What is a degree actually worth having?
Posted by Intelligent-Leg-3862@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 227 comments
I hear a lot about degrees that are pointless but not too much about degrees that are actually worthwhile and can get you set up for a good career.
pajamakitten@reddit
If it is accredited, biomedical sciences. Not all universities have one accredited by the IBMS but if your course is then getting a job in the NHS is a piece of piss. Otherwise, it requires top-up modules and for you to go your registration portfolio while working as a lab assistant. I did the latter (did not even know the career existed when I chose my degree, let alone what an accredited degree was) and it was expensive and a nightmare as far as work/life balance goes.
One-Secretary844@reddit
I am interested in biomed but I heard every fresh biomed graduate is struggling... so idk if I should it or not. Anyways, what r u doing currently if u dont mind
Extreme-Platform-991@reddit
The whole "go to university because you like learning not for job path is a bit stupid"
I done a history degree at a top uni
Did I do it because I like history? Yeah
Did I also do it because it got me a high paying job? Yeah
There's so many narrow minded fellow history graduates who for whatever reason think our degree leads to nothing but museum or teaching work. Sure my work in consulting does not require a history degree and I could've gone into it with math but I certainly could have not gone into it without a degree - which is exactly what my history degree provided.
BLightyear67@reddit
As an employer I ignore educational achievements of anyone I'm hiring. Their recent work experience and achievements are infinitely more relevant. But maybe thats just me.
frusoh@reddit
PLEASE do not listen to many of these comments! Many will be from older people who went to university for nearly free. There is a serious balance to be found between something you enjoy but something which will also lead you down a decent career.
I loved history and mathematics, I chose to study mathematics because I knew I could follow history in my spare time.
Mathematics has opened so many doors for me, within a few years after graduating I was earning over £100k.
Don't JUST follow your "heart" or whatever.
Stick to serious, difficult, demanding degrees, including STEM or humanities from TOP universities.
Feisty-Let-8396@reddit
What uni did u go if u don’t mind me asking?
vipros42@reddit
I've interviewed and hired a lot of graduates in engineering and the need for it to be a TOP university is overstated.
Content-Bookkeeper85@reddit
Which jobs did you get after uni if you don’t mind sharing? I’ve just started maths
frusoh@reddit
I've been working in data science and quant since I graduated. Work hard in your statistics modules! Data science is very in demand at the moment.
Content-Bookkeeper85@reddit
That sounds really cool, thank you!
purple_spade@reddit
Engineering. I got a 2:2 from an average uni 6 years ago. Struggled initially to get a job but now fairly well paid in an engineering field because of the degree.
North-Lack-4957@reddit
What was your pay progression?
purple_spade@reddit
Got a job 4 months after graduating.
2020: 22k 2021: 25k 2022: 33k 2023: 40k 2024: 42k 2025 : 48k
I say fairly well; 48k isnt amazing but good compared to average for my age and industry i think. Next year I should be on 55k+
vipros42@reddit
That's solid pay progression . What sort of engineering? It makes a big difference.
purple_spade@reddit
Well i graduated in mechanical engineering.
My first job was a field engineer in water industry which didnt really have anything to do with engineering.
2022 I got promoted to project engineer, 2023 I swapped jobs to project engineer at a renewable energy company.
2025 I swapped industries back to water and became a Mechanical engineer, which i currently still am. I have been told I am track to be promoted to senior in a years time so will hopefully be nearing 60k soon.
Charming-Pen1774@reddit
how long did it take u to get a job?
purple_spade@reddit
4 months
Waste_Card3690@reddit
Just don't study economics if your passion is science. Degrees are worth it for learning for leanings sake, just don't treat it as a golden ticket. Lower your aspirations but not your IQ.
Waste_Card3690@reddit
'Leanings'? I should really do an English Degree.
anonoaw@reddit
The biggest mistake higher education made is marketing degrees as tickets to get jobs rather than something you should do because you love learning.
Unless it’s a vocational degree, it’s technically ‘pointless’ (and even a lot of more vocational stuff can easily be replaced by work experience and apprenticeships).
Like, I have an history degree. For all intents and purposes it’s useless as I have not gone on to become an historian
But that’s not to say going to university was pointless. Aside from the social side (I met my husband) and the life skills side (university is generally a slightly less risky way to gain the independence of moving out), it gave me a lot of transferable skills that I do use in work (analysing information, writing clearly, working to deadline, working independently, researching to find out information).
Could I have I learned those skills elsewhere? Absolutely. And if that was the only reason to do my degree then sure it’s an absolute waste of time and money. But I did my degree because I loved my subject and wanted to continue studying it.
Atompunk78@reddit
Hold on a minute, there’s a middle ground here. I’m not doing my chemistry degree just because I love it, I’m doing it because I want to be a chemist. It may be true that degrees don’t guarantee jobs, but let’s not pretend that that’s not (or shouldn’t be) the main goal nonetheless
BadBanana999@reddit
‘You shouldn’t do a degree in something you’re passionate about because of the cost to the government’.
If there is a bleaker sentence than that written anywhere I’d like to see it.
Atompunk78@reddit
That’s not what I said and you know that
BadBanana999@reddit
So what was the point in considering the cost to the government?
Atompunk78@reddit
Because it’s a factor?? What sort of a question is that?
BadBanana999@reddit
So you did literally argue that you shouldn’t do a degree because of the cost to the government?
Atompunk78@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/unuDVeY8u0
Was this enough?
Intelligent-Bass9914@reddit
You’re missing the point here a bit. Anon is not saying that degrees do not lead to jobs. They’re saying that degrees should be about an interest in the subject primarily. Of course the ven diagram of people interested in a degree and wanting to work in the field is practically a single circle. But nothing stops your course mates to go into a career in sales or communications. Even if they did not do any Economic or Communications related course.
appletinicyclone@reddit
This is true but also in the past university was for aristocratic and landed gentry wanting to round out their knowledge in academic disciplines and preparing to become future leaders.
If you look at world war 2 there was a frankly obscene amount of incredibly talented philosophers writers thinkers and poets from the royal and wealthy classes that went over to fight in world war 2 and die for Britain out of a sense of noblesse oblige. This kind of England expects type elite is not so common nowadays at all. They could have escaped or evaded it and didn't.
Now university particularly since the 3k tuition fee and then the 9k and I think it's 12k fees it's basically about getting a job that hopefully takes you out of the social class you started in pre university.
This just isn't the case as much now.
There's a huge group of highly educated graduate under employed people who were promised something great and got something middling.
Nowadays there is still rich students that go but it's foreign students of very rich people overseas which then subsidises the UK students
University is a necessity for financially stepping up but it's not doing that for a increasing number of people.
And then the anti university, bali skool course precariot types which think if they can pyramid scheme their courses on each other big enough they can secure income for the rest of their life
And I don't blame them for trying
But that's where we are at
Milky_Finger@reddit
Back in the day people used to ask each other what they were reading. You are an alumni of that university but always as a scholar pursuing further knowledge. We tend to not use those words as much now because people desperately want a job in a job market where unemployment is rising sharply.
Hame_Impala@reddit
Unemployment has historically been a lot worse at some points than it is now. There are plenty of sectors even struggling to hire.
One big difference is a lot more people study now than was once typical. While university wasn't a ticket to automatic employment, having a degree in itself still carried some social value. Not necessarily the case when degrees are commonplace.
Atompunk78@reddit
I get that, but I’m disagreeing with it
RealRefrigerator3129@reddit
I'd agree with you for a History degree- but not for many other subjects. My Engineering degree wasn't technically "vocational", but it would be extremely difficult for me to get into my industry without it, and people who do usually 1) are ~10 years behind in terms of career progression due to having to work up through technician roles, and 2) usually end up doing a part-time degree while working to progress.
ComfortableVirus7084@reddit
Oh man, you just described me, registered engineer via vocational training and equivalency registration.
Now doing a part time degree, everything is so badly screened at the application stage that I'm unlikely to have my CV filtered out because I don't meet the qualifications, even though I have decades of experience and am registered. Plus I feel there's a ceiling for progression now hitting me until I get that degree.
lapodufnal@reddit
I also see a lot of people even doing apprenticeships that offer ‘level X equivalent to degree’ get stuck in terms of progression sticking with manufacturing or maybe manufacturing team lead if they’re lucky. The more senior managers often have a degree. It’s stupid but that’s what I’ve seen happen in a number of companies
anonoaw@reddit
I class technical stuff like engineering, computer science etc vocational degrees. I know they’re not technically, but basically anything where the available directly related jobs aren’t just ‘academic’ or ‘teacher’.
toughtittywampas@reddit
I used to work on a commodities trading floor, I had a MSc in engineering (unrelated field) from imperial. I was not a trader but an analyst. The highest paid person at firm at the time wasn't the CEO but the crude oil trader. He never went to university but did an apprenticeship. We were totally lied to about university, it is not the best route to a good job but is a huge debt that will cost you for the rest of your life.
OptimusLinvoyPrimus@reddit
Fellow history graduate and I could not have written this better myself. I’ve never worked in a job or field even slightly adjacent to history, but the skills I learned (especially being able to read large amounts of text quickly, boil down the key points, and put them into a coherent narrative/argument - not to mention social skills) have been absolutely invaluable to my career.
To expand slightly on your comment, I also think that with degrees like ours there’s very much a case of getting out what you put in. I tried my best in all three years, as well as getting involved with sport clubs and other social activities. I also know people that spent three years getting pissed and/or high while doing the bare minimum to coast by in their studies, then complained that the degree was a waste of their time/money. Which it obviously was, but not because of anything other than how they had chosen to approach it.
Bee5475@reddit
I agree
pablothewizard@reddit
I think the problem with this approach is that when you weigh up whether to spend nearly thirty grand on education, "because I love learning" is a lot less convincing than "because it will get me a well paid job".
I say that as someone with a degree in film that's now a data engineer. I went to university because I love film and wanted to learn about it, but I don't think it was a great idea on reflection.
bibipbapbap@reddit
I did a business degree and it thankfully helped open doors career wise, but I’d also say I learnt so much more about myself and what was out there in life.
I moved from a rural village where I knew everyone and everyone had a herd mentality to meeting people who’d had all sorts of different upbringings, it really helped me see what else was out there and what potential there was in life.
dendrocalamidicus@reddit
I did a degree in computer science and got a first in every single unit easy mode because I had already been programming since I was 14 in C++
I have always loved programming and learning about computing but my course was mostly boring because my time would have been better spent on self directed learning as I had already been doing for several years. The parts which were boring, challenging, and stressful were ultimately mostly useless in my job now as a software developer - things like network infrastructure and discrete maths.
It was a several thousand pound ticket to a decent job market that would have otherwise been hard to break into, so it was worth it, but if you have a true love for learning you have to be mad to spend thousands to go to uni especially with today's prices when you have the entire combined recorded knowledge of humanity in your pocket.
The only situation where uni is useful from a perspective of learning is if you don't have enough passion in the subject to drive yourself, or if you are doing something practical that requires access to resources you don't have at home like a lab. Otherwise it is entirely a ticket to the job market imo.
RealRefrigerator3129@reddit
CS is an interesting one, because exactly as you say, there are people who get into programming as a hobby and so have that baseline experience before uni.
But I would say most 'in demand' degrees are very unlikely to have anyone in the same boat. Like Civil Engineering- not many teenagers do structural calcs for fun. Or dentistry- nobody is pulling teeth in their room as a 14 year old. For those careers, there's a more obvious benefit to having the degree route be the 'traditional' route to the career.
Gold-Grin-Studios@reddit
I disagree with your view about having human knowledge in your pocket being an equivalent to uni learning.
As a teacher and having a history degree, the skills and abilities to analyze events and interpretations are entirely personal and not replaceable with just access to the Internet. Degrees are not just about gaining knowledge, but more about teaching people deeper skills to learn and interpret the areas they are interested in
Possiblyreef@reddit
I'm with OP here, my degree is digital forensics which is just the technical term for hacking. It's gotten me a very good job but theres huge aspects of computing which are not remotely applicable to other areas, a software engineer needs to be aware of some of these but not to the depth they often teach them, or they teach you such a broad range you're not actually good at anything but puddle deep at lots of stuff.
Teaching someone that is going down a software route the minutiae of networking is like saying you're interested specifically in WW2 then focusing explicitly on Colombia 1943-1944
flowering_sun_star@reddit
You may not need (or be particularly interested in) deep knowledge of any one particular thing. But without the ability to dive deep into the technicals of something, you're not going to be a lot of use. What higher education does is push you to gain that ability to dive deep, which you can then apply to other things.
dendrocalamidicus@reddit
I was already making 3D games by the time I went to uni, and this is before engines like unity existed so I was using low level graphics APIs like direct 3D
I had all of the practical capacity needed by reading a few books and working through problems trying to achieve my self-set goals
There was an entire generation a decade before me who grew up teaching themselves BASIC and using machines like the commodore 64 and BBC micro with no formal education
If you have the competence and will to learn and acquire skills, you can do so whether you have help and teaching or not
PCMRJack@reddit
This may just be a difference between humanities and sciences because as someone who also did a computer science degree I couldn't agree more with the poster above you; there's not much interpretation going on when there's a defined right and wrong answer. It's pretty much all available online.
Asayyadina@reddit
Access to information does not equal learning or understanding.
Silly_Tomatillo6950@reddit
Same as you, did history for the love of it but pointless in the grand scheme. I kind of wanted the coming of age experience but was too poor to move out, lots of home dysfunction and ended with a mental health breakdown(driven by poverty and the need to do backbreaking work that disabled me for some years)
I see a lot of people go for the job aspect but do something useless(useless if you're not middle class enough to succeed in it) and then feel lonely and depressed because they're disadvantaged, poor and don't understand why they don't have the middle class experience. Of course many do realise and end up happier
Skyremmer102@reddit
Are the only pointful things those which you can put a price tag on?
Silly_Tomatillo6950@reddit
No it depends on a person's personal priority.
Personally I would give a huge funding boost to education including non STEM subjects but the mentality of the system and politicians is that anything but is a Mickey Mouse course
I don't think everybody should go to university and nor should we look down on any job. If a person wants to pack flapjacks in a factory, that doesn't mean a wasted life, nor is it dishonest
broken_freezer@reddit
Civil engineering. Endless job opportunities, not a job for everyone though
inevitablelizard@reddit
What do you mean when you say not for everyone? What are the downsides?
broken_freezer@reddit
Working 10 hour shift with an hour each way commute is an industry standard (early finish on friday though) and sometimes there's working away involved. I know some people who have worked away for 6-7 years straight and some who never had to.
For the first several years you'll be a site engineer, that involves being out there in every sort of weather and very often standing and not moving much and labourers with shovels will be asking you why are you shivering, it's not even that cold! The jobs is obviously much easier in the summer
And the last but not least - if you don't see the world on numbers and shapes chances are you will struggle. I have an engineer here who despite having a degree and years in the industry is unfortunately terrible at what he does, there is a certain level to which you can train somebody but ultimately this job is about a bit of common sense and ability to work stuff out and that unfortunately cannot be taught
vipros42@reddit
This isn't always the case. I've worked in consultancy for my entire 20 year career, with occasional short stints of site work. Same goes for most of my colleagues because we work in a particular area of specialism. There are plenty of niches in civil engineering that aren't directly construction related.
EasilyExiledDinosaur@reddit
A free / financially sponsored one.
The student loans tax is rediculous these days.
WurzelWine@reddit
STEM
That's it, anything else you can learn on the job. I highly advocate apprenticeships in my current field (Technology)
AnAspidistra@reddit
I studied a philosophy undergrad. Aside from the fact that it is actually helpful for employment in many ways (contrary to popular belief), I studied it because I love learning and wanted to spend years studying a subject I had a passion and interest for. Universities have never been purely about boosting employment prospects and I hate that this is how people talk about them now.
ReindeerAltruistic74@reddit
how does philosophy help with landing a job?
AnAspidistra@reddit
In terms of landing a job there are loads of skills which apply to my current role I very often have to be in meetings where I'm having difficult conversations with partner organisations and have to analyse what they say and then put across an opposing point of view, often having to make very minute distinctions. Its a subject that makes you think analytically so you can fully appreciate one point of view and then fully appreciate the exact opposite one.
Philosophy grads often go on to study law, work in charities (like me), the civil service, project management etc. I can actually remember when I was at uni there were police recruiters trying to recruit detective apprentices specifically from our course because of the analytical thinking it requires.
Aside from that, it is a beautiful, interesting and highly engaging subject; everyone will make philosophical judgements in their life.
Me and a mate who studied Biomedical Science at Uni used to have a running joke that I got to study something fun while he got to study something employable. At the end of uni there were loads of jobs I could apply my experience to. At the end of uni he realised he didn't want to be a scientist so his degree is actually pretty limited.
Scary-Spinach1955@reddit
Jack on the tills at Tesco says his degree in psychology was worth it
mystikkkkk@reddit
Psychology is a really strong undergraduate degree. Taking it further into postgraduate is extremely useful.
oddtimers@reddit
Ffs 😂
mystikkkkk@reddit
Any engineering if you want an undergraduate degree which well get you a good starting job, and you don't want to study further.
If you want to stay in education and research fields afterwards, Psychology is a good beginners degree. Allows for branching into various subsections of research, which in turn allow for great job prospects that make a lot of money.
LivingInTea@reddit
I think it depends so much on your career goals, your personal interests and just the path you follow.
Personally, I wasn’t able to pursue a degree until 26. I come from a background of extreme poverty, and I needed to build a stable career to feel safe. I hated my career, but I didn’t have the confidence to try to pursue what I truly wanted to do.
So I enrolled on a Creative Writing BA. It would be a pointless degree to some, but it changed my life for the better. It gave me confidence in my work, it made me fall in love with a type of writing I would never have considered out of an insecurity writing dialogue, and it led me to develop some of the most fruitful long-term connections and friendships.
More than that, it made me pursue what I actually want to do. And I’m thankful every day that I made the choice to undertake a degree some would see as pointless.
What’s pointless to one person could be life changing to the next, so I think blanket terms on which degrees are pointless and which can set you up for a good career don’t really work. I have plenty of friends with technology-adjacent degrees who were always guaranteed good prospects, but most are now struggling as that landscape changes.
If you know there’s a specific career that you want, then it’s worth looking at whether job listings tend to include a specific degree requirement, as that could impact getting your foot in the door.
LivingInTea@reddit
It depends so much on your personal situation and the career that you want to have.
My degree is in Creative Writing, which may sound like a degree that isn’t worth having to many, but matches my goals. It taught me to trust in my writing, and made me fall in love with a form of writing I never thought I would be interested in. It helped me to build connections that support my practice. I’ve made some of my closest friends through both that degree and the risks I took immediately after, risks that are paying off.
I think that what’s pointless to one person won’t be pointless to the next, and that we’re all in very, very different paths. Our interests become very important to whether a degree is worth having or not.
If you know you want a career that requires a specific degree pathway to get a foot in the door, then that should guide you on what kind of degree you need, but it’s ultimately all about those wider goals.
HughWattmate9001@reddit
Statistically around my area nope. over 50% of people with one are not putting it to use. Depends what you are doing though, if its a job that's not being replaced, required vast experience you don't have to get into etc. Not really a simple answer to it that applies for everyone.
HeartyBeast@reddit
“Worthwhile” Learning for its own sake is also a thing. I know a 19 year who just got a first in classics. His ability to randomly add deep context to a discussion about current affairs is awesome. And I don’t mean in a ‘I’m so clever’ kind of way.
ClientDoorJust3759@reddit
Unless you are studying science, engineering, medicine/dentistry I would say no. The big push to keep people in education keeps unemployment figures down. University is now a ridiculously overpriced scam.
AuRon_The_Grey@reddit
Going to a prestigious uni and having that on your CV means way more than what degree it is. If you want to be a doctor or an engineer then those can be exceptions; computer science used to be but graduates from that are really struggling now.
Regardless of where you go, try to make friends, especially with people who seem dedicated and like they have a good chance with their own careers. Networking will do a lot for you.
StarShipYear@reddit
You might have a point, but in my anecdotal experience I've found it to be the exact opposite.
GreatChaosFudge@reddit
Agreed. PhD from prestigious university here. Completely useless if you don’t want to stay in academia. I no longer put it on my CV, as it actively turns people off. No one will hire you if they’re worried you’ll make them feel stupid.
flowering_sun_star@reddit
When I finished my DPhil, I applied for two jobs. The first said that part of why they rejected me was because they thought I was overqualified. And thank goodness - I would have made a terrible auditor!
The second gave me a chance at an interview in part because of the Oxford Dphil (they normally hire graduates who have previously done an internship). I'm still working for the same company a decade later, after several promotions.
GreatChaosFudge@reddit
You did well. I think having one didn’t hurt for my very first job, because it partly involved compiling and processing a speech-based contemporary English database (a sort of manual AI, I suppose) and my boss was easily impressed. Other than that - nope.
JennyW93@reddit
Eh, I have a PhD from a prestigious university. I didn’t want to be an academic, but the roles in charities and pharmaceutical companies that I’ve had have quite specifically required a PhD.
AuRon_The_Grey@reddit
Having a PhD is the part that makes you look overqualified.
AuRon_The_Grey@reddit
Depends on where you are I suppose. Some places might prefer to not hire posh people, but the best paying jobs usually will want to.
MrDankky@reddit
Yeah I got stuck with a bunch of plebs from Cambridge an Oxford with history degrees running my marketing team in my old job.
I have a software engineering degree from Uel. I’m way more capable than these so called top university grads. Hence why I earn 2-3x what they do. But they still acted entitled.
Go be a course filler in a shit degree with no applicants at a top university if you aren’t that bright but want something for the CV
SometimesaGirl-@reddit
I have an IT degree and have been working in the field for 30 years (DBA).
I wouldn't advise anyone to move into the field now for "job opportunities,". India and now AI are sucking it all up. We will be about as well paid as a supermarket floor supervisor in the years to come.
The only exception is networking... maybe. Abd that's only since a physical presence is often required.
AuRon_The_Grey@reddit
Yeah I've done a mix of sysadmin, testing and devops for a decade and I've been really struggling to get back into the field since being made redundant a couple of months ago. Used to be very easy to get a job but now I don't even get interviews. From what I've seen on the other computer science subreddits, it's even worse for new grads right now.
Ok_Art_6241@reddit
I did an engineering degree, whilst completing an apprenticeship (I.e. working full time) and doing other vocational qualifications. Part of something called the Applied Engineering Program at WMG Warwick Uni. Some tough 4 years (6 in total for the whole apprenticeship) but worth it 100%. I regularly use things I’ve learnt in my job and also found the whole thing very interesting!
oddtimers@reddit
I mean people do what they want but i dunno about ‘do what you enjoy’ if it gets you no where. It costs £9.5k a year in tuition bruh
Dark_Akarin@reddit
Any STEM subject. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Medical and law and also good.
Dragon_Sluts@reddit
Do you one enjoy doing.
Which subject are you passionate about enough that you’d be top of the class (so to speak) simply because you try and you try because you enjoy it, so it doesn’t feel like hard work.
That’s what you should study.
tmr89@reddit
One you enjoyed doing
LondonParamedic@reddit
This, for sure. I was always horrible at school (in a foreign country). I did my undergraduate and postgraduate in the UK in a subject I found really interesting and was very hands-on and tailored to my preferred way of learning. Not only did I do well, I really enjoyed my time as a student.
The problem is that the degree you have to chose doesn’t always align with the job you want to do, and that when you have to chose a degree, you might not know what you want to become.
DrMantisToboggan96@reddit
I did a degree I was interested in, a MSc I was interested in and a PhD I was interested in, and now I work in an area where I earn the same as someone fresh out of university. So I spent years learning and loving student life, but come retirement I'm going to be worse off financially than people who just went straight into my career field...
Suspicious_Trade2185@reddit
Second this, it’s my biggest regret, I went for the idea of getting a job and wish I’d have done something I’d actually enjoy, definitely put a dampener on my time at uni
Honey-Badger@reddit
I mean any degree that is needed to a specific career if you need a degree for that career. Degrees like engineering, medicine, law etc will always be worth it if you want to go into those fields.
JohnCasey3306@reddit
Anything vocational for a start that's a prerequisite to enter an industry.
StevieJax77@reddit
Depends what you mean by “good” career. I’m in financial services, and I would be looking for some degree of logic and numeracy, problem solving. So a STEM subject, but not any particular one - mine’s in chemistry. But anything along those lines would be in, and English, Art, History…. not much use to me. Regardless of whether that’s from Durham or Dagenham.
But that’s not everyone’s idea of a good career. Follow what you love. Or at a minimum, follow what you can tolerate at a price.
Ambitious_Zombie667@reddit
Do something that you are actually interested in and worry about finding a job later.
If you don't finish the course it's definitely going to be pointless.
Sometimes it just shows commitment to finishing something to a high standard.
Unless you are going to look for a very specific job, science based or something.
TheZamboon@reddit
dO sOmEThiNg uR iNTeReSTeD iN - alright mate tell that to all my uni mates who did video games degrees and now work non related entry level jobs that they hate.
Hame_Impala@reddit
And use your time in university to network where you can, build connections, get experience etc.
Quirky_Raspberry_901@reddit
This is the best advice
Temporary_Economy541@reddit
Medicine, Law, Maths (to go into finance).
qt4u2nv@reddit
If you're not studying a stem subject, don't bother.
MeltingChocolateAhh@reddit
What do you want to do after?
If you want to be a nurse, a nursing degree.
If you want to be an engineer, an engineering degree.
If you want to be a lawyer, a law degree.
These jobs are roles which won't take you seriously unless you have the degree credentials to back yourself up. They're not the only ones, but these are examples. In theory, no degree is worth it unless a job specifically says you need it. That's not to say going to uni isn't worth it. I went for one year as I did a HND (cheaper tuition fees) and I wish I went the full three years and took on the extra debt. 7 years on, I haven't used my degree and do not plan to. Someone else in these comments said they studied history and are not a historian which is slightly misleading because a history degree doesn't automatically mean you become a historian, it could be used for other jobs but their point is the same as mine how they don't work in their field but they studied it just because they wanted to. And that's fair.
Side note :- plenty of employers now will just say "a 2:1 in any subject" and they're happy. That's usually because it demonstrates you have the commitment and the brain to study for a degree, so you have the capacity to take on their training scheme whatever that may be. A graduate is always going to be a certain type of job candidate. This is worth looking into. I imagine they do usually require some sort of experience to set you apart from the others but if you go into the interview positive and willing to learn, and you seem like someone they'd like to work with, what more can you really do?
lustfulblossom_@reddit
I have a degree in computer networks and absolutely loved all the learning that went into getting it.
mathaic@reddit
I did AI and I don't think it was worth it. I can't even explain why, I tried to ask AI, but the answer is complicated.
dwair@reddit
Are degrees pointless or are they just 'higher level vocational certificates' that just cost £30k to complete?
mikolv2@reddit
When you think about the career you want to have and see that what you want to do either requires or strongly prefers someone having a given degree, then that degree is worth doing. If you want to be a lawyer, you're gonna have a very hard time without a law degree. Sadly most people decide on a degree without thinking about the big picture.
Careless-Fudge5987@reddit
A law degree from Oxbridge. The "there are too many law graduates" narrative doesn't really apply to graduates from these schools. It is the fastest way to make £200k per annum, which you can realistically make just 3 years after you fully qualify.
Scared-Farmer-9710@reddit
Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics at a top school.
This covers any and every career possible that requires a degree.
5c0ttgreen@reddit
If you don’t like pointless degrees you’re really going to hate hearing about some of the jobs that are out there!
Careful_Adeptness799@reddit
I imagine a medical degree is worth having say if you want to be a doctor.
shingaladaz@reddit
Biggest scam of a generation.
faucilien@reddit
I think specialised degrees that are focused to a specific job and industry are the safest bet. I studied computer science and I ended up jack of all trades and master of none as it covered loads of topics.
It took me a couple of years to find a relevant entry role and I’m now a data engineer but it took me a while to build up the proper concepts to be able to do the job well. If I could go back in time I’d have either done a data focused degree or forensic computing as that always interested me. So I think science degrees with focused subject matters are the best bet but you obviously have to be interested in it and want that as a career. Degrees usually get you in the door quicker in most places too though.
The_Deadly_Tikka@reddit
Any degree that is REQUIRED to do the job you desire.
xycm2012@reddit
Vocational healthcare degrees like AHP roles. Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Speech and Language Therapy etc.
People are always going to have health issues. You need the qualification to do the job so it’s never a sector that will see an influx of cheap unskilled labor from overseas. It’s unlikely to be automated or replaced with AI completely. You can go into the NHS and get paid reasonably well with a good pension and job security, or you can set up in private practice and bring in the big money, or a bit of both. I know plenty of AHP’s comfortably taking home £100k+ a year. You can even at times go down an apprenticeship route within the NHS and get paid whilst you learn, offsetting a chunk of the debt associated with uni.
glaekitgirl@reddit
One where you need it to work, eg. Requiring a professional registration. Many healthcare roles require a degree, similarly engineering. Law too, I think?
ohhohpilot@reddit
Any that you like in my opinion
Fluid_Fish4938@reddit
A friend of mine had a degree in computer science and is doing pretty high up the corporate ladder in an insurance call centre
ToePsychological8709@reddit
Podiatry.
This is honestly the best degree you can get right now. Dentistry is oversubscribed. But there is a national shortage of podiatrists so it is easier to get accepted on to the course and unless you suck you will have no trouble getting patients in private practice once you have your degree.
Due to the fact there is a national shortage you can set up a podiatry business. Many Podiatrists charge £60-70 for half hour appointments, that's £120+ per hour and you can make much more than that by doing minor surgeries and laser.
It is cheaper to set up a podiatry practice than a dental one too.
andyiibwfc@reddit
Physics, so many good people in tech have physics degrees, it teaches you to solve problems you haven't encountered before and be logical and you have to be good enough (or hard working enough) at the maths to get through it.
Earlier in my career, I encountered "if you can do physics, then of course you can do X" which opened doors.
jrestoic@reddit
Physics being common in tech is definitely aging out now computer science degrees are common place, its really hard to demonstrate you are more proficient than just CS. The folks that would have had an aptitude for CS did things like physics or mechEng and drifted to CS as the industry developed.
I graduated with a masters in mathematical physics just after covid and managed to get a software engineering grad role based on summer research projects in HPC but my department has not taken on a single non-CS grad in the 4 years after and I suspect its only getting worse with AI drain. Physics is also very hard and time consuming compared to CS for less outcome. I can honestly say I wouldn't advise a physics degree over a more stats focused maths degree or CS which any potential student of physics would also be capable of.
Arkonias@reddit
A STEM degree from a prestigious Uni. Something like CS from Oxford/Cambridge, as well as a few internships from top tech companies.
Brilliant_Bake4200@reddit
I think people in general underestimate how much going to university helps you learn critical thinking and proper research technique that makes you more savvy to the world around you in ways you may not even realise. Humanities in a way are more relevant than ever now that AI is taking over and we need to be able to truly understand ethics, human nature and critical thought. We may soon be saying that what are currently considered the “useful” degrees are irrelevant subjects, when AI is able to perform them more successfully than humans are. (I have two degrees, one science, one business).
Money_Bluejay4964@reddit
Computer Science. It’s hard don’t get me wrong, but incredibly rewarding once graduated. Got a 2:2 and now 33 on 100k a year. Some unis offer many types of CS degrees, but I just did CS. You could do CS with AI or CS with Cyber Security. These are hot picks for jobs at the moment
Photopuppet@reddit
I would say wait until the dust settles from the AI explosion first and then see what careers are relevant still...
theflickingnun@reddit
Well it depends on your reason or cost for getting a degree really. If its to unskilled yourself and learn something either new or better refined then yes, unless it costs 20k.
tradegreek@reddit
Stem degrees
LivingPage522@reddit
rics accredited degree in a field of surveying. certainly in uk there is a shortage of surveyors and an ageing workforce. half of my work colleagues are due to retire within the next five years. chartered surveyor salaries usually start around £50k.
Queasy-Ice-2575@reddit
No, I have two and I work in retail.
Excellent_Pumpkin_83@reddit
If you’re wanting a degree which will get you a job and is worth doing. Go for degrees which are requirements for jobs. Ie architect, doctor, surveyor, dentist, planner engineer etc. these are so important and also I think if you’re wanting to live in a certain area, check out what jobs keep popping up, then you can work backwards and think -ah okay, I need this degree or experience to get that job, or -there’s heaps of jobs as engineers but not any or many as a film set designer, I might need to move to fulfil that dream or pivot if I want to stay. Hope that is helpful
Poopa_loopaa@reddit
An awful lot just aren't worth getting these days. I think things like maths or chemistry will always be worth it if you're good at the subject. I'm doing Ancient History and Classical Archaeology. For a hell of a lot of degrees the market has become so saturated, unless you're good enough to fill one of the few lecture rolls, or something really impressive then you'd lose money. I wish I hadn't taken my degree.
Psimo-@reddit
Most engineering degrees - Civil, Structural or Electrical
Anything that gets you into CIBSE
WingiestOfMirrors@reddit
I'd counter this as a civil engineer with the apprenticeship is better to get the degree paid for and getting experience, but getting the degree in some way is vital to the job.
Psimo-@reddit
Apprenticeship is better for almost all vocational qualifications, but not everywhere does them
JordiLyons1234@reddit
Apprenticeships are the biggest cons going. Specially my one lol 😂
OilPillowEmu@reddit
misleading, it's incredibly hard to secure an apprenticeship. Insanely hard for STEM apprenticeships.
InvestigatorSoft3606@reddit
Degree apprenticeships seem to be marvellous.
Didn’t exist when I trained but you get wonderfully practical skilled engineers at the end of it, without the decades of debt.
Downside is that they don’t get to do the typical “uni” experience.
gogybo@reddit
Yep. I did aerospace and everyone in my year who graduated had a job lined up for September.
I actually would have rather studied history but I knew finding a job afterwards would be more difficult so I went with engineering instead. It might not be my passion but I like it well enough, and it makes for a comfortable life all things considered.
dav3j@reddit
Graduate pay is garbage, but long term I feel it's still worth it.
Gullible_fool_99@reddit
I was going to say the same.
_BagOWeed_@reddit
To achieve goals: no
To get any ‘entry level’ role that isn’t retail or hospitality: yes
NotOnYerNelly@reddit
This is anecdotal.
People will tell you that you don’t need a degree and experience or apprenticeships are worth more and to get a trade.
I’ve got a trade and completed a 4 year apprenticeship where I am now a construction manager. My qualifications are at a degree level and I am highly experienced but I have reached as high as I can get without a degree.
If I want to progress, I need a degree and it’s clear from the job openings I see. I’m now doing business management degree day release.
Trades are a good route but you will age and being on the tools into even your 40s like me wreaks havoc on the knees and back - it’s not sustainable as you age.
Also consider that your identity is not and should not be linked to your work or qualifications. You are expendable. Don’t try and impress but gain experience and qualifications for your self and yourself only.
Billybob8777@reddit
Vocational degrees that lead to a job or improve employability.
A degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering will likely set you up for a wide range of decent grad scheme applications. A degree in Art history won't.
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
The degree worth having is one that you find interesting, or one that you need to do that job. I'm doing biomedical science, I need this course to become a biomedical scientist. As for something a bit more long term, I'd like to get into pharmacology in some way. I don't know where or how quite yet, but this course will help with it.
Bee5475@reddit
I don’t believe any degree is pointless all are important and are for learning none aside specifics like medicine, nursing and other very specialised degrees guarantee a job in said field
Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit
A lot of it depends on the university it's from as much as the degree. I have a sociology degree, which many would stereotype as a classic useless degree. But it got me a good career, because it was from a good university.
That__Guy__Bob@reddit
Not just what your degree is but also what else you do apart from studying at uni. You need something else apart from having a 1st or 2:1 to stand out and uni is the perfect place to supplement it
DurgeDidNothingWrong@reddit
I wonder how many employers base their judgement of where a degree was earned on a reputation made decades ago that is no longer accurate. So many unis these days are cost cutting, that I doubt the prestige of any one of them.
Hame_Impala@reddit
Sometimes it's less judging the university alone and more the access to networking you'll get at a lot of these universities. Getting your foot in the door at a major employer will be easier if the CEO is the dad of your best mate at Oxford.
Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit
I think the quality of teaching at places like Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, UCL and so on will always remain high and always ensure their degrees are prestigious. They have the money and prestige to hire the best academics.
But yeah, you're wider point is probably true. A cousin just went to university and it certainly sounds like the quality of service provided is way poorer than when I went. Fewer contact hours, lots of it online or pre-recorded stuff.
UrMomDotCom666@reddit
the best academics aren't always at the best universities. some pick lower ranked ones due to having more research facilities.
Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit
Sure, not always. But often they are. Generally, the prestigious universities have the money to develop good facilities.
And then in the humanities and social sciences the attraction is less about the facilities and more about being around leading thinkers and the best students. So it becomes a self perpetuating thing for the best academics to congregate in those universities.
UrMomDotCom666@reddit
they may have good research facilities, but it's often not the type of research that an academic is specialised in.
a professor from imperial isn't necessarily better than a professor from aston, just because of the university.
Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit
Which is why I didn't say that.
UrMomDotCom666@reddit
why are you taking everything so black and white
Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit
I'm not.
Thomasinarina@reddit
As someone who went to Oxford, I assure you they very much have a lot of money still.
DurgeDidNothingWrong@reddit
Oh no, I don't mean to imply the universities are short on cash, just that a lot of them are tightening the belts on investing into the education of students. Of course, I imagine oxbridge are exceptions
BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit
Yes. I know a few people with theology degrees who did very well for themselves in the corporate world.
The theology degrees are from Oxbridge, which was more important than them being theology degrees, when they were trying to get their foot in the door of a career
Hame_Impala@reddit
Major universities like the Oxbridge ones will also probably help you do a lot of networking and meet important people in various sectors who can then help you get a job when you graduate. Being part of the exclusive club is sort of the point in a lot of ways.
Regular_Zombie@reddit
Surely the epitome of friends in high places?
northyj0e@reddit
I know someone who was working as an oil and gas engineer in the desert, and one of his teammates, employed as an engineer, was a theology Oxford grad.
Predictably, the guy was absolutely useless, turns out that engineering isn't something you can just yolo.
BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit
Haha!
On the other hand, he must have had some impressive persuasion skills to land himself that job.
Competitive-Active78@reddit
Agree, I'd argue that A-Levels are more important (along with 2:1). E.g. have friends who studied Anthropology at Durham, but because they had 3As in maths/econ/biology at A level, they could pretty much apply for any grad scheme such as finance at a top firm.
PiotrGreenholz01@reddit
STEM types on this thread really not dispelling the "knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing" suspicions.
Powerful-Trust-9529@reddit
I’ve just finished my 4th degree (undergrad, PGCert, PGDip and a Masters) and while I’ve had employment through my jobs it has been a difficult battle in the beginning. Now if I could do it all over, I would make sure that my degree actually provided me with a job at the end and not just “increased my chances of employment”. Many degrees are marketed as “Oh if you have x you’ll be able to do so much in the field of y” and when it comes to it, it means nothing. Instead, look at jobs you would like to do and look at their Job Description to see what qualifications they want. They go from there
Affectionate_Comb_78@reddit
Statistically speaking, all of them. All studies confirm having a degree leads to higher life time earnings vs not having one, regardless of subject.
BiddlyBingBong@reddit
Other posters have accurately commented that the degree subject often matters less than the institution who awards the degree, but any non-vocational degree is essentially just proving that you're capable of understanding the course content and then staying on top of workload and deadlines. The clearest example is probably that a 1st or 2:1 in any STEM subject from a decent university demonstrates that you're intelligent and capable of problem solving.
They are often just a means to an end though. For example, my degree is the largely meaningless 'Open degree' from the Open University - after dropping out of university initially, I decided I wanted to teach, meaning I just needed any degree from anywhere. Graduating that then opened the door to apply for teacher training and then a teaching job, the experience from which I've now leveraged to work as a private tutor. What degree is 'worth having' is hugely dependent on your approach to what constitutes a 'good career' in terms of pay, work-life balance, social impact etc.
Commercial_Chef_1569@reddit
Computer Science
Elec or Computer Eng
Doctor
SamVimesBootTheory@reddit
I honestly don't think any degree is totally useless, like I have a degree that hasn't yet led to a job (but also some of that isn't necessarily me picking a 'bad degree' it's external circumstances to do with disability and mental health, also besides the point it was something that does kind of fall under the STEM umbrella) but I still felt the degree was valuable to me personally as it was something I personally was very invested in.
oklistening01@reddit
My best advice is to go down the technical route - management is saturated with idiots!
I went down the technical route and there is a massive shortage of “hands on” technical staff in the UK my salary and job security out performs my managers and the gap keeps getting bigger as our power keeps on growing as we are in such short supply.
UK has a massive technical/engineer’s shortage with no fresh supply coming through the ranks.
Affectionate_Bite143@reddit
I'd say if you're not sure then do a STEM subject, if you're capable. In my experience, way more doors would have been open to me post-graduation if I had done that, rather then a BA. Despite the fact I got a 1st from a Russell Group university. It might be overly simplistic but I've never seem any job postings which would prefer a BA over a Bsc, it's usually the opposite
b0ubakiki@reddit
My optometry degree was useful getting a job as an optometrist.
Strangely__Brown@reddit
English based on your title.
But jokes aside for a solid foundation: STEM.
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths are always solid options. They demonstrate you're intelligent and can work through hard shit. Plenty of people who have these degrees and go into different fields.
On the fringe of that are subjects like Geography and Business. Bit greyer but still decent enough.
Then you've got your specialties: Computer Science, Cyber security, anything AI, Construction, Law, Finance, Nursing and Medicine etc...
Anything where you need the paper to get the job (some exceptions ofc IT is infamous for learning on the job).
Most others are hot garbage.
You need to be really intelligent to make stuff Philosophy, any language, Politics or History work. They're subjects which are "nice to know" rather than "have to know" and don't carry the same weight as STEM.
MiniMages@reddit
Civil Engineering.
Money-Horse28@reddit
A degree of common sense..
Feline_Sleepwear@reddit
My BSc comp sci definitely helped me, both in getting the interview and with the knowledge to pass and do the job.
Dalhoos@reddit
Quantity Surveying
TheoTheodor@reddit
A degree that allows you to do the job you want to do.
Some jobs are virtually impossible to do without a higher degree, like science for example, because there is so much background and technical knowledge which just isn't achievable on your own or transferable from another degree.
RhynoPlays@reddit
Depends on what you want to do. People love to say 'regardless of the qualification, employers will be impressed by the fact you could handle the pressures and research required to get it' but I'm fairly sure I'd have had the career I had without mine. I have a degree in Psychology and have spent 10 years since doing social media. My break into social media was through volunteering and experience.
Modest_dogfish@reddit
Surgical subspecialty within a medical degree
Apple_phobia@reddit
Hahahahahaha no. Maybe 30 years ago but unless you want to spend the best part of your 20s and 30s being treated like hot garbage just to reach the end and need a PhD on top and multiple fellowships just to MAYBE get a considered for a permanent post then no.
Civil-Koala-8899@reddit
A medical degree is a medical degree (bachelor of medicine and surgery in the UK), you only specialise afterwards
Modest_dogfish@reddit
Yes. Nowhere in the world do you just get a surgical degree. I was pointing out that a surgical branch medical degree is worth having. I don’t think a “medical” medical degree is worth having
Civil-Koala-8899@reddit
But it's still the same degree, whether you then go on to specialise in medicine or surgery.
I'm curious why you don't think it's worth going into medical specialties?
CheesyLala@reddit
I think the point of degrees has been entirely lost in the debate thats been going on in recent years.
The value is in learning how to use your brain to its fullest. In that regard thr subject matter isn't actually that important. The things I learned from an arts and humanities degree were in critical thinking, parsing complex information, structuring arguments, deep analysis of a subject, abstract thought, writing fluently and so on. Those skills have served me very well in my career, mainly because so many other people don't understand their value, meaning that when my CEO needs someone to ateicukate our response to something new and unpredictable with a clear and well-argued strategy he turns to me, not to someone with a degree in accountancy or law or computer science.
Technical colleges are for learning job skills. Universities are for learning how to use your brain.
96-09kg@reddit
I have a post grad in data science and an undergrad in stats, I’m 30 and very happy with both choices and they are absolutely worthwhile in having. It depends on your field but I found this to be the bare minimum for my colleagues and I and I would definitely hire someone with 2 degrees over not.
LondresTT@reddit
You hear a lot about degrees being pointless because the conversation on Reddit is misguided in discounting university pedigree and aptitude of students.
If degree worth is predicated on pure financial return, top universities - not Russel group a select few and the remainder still provider better outcomes (despite the countless anecdotes people will present here) aggressively skew towards all of the highest paying fields - at the LSE,Oxbridges,Imperials, UCL’s etc there are no “mickey mouse degrees” - I.e any degree gives you a good chance at Corporate law, High Finance, Consulting etc with some obvious variance depending on degree.
More broadly across university, degrees statistically improve lifetime career earnings. Now onto the point of student aptitude , at the likes of LSE students treat getting a job like a priority from day one that is not even close for most university students. In saying that, regardless of uni ranking you’ll always have students who are inclined to be proactive in internship seeking, building experience etc and do perfectly fine.
The conversation if it’s purely monetary based is so elementary in this country because reddit loves disregarding prestige, instead the argument should be how do we increase the cohort of students who treat entering university as a opportunity to build relevant skills from day one because that’s where you seek the stark divergence in job returns and then eventual dissatisfaction with the outcome.
Plus there are way too many people entering university aha.
Interesting-Win-3220@reddit
Nonsense mate I know of loads of unemployed humanities grads from these unis. They've been sold a pup.
Kickkickkarl@reddit
You can have all the degree's, certificates and grades but if you can't actually do the job you'll soon be found out and probably be classed as useless untill you have proven yourself on the shop floor in the real world.
random_ass_eater@reddit
Personally I did Computer Science because I like it, I am also in a good financial/career position thanks to working in tech but you dont necessarily need to do CompSci to be in tech.
Disclaimer: a STEM degree doesnt guarantee a (high paying) job, its mostly down to your interview skills as well.
NLFG@reddit
As a guy with a degree in history who's ended up working in accounting......
I was lucky to go to a school with a big focus on getting kids to university. (I left school in '01, so I'm well aware that was a different era) It was drummed into us that it didn't really matter which degree you did; if you wanted to do a job that required a degree, and that was your focus; great. If not, go and get a degree in something you like as there's likely to be loads of transferrable skills.
r/anonaw more or less hit the nail on the head. There's a bunch of good things about going to university. The problem in 2025 is that it now involves a way bigger investment in yourself than previously and doesn't necessarily offer *that* much in the way of professional advantage.
nck_pi@reddit
About 36.5 celsius
Puzzled-Ad-2023@reddit
If you're not doing vocational degree like healthcare engineering law etc then the uni you go to matters a lot more. Like you can study music at Oxford and have much better career opportunities than say maths at a no name
Impressive_Shirt4121@reddit
Anything skill based. That’s the most valuable thing you can bring to the job market, and getting an education on that skill will help you and give you a ton of benefits.
Eg: graphic/UX/Product design (academically taught designers really stand out against the rest)
Crazy-Fish-101@reddit
Realistically, in the UK - Finance / economics
bradpitt3@reddit
You can look up earnings data by course and by institution on this government site. It gives data for the years after you finish the course. This will give some idea how valued the course and institution are in the jobs market. The data is shocking because it shows some degrees are worth a lot financially and others are worth very little. https://discoveruni.gov.uk/
Milam1996@reddit
Jobs that you cannot get without the degree. That is the only degree worth it. You can’t be a doctor/nurse without the degree. You can’t be a lawyer without the degree etc etc.
I’ll never understand people who study music,singing,writing etc at uni. You can’t either play the violin,sing or write or you can’t. I’m pretty sure Beyoncé doesn’t have a phd in music theory nor does agatha Christie have a phd in writing.
If I was in charge of the DoE I’d make it so that lawyers,nurses etc get free education whilst arts,music etc etc etc have to pay the full amount with no tax payer subsidy.
jaredinho@reddit
Engineering or Law
Key_Illustrator_9077@reddit
Work out what you want to do in life first, and work backwards to the qualifications you need.
SirJedKingsdown@reddit
Mechanical Engineering. You can do anything with it. I wish I was good at Maths, because I slightly envy people who've got one.
Ok_Veterinarian2715@reddit
Before I answer, please define a Good Career.
Existing-Pepper-7406@reddit
Anything stem ( maths comp sci engineering physics) at a RG university
Jip_Jaap_Stam@reddit
A degree of common sense is always useful
CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit
I think this "pointless" degree thing has come from 2 places, people who did the degree but don't know how to utilise it (not actually it being pointless) and people who don't understand the depth of a degree (Assuming the name of it is a reflection of their own understanding of the subject).
I still get comments (a decade and a half into a successful career, god I'm old) about whether it was really worth doing design.
What I actually learned:
You can absolutely become a designer with no qualification. But you'd be unlikely to have all the knowledge I gained from the start of your career.
So, "pointless" degrees, in my opinion are just people who don't want to understand the nuance. News agencies love easy to bash things where the title sounds like a logical answer, but I think people just lack the full picture.
But if you want some that are traditionally safe:
Medicine (or most sciences) & Business.
Silly_Tomatillo6950@reddit
True,
like business is a good degree that sets many up but you won't succeed if you don't know how to interact
TheNoGnome@reddit
Any degree can. It lets you throw your hat in more rings and should leave you more intelligent than if you'd not bothered.
Silly_Tomatillo6950@reddit
for some subjects, like history, you have required reading and many don't have the time or environment/money to relax and learn
Ok_Lecture_8886@reddit
It all depends. The only two I know about are engineering and medicine. A uni talked about how employable people who did their Economics degrees. Sorry a science based person. But talking to someone who did Art there are a ton of jobs available for people who have pursued Art. Something I did not know about.
It all depends what you want to do when you finish. And it also depends not on your degree, which gets you the interview, but how well you do after that. Know someone who is not brilliant academically, but in the job they are zooming to the top, because they are everything an employer wants - hardworking, responsible, capable of independent though, etc.
yearsofpractice@reddit
Hey OP. 49 year old career corporate person here. I graduated from a red-brick university in 1997 and have not once used my chemistry degree since then!
Thing is though, attending university and gaining a degree has been incredibly valuable during my career as follows:
Some companies want to see a degree on a CV. It’s a hygiene factor
Rigorous teaching at a higher level really does allow you to think critically. I can instantly spot someone who has this training - they’ll focus on “what” is right, not “who” is right.
Like it or not, there’s a social aspect. Being exposed to people of all social backgrounds gives you an ability to operate more easily in different environments
For “normal” people it disabuses you of the notion that you’re intelligent and everyone else is an idiot. You learn - very rapidly - at university that there are a great deal of people vastly more intelligent and capable than you and this allows you to understand company and social politics much easier
That’s my view. I’m pro-degree as you can see, so take my views with a pinch of salt!
lan0028456@reddit
Any STEM degree is a huge plus if you want to work in technology or engineering industry.
SGFCardenales@reddit
Gotta love people falling for the right’s propaganda on education. The right absolutely believes that the left is responsible for the collapse of the middle working class family because they encouraged everyone to go to uni instead of taking up a trade or working a blue collar job. Basically the right believe you are a jumped up little toad for wanting an education and your haughtiness caused the collapse of the largest group of tax payers in every developed nation.
ErrantBrit@reddit
My BSc Forestry gave me a career way beyond anything else I ever done. Changed my life for the better.
IncreaseInVerbosity@reddit
It depends on what you want to do with it, what you like, and how committed you will be to it. I know several people who have a degree in football studies, which to most people will be an absolute joke, but for their specific niche it has allowed them to go into dream careers.
At 36 I’m mid way through an OU physics degree because it’s super interesting, I should have done STEM post school, and there’s a lot of things you can go on and do with it. But teenage me would have struggled with it because it requires commitment.
After school I did a history degree. It was enough to get me offered a solicitor training contract if I did a law conversion course (I didn’t). Other people have gone into academia, museum stuff, and editorial work where their degree has proved useful.
I also did a masters in urban geography, which I didn’t ultimately use (but was super interesting, no regrets) - and other people have got into NGOs, civil service, etc with it.
JavaRuby2000@reddit
It depends on what level you are willing to study to. There is no such thing as a "Micky Mouse degree" if you are willing to study it to the required level and put in the work.
You also need to define "good career". Do you mean pays lots of money or do you mean something that you will look forward to doing every morning. You could work in finance in London on 6 figs and be burnt out after 5 years or you could be a research diver on not much more than minimum wage but, getting to travel all over the world.
Monster213213@reddit
Psychology - if you understand people you understand how to play the world.
mrhippoj@reddit
It largely depends on what field you're in. I got an arts degree and a middling uni and I'd say it largely hasn't benefitted me that much professionally. I had a nice time at university but whether that was worth the debt it put me into is up for debate (although thankfully it's all paid back now). If you wanna be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or whatever then you need a degree, so in that case it's absolutely worth having. I think also with certain fields, like if you wanted to work in showbiz, it's not so much the degree but going to a university that will get you in that scene is really valuable (see the list of Footlights alumni, which is closely tied to Cambridge, as an example)
StarShipYear@reddit
It could be argued that you have it backwards. Let's say you have a Physics degree, and an Arts degree. I'd put my bets on a passionate and talented person who is top of their class in an Arts degree to have a better "career"over somebody half-arsing a Physics degree with no interest.
seklas1@reddit
When a job you want requires a degree, it’s worth doing a degree. If you can do your job without one, then it’s not worth it.
BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit
It isn't necessarily as much about the subject as the institution.
E. G. A lot of people will tell you stem subjects are better, but an arts or humanities degree from a top university probably better than a stem degree from a low-rate University in the long term.
But also, what are you good at? What do you want to do?
If you force yourself through a course that is not a great fit for you and come out with a 3rd in the subject, and maybe just about get into a career you don't really like, are you better off than doing something else which is lower on "potential earnings" lists and has less prestige, but actually you thrive in and gets you into something you want to do?
Tldr: it is complicated and you shouldn't just choose a degree based on what is right for other people or a perceived "value" of it.
Neither-Raccoon-472@reddit
Only the ones where you cant get an apprenticeship, such as doctor, dentist and pharmacist.
The rest of the careers you can do via an apprenticeship and get paid to learn.
Ok_Tour8061@reddit
honestly anything that gives you options instead of debt and regret. engineering, nursing comp sci, teaching if you’ve got patience of a saint the rest kinda depends on what you can stand doing at 9am without hating life
noodledoodledoo@reddit
It honestly depends on too many factors to say. If you want a job, any job, that needs any degree, then the degree doesn't matter so much as your work experience that you take on during the degree. Years in industry, summer internships, that sort of thing.
Medicine and nursing definitely used to be guaranteed jobs but there's a bottleneck in places the further specialty training at the moment so people are finding themselves a bit stuck.
If you know going into uni that you 100% want a specific job then the degree you pick and work experience/internships/summer jobs can be targeted. I know someone who wanted to be an actuary so they did maths at a good uni, got relevant work experience etc and now they're an actuary. But lots of people do change their minds over the course of 3-4 years and realise it's not for them and have to find something else. Which leaves them in the pool of "general graduates" anyway, as if they'd just picked any random subject.
I'd say any degree is worth doing as long as you want to study the subject and you're not expecting it to be a "first job free" ticket. It would obviously be upsetting if you were sold getting any degree as a ticket to a good career and then it doesn't work out, and that is what some people are sold by their parents and teachers. But most degrees don't train you for a specific job because they're not meant to. They're meant to be a deep dive into a subject.
garlicmayosquad@reddit
Top degrees from top universities. Too many people have degrees now, so they aren't worth. I have one from a decent uni, didn't open open many doors looking back. Would have been better off going straight into work.
Thread-Hunter@reddit
Stem subjects are usually the best option if you are not planning to become a doctor or lawyer.
Kcufasu@reddit
A lot of jobs are still in the mindset that you need a degree, so just doing one you like and will do well at is a good start
Generally more technical ones are better regarded but only useful if you'll enjoy doing it
Flat_Development6659@reddit
Statistically, yes degree holders end up earning more.
Personally I'm glad I never went to university. According to a quick online calc I'd be paying \~£350 per month on my current wage and I'm doubtful a degree would increase my salary by that number. Not to mention the few years of work experience and earnings I'd have missed out on.
_Jayman__@reddit
What do you want in life?
What career do you have in mind?
Why would you want a degree?
If your ideas for work are not directly related then just go and do them.
I did a degree because I failed at school and felt getting one would vindicate this.
I did a second degree because I had to for my career as a health professional.
I didn't know I wanted to be a health professional until I had the first degree already.
Professional-Day6965@reddit
It depends what you want to do, some jobs require specific degrees. But beyond that all degrees show an ability to self manage your learning and a disciplined approach to it.
That said, as a hirer in IT, I look to Maths and computer degrees, but I'm mainly looking at the person
Fudge_is_1337@reddit
From a purely career prospects perspective you need a solid idea of what your degree is going to give you that you don't get otherwise. Some job pathways pretty much require a specific degree; others will accept any degree, and others don't need one at all.
I'd say it's less about which degrees individually are guaranteed to set you up for a good career, and more about what degree is best suited (if any) to the career you actually want.
Spending the money on university without at least a rough plan of where you want to end up is somewhat risky, and a less favourable prospect than it used to be
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