Is an Arts degree worth it?

Sunny Disposition

Def worth it, sure a post grad is required but in many if not most graduate careers that’s the case. Myself and my partner both did arts degrees, we work in very different fields and are both well paid.

People like putting arts degrees down to make themselves feel superior, but the truth is getting one will give you huge options.

I wouldn’t listen too much to people who don’t have arts degrees putting them down btw. Ask people who have got one, they’re the only ones who know.

lainey_d_123

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

Def worth it, sure a post grad is required but in many if not most graduate careers that’s the case. Myself and my partner both did arts degrees, we work in very different fields and are both well paid.

People like putting arts degrees down to make themselves feel superior, but the truth is getting one will give you huge options.

I wouldn’t listen too much to people who don’t have arts degrees putting them down btw. Ask people who have got one, they’re the only ones who know.

I've got one and have spent the last decade in poverty. Have spent the last year or two retraining as an accountant and only now starting to get on my feet and feel some hope for the future.

It's all well and good to be cultured but culture doesn't pay the bills. Wish I'd studied something 'boring' and read the Sartre in my spare time.

Elemonator

I don't know anyone who didn't get employment in a decent job with an Arts degree, so there's that.

Your Face

Is Arts worth a degree?

sk8erboii

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I've got one and have spent the last decade in poverty. Have spent the last year or two retraining as an accountant and only now starting to get on my feet and feel some hope for the future.

It's all well and good to be cultured but culture doesn't pay the bills. Wish I'd studied something 'boring' and read the Sartre in my spare time.

Sounds like you didnt get the point of college.

In your time doing arts, you made no connections or pursued no opportunities?

Did you work on your social skills?

Protip: nobody cares if you’re cultured or read Tolstoy. Its all a performance to improve your soft skills, specifically communications.

katiek102010

I have one, never used it.

It's a good foundation degree but worth sfa unless you do a substantial post grad...

Research the post grád you want to do to make sure you pick the appropriate modules

DaithiMa

It all depends on the subjects you study. I went back to college as a mature student and did an Arts degree at a decent Irish university. Studied 3 subjects in 1st year (English/History/Geography) and ended up with double honours in English and History.

Five years after graduating am self employed and on verge of taking on staff.

The only thing is, it took a night on Irish magic mushrooms 7 or so months after graduation to point me in the direction of my current career path. The English part of the degree helped, but I reckon I would be where I am now without it. Instead of an arts degree, I recommend Liberty Caps (in moderation) to all.

ILoveYourVibes

sk8erboii wrote: »

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

Harsh but true.

ILoveYourVibes

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Harsh but true.

No, it isn't.

That poster bitches and moans more than the people he's complaining about. The vast majority of people on here are sound. It's people suffering from confirmation bias that think that one bad poster every couple of pages means the place is a "cesspit".

It's the same in Feedback. One poster claiming a thread was full of alt-right when the first post of that nature was post #168.


He's 23 and has delusions of grandeur. He's lecturing people a decade older than him about what they did or did not get out of their own degree. He's more of a problem on here with his nonsense advice than the "bitter old people" he rants about so often.

ILoveYourVibes

Deleted User wrote: »

No, it isn't.

That poster bitches and moans more than the people he's complaining about. The vast majority of people on here are sound. It's people suffering from confirmation bias that think that one bad poster every couple of pages means the place is a "cesspit".

It's the same in Feedback. One poster claiming a thread was full of alt-right when the first post of that nature was post #168.


He's 23 and has delusions of grandeur. He's lecturing people a decade older than him about what they did or did not get out of their own degree. He's more of a problem on here with his nonsense advice than the "bitter old people" he rants about so often.

Harsh but true.

Anyways, back on topic.

I only worked for two years using my Commerce degree before I left Ireland. I kind of wish I'd done Arts instead, but then I think my interest in that range of subjects only really grew when I was around 26-28 or so. Started listening to history podcasts and reading more etc.

Kind of similar to my brother. He went to uni when he was 29 I think. Is doing great now since he knew what he wanted. I only started teaching myself code when I 26. That's going great cause it's what I want.


I've no idea what Arts is worth these days to the OP, though. Based on how my brother and I turned out, I'd near just wait a couple of years. Do some online edx courses in the meantime and see what grabs your fancy. Then study it full time.

sk8erboii

SNIP. Banned.

Gimme A Pound

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Harsh but true.

How is it true?

Sunny Disposition

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I've got one and have spent the last decade in poverty. Have spent the last year or two retraining as an accountant and only now starting to get on my feet and feel some hope for the future.

It's all well and good to be cultured but culture doesn't pay the bills. Wish I'd studied something 'boring' and read the Sartre in my spare time.

The ‘last year or two’. You’re being genuine but are this vague?

lainey_d_123

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

The ‘last year or two’. You’re being genuine but are this vague?

Eh, believe it or not, I don't want to put my entire personal business on the internet. I'd rather keep details vague and not be identified by someone I know who might be reading.

Because this is something you'd totally lie about, like. :rolleyes:

lainey_d_123

sk8erboii wrote: »

Sounds like you didnt get the point of college.

In your time doing arts, you made no connections or pursued no opportunities?

Did you work on your social skills?

Protip: nobody cares if you’re cultured or read Tolstoy. Its all a performance to improve your soft skills, specifically communications.

Of course I did. Then I graduated in 2008, right into the recession. My soft skills are fine. It's the hard skills I was lacking. As soon as I started learning some, I magically started to get more opportunities.

weird, that.

JupiterKid

JupiterKid wrote: »

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.

Some of the comments like this illustrate the concept of privilege very well. And there I was thinking it was BS.

lainey_d_123

Deleted User wrote: »

Some of the comments like this illustrate the concept of privilege very well. And there I was thinking it was BS.

Mad how people like this just don't get it, isn't it? There are so many people who truly cannot comprehend never getting financial help from family, or being truly poor to the point of going hungry and not being able to pay rent/bills.

I love 'culture'. I really do. Love nothing better than a good play or an art gallery. But it's very hard to be able to enjoy these things when you're walking around Lidl adding up everything on your calculator as you walk around and debating whether or not you can justify a packet of biscuits. When you're poor and in insecure low paid employment, your whole life ends up revolving around making sure you can keep the lights on and feed yourself.

It's widely accepted that basic needs have to be met before you can focus on luxuries like art or literature. Just look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The issue is that so many people take everything below the top level of the pyramid totally for granted.

Edgware

An Arts degree! Once you're handy with a roller and a can of emulsion you wont need to get the Arts degree.

Edgware

LirW wrote: »

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.

And if the degree is useless you can get a job opening doors

LirW

Edgware wrote: »

And if the degree is useless you can get a job opening doors

Even if you have to retrain, there are many companies that require you to hold a degree, often the discipline doesn't matter, to be considered for an interview.
I dropped out and never finished my history degree. I'm now at a point where I have to get creative to secure half decent employment because not having a degree is a disadvantage.

Granted it doesn't give you a great job but just having a degree could get you opportunities that you wouldn't get without. It's a lot easier to retrain and get a well-paying job with 3rd level than it would without.

markodaly

It really really depends on the person and their background.

Someone here makes references to the 'class' the person belongs to and unfortunately, that is 100% true.

If you come from a nice middle-class background, with parents with decent stable jobs, then perhaps an arts degree may suit.
If you come from a traditional working class background, it will be much more difficult. Therefore, perhaps a degree that has an actual defined job and career at the end of it may suit a lot more.

Arts degrees are a mixed bag really. Sure if may be nice to learn a subject that may be of interest but in reality, the job market may not care and people with arts degrees are dime a dozen.

If you want to stay in Ireland and go teach or get a job in the public service, then perhaps it's for you. If you want to travel, well people will not really care and it will be harder to get a job in general. The places where I have worked myself over the decades. The Canadas, US, Australia, and the UK, most if not all the Irish people I met had a non-arts degree (excl tradies of course). They did accounting, commerce, IT, engineering, nursing, medicine or teaching degrees. Rare to meet some with an arts degree. Although some of them went into recruitment.

The fact though that you are working in a warehouse and want to get on with your life and better yourself perhaps an arts degree isn't for you. What exactly do you want to get out of it? You want a better quality of life, with more $$$ in your back pocket?

Remember, the economy is OK now, and we pretty much have full unemployment. Getting into a college and getting an Arts degree isn't all the difficult and in 3 years time, will the economy be as good? Storm clouds on the horizon there I think!

I remember back in 2011-15 period, we have loads of entitled students who graduated with random degrees that were really not worth all that much. Most of these had Arts degrees and they were all competing with each other. The job market picked up so these people were hired eventually, most of them in the public service. But again, is that likely to last? I think not.

In essence, do you want a degree or a career? If you want the latter, what interests you.

ILoveYourVibes

Edgware wrote: »

An Arts degree! Once you're handy with a roller and a can of emulsion you wont need to get the Arts degree.

So so true.

gormdubhgorm

And I thought it was spelt as 'Orts Degree'.

You learn something new everyday.....

Edgware

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

So so true.

I was only joking til I heard what the neighbour was quoted for the painting of four ceilings

topper75

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

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

You didn't explain the value of anything there or offer any rebuttal to my point. You just doubled up on your original ad hominem - people who question the merit of studying Arts fulltime are cynics.

topper75

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

Mad how people like this just don't get it, isn't it? There are so many people who truly cannot comprehend never getting financial help from family, or being truly poor to the point of going hungry and not being able to pay rent/bills.

I love 'culture'. I really do. Love nothing better than a good play or an art gallery. But it's very hard to be able to enjoy these things when you're walking around Lidl adding up everything on your calculator as you walk around and debating whether or not you can justify a packet of biscuits. When you're poor and in insecure low paid employment, your whole life ends up revolving around making sure you can keep the lights on and feed yourself.

It's widely accepted that basic needs have to be met before you can focus on luxuries like art or literature. Just look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The issue is that so many people take everything below the top level of the pyramid totally for granted.

So do the Arts in the evening yourself by lamplight if you think it is so important and engaging? Harshness of this suggestion not going down well here.
Many of the offerings in an Arts degree are pointless bourgeois inanities anyway. Takes some cheek to ask taxpayers/parents to fund the endeavour. I want to learn about Russian novelists' impact on the politics of the time - go fund me!

LirW

Also so many degrees are giving you a BA that strictly speaking aren't Arts. At IT Carlow Accounting or Social Care awards a BA.
Back home where my sister studies colleges only awards BA and BSc - the latter is strictly for STEM courses and everything else awards a BA. She's studying Pedagogy and Psychology, and will be awarded a BA. Becoming a teacher? Have fun with BA as your title.

Sunny Disposition

The idea that people with arts degrees are likely to be unemployed is a silly one, won't happen unless you are particularly lazy, and you'd hardly get the degree in the first place if you were. If you do get an arts degree you will need a post grad, that's true. However its true for a lot of careers. Like if you get a degree in commerce or science you're probably going to have to do more study as well.

Arts bashing is popular, and that's okay with me, it makes some people feel a bit superior about themselves. But the OP should know it will give him the basis for a career in any number of fields, I know lawyers, IT professionals, journalists, teachers, psychologists, accountants and statisticians who all have arts as their primary degree.

bumders

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

The idea that people with arts degrees are likely to be unemployed is a silly one, won't happen unless you are particularly lazy, and you'd hardly get the degree in the first place if you were. If you do get an arts degree you will need a post grad, that's true. However its true for a lot of careers. Like if you get a degree in commerce or science you're probably going to have to do more study as well.

Arts bashing is popular, and that's okay with me, it makes some people feel a bit superior about themselves. But the OP should know it will give him the basis for a career in any number of fields, I know lawyers, IT professionals, journalists, teachers, psychologists, accountants and statisticians who all have arts as their primary degree.

It really depends on the subjects you pick but if your an adult over 30 doing an arts degree there is no point in doing one