University degrees that will get your kids a job and those that probably won't

[Fred Bloggs]

Where you go obviously has an impact, but the most important factor is the individual.

Some people who go to middle-tier universities make sure they get good work experience during uni and expend effort during their final year in lining up a decent graduate job.

Some people who go to top universities don't bother with any of the above and end up unemployed for the first 18 months after graduating.

It's mostly a question of putting the effort in and getting yourself organised.

You're obviously correct but getting a 2:1 from Wawick (say) has to give you better prospects than a 1st from Chester (say)? I would think so anyway. You need an A* and 2x A's to go to Warwick for Computer Science. You need one C and a couple of D's to go to Chester.

[Freamon]

You're obviously correct but getting a 2:1 from Wawick (say) has to give you better prospects than a 1st from Chester (say)? I would think so anyway. You need an A* and 2x A's to go to Warwick for Computer Science. You need one C and a couple of D's to go to Chester.

As I said, where you go does have an impact, but there's plenty of people from Warwick who don't have decent graduate jobs, and plenty from Chester who do.

Not sure CDD would be enough nowadays either. Entry requirements have increased massively over the last couple of years, even for the poorer universities.

[minestrone]

I would probably tell kids not to bother with the degree now, they are becoming wastes of money. I did a 5 year degree so I would be hit with a 45 grand debt for tuition fees if I did mechanical in England, stick on maybe 20 grand of personal debt and you are on a run chase into your 30s trying to pay that off.

Medicine, you are on a winner there though. Self regulation crazy. They have let the union in charge of the 'fitness to practice' panel and your degrees are not rated.

[Sysman]

As I said, where you go does have an impact, but there's plenty of people from Warwick who don't have decent graduate jobs, and plenty from Chester who do.

Not sure CDD would be enough nowadays either. Entry requirements have increased massively over the last couple of years, even for the poorer universities.

One Uni that I applied for told us quite straight that if they offered you 2 D's to get in, that was because they wanted you. If you only managed 2 D's you were going to struggle on the course, and probably fail at the end of the first year.

Back in my student days. Bradford was regarded as a jumped up Poly by many, but the folks I knew who went there had no problems finding a job. They put this down to getting practical experience via sandwich courses. The postgrad courses there also had a practical slant, according to a couple of folks from my Uni I knew who did them.

[norrahe]

And law, it really is a vanity degree, it is quite rare for someone on that course to pratice law after graduation.

"I have a degree in law"

"Nice one, what are you doing now?"

"well I work for a retail bank and check the letters going out to defaulters"

All of the Lawyers I knew at uni have gone on to practise law, though most of the people I know now just do the degree for the sake of having a piece of paper. I think 10-15 years ago law was up there with medicine/dentistry as being a vocational degree these days it doesn't seem to be the case.

[Freamon]

One Uni that I applied for told us quite straight that if they offered you 2 D's to get in, that was because they wanted you. If you only managed 2 D's you were going to struggle on the course, and probably fail at the end of the first year.

Back in my student days. Bradford was regarded as a jumped up Poly by many, but the folks I knew who went there had no problems finding a job. They put this down to getting practical experience via sandwich courses. The postgrad courses there also had a practical slant, according to a couple of folks from my Uni I knew who did them.

Another aspect to this is that good universities have a lot of tulip courses and mediocre universities often have some pretty good courses. Sometimes you may be better off going to what appears a slightly worse university if the course you want to do is better there. This may be in terms of reputation of the course, or how well the course prepares you for a successful working career.

[Fred Bloggs]

As I said, where you go does have an impact, but there's plenty of people from Warwick who don't have decent graduate jobs, and plenty from Chester who do.

Not sure CDD would be enough nowadays either. Entry requirements have increased massively over the last couple of years, even for the poorer universities.

Thanks, that's the trouble with generalisations, naturally. I hope Bloggs Jr does as well as he can, then it's up to him. BTW, those are the real entry requirements for 2012 that I posted, of course, it's a current topic of conversation in the Bloggs household. We have a choice, we can either pay his 4 x £9k course fees or we can give him the money towards a flat/house deposit. What's really very unfair is that in years to come you could be sat next to a Scottish person (or any other EU nationality, except English, who studies in Scotland) doing the same job after studying the same degree and due to the free degrees in Scotland you'd be 9% worse off in salary every month by paying off English student loans.

[Freamon]

Thanks, that's the trouble with generalisations, naturally. I hope Bloggs Jr does as well as he can, then it's up to him. BTW, those are the real entry requirements for 2012 that I posted, of course, it's a current topic of conversation in the Bloggs household. We have a choice, we can either pay his 4 x £9k course fees or we can give him the money towards a flat/house deposit. What's really very unfair is that in years to come you could be sat next to a Scottish person (or any other EU nationality, except English, who studies in Scotland) doing the same job after studying the same degree and due to the free degrees in Scotland you'd be 9% worse off in salary every month by paying off English student loans.

I feel for you. The current cohort going through university now have truly been f**ked up the a**e by their parents generation. Never has university been so expensive, nor employment prospects afterwards been so poor.

[minestrone]

Thanks, that's the trouble with generalisations, naturally. I hope Bloggs Jr does as well as he can, then it's up to him. BTW, those are the real entry requirements for 2012 that I posted, of course, it's a current topic of conversation in the Bloggs household. We have a choice, we can either pay his 4 x £9k course fees or we can give him the money towards a flat/house deposit. What's really very unfair is that in years to come you could be sat next to a Scottish person (or any other EU nationality, except English, who studies in Scotland) doing the same job after studying the same degree and due to the free degrees in Scotland you'd be 9% worse off in salary every month by paying off English student loans.

Scotland has a deal with other nations in that we will give free degrees to other nations if they give free degrees to our students.

[eek]

Never has university been so expensive, nor employment prospects afterwards been so poor.

And for both reasons the problem is the same. Too many people now go to university. Since the mid 1990's universities have been expanded not to
1) provide people with opportunities,
2) nor to provide a more highly educated workforce
but to hide the real level of youth unemployment.

The simple fact is that there are not enough jobs to give the number of people in higher education gainful employment.