arts degree - is it worth it?

none1

i've been consistantly failing ever since i started arts back in 2004.
so i am considering dropping out for good.
i can't help but doubt if this is the right thing to do though. another year or so can't hurt if i end up with a degree in the end. but i'm not enjoying the 'college experience' much at all.

so should i drop out or not? is an arts degree worth it?

any advice welcome!

Riamfada

I find with Arts that its what you do while you are in college that counts. Extra curricular activites count in the long run and provide valuable experience for the real world. Also you can take a Masters in whatever you want on foot of an Arts degree and thats really what counts.


One year left. Dont waste the last 2 for no reason

princess-sprkle

i'd think it'd be an awful waste of two years if you didn't stick it out for the last one. any degree is worth it really.

maybe talk to the chaplaincy/ councillor when term starts up again if you're not enjoying the experience, or unhappy in college. #

or failing that, pm me if you're in need of someone to chat to about stuff!

Jonny Arson

none1 wrote: »

is an arts degree worth it?

ultimately you're the only one who can answer that and i'm not feeling a strong vibe of positivity from your post....

if you really want to get a degree in Arts then stick it out, it's actually surprisingly common enough for students to spend 4/5 or even 6 :eek: years completing their 3 year Arts degree (i'm in year 4 btw)

i never got this whole "college experience" hype myself in Arts but at the end of the day i'm primarily here to get that degree, i love one of my subjects and meh on the other but i'm overall happy with the course. if you hate the subjects you are studying it's gonna be a struggle to get through them in final year unless you can motivate yourself towards them. put aside the "college experience", if you like what you're studying i'd see little reason to give up now when you've been here for 4 years already

good luck anyhow

stardust_dublin

its not just an arts degree, its a Degree in the Bachelor of Arts. of course its worth it. And you have loads of options to do a masters in something of interest afterwards.

Riamfada

You would be mental to leave. Work hard and get through the last few months. Then your free and when you look back you will always have the qualification. The above insensitively named poster is correct. You will be Mr None One BA!

Stepherunie

At the end of the day you've paid fees at some point, spent three years of your life in college limbo and have stuck with it for this long.

Having a degree and no experience is better than no degree and no experience. Right you're not enjoying college, you may not enjoy your course (you don't say) but for the sake of six months stick it out. Half the time you get a job that has nothing to do with your degree (my dad is a prime example, only did his degree because he loved the subject) but a degree shows you have acquired a certain amount of skills etc.

As princess sparkle said - talk to Aisling O' Grady your student advisor, or any one of the chaplins, they're there to help and are used to dealing with these types of situations and may be able to help you out.

I've pretty much known since about my second year that whilst I enjoy my course I don't really have the intention of doing my job in the way I've trained once I qualify. But I've stuck with it because I wanted my degree and because of the opportunities I get from it.

Good luck!

none1

wow thanks for this advice - it really helps!

actually its not only a few months i have left, i'll be looking at at least another 2-3 semesters before i finish...
(blimey that makes it sound like a prison sentence.:rolleyes:)

Riamfada

A semester is only 12 weeks. Notincluding the four we have off between now and summer. College is by far the best place in the world , and from experience, i will never work fulltime. They will have to prize my cold dead body off one of the concourse pillars

Rosita

The question as to whether an Arts Degree is "worth it" is by comparing your CV with and without one in terms of employability and eligibility for a Master's. It opens a lot of doors that otherwise remain shut.

OP, if you are failing exams you simply are not putting in enough effort or organised enough. You will also enjoy the course and exams a lot more if you are on top of your game.

Do not beat yourself up over the whole "college experience" thing. By and large this is just code for a series of hangovers over a long period of time. Your degree is the key thing. Nobody will care less about your college experience in a few years time, but your degree will speak volumes about you for years.

DirkVoodoo

You will get out of it what you put into it.

Stay the course, get your degree, turn around and give the two fingered salute to UCD and get on with your career/life.

I'm stuck doing a masters in UCD and I think it is one of the worst decisions I have made recently.

Het-Field

Totally worth it. Stick with it. One of the posters above made the point of the CV. The last thing you need an employer to see is five years in UCD with nor return, or five years without even mentioning UCD. You may as well have been in Prison or Mars for all they know. Even iif it takes five or six years, an honours degree instantly makes you more employable, and it also opens up roads into masters programmes which can give you a career focused path.

Leaving now would mean that you have wasted five years of your life, with nothing to show for it.

Finish it out !

McGinty

Hi Op

A someone who is doing things backwards, ie: left school early, had a number of successful dead end jobs and low pay, I realised that getting a degree would improve my earning power and allow me to successfully get out of dead end jobs, (in fairness the last couple of jobs I did before college were pretty good but there was no room for promotion because I didn't have a degree, I had/have the ability but not the paper) so I would urge you to finish your degree, it is worth it financially to begin with.

Secondly if you don't finish, prospective employers will ask why, and it will be much harder to get a job, believe me they go over everything with a fine tooth comb.

Finally I know that many in UCD see an arts degree or being in college as 'eunngh' but for many people they don't get that opportunity either through circumstances, lack of confidence, or other barriers, so to be able to have the opportunity shows you are one of the lucky ones. I consider myself very lucky, I have gone back as a mature student but when I left school I was convinced that was it, and its only since the late 1990s that colleges took older students, and I am so bloody grateful. Now I have fallen in love with the whole academia, (a pleasant side affect) but I know even if I didn't want to pursue that, my options are so much wider with an arts degree. If you try and change your perspective and look at the experience differently maybe you can get through the next year or two.

Finally one more thing, when I used to work for Royal Mail, I started as a postwoman, did night classes in computers and admin and managed to get in the office side of things, I was on the lowest scale (LA2 as they called it) another girl joined one of the business sections as a graduate (sort of internship) she went from being an LA1 to a J2 within two and half years, now the earning power between those levels are enormous, basically from around 15000 sterling to about 35,000 to 45,000 sterling per annum (this was around 1995), and the one thing that really enabled her was her degree (she also had great drive), the furtherest I got was LA1, and I could go no further, I had all the drive not not the qualification, just a final food for thought.

panda100

Grimes wrote: »

A semester is only 12 weeks. Notincluding the four we have off between now and summer.

While it sounds short in theory for someone who really dislikes their course what is only a few months can seem like several decades when your studying etc. It is most definatly easier said than done to just 'stick it out'.As someone in a similar situation who has absolutely no intrest in my course, im doing the whole sticking it out for a year,but its not easy. However, as everyone says here it really would be a pity to waste what you've achieved so far.
Also it cant be good for your self esteem to be constantly failing,repeating etc.I know ive been there and felt like the stupidest person ever.I would really reccomend that if you do decide to finish your course to take up an extra curricular activity that really intrests you to help build up a bit of confidence in yourself again and to help you figure out what you might want to do when you finish your course