[Closed] Half of graduates regret going to University..

I read that as..

Half of all parents regret sending their children to University.

😉

.... "according to the research by Barclays, which runs its own apprenticeship schemes."

half of graduates have pointless / poor value degrees?

half of graduates disappointed they now have to get a job?

half of graduates realise they don't need a sociology degree to pick fruit in Norfolk?

The next big financial scandal - mis-sold University Courses.

But no one told me I wasn't guaranteed a gold-plated salary after paying out for fees and a loan...

I didn't go to uni but I did my A levels and an apprenticeship.

My three brothers all went to uni.

I didn't go to uni and don't regret it 🙂  One brother will certainly earn more, the other two probably have an equal earning opportunity.

I don't necessarily regret going to uni.

But I wish I'd done an apprenticeship first and went to uni as a mature student once I knew the why

I'd have got more out of it than going straight from school.

How ever if I'd done an apprenticeship first I'd have left with big loans. I got lucky with timing.

I don't think people see the benefits of a degree until the second half of their working lives. I didn't go to Uni, and after 20 years in I.T. I have got as far as I am likely to go. Had I gotten a degree under my belt then many more opportunities would be open to me now.

Rather than blaming the students.......

I did a masters in Chemical engineering and chemistry, tbh I regret doing the chemistry as despite the university's insistence that this new degree would be in demand In don't know anyone who actually went into a chemistry role except those that used it as a stepping stone into PhD (where it would have been more useful as the bleeding edge of chemical engineering is inevitably driven by advances in chemistry).

The problem over the last 10 years since the crash is a general downturn in engineering jobs as engineering projects need billions in financing from banks and governments, which just hasn't been happening. So even 'vocational' degrees like engineering haven't resulted in good jobs like they would have done previously.

I now work in television and its quite different. There's a large oversupply of graduates prepared to do fairly menial tasks, but there always has been. If someone said their kid wanted to work in TV or film I'd tell them to find a job first as you certainly don't need a degree (GCSE's would be pushing it tbh). An apprenticeship  might be the best route but I'm making decent money just turning up, talking to people and asking lots of questions.

University is basically a pyramid scheme anyway.

Each undergrad, foreign student, post grad etc is a sold product, ie income. And a significant income.

Why on earth would any uni not want to constantly increase numbers and sell more...? Uni is not to serve the needs of education - it is money.

R4 had a programme on about the number of PhD's that are now finding no work - apparently we have 3-4x the number of PhD's going on than we actually need across all industries etc...

In Scotland the uni's make up something like the richest 7 out of 10 charities by income and investments.

Time for govt. to limit course numbers, fund apprenticeships and colleges to the same level (£9k per head per year) etc.

I did a masters in Chemical engineering and chemistry, tbh I regret doing the chemistry as despite the university’s insistence that this new degree would be in demand In don’t know anyone who actually went into a chemistry role except those that used it as a stepping stone into PhD (where it would have been more useful as the bleeding edge of chemical engineering is inevitably driven by advances in chemistry).

Just interested ... was that degree of RSC ???

I know this had a lot of discussion at the time.... and somehow I have an ex-wife and more than 1 ex-GF that did chemistry in one way or another...

I also find a lot of chemical engineers doing other non-chemistry or chem eng stuff... and it seems to have provided a pretty good base?

Having done 50/50 of turning up and leaving after 2 year it's been interesting

Out of school in the late 90's career advice was pointless and I don't think I even got a chat about stuff till after UCAS applications went in. Being a fairly traditional science or arts school things like engineering never came up. So ended up in Chemistry which was a big mistake.

For the first 10 years a degree would have opened so many more doors and got me into things.

Having got where I am now it really doesn't matter and I enjoy what I do, it does always surprise people when they find out I don't have one. At some point I might be having an interesting conversation about joining an MSc without one.

I did chuckle when somebody asked if I would deliver some lectures later this year....

getting 50% of people into Uni was a mistake, but it was part of a problem that didn't offer viable alternative paths for people.

Having met a lot of grads probably the first thing that knocks them back a bit is when they find out just how green they are leaving uni and how long it takes to get going and get on in a lot of places.

I'd like to know exactly how the question was phrased.  I don't regret going to uni even through I still earn less than I did before I went (IT, now engineering). What I learnt and the experience of going to Uni is both invaluable and somewhat intangible, but most definitely worth it.

I don't regret it, maybe people think they'll magically get rich if they go to uni or something.

people doing degrees in heavy metal drumming etc might come to regret the debt/usefulness ratio...

I wonder how many graduates realise that it would be even more difficult to get a job now without a degree, and it has nothing to do with needing a degree for the role. I am not a graduate, and my CV wouldn't even be passed onto my manager if I was to apply for my job now. Regardless of experience when they a getting over 100 applications for every half decent job, CV's get whittled down very quickly and education is one of the first things recruiters and HR look at to bin a CV, before the recruiting manager even sees them.

How many people that didn't go to University regret not having that opportunity?  Pretty difficult to guess what could have been....

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">regret university... not a chance... it was pretty much all fun from start to finish</span>

I am not a graduate, and my CV wouldn’t even be passed onto my manager if I was to apply for my job now.

Yep it's been devalued as a currency but that just means those without look even worse, thankfully 18 years of work counts for more

I think prospective students should be given incentives to study "more useful" degrees over "less useful" degrees. Defining which degrees are which will be contentious though

Also how does the number of graduates with a degree in Television Production compare to the number of jobs available in television production? 10 to 1, 100 to 1?

I had a great time at Uni, how could anyone regret it?

Half of graduates regret going to University..

I'm in the half that regret not going enough.

Who is it that has a massive chip on his shoulder and inferiority complex about not going to University?  I'd like to hear what he has to say.

I did the full run BSc.->MSc.->DPhil. and I enjoyed every minute.  Except for the 5 months I spent writing up my DPhil. but the preceding 8 years were a blast.

I had a great time at Uni, how could anyone regret it?

Like any good party the hangover when your wallet is empty, you are miles from home and really have no idea what you did and what you are going to do next, then you check your credit card and find you maxed that out and work for not much more than minimum wage.

The drug dealers and pub landlords of Salford were all extremely glad that me and my mates all went to Uni 😀

Society changes during the Blair era and his “uni is open to all, and there is a funding mechanism which will allow you to go... sign here”

Can’t blame the initiative can you, but the mechanism and post Uni marketplace isn’t really fit for purpose.

Can’t blame aspiring youth neither, those with an outlook geared to academic subjects it’s a clear path... those who go to uni with less clear objectives will undeniably fall foul to the current marketplace for employees.

Regret going? Nope, I had a blast, learned loads, sailed and drank beer and met my wife there.

Has it added to my employment career, yes in the first few years it opened up a lot of doors ... but I had the wherewithal to go open them first. Since then? I don’t think I’ve ever been asked about a degree qualification.

MOAB is correct in his hypothesis, Education is an industry, ever since the Govt cut funding the system has had to fill the gap with a mechanism that is weighed heavily against the student... but the university doesn’t care, it’s just providing a product and selling that product to a demographic that aspires to it.

Is a degree necessarily the best option? No, for a lot of students it simply isn’t.

The article is only about graduates of the last five years, and those in London, so not applicable to most here. Those in London are more likely to be financially motivated, more likely to feel completely screwed by the housing market, and more likely to feel surrounded by people with more money and less education. Outside of London the figures may be very different.

I know I could be much better off in all respects if I had taken a different route (either in or out of university) but that is with hindsight* and frankly my uni days really were the best days of more life, or at least some of them.

* Buy lots of shares in Apple / bitcoins at crucial moments for instance.

I regret the degree I did (Biology), not sure I'd go as far as saying I regret going to university, although had my fees been more than 1k a year I probably would.

Having a degree has been useful, but only in terms of ticking a box. It don't think it demonstrares anything in terms of aptitude that 3 A's at Alevel wouldn't.

Having the 'wrong' degree for the area I work in has almost certainly been a hindrance. Despite more than a decade of experience not having the correct qualification can still be a barrier.

Just interested … was that degree of RSC ???

I know this had a lot of discussion at the time…. and somehow I have an ex-wife and more than 1 ex-GF that did chemistry in one way or another…

I also find a lot of chemical engineers doing other non-chemistry or chem eng stuff… and it seems to have provided a pretty good base?

Sheffield was the only uni to offer the 'and' course. We could pick in the 4th year if we wanted to graduate as MSc or MEng.

As I said I suspect the only real jobs for that degree are in things like R&D for pharma or catalsyst design. Chemistry and chemical engineering really don't have as much overlap as anyone outside the industry would suppose.

Most Chen eng grads end up working in investment banking as its obviously very numerical and almost entirely made up of empirical modeling.

Also how does the number of graduates with a degree in Television Production compare to the number of jobs available in television production? 10 to 1, 100 to 1?

I've no idea, I obviously only meet the ones in work. Its a bit of a whipping boy for pointless degrees, but someone has to make all those sick edits for MTB companies, and it can't be worse the .The ratio of English literature degrees to English teachers.

I think its more to do with which collage you go to.  I'd say 50% of the people I meet seems to have been to the same collage (nfts). The other 40% did something entirely unrelated to TV or came into it from another discipline like electronics.

Going to uni was the easiest way of me getting out of my shithole home town, in fact education and future job prospects were a long way down the list.

I don't regret it but then I left with 15k debt, the guy I sit next to left with 45k debt.

University Vice-Chancellor now seems to be the job de jour if you want to get paid an absolutely obscene shed-load of cash

Manchester Met's turnover last year was over half a billion quid

I graduated 15 years ago. Don't regret it, I learnt a lot (some course-related, mostly life stuff) great experience.

BUT 18 is far too early to choose what to do, with hindsight I picked the completely the wrong course and should have done something totally different. I chose a course which would almost guarentee me a job if I didn't completely balls it up but realised half way through that wasn't actually what I wanted a job in, should have chosen something just because it was interesting to study and worried about the job later. Ended up in low paid jobs anyway, if I'd done a different course I could have an equally badly paid but more fun job.

Graduated in 2003 with £12k-ish of debt, now have £14k of debt, never earned enough to pay it off, doesn't really bother me.

Most Chen eng grads end up working in investment banking as its obviously very numerical and almost entirely made up of empirical modeling.

Just as I started uni, the stat was that ChemEng graduates had an average starting salary in the £40k range if I remember correctly. It was significantly higher than other subjects.

The only 2 career paths from that degree seemed to be either O&G or banking. This was before the 2009 recession.

I don’t regret going, but I do regret the 3 years of pissing money away behind the union bar & not being a bit more circumspect as it took a long time to pay it all back.

This survey seems pretty out of line with others but this:

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I regret the degree I did (Biology), not sure I’d go as far as saying I regret going to university,"

Really is incredibly commonplace, stats for over a decade find that about 50% of graduates agree or strongly agree with this.

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But I think the London part is probably what's throwing it- the climate there really is different to the rest of the UK, partly that there's a higher expectation of going to uni but more that there's a huge desire to stay in London no matter what. Whereas just about everywhere else in the country, far more students want to move away.

Scotroot sed> The next big financial scandal – mis-sold University Courses.

I truly hope so.

I truly hope so.

Me too, I just spent the last few weeks doing the texts to get compensation and the autodialers

Shouldn't the headline be: "half of all graduates regret not being more focused in their early career decisions" or "half of all graduates realise that 16-18 is probably not the best time to be making life-defining career decisions"..... or " current system makes it unnecessarily difficult to change career later in life".

As someone who works a lot on recruitment in my job I wouldn't rule anyone without a degree out of the pool. But we are looking for the right kind of person and experience.

However, no regrets about mine, admittedly it was before full fee costs, but I still came out about £15k in debt, however I have been lucky and hard working since so have cleared all of that and earned a lot more than I would have without the degree mainly because of opportunities after and the people I met during it.

My 2p.

I didn't go, the support wasn't there at home and frankly neither was the desire.

I'm not surprised at the 50/50 split really, that roughly the split between my graduate school peers who either went on to 'change the world' even in a tiny way, and those you joined the workplace at 21 with a degree that wasn't a prerequisite for a job and found themselves a bit behind everyone else with 3 years of work on their CV.

My eldest has just finished Year 7 in school and already they're chatting about Uni places, for a lot of people it's become a normal, right of passage.

My wife holds 2 Uni degrees, and as above, I don't have one, but we agree, if he wants to go to Uni with our support, it needs to be to study for something that leads to a job, because the world doesn't need another Michael Mouse Grad, you're better off going backpacking for a year to 'grow as a person' and save yourself the 50k debt.

As someone who works a lot on recruitment in my job I wouldn’t rule anyone without a degree out of the pool. But we are looking for the right kind of person and experience.

The difference between recruiting for 1 position and recruiting for an intake. Plenty of places will have the first cut done before any CV's get to them and if you say grad and no degree is on there the CV won't pass.If you are filtering 200 CV's for one role you need a quick way to cut them down.

As someone who just graduated from uni this summer, something I overwhelmingly noticed was that the people who perhaps regretted their degree choice were the ones who went to Uni straight after A-levels simply as it was the done thing and just picked a subject they liked the sound off, rather than based on career prospects.

Most of the people who have graduate jobs lined up were those who went to uni with a set career goal, ie gaining the required qualifications to be a lawyer, doctor, optician et al and knew that was the field they wanted to go into from the start.

The people who are now coming out with no jobs in the pipeline are those in the former category who went for the experience and a lack of knowledge of other options. IMO the problem completely lies with a lack of early career advise and work experience. Having multiple work experience weeks at GCSE/AS level, full time career advisers at school and greater advertisement of other options such as apprenticeships is the way forward, rather than an issue with the universities themselves who are only too happy to take the cash.

That said I think very few people regret university itself, for the experience is great and for most people is their chance to move away from home and establish themselves with the aid of a supportive environment.

My wife holds 2 Uni degrees, and as above, I don’t have one,

Technically, on average you each have one degree 😉

...something I overwhelmingly noticed was that the people who perhaps regretted their degree choice were the ones who went to Uni straight after A-levels simply as it was the done thing and just picked a subject they liked the sound off, rather than based on career prospects.

^^ this

Most of the people who have graduate jobs lined up were those who went to uni with a set career goal, ie gaining the required qualifications to be a lawyer, doctor, optician et al and knew that was the field they wanted to go into from the start.

^^ and this

The people who are now coming out with no jobs in the pipeline are those in the former category who went for the experience and a lack of knowledge of other options. IMO the problem completely lies with a lack of early career advise and work experience. Having multiple work experience weeks at GCSE/AS level, full time career advisers at school and greater advertisement of other options such as apprenticeships is the way forward, rather than an issue with the universities themselves who are only too happy to take the cash.

^^ and this as well

rocket jr graduated last week and says exactly the same thing. Congratulations and good luck in the future enigmas

Hands up if you got a grant to go to uni ??

Me.