Does having a degree matter?

[thinky]

a constant source of humerous debate between my wife and i is the fact that she went to school at 16 and worked up until the birth of our first child, whereas due to a combination of gap years and work placements i didn't start work until i was 23.

despite the merits of both situations, the one thing she wants to do more than anything is to study. she doesn't feel as though she's missed out on any social aspects of uni education, just that she wishes to expand her mind (in a non drug-enduced manner) and enhance future employment prospects.

i suppose that fact that i got a degree and subsequently earn a decent wage, means that we can afford this plan of action. worked out well in the end then...

thinky

[thinky]

I had to use standard deviation the other day - hardcore!

art, funnily enough no-one has as yet asked me to model a chip-shop scenario where the rate of customers entering the shop can be measured using the poisson distribution with a standard devatio of 10mins... i'm sure it's only a matter of time ;)

geeky

[hag]

coming up to the end of my second year of uni and i'm already getting down about finishing.

yeah, i'll have spent a lovely time being a piss-head and learning/writing about art, but effectivly i feel like i'll be in the same position as i was when i was 16 and dropped out of college the first time round.

[Dr Feeley Good]

Stats support is the main part of my job in the Psychology Department at Oxford Brookes, though I rarely have to remember anything about the Poisson distribution.

Wake

[Dudley]

Yes, it matters for people who are currently in their teens.  Increasingly it's become a minimum requirement for anyone who wants to do anything with their life other than being either a) a total fucking waster or b) the sort of self-starting entrepeneur who'd thrive under any system anyway.

A society split between inbred council-estate mutants and braying middle class twats is just around the corner, especially once all the accounting and IT jobs are farmed out to India.

[Devons Daddy]

i went back to get my degree after working for a few years,
the maturity helped me immenseley.
I have masters in hotel and kitchen managment.
this helped me in terms of actaul knowledge i gained.
but did not really help me in terms of getting a job.

it did make me more successful in the posts i filled.though in some ways this may be purely the confidence i had by being able to understand the positions of others or their own lack of knowledge was on occasion on slightly higher then mine in other fields.

its more to do with the ability to tackle a bigger issue then actaully the core subject i found to be the most beneficial.

[judge dreddd]

It depends on the job you want to do and how that sector operates with regards to employment but considering the HUGE debts people now get from getting a degree its a big decision.

Getting a trade maybe a better bet really.

It worked out for me because when i was a student we had grants and stuff plus the sector i work in means you need a degree to get an interview.  I am a slacker who likes a 9-5.30 job and no real hassles, if you want bags of cash then get a trade and work long hours.

[Martin Jameson]

Well I'm not a self-starting entepeneur and I didn't go to University which means I'm a total fucking waster. Even though I am in a job I mostly enjoy and the money aint bad. Poor old me.
Mind you I was brought up on a council estate for a while so I guess I can take comfort in being an inbred mutant.

[radiator]

Increasingly it's become a minimum requirement for anyone who wants to do anything with their life other than being either a) a total fucking waster

I disagree strongly. I'm at Art college and the entire place is full of total fucking wasters with no talent and even less of a work ethic. Bit of a cliche, but higher education is wasted on the young.  In my 3rd year now, and i'm glad i took a few years out after college to grow up a bit before coming to uni.

[JTurner]

There are so many people pushed into higher ed now that the waster quotent is getting uncomfortably high. I'm working in an academic library and you know that some students are only there because they can't find work.

However, uni, particularly if you up and move far away from home, is the best thing to do if you want to meet people, learn some life skills, and learn to stand on your own two feet. My biggest regret though was to not apply seriously for work before graduation. Pub work and McJobs...

[radiator]

Plus, there are so many spoilt brats here, who've never had to work for or sacrifice anything. I take great pleasure in the fact that they'll all HAVE to get a proper job sooner or later. and they're all in for a hell of a shock when they do.

As for me, well i doubt my degree will ever get me a job, and i'm in astounding debt, despite working part time. But the experience has been totally worth it. I've met some great people, inc my girlfriend, and i got to go and live in france for a term, which was amazing. So yeah, the experience alone makes it all worthwhile. Just try to make the most of the freedom while you can i guess.

[hag]

*cough*art students*cough*

i really think that 90% of art students are in the wrong course, i've run into art student who didn't have the most basic grounding in theory or history and didn't feel they needed it neither. wankers!

but thats my private beef, university has been in some ways great. getting away from home, getting to study and live in canada and really kicking into studying what i love, but theres the downside of debt, incredible lonliness and threads like this making me realise that it's pretty much useless. i'm having a quarter life chrisis!

i'm not going to suceed in anything to do with my field of study, and i'm utterly terrified of working in an office.

so bassically i'm scared of what will predictably be my future.

[Floyd-the-k]

I had to use standard deviation the other day - hardcore!

Shouldn't that be 'statscore'?

I had so many good times getting my degree. Highlights included the philosophy tute we had in the pub, ummm, a lot of times in the pub, my band performing (briefly)....(trails off)
  And I'm always grateful to the degree for putting me on to Byron's Don Juan, Wittgenstein and James Joyce. You don't need a degree to enjoy them but I probably wouldnt' have found them otherwise

[spacemanspliff]

Simple answer: NO it don't mean squatt, your out-priced by indians,tough luck but that's the way it goes.

[Will I. Cooling]

"i really think that 90% of art students are in the wrong course, i've run into art student who didn't have the most basic grounding in theory or history and didn't feel they needed it neither. wankers! "

That's nothing, my first politics lecture the lecturer mentioned First Past The Post and jokingly said 'I hope you all know what that means' and behind me I could hear some cunts actually saying they didn't! What kind of person signs up to study politics and doesn't even know what First Past The Post is? That's insane.

As for are they worth it, well I'm getting ever more worried that mine my not be worth much. Hence lots of extra-curricular activity and looking into doing a masters.

Will