I know countless people with BAs who are now in banking, accountancy, insurance, consultancy etc, so I don't agree.
Why aren't arts degrees "real degrees"?
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I know countless people with BAs who are now in banking, accountancy, insurance, consultancy etc, so I don't agree.
Mechanical engineering actually sounds like a really interesting and solid degree. What would I need at A level to get into that? I could always search but from a personal perspective, Kahn or anybody else what A levels did you do to enable you to do Mechanical Engineering at uni?
Soldato
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I graduated with a BA in English from UCL last year but I think those with art degrees have been the most ****ed by the graduate job situation so I moved to King's to do an MA for the time being and get some more work experience. I have enjoyed doing both my degrees and think they will be useful in the future, certainly for the work I'm interested in anyway.
Part of me still wishes I'd done something more vocational like law, though.
Part of me still wishes I'd done something more vocational like law, though.
I think we need to bear in mind that although a degree specializes in a subject, at the end of the day it shows your commitment to learning and taking aboard new information etc.
Hence why people say if you get a degree in maths from a high ranking uni you can pretty much do anything, the intensity of doing maths at degree level will be high pretty much whatever university you are at and shows you are coping under the pressure, taking aboard new skills etc etc.. all things employers are looking for.
Hence why people say if you get a degree in maths from a high ranking uni you can pretty much do anything, the intensity of doing maths at degree level will be high pretty much whatever university you are at and shows you are coping under the pressure, taking aboard new skills etc etc.. all things employers are looking for.
What you said in no way disproves the original postulation.
Having a BA doesn't mean it's intrinsically useful, just means you have a BA in something.
What you said in no way disproves the original postulation.
Having a BA doesn't mean it's intrinsically useful, just means you have a BA in something.
Well the "original postulation" (as you put it) was:
Now I'm saying I know people with BAs who have good jobs thanks to their degree. Furthermore, they're in subjects like history, english literature and geography which are not on Hellsmk2's list of "worthwhile" BAs.
For those that have this belief, please explain it.
I define a 'real degree' as one which will translate into employment, whether that be science, medicine, business etc.
That is not to say I wouldnt enjoy doing the likes of an art degree and perhaps somewhere down the line I'll do one just for the craic!
Yes?
What do they do? Using their subject matter learned on their degree course is not the same as having a job because you have a degree.
Vast majority of my friends from Uni did engineering (Strathclyde, woo!) and they stress the importance of maths and physics at school. Every single one of them also said 6th year was a waste of time.
Scandinavian Studies BA, UCL
Now working as an English teacher in an international school. I think I've done all right
As for saying all BAs are rubbish is total nonsense. You can do very well with a BA in a whole range of subject, not least Economics, Politics and Languages.
My sister's got a BA in Design from Goldsmith's and is doing very well for herself.
One of my cousins has French and Italian BA from UCL and is a deputy editor of the New Statesman.
So yeah, BAs aren't worth the paper they're written on
However, I will say that the university makes a big difference.
Now working as an English teacher in an international school. I think I've done all right
As for saying all BAs are rubbish is total nonsense. You can do very well with a BA in a whole range of subject, not least Economics, Politics and Languages.
My sister's got a BA in Design from Goldsmith's and is doing very well for herself.
One of my cousins has French and Italian BA from UCL and is a deputy editor of the New Statesman.
So yeah, BAs aren't worth the paper they're written on
However, I will say that the university makes a big difference.
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Soldato
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I have a BA in Motion Graphics.
I got a degree because everyone else in the country has a bloody degree so I have to meet that common denominator.
The course was pretty worthless, but the piece of paper is priceless.
End.
I got a degree because everyone else in the country has a bloody degree so I have to meet that common denominator.
The course was pretty worthless, but the piece of paper is priceless.
End.
Guy who lived in my flat last year who studies 'special effects'. They paint and build stuff out of foam. I didn't think much of it.
Then I watched the latest Captain America trailer, and this one part has CA getting into a full body restraint thing machine. The one my flatmate built. Featured in a multi-million dollar film.
Respect the art yo.
Then I watched the latest Captain America trailer, and this one part has CA getting into a full body restraint thing machine. The one my flatmate built. Featured in a multi-million dollar film.
Respect the art yo.
I'm doing studying maths and physics, and right now I've got a 25 hours of lecture time + tutorials, seminars etc.. and I have friends at the same university doing sociology history and the like, averaging 8 hours a week total.
Its stuff like this that makes people (including myself) think that BAs just aren't as good as a BSc
And from what I can make out, we have to spend a similar amount of time doing assignments and extra reading.
A BA isn't worthless, you can still do very well from one (If you go to a good university and genuinely put in the work). But they're just not worth as much as a BSc.
Its stuff like this that makes people (including myself) think that BAs just aren't as good as a BSc
And from what I can make out, we have to spend a similar amount of time doing assignments and extra reading.
A BA isn't worthless, you can still do very well from one (If you go to a good university and genuinely put in the work). But they're just not worth as much as a BSc.
Yes?
What do they do? Using their subject matter learned on their degree course is not the same as having a job because you have a degree.
I'm not sure what you're confused about. All I'm saying is that a good BA can get you a good graduate job. These are jobs that require a degree. It doesn't have to be directly related to the degree...
Where does music fit into this? Is a music degree considered mickey mouse as well? I'd be interested to find out people's views...
When I did my music degree, the best thing wasn't necessarily the lectures, or the fact that I got a paper qualification in music (although I've been working for 6 years now as a music teacher, which would have been impossible without it), it was the social scene - the friends, gigs and acquaintances I made whilst there have got me almost all the pro-gigging work I've done since then, one way or another.
It's all in the networking!
When I did my music degree, the best thing wasn't necessarily the lectures, or the fact that I got a paper qualification in music (although I've been working for 6 years now as a music teacher, which would have been impossible without it), it was the social scene - the friends, gigs and acquaintances I made whilst there have got me almost all the pro-gigging work I've done since then, one way or another.
It's all in the networking!
Soldato
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Its not the degree but the aptitude and drive of the person which is more defining in ones career. Yes lots of pap BA degrees but these don't inhibit potential success. Bscs are more useful / prerequisite if you want to persue a technical science / engineering path.
My issue is doing a degree which on paper won't help one bit with a career when coupled with someone who has no ambition. Lots of BAs fall into this category and attract the lazy who have no real idea why they are even doing a degree.
My issue is doing a degree which on paper won't help one bit with a career when coupled with someone who has no ambition. Lots of BAs fall into this category and attract the lazy who have no real idea why they are even doing a degree.
I openly accept that it is good to have any form of degree - employers tend to look for this now. However a degree in art will be no where near as useful as a degree in mathematics, physics, english, the base subjects. It's just a fact of life, but it has reasons. Art covers a relatively small amount of jobs, whereas other base subjects would provide a more academic image to your portfolio/CV etc.
I imagine it's mainly because it's Art.
Art doesn't MEAN anything unless you are going into a career you spent most of the time during your degree exploring, illustration/art history or whatever, you can't apply it to anything else.
Also there is a lot about art you can't quantify, you expect to come out of a maths degree fairly good at maths, same with things like engineering or sciences, however you can't guarantee someone will come out of an art degree an artist, they might no a lot about art but that's like knowing a lot about chairs, it's very specialised.
Art doesn't MEAN anything unless you are going into a career you spent most of the time during your degree exploring, illustration/art history or whatever, you can't apply it to anything else.
Also there is a lot about art you can't quantify, you expect to come out of a maths degree fairly good at maths, same with things like engineering or sciences, however you can't guarantee someone will come out of an art degree an artist, they might no a lot about art but that's like knowing a lot about chairs, it's very specialised.