People who have done arts and successfully found a decent job or masters, post here

Patricide

As the name of the post would imply, I am looking to hear from graduates of UCC arts who have successfully found either A) Decent employment or b) a good masters. Before the thread starts, if I am going back to college I will be looking for a good degree (2.1 or better). I am 23 so my wild teenage years are also behind me, so keep that in mind.

I am looking into the course as an option(among several), but I fear not having any job prospects after it. If I went through with studying arts I would pick German and possibly Computer science as my 2 majors, although I also have an interest in other subjects(psychology, art history, English and sociology).

So to anyone who has had success with an art degree I want to hear from you!

Cheers!

Eliot Rosewater

People who have done arts and successfully found a decent job? Mods may as well close this one straight away.

Eliot Rosewater

On a serious note, it's not as grim as people like to make out. I won't comment much further as I don't do Arts, but getting a job afterwards is about being creative. A lot of people complain about the lack of job prospects but I think a lot of the time they're just not imaginative enough.

Specifically about CS, I don't think you can major in this through Arts. The most you can do after first year is 10 credits. That would obviously be a simpler one for employment.

SEEMagazine

It also depends on the person doing the degree as well... A 1H does you little good if you can't communicate with people.

People with a flair for the written word can often go into the media business, be it print media (like myself) or newsportals, advertising, etc.

If you pick Arts then you'll be taking 4 subjects in 1st Year, 2 of which you continue on with... Those 2 you leave behind should probably be chosen to A) broaden your mind, so as to help you better understand your main subjects, or chosen with the intention of getting them passed with ease so as to allow you more time to focus on your main subjects.

It will always be worth your while meeting lecturers and staff within the relevant Departments, so as to get an idea of what modules might lie in wait in subsequent years. First Year can be overly broad and might not spark your imagination the way you'd like...

Patricide

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

People who have done arts and successfully found a decent job? Mods may as well close this one straight away.

What a naive typically Irish view. Arts is a highly regarded course in certain countries such as the Netherlands. University College Maastricht for example has an 87% employment rate directly after university(although this includes the people who have furthered their degree with a masters, as I would probably myself do).

ReacherCreature

Patricide wrote: »

What a naive typically Irish view.

I think Eliot was making a joke. He offered serious advice in the next post.

Patricide

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I think Eliot was making a joke. He offered serious advice in the next post.

My bad, I had just woken up, and I hate the attitude that certain people have with arts courses. Knee jerk reaction on my part.

Byron85

Myself and Eliot used to be friends. Then I took an Arts degree to the knee.

Herb Powell

Patricide wrote: »

I am looking into the course as an option(among several), but I fear not having any job prospects after it. If I went through with studying arts I would pick German and possibly Computer science as my 2 majors, although I also have an interest in other subjects(psychology, art history, English and sociology).

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Specifically about CS, I don't think you can major in this through Arts. The most you can do after first year is 10 credits. That would obviously be a simpler one for employment.

This is important.
You can study both German and Computer Science, but it depends which one you want more of-you can't take them as joint-majors.
Through Arts you can do 50 credits of German and 10 credits of Computer Science (I've done both of these in my first year, but I'll be dropping the Computer Science so I can major in 2 languages)
Through Computer Science it's pretty much the exact opposite-10 credits of German, and 50 credits made up of various Computer Science modules.

ReacherCreature

Patricide wrote: »

My bad, I had just woken up, and I hate the attitude that certain people have with arts courses. Knee jerk reaction on my part.

It's cool - no worries. Arts crowd get an unfair bashing and myself included, I'm trying to erase that perception.

Léan

I think arts is great if you want to keep your options open. Taking four subjects in first year gives you a lot of scope to figure out what you would like to pursue further.

I graduated last year. I did a BA/BMUS degree. Major music, minor Greek & Roman civ. I'm currently still in UCC doing a MA in composition. I went into my degree knowing and wanting to do a masters to specialize. In my case, with music anyway, it isn't exactly a degree you can just walk into a job with, you have to specialize.

My sister also did an arts degree. She studied joint hons degree in French and Irish in UCC and did a masters in PR afterwards. She currently lives in France and works in the PR field. So the range of opportunities after an arts degree is quite wide really. It's very dependent on your interests. An arts degree serves as a great foundation.

greenbicycle

Hey,

I have an arts degree and while it was really interesting to do and I loved it I really wish I had done something different, something that had an obvious career path from it. I have two masters also, these kind of stemmed from the arts degree, just narrowed down the subject matter a bit, still wish I had done something more "obvious" if that makes sense!

I followed the path I did believing that I was always going to do well by studying something I really enjoyed but alas a satisfactory career just hasn't materialised. I am for from unimaginative before someone says that btw! While I like the job I do now I am fairly unsatisfied with it, it's just a job,doesn't excite me,I wish I was more advanced and should be really but there are no prospects right now.

Every day I say to my husband that if we have children they will learn from my mistakes that made so much sense at that time, I will make them think about the job they want to do and then pick a college course and courses like arts tend not to get you anywhere in many many cases.

Be a nurse or an accountant or an electrician or join the guards,that's what I'll be saying!

keepkeyyellow

Take this from an Arts student, don't do Arts.

RadioClash

keepkeyyellow wrote: »

Take this from an Arts student, don't do Arts.

KPMG or whoever aren't going to be beating down your door, but who'd want to be a bean counter or pen pusher anyway? (joke, before anyone jumps down my throat) The people I graduated with all did very well for themselves, and in some very diverse and interesting fields. All seem to have high job satisfaction.

The OP is talking about a language and something computer based, sounds pretty employable to me.

KCAccidental

greenbicycle wrote: »

Be a nurse or an accountant or an electrician or join the guards,that's what I'll be saying!

I'd prefer to have my kids study something they were interested rather than force them down a career path they wont enjoy for the sake of a solid career. Lasting happiness over short term gain.

ReacherCreature

greenbicycle wrote: »

Be a nurse or an accountant or an electrician or join the guards,that's what I'll be saying!

I think this is fundamentally wrong. What happens if the person doesn't want to be a Guard, an electrician or a number cruncher? You can't make them want to do this overnight. Back when I began my Arts degree I didn't know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to study history. Now, after my MA I'm facing a bleak employment prospect (who isn't) but I'm glad to have chosen Arts. Maybe that opinion will change if I can't get a job.

My point is that people may want to study one thing but you can't force them to be something else.

greenbicycle

I would never force my future child to do anything but I will STRONGLY encourage them to choose a course that leads to something. My parents tried to advise me the same way and I didn't listen, one of my biggest regrets in life. Every single day I sit and wish I had listened to them instead of doing a useless arts degree...

Yes I may have huge amounts of interesting information in my brain, I loved doing the course and learned lots. My mind was opened to lots of stuff. This is from arts and two masters. Glad i did them to gain that but sorry that there was no tangible outputs.End of the day, arts was a huge waste of time when it comes to a decent career.

The list at the end of my last post isn't exhaustive btw, I don't care what my child wants to do as long as they have a good solid career path in mind and if they don't know what to do, go out and work or travel for a few years and then figure it out.

Jogathon

I did arts, archaeology and geography. Loved it. I had dropped out of a science course the year before... I say dropped out when really I failed!! I had no interest in it even though it was very job focused. I am now a primary school teacher and love my job.

augusta24

greenbicycle wrote: »

I would never force my future child to do anything but I will STRONGLY encourage them to choose a course that leads to something. My parents tried to advise me the same way and I didn't listen, one of my biggest regrets in life. Every single day I sit and wish I had listened to them instead of doing a useless arts degree...

Yes I may have huge amounts of interesting information in my brain, I loved doing the course and learned lots. My mind was opened to lots of stuff. This is from arts and two masters. Glad i did them to gain that but sorry that there was no tangible outputs.End of the day, arts was a huge waste of time when it comes to a decent career.

The list at the end of my last post isn't exhaustive btw, I don't care what my child wants to do as long as they have a good solid career path in mind and if they don't know what to do, go out and work or travel for a few years and then figure it out.

Completely comes down to the person, their interests and what they actually want to work in. I did arts and am on a really great masters course that leads me to a specific career.

carolmarx

GreenBicycle seems to be one of those unfortunate people who went to university and escaped an actual education.

greenbicycle

Carolmarx, your 20, and still in college, I dont think your quite qualified to remark like that, I'm very educated and have years of wisdom too, I 'm willing to share that wisdom here, don't put it down if you don't have the experience to share your own advice.

Patricide

greenbicycle wrote: »

I would never force my future child to do anything but I will STRONGLY encourage them to choose a course that leads to something. My parents tried to advise me the same way and I didn't listen, one of my biggest regrets in life. Every single day I sit and wish I had listened to them instead of doing a useless arts degree...

Yes I may have huge amounts of interesting information in my brain, I loved doing the course and learned lots. My mind was opened to lots of stuff. This is from arts and two masters. Glad i did them to gain that but sorry that there was no tangible outputs.End of the day, arts was a huge waste of time when it comes to a decent career.

The list at the end of my last post isn't exhaustive btw, I don't care what my child wants to do as long as they have a good solid career path in mind and if they don't know what to do, go out and work or travel for a few years and then figure it out.

Thanks a lot for the informative, non sensationalist reply. If you don't mind me asking, which arts subjects did you major in and which two masters did you do after? Also what are you doing with yourself now. If you feel the information is a bit personal to be posting on the thread, feel free to PM me. I am very interested to hear both sides of the coin before I commit to going back to university.

greenbicycle

PM sent Patricide, hope it helps a bit.....

greenbicycle

Just re-read your post Patricide, you say your going BACK to university, did you get a degree the first time, what qualifications experience do you have right now?Would you be able to go straight to a masters without doing a degree?
your a mature student now, many masters will accept you based on experience if you have it, if you do have a degree even better but some masters accept people with qualifications from lower on the NFQ too.

Patricide

I never got a degree unfortunately. I went into college at 18 and didn't really like my course so I dropped out. The following year I went back to university to study somthing else, but I had a lot of things to deal with in my personal life at the time, so I left college again. I did a music plc about 2 years ago in hopes of studying music at the cork school of music, but I injured my wrist and it really effected my playing so I didn't pursue this route either.

Now I just want to get back to education, and get a degree that is useful in improving my job prospects.

Manach

Arts degrees are valuable in that they give added perspective in life, allowing one to look beyond the current happenings. I did not get my primary degree in Arts, instead going down the tech route but did get one latter on. Jobs wise, for instance in the IT industry in the role of technical writers having an ability sum-up and explain concepts to non-expert users is a key skillset, which to me seems a core skill gained from Arts.

John Wells

Patricide wrote: »

As the name of the post would imply, I am looking to hear from graduates of UCC arts who have successfully found either A) Decent employment or b) a good masters. Before the thread starts, if I am going back to college I will be looking for a good degree (2.1 or better). I am 23 so my wild teenage years are also behind me, so keep that in mind.

I am looking into the course as an option(among several), but I fear not having any job prospects after it. If I went through with studying arts I would pick German and possibly Computer science as my 2 majors, although I also have an interest in other subjects(psychology, art history, English and sociology).

So to anyone who has had success with an art degree I want to hear from you!

Cheers!

Hello Patricide. I graduated with an Arts degree from UCC in 2007 so here's my two cents on the questions raised for what it's worth.

My first piece of advice would be to choose a course that you think will sustain your interest over a three to four-year period. You're going to have to put in a huge amount of time and effort, so it's a real plus if you like the subject.

Second, not matter what course you choose aim to get a first class honours degree. It's not beyond the realms of possibility and opens up many doors both in terms of employment and further study.

The third piece of advice I'd give is to study a foreign language. Being able to speak another language makes you infinitely more employable and there is a huge shortfall of modern language graduates in Ireland and the UK at the minute. Choose a course that will allow you to study overseas for a year too. It's a great experience and allows you to perfect your language skills.

In terms of employment opportunities after finishing an Arts degree, obviously there is no clear career path as there may seem for other graduates. Teaching is probably the most common option and they are currently crying out for English teachers and Modern Language teachers in the UK.

However, I've friends with Arts degrees who've found employment over the last five years in various sectors from publishing, teaching, finance, international law, academia, administration to English-language teaching overseas.

If you're primary motivation for going back to university is to carve out a clear career path (outside of academia) you might be better off doing a B.Comm European or a pure Computer Science degree with a language than Arts. Both would give you a more practical degree in many ways and allow you to study a modern language and do some content courses. Although in the current economic climate there is unfortunately no cast-iron guarantee of employment for graduates in Ireland.

As someone who started college in my mid-20s I contemplated doing either a Computer Science or a Business degree but realised that they would have bored me to tears leading me to drop out.

Instead I finished my Arts degree fluent in another language, spent a year teaching English overseas before moving to the UK to do an MA at what's considered the best department in the world for my subject area. I'm currently in the last year of a fully-funded PhD at the same university (with the caveat that from September onwards I'll be looking for a job like thousands of other graduates!).

Hopefully this post will be of some help and don't hesitate to pm me if you need any further advice.

JeremyH

I graduated from UCC with a BA in 1999 (Applied Psychology major, Sociology minor). I did a HDip in Business and Financial Information Systems after (because I felt that a conversion course would be a useful addition to my CV). I liked Information Systems (IS) so much that I did an MSc by research thesis on that topic directly after and I have been lecturing full-time in BIS in UCC since 2002 (did some part-time lecturing in both UCC and CIT between 2000 and 2002).

The conversion course was extremely useful to me as it exposed me to things like accounting, finance, analysis and design and programming for the first time. I mainly teach programming and eCommerce strategy (which came from the HDip and my MSc topic) but from the point of view of doing research (the other part of the job), the skills I learned on the BA were far more useful.

I'm writing a paper at the moment and using Institutional Theory (from the domain of sociology mainly) and I can honestly say that studying Psych and Sociology has been hugely beneficial.

The payoff from an Arts degree can sometimes take longer than a more vocational degree but the benefits are definitely there. And there are many opportunities for grads from the BA to do conversion courses and to add additional skills. In BIS alone there are four MBS courses that will accept grads from the BA (or indeed any other discipline) - MBS in Information Systems for Business Performance, MBS eBusiness, MBS in Management Information and Management Accounting Systems and MBS in Innovation in European Business.

Plenty of other opportunities out there too.

schlafshane

Hey Patricide,

I did German and History in UCC, and after wandering around for a bit I've got a job right now I'm really happy with.

To be honest, if you can combine German with CS, I'd say go for it. It's a great time to get a qualification in computers, and having the language means you'll be well set for large tech companies. I'm currently interviewing for a German speaking technical role where I work.

That said, I've met my share of Arts graduates who now want to do something else - though the same can be said for many disciplines now. If you can graduate with a first, you shouldn't find it too hard.

Contrarian

I did a BA in Philosophy and Sociology and now have a good job in management in a large telecoms company which I love and pays well. An arts degree may not have a clearly definable career path but it does teach you HOW to think and develops critical thinking skills which are valuable in many careers. It also gives you more time to decide what you want to do. There are plenty of more vocational options after you graduate. I did postgrad dips in both Computer Science and Management after getting the job and I must say Philosophy was far more difficult than either!

MangoLime

I'm currently in my final year studying English and History, after which I plan to teach english as a foreign language in Asia. There's nothing wrong with doing an arts degree, however, if you want to move into most specific careers you'll probably have to do further study, like a Masters or Phd. I won't have to do this but I know a few people who do and it's an awful lot of money. So if you want to be, say a Psychologist or Computer Scientist it might be worth trying to get into those specific courses first before going through Arts.

Oh, and the "jokes" that go around about Arts being a doss-completely untrue. There are many assignments that need to be done throughout the years which, if you aren't careful, will pile up like nobody's business.

Good Luck!

CunningStunts

Patricide,

I graduated back in 2001 from Arts. I actually entered in ’97, went on the piss for 2 years, failed a Computer Science subject in second year and opted to repeat the whole year as a third of the marks from second year went towards third year and figured I’d to cop on and get myself some sort of qualification.

I did Economics and Computer Science as my main subjects but in first year took Sciology and Maths Studies as the former was somewhat interesting and the latter was basically a repeat of Leaving Cert Honours Maths and therefore easy to pass.

I finished up with a high 2.1 in 2001 and went on to do an M.A. in Economics. That class was split about 50:50 between BA’s and Commerce and Finance students (who got an M.Econ.Sc on finishing).

I then went and did the graduate exams for AIB and ended up in their Grad Program. Now I’ve no idea on whether or not the MA swung it but my marks in the graduate entry exam for AIB were relatively high. You had to have a min 2.1 degree to do the exam and I think they just went with whoever got the highest in their own exam after that. Now, I’ve stuck with Banking and have a relatively good career, income would be well above average and the hours worked are fine (and have been in all 3 Banks I’ve worked for in Ireland). I travelled for a few months a few years ago and contemplated staying in Oz and was offered 2 jobs there with Banks who were impressed with both the experience I had and the qualifications so a BA is by no means considered a joke by prospective employers...that is so long as it has some relationship to your job, as economics did with mine.

I’m still in contact with a few people from my Masters class and if I remember correctly, 3 went onto do PHD’s and there was 100% employment for the remaining 21 that graduated. Mostly they were in the Banking and Finance sectors and I know people went to AIB, BoI, Ulster Bank, a few went to Banks in London, there are a few accountants, one went into research, one lectures in UCC (excluding the 3 PHD’s who also lecture), 2 or 3 went into Industry with Kerry Group and Smurfit, one is a stockbroker and there are a couple of teachers too I think so while it’s not exactly that diverse, there were a few avenues open to us.

Overall I’m glad I did it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I entered UCC but when choosing subjects I felt Economics was possibly the most practical in terms of a solid career afterward as I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher!!

Hope that helps some bit.

Patricide

Thanks guys, all these replies have helped immensely.

I am still not too sure if I want to go down the arts route, but keep the stories coming. If not for me, then for other people in the future. I am sure that I am not the only one concerned about the value of an arts degree.

PhatPiggins

We've gotten to the stage in Ireland where a Masters is the minimum standard for a lot of careers. Your primary degree is what the leaving cert was in the 90's.

My advice if you're unsure what you want, would be to pick a course you're interested in and failing that pick one with a range of subject options you can diversify into. Specialisation and career focus can more often then not be left to postgraduate studies.

I seriously don't understand the whole dissing an Arts degree thing. Okay maybe I do when it comes to ill-informed people.

I know numerous people who did Arts degrees and joined grad programmes at Citi Group and Enterprise Ireland -without doing a Masters.

It all depends on:

YOUR motivation, talent, etc.

What YOU put into your degree -scholarly development; and your personal and professional development

YOUR actual degree discipline is not relevant to a lot of jobs -bar the professions such as Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, etc. and some science related jobs.

I wouldn't think of a BA as a negative thing, do you think prestigious companies and organisations care of you have a BA or BSc? Most universities in the US award BAs as do Cambridge and Oxford universities.

I'm graduating this year with a BA Economics, heading to Korea to teach English for a year (for the experience, I don't actually want a teaching career) and will do a Masters after that in International Relations or Economics (with reference to the Asia-Pacific region).

THINK OF THE BIGGER PICTURE!!!

ViveLaVie

I graduated with a high 2.1 Arts degree from UCC last year. I got a First in my major which was English and a 2.1 in French. I'm currently doing an M.Phil in Literature at Trinity.

I am a bit nervous considering that the job prospects for an Arts degree aren't clearly defined. I get people asking me why I bothered to do a Masters to specialise even further in a subject that is completely irrelevant to any career. I get people looking at me blankly and asking what I hope to do that doesn't involve the PDE. To be honest, I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I do know however that I'm really passionate about the subjects I studied and I want to get a job that involves actually using them.

Some of my friends think I'm an idiot for doing Arts and I get routinely slagged over it. However, some of these same friends picked courses based on job prospects and clearly defined career objectives and are very unhappy. They hated their courses and now they hate their jobs and they're just starting out.

I loved my course. Absolutely loved it. It's certainly changed the way I think about the world. I think it comes down to priorities. If your objective is to be happy and do something you enjoy, choose accordingly - but take the risk you may be unemployed for a while. If you want the guarantee of a job, pick something safer - but take the risk that you may not like where it leads you.

johnny-fatality

Patricide wrote: »

So to anyone who has had success with an art degree I want to hear from you!

Cheers!

Hi Patricide.

I graduated from UCC last year with an arts degree. I'm doing a masters now in UL. I'm confident of getting a job come next year when I graduate.

For me, the main target of attack are any-discipline graduate programmes. With an arts degree, a masters and extra curricular activity (a very important thing to have), there are a lot of opportunities at very prestigious companies who provide specific training upon selection. It is harder to get in to some of these if you are an arts student compared to, say, a CS or business student, but if you are determined then it is an achievable goal.

However, an arts degree is sort of a 'change your perspective, become analytical' creature. It doesn't equip you with a formal, explicit skill set. If you're in the same boat as the poster studying Literature because they love it, then that is ok,
however, my advice would be to think of where you will be once you graduate. Imagine that you're in final year, deciding what to do. I won't suggest that I know what you should choose, just give it more thought than I did (I chose based on what I enjoyed. I think that this was not mitigated by career prospects, which was quite a naive approach.)

Last word of advice - Don't rely on the college website for information. The college is a business, whose income comes primarily from student's money. I nostalgically wish that I had used my free fees to more use than sitting in a lecture hall for three years, but 'hindsight is 20-20'.

Best of Luck, and good to see this thread not descending into mud slinging also.

NeuroCat

Deleted User wrote: »

I seriously don't understand the whole dissing an Arts degree thing. Okay maybe I do when it comes to ill-informed people.

I wouldn't think of a BA as a negative thing, do you think prestigious companies and organisations care of you have a BA or BSc? Most universities in the US award BAs as do Cambridge and Oxford universities.


THINK OF THE BIGGER PICTURE!!!

The class of your degree, B.Sc, B.A doesn't necessarily denote if it's an Arts degree or not. I'm going to graduate with a B.A in Biochemistry, which is far from a conventional arts degree. Many Universities award B.A's simply out of tradition. When we refer to arts degrees today, most people are talking about humanities e.g Sociology, English, Modern Languages etc.

ViveLaVie

NeuroCat wrote: »

The class of your degree, B.Sc, B.A doesn't necessarily denote if it's an Arts degree or not. I'm going to graduate with a B.A in Biochemistry, which is far from a conventional arts degree. Many Universities award B.A's simply out of tradition. When we refer to arts degrees today, most people are talking about humanities e.g Sociology, English, Modern Languages etc.

Exactly. I believe Oxford and Cambridge award Bachelor of Arts to their science graduates - someone correct me if I'm wrong. Likewise, I'm getting a Master of Philosophy in English even though I would get a Master of Arts if I did the same degree in UCC. This is because Trinity awards every student with a B.A. an honorary M.A. seven years after they graduate. The honorary M.A. doesn't actually count so, to avoid confusion, my course which is more in line with an M.A. is an M.Phil course instead. Bit ridiculous, I know.