some extent... and also the grade your likely to get. If the subject is so hard you'll stuggle to get a Second Class Divison Two (2:2) there isn't much point- most employers want an upper Second Class or a First Class (well unless it's Oxbridge I suppose).

Stick with a traditional subject, they are looked upon most favourably. If you think you can get a place on a engineering degree at a decent uni then go for it- very sought after, especially if you do aeronautical engineering or so forth.

Arts degrees can be very good too. I do Ancient and Medieval History myself and it's brilliant. Statistics show that over 50% of the highest paid business people in the country have history degrees- because history teaches organisation, analysis and most importantly how people work! Keep in mind though that arts degrees, especially at good unis will essay you to death, so if essays arn't your think you possibly won't find it that much fun.

Also remember that you should pick something you will enjoy- it doesn't necessarily have to be in line with what you want to do- eg the above, what has history really got to do about business? At the end of the day, for a lot of subjects the primary is concern is the skills you learn, not the facts you can reel off. (Although remembering something about human anatomy might be useful if you're going to be doctor!)
 
Psypher5 said:
I play games...

i mean, design games.
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Likewise. But I'm one year ahead of you! Mwahahaha.

Choose a course that you will find interesting and enjoy working towards.
There is no point doing something because you think it will loook good on a CV, only do spend 3-4 years of your life hating your choice.
 
mglover070588 said:
A degree in media is a waste of time anyway - It just has no real world use employment wise. Neither do social sciences generally - The only real thing to do with them is join a graduate scheme with a company.

Engineering at a good name uni means employment is easy to find (has to be a good uni or the courses won't be accredited by institutes, such as crap uni mech eng courses won't be IMECHE/IET acreddited, good ones will be).

I would say BA are usually the crapper degrees, but camebridge degrees are all BA's iirc, so look into that.

Accountancy pays well, so does banking (potentially). Don't worry about the state banks are in at the moment, they will sort themselves out in good time.

You have to do a degree you will enjoy, but remember the reason you are there is to get a better pad job, so remember that before signing up to criminology with sociology:)
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Social sciences is useful if you want into some departments of the civil service and town planning, but I agree media is useless
 
Mr Jack said:
Do whatever you enjoy most. Don't waste your time doing something with "economic value" - if you don't enjoy doing the degree, why would you think you'd enjoy a job that requires it?
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I agree.

You can't just say "social sciences are useless". There are plenty of employers who will happily employ someone with a broad degree from a good university purely because of the quality of the degree. And it makes it better if it's a subject you genuinely enjoy.

But seriously, do engineering.
 
Do something you are interested in, it means that you are more likely to stick with it and do well.

Also don't worry if you get a 2:2 instead of a 2:1, once you're pasted the graduate recruitment career stage then it does not matter.

Also, if you to do IT don't just look at IT courses ... when we are looking at Graduate CVs we groan at computer related degrees due to the amount of re-education you have to give those grads for the real-world .... examples of good IT people I knows top level qualifications include: BSc Archeology, O-level English and PHD Engineering .... my top qualification is a MPhys in Astrophysics.
 
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scouse said:
Dentistry - its the highest guaranteed pay for new graduates.
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But factor in Saabs and suicide rates and the prospects look less exciting.

I did an English degree, a 2:1 from Exeter, and wouldn't have had to work too hard to find a good job straight after uni. I'm lazy though and don't like job hunting at all, so I'm currently half way through a computing MSc at Cardiff as well. The BAs can often give you a different slant on life and learning and provide valuable skills that the less 'squishy' courses miss out.

For instance, there's a couple of people on my masters that did maths, physics etc and the idea of standing in front of a group of only ten people reduced them to shamboling wrecks. The flexibility of a good arts degree forces you to improve your interpretive skills as well, so I find that while the hard science people have an advantage over me with the programing/maths etc, I learn the new concepts much faster.

Basically, don't avoid an arts degree because an engineer told you so. Engineering students always smell funny and so shouldn't be trusted. ;) I've always thought an arts degree has a better chance of teaching you life skills, where a hard science degree gives you specific (but often intrinsically more valuable) abilities.

Plus, there are more girls on arts courses generally. (1:5 ratio for me!)
 
I have one daughter doing history heritage and archeology I dont know where its leading but shes loving it.
been doing the rounds for my other daughter ,shes doing either medical or bio-medical ,listening to all the seminars and intros i thought bio med sounded exellent , some of the students were having a paid vocational year in the states with free flights and $40k
sorry if not much help
 
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Well I've discovered in my line of work, 2 degrees is the way forward :D

I have an honours degree in computer science, and the contract I'm on is application support/development for an application used by well engineers and drilling supervisors on rigs. I have an interest in the engineering side already through my dad, who works in that field, and generally from growing up in the oil capital. This means I'm really enjoying working with this application, so am going to focus completely on it and do a distance learning MSc in Drilling & Well engineering.

From my experience with oil companies, if I knew it was like this I wouldn't have done comp science first, I'd have done the engineering first. Plenty of the engineers just pick up the IT side of it, but there are absolutely zero people from the IT team who have branched in to the (very highly paid) business side of it, without having a related degree.

So I say do an engineering degree :D
 
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