Careers and University

Is a degree worth it?

With social media around and people flaunting their success stories, luxurious things, and debates on Twitter and TikTok about whether a degree is useless or not raised my interest in other people's thoughts on this. I believe degrees are not useless, they can be a safety net even if you wish to not go onto a career that has anything to do with your degree. However, degrees are not for everyone, as someone who didn’t enjoy school yet still went on to do essay-based subjects for my A-Levels I think schools should’ve encouraged students to look at other options apart from university.

Now that I’m older and have spoken to friends and other people who’ve taken different routes and similar routes, I've realised that secondary schools, sixth forms and colleges could do more to make sure students know all possible options that are available to them. Not every student is academic, some struggle more than others and some just don’t enjoy it so hearing about more options could be good for them. However, University is good for students who don’t know what to do yet don’t have anything else planned, again, it’s a safety net, and if students eventually find something they enjoy they can always do that alongside uni or drop out and do that if they think that’s what’s best for them.

Career changes during university are also very normal, I’ve had a change of heart multiple times and only decided what I want to do recently and it’s also very different to the degree I'm doing right now. So, if you decide to go to uni and are scared about your career options remember that even if you don’t want to do something related to your degree for a career anymore. That degree still comes in handy when applying to jobs.

You can check out our podcast episode about this topic to hear more about our thoughts and opinions about university and careers here: https://soundcloud.com/user-832388812-903346867/amal-career-and-university?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing