Is an Arts degree worth it?

Seanf999

Long story short I dropped out of college (business), tried a few things and now I'm working in a warehouse, I just started and it's grand but not somewhere I want to be indefinitely.

I want to go back to college (- not for business, you won't find me doing any more economics or accounting..)
But there's a part time Arts degree where you can choose different modules to the regular arts modules..

My plan is to study Marketing and Management as a double major (technically two degrees) part time.
I think I can skip 1st year because I passed first year of business so it'll be 3 years instead of 4.
It's also €3,555 per year, cheaper than a full time course plus I can work and cover the costs anyway.

But Arts degrees get a bad rep.

Is an Arts degree worth it?

What if it's just to get a masters?

BlackandGreen

Please, ask this literally anywhere but here.
You will get no good advice from the troglodytes here who hate literally everything and will tell you if you do arts you're a failure.



Arts degrees are grand but it depends on how much you put into them, what you major in and what you want out of it.



inb4: "found the arts student".


Nah I never went to college. Got a technical qualification instead.

Plenty of great arts courses out there however. Theres a college/uni forum here I'm pretty sure. Try there.
Try reaching out to people in the future industry you want to work in too.

Yer Da sells Avon

Seanf999 wrote: »

But Arts degrees get a bad rep.

Only among obnoxious idiots who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Hal3000

BlackandGreen wrote: »

Please, ask this literally anywhere but here.
You will get no good advice from the troglodytes here who hate literally everything and will tell you if you do arts you're a failure.



Arts degrees are grand but it depends on how much you put into them, what you major in and what you want out of it.



inb4: "found the arts student".


Nah I never went to college. Got a technical qualification instead.

Plenty of great arts courses out there however.

Agree, ask somewhere else than here. On a thread here before, someone said they were short art degrees while taking a crap. Took me a minute to get it, but they meant toilet paper ! See what I mean ? I'm sure you could get better advice elsewhere !

2011

Anyone genuinely looking for advice on what course to do on After Hours is the perfect candidate for an arts degree :cool:

Pissartist

Arts is for dropouts

LimeFruitGum

Without knowing what you want to do professionally, it’s hard to say. Marketing is a busy field, one of those where they want to see several years experience for an entry level role. If you can do some content or campaign work, or help a small business with their SEO (or whatever) in your own time, it should help you decide if you want to pursue this further.

EmmetSpiceland

Nope, wouldn’t bother. Do a worthwhile degree or just get a job.

If you have an interest and want to better yourself with knowledge of subjects that are wholly not applicable to the majority of jobs out there, not counting teaching, then go for Arts.

You’d broaden your horizons and have more fun if you just went off travelling for a few years, you’d be in the same position, opportunity wise, when you got back too.

In before mention of that graffiti scribbled above a toilet roll holder in UCD with an arrow pointing down: 'Arts degree dispenser. Please take one.'

Hal3000

[Deleted User] wrote: »

In before mention of that graffiti scribbled above a toilet roll holder in UCD with an arrow pointing down: 'Arts degree dispenser. Please take one.'

What ? Study arts yourself did you ?

BlackandGreen

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Nope, wouldn’t bother. Do a worthwhile degree or just get a job.

If you have an interest and want to better yourself with knowledge of subjects that are wholly not applicable to the majority of jobs out there, not counting teaching, then go for Arts.

You’d broaden your horizons and have more fun if you just went off travelling for a few years, you’d be in the same position, opportunity wise, when you got back too.

Nah thats BS. Plenty of my friends went off and did arts in business, economics, psychology etc and they all have good well paying positions, some in government. Few went and got their masters and Phd's.

Plenty of private industries out there too.



You don't know what you're ranting about if you think arts is not applicable to the majority of jobs.
Not everything in life is STEM orientated, thankfully.


and just lol if you think going off travelling around the place will result in any kind of education or qualifications on the same level as a say a level 7/8 arts degree.

Noveight

Realistically you’ll have to add on a Masters if you want to get anywhere.

I did Arts and a Masters to go teaching. Looking back, if I didn’t do the Masters and just did Arts it’d be worth next to nothing to me.

Without a Masters, Arts is a glorified extension of the Leaving Cert or else a time killer for mid-60’s Mature Students.

EmmetSpiceland

BlackandGreen wrote: »

Nah thats BS. Plenty of my friends went off and did arts in business, economics, psychology etc and they all have good well paying positions, some in government. Few went and got their masters and Phd's.

Plenty of private industries out there too.

You don't know what you're ranting about if you think arts is not applicable to the majority of jobs.
Not everything in life is STEM orientated, thankfully.

and just lol if you think going off travelling around the place will result in any kind of education or qualifications on the same level as a say a level 7/8 arts degree.

The OP said he didn’t want to do any business subjects.

I’m sure we all know lots of people, sure I know a lad who did psychology, he’s now working in insurance and four years behind where he would have been if he just went straight into working.

It’s not the education I was referring to, he could go off, have fun, see some sights and then come back and be at the same point when it comes to getting whatever crummy admin job the Arts degree would get him.

Gimme A Pound

I've done a few courses and the arts degree was the most valuable. So many companies expect you to have a degree.

It depends on the subjects you do too.

Where I work requires other skills you can acquire on the job or via doing short part-time courses, and I've done all that, but having a degree was required at the start.

Roger Hassenforder

Seanf999 wrote: »

Long story short I dropped out of college (business), tried a few things and now I'm working in a warehouse, I just started and it's grand but not somewhere I want to be indefinitely.

I want to go back to college (- not for business, you won't find me doing any more economics or accounting..)
But there's a part time Arts degree where you can choose different modules to the regular arts modules..

My plan is to study Marketing and Management as a double major (technically two degrees) part time.
I think I can skip 1st year because I passed first year of business so it'll be 3 years instead of 4.
It's also €3,555 per year, cheaper than a full time course plus I can work and cover the costs anyway.

But Arts degrees get a bad rep.

Is an Arts degree worth it?

What if it's just to get a masters?

What made you do business first day?
Sereing as you now want to avoid it?

If youre in a warehouse , could you combine your work and study, do logistics/management or something. Your company might stump up a bit towards fees?

I'd do whatever course I'm most interested in. It's only a basic degree; you get a professional qualification after. Many if not most solicitors now, for instance, do not have primary law degrees before they get the 12 FEIs, etc exams to qualify as a solicitor. Likewise many people who get the ACCA/ACA accountancy exams do not have a Commerce degree. I had thought this "it's only an Arts degree" stuff was confined to silly LC students and 1st year Commerce students desperate to look down on somebody. Not once would it occur to them that Arts points are lower because, well, because - and this is radical - there are thousands of spaces made available and if they reduced that number of available spaces the points would... go up. When the same universities offered the exact same Arts subjects as single subjects, you needed to get something like 550 points (instead of c. 350 points for a two-subject Arts degree).

There's something like 33 subjects under the category 'Arts'. Subjects range from Early Irish to Arabic to Maths to Statistics to Economics to Art History.

Most people with any sort of academic interest in our world would find at least one of those 33 subjects interesting. You can also be fairly sure that somebody with a First in, say, Philosophy would have a better chance in an interview for, say, a business job than somebody with a 2:1 in Commerce, Law or the like. The thinking being that if you're good enough to get the best available score in your chosen course you're more impressive. Some of the large management consultancies, for instance, specifically look for people with PhDs in Philosophy as they bring a training which is deemed valuable for problem solving.

Gimme A Pound

Deleted User wrote: »

In before mention of that graffiti scribbled above a toilet roll holder in UCD with an arrow pointing down: 'Arts degree dispenser. Please take one.'

Could have sworn I heard that that was in UCC. And I'd bet it's in Trinity, NUIG and Maynooth too.

Akrasia

Arts degrees can teach reasoning and critical thinking skills which are life-skills and can serve you and any employer who is willing to hire you. (depending on which subjects you study. Robin hood studies probably won't do much for ya)
https://bulletin.iarhs.org/index.php/IARHSBulletin


An arts degree doesn't really train you for any specific job though, so if it's a career change you're looking for, rather than a double major, you might consider majoring in one area and then also doing a professional qualification in a complimentary area to make your skills stand out and allow you to get an edge on other graduates. Mature students have a big advantage over school leavers in this area, because usually you will have some employment history and almost every job has transferable skills that can be used to compliment the skills acquired from further education.

On top of all that, unless you're prepared to move to find a job, you should really focus your education on the kinds of jobs that are available in your area. There's not much point in studying marketing if you live on Loop head and there aren't any employers within a 2 hour commute looking to hire marketing specialists. If you live in a city, you're competing with a wider pool of job hunters, but if you're in a rural area, you might be able to train in an interesting sector that has a skills shortage in your area.

Force Carrier

Art imitating life imitating art.

Nigel Fairservice

I think it is worth it. Not everyone is cut out for science, technology, engineering or business. I know I wasn't. My brain just wasn't made for them. I did a BSc degree that really should have been a BA. A BA offers so much variety. A BA is also good stepping stone when coupled with a postgrad. My sister did Arts and is training to be a primary school teacher now. She wouldn't have got in without the BA.

Get Real

A degree is worth it. Doesn't matter if it's Arts. This whole notion/ unfounded opinion people have of an Arts degree, I just don't get it.

Fella I know, did accountancy degree. Works in IT, simply because a degree was required to get the job. Likewise, his work colleague did Arts, and works in IT. Both are self contracting for several hundred a day.

Unless you're doing a career specific degree (medicine, law) a degree is a degree. Likewise, a career specific degree can be for straightforward for some people, "I want to be a doctor therefore I'll study medicine", or they can go off and get a job entirely unrelated, but the point is they've a degree.

Some jobs require a specific one. Many require that you have one. Any one. And that you're willing to work and learn. The other factors that get you hired are you as a person, and mostly entirely unrelated to education, once you ticked the initial "have a degree" box. (Which isn't always the socially ingrained route to a well paying career it's made out to be)

Gimme A Pound

Very true Get Real. My cousin did a law degree - and masters. Then a finance related postgrad.

Like the guys you know, he has established a very successful career in I.T. None of his courses were required yet people would be impressed by them because they're law and finance. He just did them because he got into college and wanted to study those at the time. Had he done English and history he'd be in the same boat.

wakka12

If youre passionate about it and enjoy learning from it then its anything but a waste of time or money

branie2

Very much so

ILoveYourVibes

Seanf999 wrote: »

Long story short I dropped out of college (business), tried a few things and now I'm working in a warehouse, I just started and it's grand but not somewhere I want to be indefinitely.

I want to go back to college (- not for business, you won't find me doing any more economics or accounting..)
But there's a part time Arts degree where you can choose different modules to the regular arts modules..

My plan is to study Marketing and Management as a double major (technically two degrees) part time.
I think I can skip 1st year because I passed first year of business so it'll be 3 years instead of 4.
It's also €3,555 per year, cheaper than a full time course plus I can work and cover the costs anyway.

But Arts degrees get a bad rep.

Is an Arts degree worth it?

What if it's just to get a masters?

I confused as to what you are doing? Are you doing two degrees at the same time?

If you enjoy studying a topic and want to then do it. That is all that matters.

If its the future you are thinking of etc than if you plan for a master or a certain industry tailor the arts degree to that.

I didn't do an arts degree I did technically did a bachelor of science ..but it was a philosophy degree. I wanted to do a bachelor at law degree after ..but my first degree is a BS not a BA.

So a B.A in arts can mean a multitude of things. Usually people who nay say it have no idea what you are actually studying.

Just do as much research as you can and make your own decisions.

ILoveYourVibes

A lot of topics that people think come under Bachelor of Arts are actually Bachelor of Science ..anthropology sociology etc.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I wouldn’t have classed Marketing and Management as a humanities degree. That still seems business-y to me. Then again, my degree in a biology discipline is a B.A. (TCD) so what do I know?

Hoboo

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I wouldn’t have classed Marketing and Management as a humanities degree. That still seems business-y to me. Then again, my degree in a biology discipline is a B.A. (TCD) so what do I know?

Depends where you do it. Marketing and Languages as far as I recall was in the business school on DCU. Marketing without one language plus English is a waste of time. Of course depending what you want to do with it, but for a decent role,.without having some expertise behind you, for example a pro sportsperson, then forget it.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I studied a hard science. I enjoyed it but I don’t understand the deification of STEM subjects over humanities. I know philosophy and law graduates who have done well, some without acquiring further Masters degrees or Postgrad Dips. The reason being that subjects such as law and philosophy require a certain kind of lateral thinking that differs from STEM thinking and can be just as valuable. Sure, if you scrape a third class honours degree, you probably won’t prosper but doing very well at humanities subjects can be a different story. Not everyone wants to do a STEM degree either. People have different strengths.

Poor_old_gill

I really dont think so unless you can fund further study- you seem to have a specific career path in mind but be aware that you'll more than likely have to do a masters to get a job as the Arts degree isn't very highly thought of by itself.

Have you checked the jobs market to see what management & marketing are on the go?
A lot of M&M now entails a large element of data analysis/analytical ability - so you would need to be proficient/open to having these skills.

Also here isnt the place to do research (as you'll just be met with ludicrous answers)- contact a college and also an employee or 2 in the field of M&M and ask them for advice/what is needed to be a success/ which way the industry is going

OP a BA in Marketing and Management is a business degree by another name.

Usually you get a chance to focus after first year - was this not available?

If you want a career in business a bit of accounting and economics can't hurt.

Mrs OBumble

Forget the degree.

Do a plumbing apprenticeship. You'll facilitate lots of arts degrees, while earning far more money.

somefeen

Just get a sales job. No where else can you start off in the entry level with zero qualifications and still make good to ridiculously good money.

JupiterKid

I am a senior lecturer on an Arts course and pretty much all of my students will either gain a good professional job or go on to do a postgrad course.

Going to college isn't just about the exact course you study, but about learning to engage in critical thinking, be able to articulate yourself well and develop habits of enquiry - all of which will equip you well for adult life.

Then there is the joy of learning for learning's sake, not just using your college degree as a means to an end.

The dissing of arts courses has got pretty old and stale at this stage...

lainey_d_123

I learned too late that it's class-based. Those teachers at school telling me 'go for the Arts degree*, you'll be grand' were coming at it from their point of view, being from families with money who could support them through the degree and then offer connections to good jobs afterwards. It's a very different reality for a working class kid. I'd have been much better going for something that paid, like accountancy or something IT related. I did very, very well at college, but then I had no connections afterwards and no support to just wait it out until I got a good job, like most of my classmates. I had to go for whatever I could find because I needed to pay the rent, and then got trapped in a cycle of working long hours for bad pay and being too exhausted to see a way out. Getting there now, but I'm in my thirties already!

*I didn't do an actual Arts degree at UCD or anything, but it was a Humanities subject.

Wanderer78

JupiterKid wrote:

The dissing of arts courses has got pretty old and stale at this stage...

I disagree, its still very well in fashion, but it is a very boring debate

lainey_d_123

JupiterKid wrote: »

I am a senior lecturer on an Arts course and pretty much all of my students will either gain a good professional job or go on to do a postgrad course.

Going to college isn't just about the exact course you study, but about learning to engage in critical thinking, be able to articulate yourself well and develop habits of enquiry - all of which will equip you well for adult life.

Then there is the joy of learning for learning's sake, not just using your college degree as a means to an end.

The dissing of arts courses has got pretty old and stale at this stage...

This is the kind of thing only well-off people say. Most kids don't have the luxury of spending loads of money to do something for the fun of it. They need to do something which makes money.

Wanderer78

lainey_d_123 wrote:

This is the kind of thing only well-off people say. Most kids don't have the luxury of spending loads of money to do something for the fun of it. They need to do something which makes money.

Agree and disagree, I've studied for fun, and I'm broke, most do study though to get a job

BrokenArrows

To answer that question just pretend you have an arts degree now. What doors would that open for you to achieve your goals today?

If the answer is that it doesn't help you achieve your goals then it's not worth it.

DavyD_83

Pissartist wrote: »

Arts is for dropouts

I'm an Arts dropout, the lowest of the low.
Doing alright though, sort of:D

peckerhead

Most employers with any experience know that it's not so much the content of your degree that counts as the kind of transferable skills that you have developed. Different programmes of study will tend to foster slightly different approaches to problem-solving, etc.

So, for instance, an engineering grad will look at something and think: "How does that work?". Whereas a science grad will say: "WHY does it work?". A commerce grad will ask: "How much does it cost?". And an arts grad will say: "Would you like fries with that?".

JupiterKid

lainey_d_123 wrote:

This is the kind of thing only well-off people say. Most kids don't have the luxury of spending loads of money to do something for the fun of it. They need to do something which makes money.

Touch of inverted snobbery there methinks....

Of course it's important to gain a qualification that will translate into a job and career that is well paid and fulfilling, but I find that students who have a real passion for learning the course fare a lot better than those who are doing it for the career at the end and don't enjoy their studies.

Not all aspects of any given course will be interesting but it does help to like the topic you are studying.

topper75

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

Only among obnoxious idiots who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Yes because studying a viable discipline by day and pursuing cultural activities in the evening is impossible? You can be an engineer or a coder and have philosophy, Irish history, or French literature as a hobby if want.

An arts degree is just a way of transferring cash from the gullible to pointless academics over a few years with little benefit ultimately to society at large.

I think the general poor reputation for arts is that it is a default option for many and too easy to drift into and through with no idea of what to do after and no obvious path to take. Also given the numbers you are more likely to encounter a disappointed arts student rather than say a disappointed botanist.

OP if you are happy with the subjects, cost and commitment don't be put off by the letters at the start.
In this context a BA, B Comm, B Sc, B BS aren't very relevant.

valoren

Seanf999 wrote: »

Long story short I dropped out of college (business), tried a few things and now I'm working in a warehouse, I just started and it's grand but not somewhere I want to be indefinitely.

I want to go back to college (- not for business, you won't find me doing any more economics or accounting..)
But there's a part time Arts degree where you can choose different modules to the regular arts modules..

My plan is to study Marketing and Management as a double major (technically two degrees) part time.
I think I can skip 1st year because I passed first year of business so it'll be 3 years instead of 4.
It's also €3,555 per year, cheaper than a full time course plus I can work and cover the costs anyway.

But Arts degrees get a bad rep.

Is an Arts degree worth it?

What if it's just to get a masters?

What do you want to do subsequently? Marketing and Management?
Skate to where the puck will be, not where it is now i.e. do a course that is relevant to what you want to do.

sk8erboii

Unless youre a 45 year old catholic day laborer, dont ask for any approval in afterhours. This place is a cesspool lol

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

topper75 wrote: »

Yes because studying a viable discipline by day and pursuing cultural activities in the evening is impossible? You can be an engineer or a coder and have philosophy, Irish history, or French literature as a hobby if want.

An arts degree is just a way of transferring cash from the gullible to pointless academics over a few years with little benefit ultimately to society at large.

Autodidactism has some value but there’s so much more to getting a degree than just reading and looking at things. With nobody guiding you and challenging you, you won’t hone critical-thinking skills like you would in a structured degree course.

LirW

A degree is always better than no degree. Just holding one, no matter what discipline, can open you doors that would stay closed if you're not a graduate.

Mr.Fantastic

Speaking from personal experience I completed a BA in history and classics and a MA in european history.

Was pretty difficult to get a career even nigh on impossible, I ended up going back and doing a hdip in computer science. Effectively walked into a job after that , essentially had my pick as there are loads of opportunities for IT grads.

I don't regret doing the arts degrees but I do wish there were more opportunities with them.

A lot of my masters class went off and did further courses or ended up in recruitment.

Yer Da sells Avon

topper75 wrote: »

Yes because studying a viable discipline by day and pursuing cultural activities in the evening is impossible? You can be an engineer or a coder and have philosophy, Irish history, or French literature as a hobby if want.

An arts degree is just a way of transferring cash from the gullible to pointless academics over a few years with little benefit ultimately to society at large.

Like I said - the price of everything; the value of nothing.

vriesmays

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Nope, wouldn’t bother. Do a worthwhile degree or just get a job.

An arts degree in maths and philosophy is worthwhile.