Was my degree worth it?
Is this how you feel?
My Facebook news feed, recently, has been flooded with status’ of graduation. Firstly, well done on all of your results. University can be a tough time, be that from malnutrition, feeling poor and that one night where you brought home a blow-up doll by accident, so just surviving is an achievement, let alone the bonus of a grade!
But has it all been worth it? Is this wonderland of fulfilling education and late-til-early parties as good as you had hoped it would be? I asked a few people just to get a better idea seeing as, in a year’s time, I will myself be in the exact same position.
One person I asked spoke to me about the benefits to him of his time at University. Although mentioning enjoying his course in English and it opening his eyes to a “wealth of literature”, he ultimately talks about the aspects other than the degree. He talks about how it provided him the opportunities of writing for his student newspaper, playing in bands and forming lifelong friends. Ultimately, he felt that “if it’s true that English graduates are unemployable, it will still have been worth it”.
It just goes to show how highly some people value the experiences outside of the education, and why wouldn’t they? University is most people’s first chance to live on their own and gain some true independence. With this comes learning to cook (sometimes terribly), dealing with bills (most times terribly) and organising your life (always terribly). Needless to say, some people go to University purely for the experience, picking a course that sounds ‘easy’. Of course, it’s not ever the sort of idea I would advise but it goes to show how much confidence they place in having fun at University.
Another person I spoke to was very keen to speak about the career opportunities that she felt may (or may not) come about from her degree. In essence, she felt dubious about the worth it was going to have. She mentioned how a lot of her friends hadn’t gone to University but now were “earning big money working up a ladder”. Briefly, she mentions that she wonders whether she should hav done so herself, rather than get into debt.
I think this is a sort of view most, if not all, students have taken. I certainly have. I took a year out before University and was earning a lot more money than I ever had done before. It was tempting to try and work upa retail ladder and move quickly to a house/flat of my own and start the dreaded place of ‘the real world’. Personally, I often came to the conclusion that I was happier to have gone, mostly because I didn’t really feel there was a wealth of jobs to do. I’m just hoping that feels different once I’ve graduated with a big bit of trust going into the validity of graduate schemes and internships.
The last person I will mention, so to leave us on a good note, is highly positive about his time at University. He describes it full-heartedly as “the best experience I’ve ever had” and that “there was never any doubt about doing it”. When I asked further about why, he mentioned how he enjoyed the course he was on but also the spare time it gave him to do his own thing. He also mentioned that he felt his degree was going to really help in the job market to “push himself above other applicants” and showed some expertise in his course of the sciences. On the basis of whether the debt accumulated seemed worth it, there was no question it was and it helped that “I escaped the higher fees so they’re not as bad as they are now”.
So there we have it. Three different views about the worth of our degree all tackling what I feel are the three main aspects. Their worth in the job market compared to the debt, the fulfilment of the course itself and the benefit of the social experiences.
I’ve mentioned throughout the post aspects of what I feel but, to elaborate in full, I will say on the whole I feel it was more than worthy to have gone to University. When I graduate next year (permitting a mid-year breakdown) I will look back on my time and see the great friends I met, the opportunities that have risen from it and the independence I gained.
As well as this, although I have my suspicions the information itself won’t directly improve my intelligence, relatable to a certain position, the status of being a degree holder is something which I still believe to hold in some great pride, even if others feel it has lost value.
In total, I agree with Mr. Person Three (real name) and that University is a totally worth-while experience and I am wholly glad I have put myself through it so far. Let’s just see if I’m still saying this when I’m working on a 9000 word creative portfolio, next year…
But, anyone else? University-goers, graduates and everyone else alike, what do you think? What worth would you say is in a degree? Looking forward to hearing what some of you have got to think and, as always, make sure you get involved with the latest Opinion post!
PS: All names have been left out for anonymity.
PPS: Mr. Person Three is, in-fact, not a real name.
aye, I agree a lot with what is said in this post. For me, I think university was worth it because:
A) it’s compulsory pretty much for what I want to do.
B) I find the education and experience opens our minds a hell of a lot. Now, although a fair few people back home are on the same salary that graduates are, I find a distinct noticeability between conversations with those who went to uni and those who did not. I find the later much more interesting to talk to, though you could say I’m biased on the basis of being able to relate more to those who went to uni.
C) it’s procrastinated growing-up, if you looked at it with the mind set of – though you probably should avoid this mindset – the government loaning us money to give us a few more years of lie-ins, booze-ups and general, acceptable sloth-ness, then I’d say hell yeah! Yeah you could argue you are also paying to go to uni, but in the grand scheme of things, that on top of the debt from maintenance loans, which is a fixed pay off rate which you need to be earning over a certain amount to be applicable – then who cares?
Whilst I feel I have changed and developed as an individual, and I doubt that would have occured in the same direction and to the same extent as if I hadn’t had gone to university, the degree itself, I feel, was a waste of time and money. I’ve left uni (graduation in a few weeks) feeling confused, lost, lacking confidence in myself and unconvinced I could go on to have a career in my subject.
Another very funny article.
It’s interesting that some of those people define success as the size of their salaries, compared to those of their friends who didn’t choose university as an option. I have a friend who failed the first year, and during the summer took up a management position at a small factory. His parents suggested he should keep it, but he refused and re-entered uni (some how avoiding the fee increase, lucky bastard. ) His reasoning was he didn’t want to be stuck in such a soul destroying job for the foreseeable future. Was it the right decision? I guess time will tell.
Also, not giving university serious thought because ‘it’s too expensive’ is an awful reason. On top of Daniel’s points, money is everywhere; you will earn it wherever you go. A better question is: how do you want to spend the next five years of life? I would like to end up doing something I enjoy.
If, from a financial point of view, unlike non-undergraduates I have to step down a rung before I begin climbing, then I’ll do it, because my ladder is bigger.
I love that analogy at the end there 🙂