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Post by lastgoodbye on May 13, 2010 14:56:47 GMT
So, I felt like starting a new thread. Who here goes to (or has been to) university? What are you studying?
Did you take that subject because you love it, or because it leads to a career you'd like, or because you couldn't think of anything better to do?
There's a little cluster of young wolfies who will be going off in the next year or two or three, I believe, so this is your chance to impart your wisdom regarding higher education upon us.
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Post by Lawrence on May 13, 2010 15:05:04 GMT
I'm off in September.
Isn't this kind of similar to the University thread?
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Post by lastgoodbye on May 13, 2010 15:07:26 GMT
Well damn, I forgot that existed.
No, not at all! This is specifically about degrees and subject choice, hah.
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Post by Lawrence on May 13, 2010 15:10:50 GMT
oh right I'm going to study Molecular Genetics, it interests me somewhat, but I chose it mainly because it had lower grades than the other subjects within the department, but once I'm there I can change course to Molecular Medicine. Bit of a cheeky loophole
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Post by Tellurium on May 13, 2010 15:12:13 GMT
I have a BA in Psychology. I was smart enough to get it, but nowhere near smart enough to figure out what to do with it. It was an enriching four years (uni is 4 years over here), nontheless, and I have no regrets. I don't know what I have in the way of wisdom regarding post-secondary. But I think the common idea of what a "useful" course is and a "useful" degree is a bit of a misnomer, and people get all caught up in it and end up hating their lives. There's no such thing as a "useless" degree or a "useless" course. ALL degrees prove that you have a number of skills desired by employers, and take the courses that actually interest you, without worrying much about their perceived practicality, because those are far and away the ones where you'll learn the most.
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Post by admin on May 13, 2010 15:39:20 GMT
I have a BA in Psychology. I was smart enough to get it, but nowhere near smart enough to figure out what to do with it. It was an enriching four years (uni is 4 years over here), nontheless, and I have no regrets. English. And snap! I can think of a fair few things to do with my NQT (newly qualified teacher) status, however, but none of them are polite. The moral of the story is: do something you love, not something you never in a million years intended to be your career and even when you were handing over the £9000 tuition fees you knew you had no intention of doing the job but then you did some of it and then you went ABSOLUTELY MAD and the doctor was giving you pills and stuff and then you thought I CAN'T EVEN DO THIS STUPID AS SHIT JOB WITHOUT PILLS HAHAHA and you left and now no one wants to employ you because your CV is HILARIOUS. Where were we? Oh! Yes! Life is short: follow your bliss. But don't be a teacher, the pay's lousy and you will hate yourself. Cheerio, Michael. xxx
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Post by jadeface on May 13, 2010 15:45:07 GMT
I did two years Media Production, and I am now doing a final 2 years Fine Art. I changed my mind. Errrm, I learnt lots of practical and technical skills that were pretty invaluable on the original course, albeit very watered down and rushed. I know that this degree I'm doing now will leave me way better equipped than what I was doing before. Career? Well, I'm pretty open and that's the problem. I could be an artist, but video art or the things I do, don't particularly sell, and I never considered it a career, but more of something I enjoy. I'd love to work in galleries in some way or another, I'm not sure why, I just like the atmosphere. I would love to write, but again, I'm not sure this could really get me into a full on career. I can edit films quite easily and I know it's often a slightly easier job to find being an assistant in a film studio sort of setting, but this won't be my favourite and most fun thing ever, but as I said once before on here, I've like to have 2-3 jobs anyway . I also want to run a little cafe. The problem with me is I want to do a lot of things, and because of this I'm never sure if I have any solid and strong skills, I've sort of applied it over too many areas. :/
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Post by helwin tins on May 13, 2010 15:57:48 GMT
I ended up doing Photography and Digital Imaging by accident... long story. Wish I'd done something more academic though, I want to do a Masters in Gender Studies...
I should have been a doctor really.
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Post by sarah on May 13, 2010 16:04:29 GMT
degrees are only useless if you don't know what the fuck you're doing, my friend is doing ecconomics or some shit just because her parents wouldn't let her do anything deemed non-academic, and they still give her very little support because it's not law or maths or science or whatever. as a result she just hasn't gone to any classes, so that's pretty useless. i do think some subjects provide you with less of a direction (philosophy, for example, i can't think of anything to do with that other than become a philosophy teacher) which i suppose is "useless" but if you had a good time doing it whatever man
anyway i'm doing languages at the moment. i was originally going to do photography but i couldn't be bothered making up a portfolio to send off to the art school i wanted to go to, and the only other subject i did fairly well in without too much effort was german. i want to do translating because it's pretty fun. plus other than that i'm not sure what i can do with a degree in german
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Post by jay on May 13, 2010 16:11:11 GMT
i'm a dropout maaaan. lolz.
i was doing a diploma, that's not even a degree. i'm such a pussy.
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Post by newslang on May 13, 2010 16:50:49 GMT
I started in a Public Management program, with full intention to become a corporate lawyer. After 2 years I decided that would be absolutely horrible!
Now I'm one year away from a degree in Finance with a minor in Business Communications. I much prefer the communications side of my study, but I'm not sure what I can do with it. I do really well in my finance courses but I have no practical experience in the field, and so it will likely be very difficult for me to find a job when I graduate.
I ended up in Finance because I had already done 2 years of a business program and didn't want to start all over again in something completely different. I never took any finance courses before I chose the program, so I guess it's pretty lucky that I really enjoy it.
I dunno, when I started high school I aspired to go into journalism, but somehow in 4 years my mind switched to business because it seemed more 'practical.'
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Post by idreamofcherrypies on May 13, 2010 16:55:56 GMT
I'm doing English Literature & Linguistics. I actually applied for just straight eng lit but chose lit&ling as insurance because I liked the uni so much. Nasty shock on results day, decided I couldn't do just english (did lit and lang separate at a level too) so managed to switch to my insurance. I couldn't imagine not doing it now, I love it so much and it's nice getting two completely different sets of work and module options.
So yes, my advice is if you think you've made a wrong decision, make sure you try and switch, even if you're worried about rejection/extra hassle/looking disorganised like I was worried about.
When I applied I chose it because I wanted to be a journalist, but I've since realised I couldn't work for a paper because I don't like writing about bad things, and I'd never get onto a fashion magazine because most target markets don't agree with me on what looks nice. So I'll just see what happens. Apparently a lot of people with experience in sociolinguistics get jobs in advertising, I'd like that.
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Post by admin on May 13, 2010 16:58:59 GMT
I should have been a doctor really. If the space in my head that is currently filled with Spice Girls chart positions and Billie Piper lyrics and Mean Girls quotes and whole episodes of Buffy was actually filled with, you know, useful stuff, there would be no disease by now... I'm probably a genius, but I only use my powers for USELESS. Cheerio, Michael. xxx
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Post by helwin tins on May 13, 2010 17:23:01 GMT
I should have been a doctor really. If the space in my head that is currently filled with Spice Girls chart positions and Billie Piper lyrics and Mean Girls quotes and whole episodes of Buffy was actually filled with, you know, useful stuff, there would be no disease by now... I'm probably a genius, but I only use my powers for USELESS. Cheerio, Michael. xxx I'm with you there, I feel like an iPod filled with pop culture references and queer theory arguments sometimes. Seriously though, I fucked up my education. I did my first GCSE's at 13 and got A*s (please note: I don't really think grades are a marker of much apart from willingness to work in a certain manner), then just got disillusioned and failed at everything after that. I get so jealous of people doing proper subjects at real uni's. I write as if I'm not 20 years old.
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Post by Lemon Bloody Cola on May 13, 2010 18:13:34 GMT
I have GCSE R.E.
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Post by admin on May 13, 2010 19:01:28 GMT
So do I. And I probably would have been The Pope by now, if it weren't for the fact that my R.E. teacher was crazy into 9/11 conspiracy theories. Every lesson was like, 'And then there are Buddhists who believe... oh, wait, have you seen this JPEG that proves how the planes were actually CGI?' Best teacher ever. Cheerio, Michael. xxx
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Post by allison on May 13, 2010 19:05:04 GMT
my advice is: don't do university just cause that's what comes next. if you're heart and mind are not interested in schooling, don't go to school - its just a waste of money and time.
or maybe other people are capable of performing when they're not actually interested in anything.
as for me, i am taking a break from college (uni, whatever) after 5 semesters of doing shit. i only stuck with it so i could get insurance - but now there's obamacare and i'm out! though i'm kind of fucked cause i don't even exactly have a high school diploma, either.
outside of specialized jobs, i don't think what you major in really matters as much as the fact that you've got a degree. just do whatever motivates you and the rest will work out fine.
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Post by naaaat on May 13, 2010 20:14:06 GMT
I'm doing Music, and so far I absolutely LOVE it! Love the course, love the uni, love (most) of the people, and think it was definitely the right choice for me Almost did Spanish or English Lit (my other two A Level subjects) instead but Music won! In terms of careers, I really hate it when people say "So what are you going to do with your degree?" because, quite a lot of the time, it comes across as being quite sneery, as in "What CAN do actually do with a Music degree?"; you do get a few people doing what they think are 'proper' subjects like sciences or whatever and look down their noses a bit. And to be honest, I don't even know what I want to do after uni; a degree was, in a way, a convinient way of putting reality off for a bit I've still got another two years, but I'm considering a number of options: I'm thinking primary school teaching, music therapy, peripatetic teaching, maybe music journalism or performing... But anyway, the reason I picked my subject wasn't because it would definitely lead to a certain job, it was because I figured that, if I studied something that I really enjoyed and was really passionate about in the first place, everything else should follow on from that. Hopefully that'll work for me
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Post by tarantella on May 13, 2010 21:17:19 GMT
Gender and Women's Studies + Legal Studies.
I have my first commencement ceremony in less than two days! I am so close to being done! As long as I didn't fail economics, oh god please let me not have failed.
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Post by helwin tins on May 13, 2010 21:20:58 GMT
Gender and Women's Studies + Legal Studies. I'm going to study Molecular Genetics, it interests me somewhat, but I chose it mainly because it had lower grades than the other subjects within the department, but once I'm there I can change course to Molecular Medicine. Bit of a cheeky loophole I'm so proud of my other halves
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