Jobs with an Arts degree?

Lollipop95

I'm hoping to do an arts degree in NUI next year and taking the following subjects English, Information Technology, Psychology and one other subject. With regards where my strengths lie, I'm very efficient at typing,word excel and I love writing and analysing/critically thinking. Careers wise I'd like a job in the events field/publishing or journalism(the reason I'm not doing a journalism degree by itself is because I don't want to limit myself and I know it's quite difficult to find secure work) so do you think arts would be a good choice to find work in the events/pr or publishing field? Also, what other jobs can be obtained? I see on the NUIG website the course is 3 years and there's also post grad options? Is it necessary to do a post grad in a specific area or can you graduate after the 3 year BA? Does arts look impressive on a CV? (I'd be specialising in English and one other subject after 1st year) Thanks in advance

Ruu

Moving from After Hours.

Lia_lia

I have a friend who did Arts. He then did the journalism masters in DCU and has a very good job in radio journalism.


Then I know 6 people that did Arts and are unemployed because they can't find anything. One of my best friends did Arts and seriously regrets it. She is now doing a plc course in office admin and has already been offered 2 pretty good jobs from that course.

It depends on a lot of things really. I'd do journalism if you can to be honest.

Shakespeare's Sister

A journalism degree would be way too limited. You're better off OP doing a broader degree.
Arts degrees on their own aren't going to snare you a job usually, but a postgrad is always an option. You should do the subjects you love.

Roquentin

"No, the psychiatrists have all the psychiatric jobs.

Two very different fields."


The two fields study the mind. Go around to any psychiatric hospital in ireland and you will see lots a psychiatrists and very few psychologists.

So the remaining psychologists have to set up their own practice or become branch into a more acute field of psychology if they are not in a college.

Or else they become HR or something.

longhalloween

Lollipop95 wrote: »

I'm hoping to do an arts degree in NUI next year and taking the following subjects English, Information Technology, Psychology and one other subject.

The problem with an Arts degree is that you're not taught anything relevant to any specific sector.
For instance, what job could you directly get with your current choices?

With English you might get into teaching or journalism, but not without further study in either a H.Dip or Masters in journalism.

Information Technology as an Arts subject is very broad and doesn't actually deal with IT in the form of programming. It's more for people who may be required to use computers daily, like office workers and admin people.

Psychology is also very broad and most who study it go further with Masters and PhD's.

I'd recommend you do journalism if that where you want to be in a few years time. When you're applying for a job it's better to have a focused degree, rather than be a jack of all trades.

Magaggie wrote: »

A journalism degree would be way too limited. You're better off OP doing a broader degree.
Arts degrees on their own aren't going to snare you a job usually, but a postgrad is always an option. You should do the subjects you love.

I disagree entirely with this.
There's nothing worse than spending 3 years studying and not have a job at the end.
You should only do a postgrad if you want to, not because you're employment opportunities are so limited you're forced to.

Roquentin

Roquentin wrote: »

"No, the psychiatrists have all the psychiatric jobs.

Two very different fields."


The two fields study the mind. Go around to any psychiatric hospital in ireland and you will see lots a psychiatrists and very few psychologists.

So the remaining psychologists have to set up their own practice or become branch into a more acute field of psychology if they are not in a college.

Or else they become HR or something.

Psychiatrists treat and study medical disorders of the psyche. Psychologists treat and study disorders of behaviour and thought.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors, psychologists are not. They are not interchangeable.

Clandestine

Lollipop95 wrote: »

I'm hoping to do an arts degree in NUI next year and tak-

NO NO NO DON'T

Unless you get a masters you're probably going to be joining the many other arts graduates who are unemployed. The sector you are looking for in particular is notoriously crowded and competitive.

Honestly, I think your best options for employment right now are in science and technology e.g Actuary, Software Development, IT Services, Hardware etc

Shakespeare's Sister

longhalloween wrote: »

I'd recommend you do journalism if that where you want to be in a few years time. When you're applying for a job it's better to have a focused degree, rather than be a jack of all trades.

Do not do journalism as an undergrad OP - the sector is saturated! (I'm extremely familiar with it). It's available as a postgrad though. You are better off having an arts degree in a few disciplines than a journalism degree which is focused on something very specific where there are very few job opportunities (abroad as well as here)

Clandestine wrote: »

NO NO NO DON'T

Unless you get a masters you're probably going to be joining the many other arts graduates who are unemployed. The sector you are looking for in particular is notoriously crowded and competitive.

Honestly, I think your best options for employment right now are in science and technology e.g Actuary, Software Development, IT Services, Hardware etc

What if the OP doesn't have the aptitude for these things? OP, do the subjects you love. If education was just supposed to be about getting a job, you may as well get a trade and not bother with college.

Clandestine

Magaggie wrote: »

What if the OP doesn't have the aptitude for these things? OP, do the subjects you love. If education was just supposed to be about getting a job, you may as well get a trade and not bother with college.

And end up unemployed? I frankly dislike the idea of telling people "Do what you really want to do" rather than "do a degree in something thats going to get you work". You have to be realistic, especially in today's world. Also, you don't have much luck getting a job with a trade these days either.

Lollipop95

See, I either want to get into events/pr, admin work or publishing(an area I'm interested in finding out more about) so that's why I'm doing arts as I think I'll be open to everything and I love English and would love studying it. A journalism degree isn't an option for me as the points are like 490(480 for creative writing) and getting 400 or 400 plus just isn't feasible for me unfortunately I had my heart set in journalism but my career guidance teacher told me it wasn't a very stable and secure job(I asked her about employment prospects) I would love to do Arts but then on the other hand I want to do a course that would ensure employment afterwards and I've read that employers would not be that keen on arts degree on a CV which really puzzles me if true. I mean surely if you specialised in say English(which leads l range of jobs according to their website - journalism,PR,publishing) and put down on your CV you achieved an honours(not sure how college grading works exactly but I think it's something like that) any future employer would be impressed, particularly if it was a job in publishing or PR? Obviously though I want do a course that maximises my employment opportunities last thing I want to do is be sending in countless job applications that prove fruitless! That's why I'm asking about arts here - I'd love to hear stories of people have done arts and get advice

longhalloween

Magaggie wrote: »

Do not do journalism as an undergrad OP - the sector is saturated! (I'm extremely familiar with it). It's available as a postgrad though. You are better off having an arts degree in a few disciplines than a journalism degree which is focused on something very specific where there are very few job opportunities (abroad as well as here)

Instead of journalism, is there another related degree with more opportunity, such as digital media?

Magaggie wrote: »

What if the OP doesn't have the aptitude for these things? OP, do the subjects you love. If education was just supposed to be about getting a job, you may as well get a trade and not bother with college.

I have an Arts degree and it got me nowhere. Although I loved my subjects there was just no job where I could apply them when I left college.
So I had to work for years in several jobs I hated or didn't care about until I could afford to go back to college and study something more focused which I can get work with.

IMO university education IS about getting a job. There's nothing to stop you studying the subjects you love in your spare time.

Lollipop95

Lollipop95 wrote: »

See, I either want to get into events/pr, admin work or publishing(an area I'm more interested in finding out about) so that's why I'm doing arts as I think I'll be open to everything and I love English and would love studying it. A journalism degree isn't an option for me as the points are like 490(480 for creative writing) and getting 400 or 400 plus just isn't feasible for me unfortunately I had my heart set in journalism but my career guidance teacher told me it wasn't a very stable and secure job(I asked her about employment prospects) I would love to do Arts but then on the other hand I want to do a course that would ensure employment afterwards and I've read tat employers would not be that keen on arts degree on a CV which really puzzles me if true. I mean surely if you specialised in say English(which leads l range of jobs according to their website - journalism,PR,publishing) and put down on your CV you achieved an honours(not sure how college grading works exactly but I think it's something like that) any future employer would be impressed, particularly if it was a job in publishing or PR?

I think the issue is competition. For every job in the publishing world (not many) there will be many, many arts graduates. Many will have post grads too, so it's not the case that an honours arts degree isn't impressive by itself, it's that it's quite commonplace and as places on these courses don't require huge amounts of points and have particularly stringent entry points, it's not a great indicator of ability.

If you were the only person graduating with an art degree, you'd be onto a winner, but I know of people with arts degrees who are working in bookshops.

Clandestine

Lollipop95 wrote: »

See, I either want to get into events/pr, admin work or publishing

Unless you know the right people, getting a job in any of these sectors is an absolute nightmare. Your career guidance teacher is right, it is not a steady line of work at all.

You seem to want a job that involves people. Have you thought about doing something else with people as a focus? I'm not sure where the jobs are focused in this area though.

NSAman

Did an Arts Degree to start off with but it was next to useless by itself. I have another 2 degrees in business and a masters also.

Needless to say. I did a HDip also not that I was ever going to teach but found it extremely boring.

Now work in an industry that I never ever use the Arts degree in but the business degrees are invaluable.

Arts Degree is a stepping stone only and should be treated as such... I mean what the hell good is a liberal arts degree good for anyway?..;)

Lollipop95

Digital Media sounds interesting what would it involve exactly? Could I still do the arts degree and are employment prospects good? And yes, definitely anything involving communications I would love

RandomName2

Clandestine wrote: »

NO NO NO DON'T

Unless you get a masters you're probably going to be joining the many other arts graduates who are unemployed. The sector you are looking for in particular is notoriously crowded and competitive.

Honestly, I think your best options for employment right now are in science and technology e.g Actuary, Software Development, IT Services, Hardware etc

A general science degree is as employable as an arts degree

longhalloween

OP, my advice for choosing college courses is this:

You have to ask yourself two questions:
"Realistically, who is going to pay me money to use what I learned in my degree?"
"What skills will this give me to set me apart from everybody else?"

If you have a Arts degree in English, psychology and information technology, then I'm afraid you'll have your work cut out for you.

Vag

Just my two cents. OP, go and spend the next few weeks looking at job sites every day and see first of all what jobs are available, and secondly, how many ask specifically for an Arts degree (Hint: None). There is no doubt you will learn lots of interesting things studying Arts, and develop good analytic skills etc. but you may regret it big time in the long run. I know people who have dabbled in artsy style subjects for years and are now seeing how useless they are in the job market.

If you do a three year degree, it will be an ordinary degree (next to useless). You will have to do a fourth year to get an honours degree if you intend doing a postgraduate degree. You could do a conversion course at that stage to something like law/medicine etc. I suggest if you do finish an arts degree, have a serious think about your career trajectory at that point (go back to the jobs websites and see what’s in demand).

If you study English your job options are pretty much restricted to being a secondary school English teacher or university lecturer (which requires a PhD and is a long way to go for bad job prospects and not so great pay). Also bear in mind that by the time you graduate, the print journalism landscape will be very different and could be dying out. If you are very keen on writing – start building your portfolio NOW!! e.g. writing for local newspapers/writing competitions etc. Even think about dabbling in creative writing (but definitely have a plan b).

If you continue down the psychology route and want to be a clinical psychologist for example, it is very, very tough to get into - you would be quicker doing medicine and becoming a psychiatrist. I don’t know much about the events management field you mentioned so I couldn't advise.

Also don’t be fooled by the NUI website i.e “Arts graduates have loads of options” or something to that effect. Take it on good authority; it’s pretty much teaching or the civil service. Remember look at the requirements on the jobs websites, they rarely if ever ask for Arts graduates. My advice, (1) do business or a business subject like accountancy (might be boring but always in demand and great pay), (2) get a profession e.g. nurse, engineer, law etc. (3) IT/Computer science.

This may sound all doom and gloom but it is just reality. This is OFTEN what an arts degree is worth - http://www.legalcheek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/arts-degree-pls-take.jpg
Hope this helps

Lollipop95

Vag wrote: »

Just my two cents. OP, go and spend the next few weeks looking at job sites every day and see first of all what jobs are available, and secondly, how many ask specifically for an Arts degree (Hint: None). There is no doubt you will learn lots of interesting things studying Arts, and develop good analytic skills etc. but you may regret it big time in the long run. I know people who have dabbled in artsy style subjects for years and are now seeing how useless they are in the job market.

If you do a three year degree, it will be an ordinary degree (next to useless). You will have to do a fourth year to get an honours degree if you intend doing a postgraduate degree. You could do a conversion course at that stage to something like law/medicine etc. I suggest if you do finish an arts degree, have a serious think about your career trajectory at that point (go back to the jobs websites and see what’s in demand).

If you study English your job options are pretty much restricted to being a secondary school English teacher or university lecturer (which requires a PhD and is a long way to go for bad job prospects and not so great pay). Also bear in mind that by the time you graduate, the print journalism landscape will be very different and could be dying out. If you are very keen on writing – start building your portfolio NOW!! e.g. writing for local newspapers/writing competitions etc. Even think about dabbling in creative writing (but definitely have a plan b).

If you continue down the psychology route and want to be a clinical psychologist for example, it is very, very tough to get into - you would be quicker doing medicine and becoming a psychiatrist. I don’t know much about the events management field you mentioned so I couldn't advise.

Also don’t be fooled by the NUI website i.e “Arts graduates have loads of options” or something to that effect. Take it on good authority; it’s pretty much teaching or the civil service. Remember look at the requirements on the jobs websites, they rarely if ever ask for Arts graduates. My advice, (1) do business or a business subject like accountancy (might be boring but always in demand and great pay), (2) get a profession e.g. nurse, engineer, law etc. (3) IT/Computer science.

This may sound all doom and gloom but it is just reality. This is OFTEN what an arts degree is worth - http://www.legalcheek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/arts-degree-pls-take.jpg
Hope this helps

Definitely not interested in psychology as a career, would be only taking as it looks appealing, more so than the other subject choices on offer Also I like business too but points wise I couldn't get into any of the courses with maths being a problem(I do foundation level maths) i was looking at civil law and public&social policy and although the modules looked quite interesting, I couldn't really gauge what sort of careers would be open to me obviously I'd love to do arts but I have to consider it as I know two people that did it(one now works as a personal trainer, very successful one, but intended becoming a teacher) and another person I believe is working at hotel as events co-ordinator but they did evening courses in the Dublin Business School(coincidentally I think that person was also initially considering teaching too) it just seems that a lot of people do them because they have no clue what they want to do. Whereas I do (something in communications) and I'm doing it because I really want to study english and also because arts is one of the few courses where doing foundation maths wouldn't be a hindrance to me

Baked.noodle

I think there is little point in doing IT or science courses if your heart is drawn to Journalism and English. So many people find collage an absolute slog if they pick the wrong course for them. I have an Arts degree, and a Masters in Philosophy and I can assure you there is not much work out there and that is definitely a problem. Nevertheless, I also have health problems that pose another obstacle for me. There are times I wish I had done something else in collage but on the whole I think it has had such an impact on who I am that I would be a very different person if I had studied something else. I loved collage, and I have discovered so much about my self studying the Arts. It is one of my best achievements and has opened my eyes to how varied and interesting the world around me is. It is unfortunate that in today's world people have never before had more opportunities to grow and yet a lot of people end up doing skilled yet quite unfulfilling jobs for long hours to put bread on the table. I have worked in factories where the engineers browse Facebook all day, and that too is a slog in my opinion. Obviously, I think finding the middle ground is best. If your heart seeks the Arts I would say go for it. If you work hard it will eventually pay off.

Clandestine

RandomName2 wrote: »

A general science degree is as employable as an arts degree

I never recommended a general science degree. I meant in the science sector

Lollipop95

Baked.noodle wrote: »

I think there is little point in doing IT or science courses if your heart is drawn to Journalism and English. So many people find collage an absolute slog if they pick the wrong course for them. I have an Arts degree, and a Masters in Philosophy and I can assure you there is not much work out there and that is definitely a problem. Nevertheless, I also have health problems that pose another obstacle for me. There are times I wish I had done something else in collage but on the whole I think it has had such an impact on who I am that I would be a very different person if I had studied something else. I loved collage, and I have discovered so much about my self studying the Arts. It is one of my best achievements and has opened my eyes to how varied and interesting the world around me is. It is unfortunate that in today's world people have never before had more opportunities to grow and yet a lot of people end up doing skilled yet quite unfulfilling jobs for long hours to put bread on the table. I have worked in factories where the engineers browse Facebook all day, and that too is a slog in my opinion. Obviously, I think finding the middle ground is best. If your heart seeks the Arts I would say go for it. If you work hard it will eventually pay off.

Lovely post

Roquentin

Candie wrote: »

Psychiatrists treat and study medical disorders of the psyche. Psychologists treat and study disorders of behaviour and thought.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors, psychologists are not. They are not interchangeable.

I know psychiatrists are medical doctors, hence why i said it would be better to be a psychiatrist because there are more jobs.

Now they both study the mind, so they are very linked. You are suggesting that they are totally different which they are not.

For example an analogy is a car. You have the engineer who designs the car and the mechanic who fixes it. But both of them understand elements of each others discipline very well. The mechanic knows how the engine works and the engineer could replace a part if asked.

Ergo the two fields are closely linked. Psychologists cannot prescribe medication though and when it comes to anxiety no amount of talking from a Counselor can quash it on their own. people need the medication and then the Counselor complements that medication

Roquentin

Sure you can always do a post grad in what you want to really do anyway.

You must ask yourself what do you enjoy and are you introverted/extroverted and so on.

You may get the ideal job but be working with too few people or too many people. have to factor in that as well.

Acacia

Lollipop95 wrote: »

See, I either want to get into events/pr, admin work or publishing(an area I'm interested in finding out more about) so that's why I'm doing arts as I think I'll be open to everything and I love English and would love studying it. A journalism degree isn't an option for me as the points are like 490(480 for creative writing) and getting 400 or 400 plus just isn't feasible for me unfortunately I had my heart set in journalism but my career guidance teacher told me it wasn't a very stable and secure job(I asked her about employment prospects) I would love to do Arts but then on the other hand I want to do a course that would ensure employment afterwards and I've read that employers would not be that keen on arts degree on a CV which really puzzles me if true. I mean surely if you specialised in say English(which leads l range of jobs according to their website - journalism,PR,publishing) and put down on your CV you achieved an honours(not sure how college grading works exactly but I think it's something like that) any future employer would be impressed, particularly if it was a job in publishing or PR? Obviously though I want do a course that maximises my employment opportunities last thing I want to do is be sending in countless job applications that prove fruitless! That's why I'm asking about arts here - I'd love to hear stories of people have done arts and get advice

The bit in bold- I used to think the exact same as you OP ( in fact I could have written your post word for word at 17/18)... and I can tell you as an Arts graduate who has spend the last couple of years applying for jobs, that an Arts degree generally doesn't cut the mustard with employers. Not trying to be patronizing here, but you have to remember that you might well have gotten an excellent degree in college, but that the employer will also have a flood of other CV's in their inbox who have an honours degree (perhaps in something more relevant to the job), a post graduate qualification, work experience, etc.

It's not about you having a good enough degree and thus your CV is 'passable', it's about you equipping yourself with a set of skills that will make you the most employable candidate of the bunch.

I also should add that it is the 'job' if you will of college websites / brochures to 'sell' their product ( the course) to you, the customer ( student.) I'm not saying an English degree would not potentially lead to a job in publishing, journalism, etc but those course descriptions tend to leave out that you would probably need unpaid experience, a postgrad qualification ( maybe costing thousands of euros) and a healthy dose of sheer luck to secure a paid position in a lucrative field.

I'm not saying this to be mean/ b1tchy, I say it because I really wish somebody had sat me down when I was in your position and told me all this. I studied English, Spanish and Anthropology in college with an M.A. in English (because I still didn't know what I wanted to do after my undergrad!) and only now- after four years in a post-graduation wilderness- I'm going back to college to finally do something that will make me an employable professional, as opposed to an Arts graduate. This is after two long stints on the dole, two years of a job I didn't like, and unpaid work in the field I really want to get into. And I'm only able to do this because my parents are helping me out with the cost of fees (6 grand plus) and are letting me live with them for a year.

I'm not going to tell you what to do, as it's such a personal decision. I'm also aware that I do sound like a bitter old fogey. I should probably add that if I hadn't graduated in the height of the recession I might have fared better.

But the million dollar question is '' Would I do Arts again, if I had the choice?" Hand on heart, my answer is 'no'. Four years of enjoying studying those subjects- as interesting as they were- was not worth the last few years of misery. That's just my honest experience.

Smash The House

What about something like Communications or Digital Media op ?
Or New Media and English in UL?

Roquentin

Acacia wrote: »

The bit in bold- I used to think the exact same as you OP ( in fact I could have written your post word for word at 17/18)... and I can tell you as an Arts graduate who has spend the last couple of years applying for jobs, that an Arts degree generally doesn't cut the mustard with employers. Not trying to be patronizing here, but you have to remember that you might well have gotten an excellent degree in college, but that the employer will also have a flood of other CV's in their inbox who have an honours degree (perhaps in something more relevant to the job), a post graduate qualification, work experience, etc.

It's not about you having a good enough degree and thus your CV is 'passable', it's about you equipping yourself with a set of skills that will make you the most employable candidate of the bunch.

I also should add that it is the 'job' if you will of college websites / brochures to 'sell' their product ( the course) to you, the customer ( student.) I'm not saying an English degree would not potentially lead to a job in publishing, journalism, etc but those course descriptions tend to leave out that you would probably need unpaid experience, a postgrad qualification ( maybe costing thousands of euros) and a healthy dose of sheer luck to secure a paid position in a lucrative field.

I'm not saying this to be mean/ b1tchy, I say it because I really wish somebody had sat me down when I was in your position and told me all this. I studied English, Spanish and Anthropology in college with an M.A. in English (because I still didn't know what I wanted to do after my undergrad!) and only now- after four years in a post-graduation wilderness- I'm going back to college to finally do something that will make me an employable professional, as opposed to an Arts graduate. This is after two long stints on the dole, two years of a job I didn't like, and unpaid work in the field I really want to get into. And I'm only able to do this because my parents are helping me out with the cost of fees (6 grand plus) and are letting me live with them for a year.

I'm not going to tell you what to do, as it's such a personal decision. I'm also aware that I do sound like a bitter old fogey. I should probably add that if I hadn't graduated in the height of the recession I might have fared better.

But the million dollar question is '' Would I do Arts again, if I had the choice?" Hand on heart, my answer is 'no'. Four years of enjoying studying those subjects- as interesting as they were- was not worth the last few years of misery. That's just my honest experience.

Part of the problem now is that there are too many people and not enough jobs.

Employers are being inundated with CVs.

Like you say the more strings to your bow you have the more impressed that employer will be.

But when you are a couple of retrospective employees with similar CVs it all comes down to the interview then and who personality wise best sells them self.

sometimes as well you may have a golden CV but might be difficult to work with. The degree itself is only part of the equation. You have to be able to work with others and have good interpersonal skills.

College degrees as well are kind of redundant because when you go in to work in a place they will have to train you up in job in hand. The degree shows you can work hard and learn something 20 times so in the exam you can write it out the 21st time.

Roquentin

Smash The House wrote: »

What about something like Communications or Digital Media op ?
Or New Media and English in UL?

semantics. they are all the same. Once you have a degree in journalism its a golden key to lots of different jobs.

There is overlap.

Lollipop95

Unfortunately the course in UL requires a pass in ordinary level maths. This is a big reason why I need to do arts too - I'm so restricted on what I can do with foundation maths(which I failed miserably in the mocks) My guidance teacher agreed with me it's a shame that you need maths for practically every course the good thing about arts I guess is that maths won't be an obstacle for me

Lollipop95

Acacia wrote: »

The bit in bold- I used to think the exact same as you OP ( in fact I could have written your post word for word at 17/18)... and I can tell you as an Arts graduate who has spend the last couple of years applying for jobs, that an Arts degree generally doesn't cut the mustard with employers. Not trying to be patronizing here, but you have to remember that you might well have gotten an excellent degree in college, but that the employer will also have a flood of other CV's in their inbox who have an honours degree (perhaps in something more relevant to the job), a post graduate qualification, work experience, etc.

It's not about you having a good enough degree and thus your CV is 'passable', it's about you equipping yourself with a set of skills that will make you the most employable candidate of the bunch.

I also should add that it is the 'job' if you will of college websites / brochures to 'sell' their product ( the course) to you, the customer ( student.) I'm not saying an English degree would not potentially lead to a job in publishing, journalism, etc but those course descriptions tend to leave out that you would probably need unpaid experience, a postgrad qualification ( maybe costing thousands of euros) and a healthy dose of sheer luck to secure a paid position in a lucrative field.

I'm not saying this to be mean/ b1tchy, I say it because I really wish somebody had sat me down when I was in your position and told me all this. I studied English, Spanish and Anthropology in college with an M.A. in English (because I still didn't know what I wanted to do after my undergrad!) and only now- after four years in a post-graduation wilderness- I'm going back to college to finally do something that will make me an employable professional, as opposed to an Arts graduate. This is after two long stints on the dole, two years of a job I didn't like, and unpaid work in the field I really want to get into. And I'm only able to do this because my parents are helping me out with the cost of fees (6 grand plus) and are letting me live with them for a year.

I'm not going to tell you what to do, as it's such a personal decision. I'm also aware that I do sound like a bitter old fogey. I should probably add that if I hadn't graduated in the height of the recession I might have fared better.

But the million dollar question is '' Would I do Arts again, if I had the choice?" Hand on heart, my answer is 'no'. Four years of enjoying studying those subjects- as interesting as they were- was not worth the last few years of misery. That's just my honest experience.

That was a really insightful and interesting read Acacia, thank you for taking the time to post if you don't mind me asking, what course are you going to study?

Roquentin

Lollipop95 wrote: »

Unfortunately the course in UL requires a pass in ordinary level maths. This is a big reason why I need to do arts too - I'm so restricted on what I can do with foundation maths(which I failed miserably in the mocks) My guidance teacher agreed with me it's a shame that you need maths for practically every course the good thing about arts I guess is that maths won't be an obstacle for me

This whole points system and needing subjects to do courses is a bit ridiculous.

I new a guy who did poorly in his leaving cert, went off and enjoyed life for a couple of years and then returned to study medicine when he was 23.

Another guy was poor at maths in the leaving and now works as an accountant in manhatten.

Id say get your arts degree and then decide what to do after that with a postgraduate course (if you have the money).

Do factor in that you should study what you enjoy and also think about do you like working with people or on your own and also can you handle stress.

some jobs pay a lot but are very stressful.

Looking back i wish i had thought about what i wanted to do. I kind just went with the flow and picked some course, not known fully well much what i wanted.

Looking back i would have loved to have taken a gap year and found myself.

Lollipop95

Roquentin wrote: »

This whole points system and needing subjects to do courses is a bit ridiculous.

I new a guy who did poorly in his leaving cert, went off and enjoyed life for a couple of years and then returned to study medicine when he was 23.

Another guy was poor at maths in the leaving and now works as an accountant in manhatten.

Id say get your arts degree and then decide what to do after that with a postgraduate course (if you have the money).

Do factor in that you should study what you enjoy and also think about do you like working with people or on your own and also can you handle stress.

some jobs pay a lot but are very stressful.

Looking back i wish i had thought about what i wanted to do. I kind just went with the flow and picked some course, not known fully well much what i wanted.

Looking back i would have loved to have taken a gap year and found myself.

Agreed, I don't get how maths would be applicable in an English course I would do ordinary level maths if I could obviously(my life would be so much easier re college decisions!!) but I just can't do them at all and I wasn't near a pass in foundation maths in the mocks so any hope of getting a B to get into other courses has pretty much diminished. Arts is really my only route!

orlyice

Have you had a look at the arts course in Mary i limerick? I did an arts degree there and did media and communication studies as a subject, was a great course. I did that course on the basis of working in the media but realised then it wasn't for me so went to work in the public sector.

Roquentin

Lollipop95 wrote: »

Agreed, I don't get how maths would be applicable in an English course I would do ordinary level maths if I could obviously(my life would be so much easier re college decisions!!) but I just can't do them at all and I wasn't near a pass in foundation maths in the mocks so any hope of getting a B to get into other courses has pretty much diminished. Arts is really my only route!

you could wait till 23 and do any course you want, thats if the matiure student thing is still around then, which it may or may not be.

Yea id say that is your best bet (arts). Then do a post grad in whatever you want.

You could study abroad, not sure of the rules and regulations.

The leaving cert is not everything. It rewards those who study hard alright. But at the end of the day, when you go out to work in most jobs they either have to train you up for that job anyway or else you do placement during the actual course which gives you good training for when you graduate.

If i was in charge of the system, id make placement compulsory in every single course out there. Four years of study is too much. It should be two years study and two years placement. Thats where you learn in actual work place.

You could learn all the theory on how to ride a bicycle, but when you get up on the bicycle for the first time you will fall off, despite all the theory you know. For me the way to learn is have a little theory and also go into the work place and learn the tricks of the trade.

Shakespeare's Sister

I'm surprised at the amount of advocating a degree in journalism. Why recommend someone spend three or four years studying something really specific and limited, and for which there are very few opportunities. It smacks of lack of familiarity with the area.

OP, digital media is pretty much all forms of communication on the internet, including social media. It's the way things are going, so would be the best road for someone interested in communications. I am similar to yourself in terms of interests and aspirations. You could do the arts degree you're interested in but you'd need to do a digital media course after. I did arts and then a postgrad in journalism (towards the end of the "boom") and then fell into digital media through luck and timing.

To those who regret doing arts, what would you have done? The thing with people who tend to go for arts is: they don't like the more practical disciplines and/or don't have the aptitude for them. I sometimes regretted doing arts too, but there was nothing else I was suited to, to be honest. Didn't have the aptitude for the sciences, would have found business too boring.

Roquentin wrote: »

I know psychiatrists are medical doctors, hence why i said it would be better to be a psychiatrist because there are more jobs.

Now they both study the mind, so they are very linked. You are suggesting that they are totally different which they are not.

She's not saying they're totally different - they are related. But they are still separate.
People who want to do psychology might not have the aptitude for, or interest in, studying medicine.

Psychologists cannot prescribe medication though and when it comes to anxiety no amount of talking from a Counselor can quash it on their own. people need the medication and then the Counselor complements that medication

And that's exactly the difference between a psychiatrist (the drug administration, the diagnosis of mental illnesses) and a psychologist (counselling, therapy).

playedalive

Roquentin wrote: »

Do factor in that you should study what you enjoy and also think about do you like working with people or on your own and also can you handle stress.

Looking back i wish i had thought about what i wanted to do. I kind just went with the flow and picked some course, not known fully well much what i wanted.

Looking back i would have loved to have taken a gap year and found myself.

I would agree with Roquentin on those points.

As somebody who has studied Arts, I would strongly urge you to know the course content of the modules you want to study. At least, you'll have an idea as to what you're getting yourself into and if you'll like it. I seriously wish I'd properly researched my course before starting my degree in French and Spanish.

To give you some background, I always loved French and Spanish in secondary school and they were my A1 subjects at Leaving Cert. From parents and language teachers, I got the whole 'you have a talent and you should study this in college'. At 18, I never thought much more about it, applied to the CAO and got into a college course. Though, studying languages at university level was going to be COMPLETELY different to secondary school. At the very start (most of 1st year and part of 2nd year), we were doing language learning based topics that interested me. But then, later on, the overall emphasis was reading and analysis of old texts of French/Spanish literature, which was far away from my interests. I just wanted to study languages and to have a strong grasp of the language to be strongly proficient in reading, writing, speaking and listening. Needless to say, towards the end of my degree, I was disillusioned and just couldn't wait to be finished.

In hindsight, I wish I had taken a year off, tried to earn some money, get some work/life experience before getting into this as I really was not ready for college. Though, having said it, I can't say I regret my choice on a personal level because I did keep up my languages (though not directly because of the course) and still speak them today, have made friends through it and had some life experiences that may not happened otherwise. In terms of employment, I'm no better off than having finished school at 18. I am currently working in Retail and it's kind of sad that I can't find a job based on my language skills. The problem lies that, while I have language skills, so do other people (some of which are natives of my languages) and they have business/I.T./ employment friendly qualifications and experience to back them up. Realistically, I will need to go back to college to study something more employment focused. I have an idea but I am planning to move to France and teach English to get some more perspective.

Tl; dr: While I do believe learning is important and you should grasp the opportunities, learning in Academia/university level is not going to be the same as in secondary school. So do read up on the modules you'd be covering. In terms of employment, all I can do is say that an Arts degree hasn't helped me on its own get a job, but maybe it will work with a more employable skill later in the future.

Roquentin

Magaggie wrote: »

She's not saying they're totally different - they are related. But they are still separate.
People who want to do psychology might not have the aptitude for, or interest in, studying medicine.

Aptitude has nothing to do with it. If they are able to learn the theory in a psychology course, they can learn the theory in a medicine course. You just have to learn. Not that difficult really.

The reason they dont do it is because they dont get the points to do it. The students who get to study medicine straight from the leaving have to get 6 A1s or there abouts. So thats maths, english, irish and a few other subjects.

Shes not good at maths and that brings her down straight away. Medicine is nothing more than learning, but because the pay is good and the job respectable, the demand is high and the points high.

Aptitude has nothing to do with it. As i said earlier, i new a guy, who did poorly in his leaving, waited till he was 23 and then studied medicine as a mature student. Lot of learning and very competitive. Students tearing pages out of books in libraries and stuff and a stressful job as a junior as well.

cloudatlas

I know a lot of people who are unhappy because their parents forced them to do a 'professional' degree course. One friend wasn't even able to choose, another wanted to study fine art but was made do a business degree. The first is in a well paid profession but miserable and the second tried other routes to do what they genuinely wanted to do after they finished doing what their parents wanted.

An 'Arts Degree' is not an end in itself but I know too many people with degrees that people on this thread deem to be useless who have gone on to be very successful because they built on what they learned and applied it in other environments. Philosophy graduates who now work in marketing or comp sci. History graduates who work in education, p.r., marketing and curating. If you go by what others are saying then these people should have failed but life isn't a 'one size fits all' type of game. If you are genuinely interested in a wide spectrum of subjects then do Arts and then add something to that in order to enter your chosen career area.

Roquentin

playedalive wrote: »

I would agree with Roquentin on those points.
In hindsight, I wish I had taken a year off, tried to earn some money, get some work/life experience before getting into this as I really was not ready for college. Though, having said it, I can't say I regret my choice on a personal level because I did keep up my languages (though not directly because of the course) and still speak them today, have made friends through it and had some life experiences that may not happened otherwise. In terms of employment, I'm no better off than having finished school at 18. I am currently working in Retail and it's kind of sad that I can't find a job based on my language skills. The problem lies that, while I have language skills, so do other people (some of which are natives of my languages) and they have business/I.T./ employment friendly qualifications and experience to back them up. Realistically, I will need to go back to college to study something more employment focused. I have an idea but I am planning to move to France and teach English to get some more perspective.

Back then i was young and thought i new everything. I was like ill do this course now and it will all be grand. Damn, i was foolish. I wish i had the head i have now, on me back then.

I think we kind get dragged into college because everyone is doing it. Just coming out of school and young.

Its a big decision and you need time and solitude to really decide what you like and want to do.

FAS run computer coding courses which may benefit you and they will pay you, so you should look into that. If you got a FETAC cert in Java or C++ it would be a start. Then there are internships.

Roquentin

cloudatlas wrote: »

I know a lot of people who are unhappy because their parents forced them to do a 'professional' degree course. One friend wasn't even able to choose, another wanted to study fine art but was made do a business degree. The first is in a well paid profession but miserable and the second tried other routes to do what they genuinely wanted to do after they finished doing what their parents wanted.

An 'Arts Degree' is not an end in itself but I know too many people with degrees that people on this thread deem to be useless who have gone on to be very successful because they built on what they learned and applied it in other environments. Philosophy graduates who now work in marketing or comp sci. History graduates who work in education, p.r., marketing and curating. If you go by what others are saying then these people should have failed but life isn't a 'one size fits all' type of game. If you are genuinely interested in a wide spectrum of subjects then do Arts and then add something to that in order to enter your chosen career area.

For me its two things:

A) What are you good at that you enjoy
What kind of person are you psychologically (Introvert/extrovert. do you enjoy working with people or on your own?)

With answers from them questions you can see a few courses that tick the boxes.

I agree with both your points. We get sort of pushed into college. As well like you say, if you major in philosophy and do a PHd, that carries a lot of weight for numerous jobs. Now there is a **** load of Phd students coming out now, which sort of reduces its value, but its still good to have the Dr. in front of yer name.

college is diifferent from the leaving. Lots of projects rather than exams (was for me anyway) and thus its easier for students to do better. I have known people who did poorly in the leaving and excelled at college.

yawhat!

Do something that is employable is my advice. You do a three years course that is not employable and then will have to do a higher diploma to gain experience in Business or I.T. Then you will also be against people who have masters so will have to do a masters in this area.

Do whatever is employable is my opinion. So many people with Law, Arts degrees who cannot get jobs.

If I ever have a child I would not pay for them to do an unemployable degree tbh.

Roquentin

yawhat! wrote: »

Do something that is employable is my advice. You do a three years course that is not employable and then will have to do a higher diploma to gain experience in Business or I.T. Then you will also be against people who have masters so will have to do a masters in this area.

Do whatever is employable is my opinion. So many people with Law, Arts degrees who cannot get jobs.

If I ever have a child I would not pay for them to do an unemployable degree tbh.

I think that "do what is employable" is questionable advice. You have to enjoy what you are doing as well.

I understand your reason. You want something that provides a job at the end. But if you are in a job that you dont enjoy, it becomes stressful and stress is not an enemy you want to make.

Your health and your happiness are what you need.

the_syco

Look for a course that you want to do, and then look at which IT's do the course. Then check out if they allow you to do a year of PLC course to get into the college course.

Now, the PLC courses can sometimes give you some leeway. If you can show that you have a history of interest (eg; recognized certificates for the the subject you want to study), they sometimes let you in if you fall below a required grade, within reason.

yawhat!

You don't even need to go to college to get into I.T as well as these days!

Shakespeare's Sister

The "Why do psychology and why not do psychiatry" tangent is really weird. They're related but still different disciplines (diagnosis/drug administering/bit of counselling... versus counselling/therapy alone). Some people want to do one, some want to do the other. Some people simply do not want to do medicine.
Personally I know I'd rather work in a private practice than in a psychiatric hospital, that's for sure!

I don't get the "They really want to do psychiatry" thing at all. It's some serious mind-reading!

Psychology has very high points also - in the 500s.

Lollipop95

To the poster that asked would I go to Mary I, I would have strongly considered as studying English with Media Studies sounds right up my street but again, I need ordinary level maths. I have however found a level 7 course run by DBS that is journalism with media studies and it states graduates have opportunities such as publishing,pr,marketing, etc. Decided to put it down on CAO

cloudatlas

Roquentin wrote: »

For me its two things:

A) What are you good at that you enjoy
What kind of person are you psychologically (Introvert/extrovert. do you enjoy working with people or on your own?)

With answers from them questions you can see a few courses that tick the boxes.

Exactly I don't know why people are advising the O.P. to do I.T. or accounting if they don't have a good aptitude for maths or aren't wildly interested in how things work/ are built or nursing if they aren't interested at least in part in science or drawn to a profession as a carer.

The O.P. should research the career areas that they listed. Talk to people in those careers and find out what they did to get where they are and what they would do now if they were trying to enter the profession. Perhaps try to get some work experience or visit a few work places to see what the day to day is like. Do as many personality-career tests online as you can find.

Roquentin

Magaggie wrote: »

Psychology has very high points also - in the 500s.

You can do psychology through arts which has low points.

My point to the OP is that the jobs are kind of similar, but there are more jobs in psychiatry than psychology.

It would be great for psychologists if they could prescribe meds, they would get more work.

But they are not totally different. Both understand the mechanics of the mind. But psychiatrists because they learn the different pharmaceuticals have an advantage with regards employment.

The psychiatrist is more of GP as well and would know more about the anatomy of the body. But with regards the organ that is the mind, they both are very educated.

The psychiatrist attempts to manipulate the mind uses medication, the psychologist uses language. And most people prefer medication rather than talk

Monkey61

I would urge you to choose your subjects very carefully if determined to do Arts degree. I think we are long past the day when just having a degree was such an achievement in itself that it looks great on a CV and I have yet to see a job advertised that requests a degree in English or similar.

I have an English degree. I know a lot of other people with English degrees. The only time I have worked in a remotely related field was when I spent two years working in a bookshop, where about 80% of us had arts degrees. Quite a high proportion of the 100 or so staff members also had MAs in arts subjects. Some had PhDs. The only reason I could think for doing an English degree would be if you particularly wanted to become a lecturer or an English teacher. I cannot think of any other vaguely related fields that an English degree would be particularly useful for.

Of course it is important to study something you like, but being employable in the future is important and yet a lot of people don't really think about this properly before their degree. Why do you want to study English? Do you know what the content of a college English course will be and are you sure that you will still love it? Do you really need to study it? Would you be just as happy reading a lot in your spare time rather than writing essays and sitting exams in it?

If you are really keen on journalism, would you consider studying politics or history or economics? Those are fairly common subjects for anyone I know who has pursued that as a career.

Business related subjects would be a good start for PR and publishing.

Whatever you choose, the most important thing to do during your degree is to get as much relevant work experience as you possibly can. That will add so much to your CV and allow you to make important contacts. Write for the student paper, get involved in the student union and college events. One person I went to college with dropped out before his final year after being head hunted by a huge events company who he had dealt with while working as an events officer.

In jobs that don't specifically need a degree of any kind, experience is always going to be deciding factor in getting hired. You will have plenty of free time during college to build up your CV, so do use this.

Olive8585

Lollipop95 wrote: »

See, I either want to get into events/pr, admin work or publishing(an area I'm interested in finding out more about) so that's why I'm doing arts as I think I'll be open to everything and I love English and would love studying it. A journalism degree isn't an option for me as the points are like 490(480 for creative writing) and getting 400 or 400 plus just isn't feasible for me unfortunately I had my heart set in journalism but my career guidance teacher told me it wasn't a very stable and secure job(I asked her about employment prospects) I would love to do Arts but then on the other hand I want to do a course that would ensure employment afterwards and I've read that employers would not be that keen on arts degree on a CV which really puzzles me if true. I mean surely if you specialised in say English(which leads l range of jobs according to their website - journalism,PR,publishing) and put down on your CV you achieved an honours(not sure how college grading works exactly but I think it's something like that) any future employer would be impressed, particularly if it was a job in publishing or PR?

This was a bit worrying to read. This attitude was common (and understandable) back when I started college in 2003 and people were walking into good jobs with Humanities degrees. Things have changed a lot. Don't mind stuff you see written on university websites about career options - a lot of those ones you've listed depend HEAVILY on family connections and networking. It's nigh on impossible to get into publishing or PR these days without serious connections. Journalism is seriously hard work as well - even if you do manage to get work, it's almost always freelance with no guaranteed income, no holidays, no benefits.

Thousands upon thousands of people have Honours degrees and many of them have Firsts, with glowing references from tutors. Many of them are working in retail or restaurants or are on the dole. I think you need a bit of a reality check here. I'm not saying don't do a Humanities degree, but you need to be realistic about what you are able to achieve with it. If you study English, you need to sort out excellent work experience placements every summer, work part-time in something related, build up connections through networking events and probably work unpaid for at least the first year in a publishing company (or whatever it is you want to do). That is pretty much the only way you will get any of those jobs that everyone wants to do, and even after doing all that, you might not get a break. If you think you can walk out of college with an English degree and have employers falling over themselves to hire you, you're living in Cloud Cuckoo land (sorry to be so blunt but it's true!)