What's the best degree to have?

burrenguy

As the title says: assuming that they have the points, what do you think are the best courses/degrees to pursue in an Irish college these days? In terms of their earning potential, employment prospects, crossover to other areas etc.
I ask this as someone heading into Leaving Cert and probably Third Level afterwards who wants to keep his options open.
Thanks.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Arts degree.


You ask anyone working in a take-away, behind a bar, video game shop or emptying bins. All of them hold arts degrees.

woodoo

Ancient History specialising in Pottery.

Mine is the best.

frozenfrozen

Depends what irish college you go to, inis iorr has door jam making so you could do that in between surfing and pros. not sure where the money comes into it but sure irish college is just about a bit of fun over the summer while you learn a bit of irish anyway

generalmental

Hopefully the one that you want!!

House of Blaze

A pedigree.

onethreefive

One you can see yourself being happy doing.

dodderangler

90

longhalloween

Women's studies with Philosophy. The job opportunities are endless.

lanarty56

Basket weaving and jam making from ucc university college connemara

Mrs Garth Brooks

Degrees are useless.

Timmyctc

The Cunning Linguist wrote: »

Arts degree.


You ask anyone working in a take-away, behind a bar, video game shop or emptying bins. All of them hold arts degrees.

Ah come on now. You're better than that broken record of a joke surely.

dmc17

Mrs Garth Brooks wrote: »

Degrees are useless.

No they're not. They're great for measuring things like angles and temperature

diomed

Something that deals with people: brain surgeon; dentist; anaesthetist, priest.
Everything else will be replaced by computers, and robots, and stuff.
And you can't specialize and get big pay, and also be able to cross over to loads of other areas.

pauliebdub

Something technical that provides the student with valuable skills that can help them find work.

I would consider most arts and humanities degrees to be a waste of time and money.

WoollyRedHat

Yeah Fahrenheit is the way to go

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Timmyctc wrote: »

Ah come on now. You're better than that broken record of a joke surely.

Jesus Timmy, that's probably the nicest thing anybody on boards has ever said to me. I feel like a horrible cnut now.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Mrs Garth Brooks wrote: »

Degrees are useless.

And what leads you to that conclusion?

mad muffin

Nth degree. Nothing beats it.

Gmaximum

6 of kevin bacon

Mrs Garth Brooks

Candie wrote: »

And what leads you to that conclusion?

The dole degree

SaveOurLyric

The only one you dont want is someone giving you the third.

Bepolite

Medicine, followed by anything that leads to investment banking. Law is just an arts degree unless you have or make contacts.

TBH it doesn't matter what you do - just deal drugs while doing it: Thats where the money is.

dr.bollocko

Not everyone who does an arts degree ends up working at Mc. Donalds. Part of the boards mentality to dis all arts degrees and it just ain't the truth.

pauliebdub

The Cunning Linguist wrote: »

Arts degree.


You ask anyone working in a take-away, behind a bar, video game shop or emptying bins. All of them hold arts degrees.

I know four Arts graduates, one works in IKEA, another works in a book shop, another has become a team.leader in a call centre, the other has gone back to study something else.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Mrs Garth Brooks wrote: »

The dole degree

Then it was the wrong degree.

The best degree of all is a degree of common sense.

Timmyctc

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Not everyone who does an arts degree ends up working at Mc. Donalds. Part of the boards mentality to dis all arts degrees and it just ain't the truth.

I have an arts degree and look at me! I've been on boards for like 276 hours straight. Haven't showered in two days, Finished Half Life 2 yesterday and I'm making leaps towards finishing Deus Ex 1 on realistic mode today. And they try to say arts degrees are useless.

Timmyctc

pauliebdub wrote: »

I know four Arts graduates, one works in IKEA, another works in a book shop, another has become a team.leader in a call centre, the other has gone back to study something else.

I know four. One went to work for Financial Times now works in some programming job. One is doing a placement at the college he studied it at with a view to being taken on at a job in London and I think the other has a job in AIB. The degree doesn't define what will become of the person. It's the person that defines it.

Gosub

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Not everyone who does an arts degree ends up working at Mc. Donalds. Part of the boards mentality to dis all arts degrees and it just ain't the truth.

Now marketing degrees...

coffeepls

Having an arts degree is the stepping stone to doing a post grad in many areas. It's very general - and despite people going on and on about 'd'ya want fries with that' - there are many professionals that have arts degrees, but most would have followed that with a post grad of some sort. A degree is only useless if you choose to do absolutely nothing with it. Just having a degree is not going to cut it for anyone..... unless you have a daddy who has promised you a fortune and a seat in the boardroom as long as you have a few wee letters after your name.

my teapot is orange

Something that gives you hard skills that are in demand, that not every graduate has. Not something that leaves you competing with all other graduates, making vague arguments about how you developed your communication skills, teamwork etc. Arts could be good if you used it to get some particular skill e.g. you speak two languages fluently after graduating.

Galwayguy35

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Not everyone who does an arts degree ends up working at Mc. Donalds. Part of the boards mentality to dis all arts degrees and it just ain't the truth.

So what kind of a job does an Arts degree get you?

anncoates

May as well just scrap education and get inducted into a multinational corporation at 4 years old. Like the Zaibatsu guys in a William Gibson novel.

numnumcake

Do something that you like and have a genuine interest in! Don't just pick a course because you think you'll get a job out of it. You'll find it very hard to study something for four years if you have no interest in it.

Galwayguy35

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

So what kind of a job does an Arts degree get you?

That's entirely dependent on the degree, and the person who holds it surely?

humbert

There is no best degree but there certainly are a lot of rubbish degrees.

my teapot is orange

Find something that you like that gives hard skills that are in demand. That shouldn't be hard given the hundreds of degrees out there. Don't pick something you love without considering the practical realities of getting a job. Too many of us were given that advice during the Celtic Tiger.

Also when people tell you about their success using a particular degree, consider how much of that would have been down to the degree and how much due to other circumstances. There are many people around who have done well with degree choices that would not get you a start in the same organizations now. There were opportunities for anyone with a degree in anything 10 years ago. It's more competitive now, so don't assume your career will go like theirs if you make the same choice.

humbert

humbert wrote: »

There is no best degree but there certainly are a lot of rubbish degrees.

I struggle to see the usefulness of a Media Studies degree, but that's because I don't know anyone with one, and I'm sure someone could put me straight.

Mine isn't an arts degree, but I don't understand the way they're universally looked down on. There's also more to education than just the kind of job you'll get afterwards.

Skill Magill

mad muffin wrote: »

Nth degree. Nothing beats it.

Jeez, there's only 360 degrees, Ive counted. There's no N in there, (well maybe the ninth, nineteenth and ninetieth degree) Ah The Three Degrees

pauliebdub

Timmyctc wrote: »

I know four. One went to work for Financial Times now works in some programming job. One is doing a placement at the college he studied it at with a view to being taken on at a job in London and I think the other has a job in AIB. The degree doesn't define what will become of the person. It's the person that defines it.

Im talking about Dublin, there just aren't the jobs available for the hundreds, thousands(?) of new Arts graduates each year.

The Backwards Man

Sheila Ferguson.

Ooooooo precious moments

Timmyctc

pauliebdub wrote: »

Im talking about Dublin, there just aren't the jobs available for the hundreds, thousands(?) of new Arts graduates each year.

I'm talking about Galway. But I agree. xx

UCDVet

The best degree to have is your Daddy running a big, successful, company. Sadly, in my experience, this has been 100% true.

Fat Christy

Mrs Garth Brooks wrote: »

Degrees are useless.

Unless you have 5.

eyescreamcone

Bepolite wrote: »

Medicine, followed by anything that leads to investment banking. Law is just an arts degree unless you have or make contacts.

TBH it doesn't matter what you do - just deal drugs while doing it: Thats where the money is.

Pharmacy it is so?!

lamegerty

Go for studying a subject that you are interested in, then go for a job you are interested in, and then if you get it you might actually like it and if you're good at it you might get paid well for it, and even if you don't get paid well for it you might not care because you like it.

Otherwise if you have no interests go for maths or theoretical physics in a top UK university, get a 1st, go be a trader in an Investment Bank, you don't get paid the big bucks unless you're experienced and awesome but still you'll rack up the d$$h as you'll never have time to spend it, but then again if you don't like it you'll probably be sh*te at it so you won't do very well in that either.

Actually become an accountant, everyone needs their beans counted all over the world, there are jobs in good times and bad, and you'll always get decent pay.

anothernight

diomed wrote: »

Something that deals with people: brain surgeon; dentist; anaesthetist, priest.
Everything else will be replaced by computers, and robots, and stuff.
And you can't specialize and get big pay, and also be able to cross over to loads of other areas.

Erm... engineers getting replaced by computers, robots and stuff they designed?



OP, do something you can stand doing for long enough while earning enough to live reasonably well. Or do a stepping stone degree. If it must be an arts degree, then so be it. Don't pick something that offers no career benefits though (whether immediate or by progression). You might learn "critical skills" in the... er... softer degrees (gender studies anyone?) but you'll learn those in any degree you do anyway so you might as well pick one that will enhance your career opportunities.

wretcheddomain

Degree in Priesthood Studies

Compulsory Modules

• Early Childhood Studies
• Middle Childhood Studies
• Late Childhood Studies
• Wet Practicals

Shakespeare's Sister

Depends really on what you like/are good at. Think about what your strengths are and go for the most job-relevant course.
If you can't think of a job-relevant course, just do what you like/are good at anyway - education is better to have than not to have, and you can do a postgrad when you have learned more about what would suit you.

conorh91

Bepolite wrote: »

Law is just an arts degree unless you have or make contacts.

I'm surprised to see you say that.

Contacts is an issue, but it would be wrong to imply that people don't make it in law without contacts.

Plenty of SCs (lets assume, for a moment, that being an SC demonstrates one's arrival at legal success) had no contacts in law, and have come from very diverse, non-legal family backgrounds.

That can even be true in SCs practicing family law, for example. Sometimes, they won't be well known at the Bar.