IT degree vs university degree

jaaavaaa

I'm just wondering if there really is that much of a stigma attached to getting a degree from an IT rather than a university.

I've just completed a four-year higher level business degree through an IT, which is roughly equivalent to the three-year commerce degree in NUI Galway (the main difference being that, unlike the university course, our course included a work placement. The subject matter of both courses is very similar.)

I've come across a few very prejudiced interviewers when looking for a job - they were basically asking why, since I got a decent leaving certificate (over 500 points), I was studying in an IT. I knew that I wanted to study business, and financially it just made more sense to study in the local IT, especially when the course was so similar to university courses that I would have to move away from home for.

I ended up getting a 1.1 degree - will I get the credit that I deserve for that, because I did work extremely hard for it, or will prospective employers view a 1.1 degree from an IT as inferior to a university 1.1?

Would love to get some peoples' views on this. Thanks.

maxwell smart

I'd be more interested in the field of your studies, rather than where you studied.
I remember when I was doing my degree that DCU was considered a better place to get a degre than both Trinity and UCD, as it was thought to be more "focused" than the other two...but when attending "milk runs" there was no real bias, just interest in direction of study etc

Tom Dunne

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I ended up getting a 1.1 degree - will I get the credit that I deserve for that, because I did work extremely hard for it, or will prospective employers view a 1.1 degree from an IT as inferior to a university 1.1?

There is an element of snobbery, no doubt about it.

However, an Honours Degree is an honours degree, irrespective of where it came from. Both are at level 8 on the national framework, so should be considered equal by employers.

jimmycrackcorm

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I've come across a few very prejudiced interviewers when looking for a job - they were basically asking why, since I got a decent leaving certificate (over 500 points), I was studying in an IT.

Think of that as an opportunisitc question. You'll always gain by being able to provide a really good answer that shows up something the interviewer didn't think about.

padser

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I'm just wondering if there really is that much of a stigma attached to getting a degree from an IT rather than a university.

There is no stigma attached to getting a degree from an IT - however it's not the same thing as getting a degree from a university.

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I've just completed a four-year higher level business degree through an IT, which is roughly equivalent to the three-year commerce degree in NUI Galway (the main difference being that, unlike the university course, our course included a work placement. The subject matter of both courses is very similar.)

It's VERY difficult to compare courses like that. How does one know that the Management account module in University 1 is the same as the management accounting module in University 2? Even if you read the curriculum it would be impossible to know whether, for example, ABC cost accounting was done to the same standard.

Comparing courses like this also ignores both the quality of lecturing and the quality of student that you are studying with / competing against.

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I've come across a few very prejudiced interviewers when looking for a job - they were basically asking why, since I got a decent leaving certificate (over 500 points), I was studying in an IT. I knew that I wanted to study business, and financially it just made more sense to study in the local IT, especially when the course was so similar to university courses that I would have to move away from home for.

People generally don't interview people for jobs they are not going to give them. Asking people 'tough' or confrontational questions is simply an interviewing technique - it doesn't necessarily mean that the IT degree is being held against you. As a previous poster mentioned - just have a good answer ready.

However - I would suspect that the different weights placed on different degrees will show up during the paper application or CV stage of the process - i.e. some positions will look for university graduates and not interview IT graduates.

jaaavaaa wrote: »

I ended up getting a 1.1 degree - will I get the credit that I deserve for that, because I did work extremely hard for it, or will prospective employers view a 1.1 degree from an IT as inferior to a university 1.1?

These are two different questions
1) Will you get the credit you deserve for a 1.1 from an IT?
I have no idea.

2) Will prospective employers view a 1.1. degree from an IT as inferiour to a university 1.1
Of course. If for no other reason than that people who got a 1.1 from a university course were competing against a higher caliber (on average) student to get their 1.1

jaaavaaa wrote: »

Would love to get some peoples' views on this. Thanks.

I suspect that some people will probably have different views to me on this one. To clarify my position before people misrepresent it

1) Universities and IT's are different
2) Both have advantages (in the case of the OP for example there were financial advantages to attending the IT) and universities have (in general although clearly not always) higher caliber students, lecturers and more challenging courses
3) High grades are in general harder to achieve in university than in IT's (for the above reasons)
4) Most employers will value university graduates more highly for the above reasons (and for the fact that they have self selected themselves into the more challenging enviroment)