Is University overrated these days? (1 Viewer)

[rx34]

pwned.

 

[naisAtoN]

Just as a general reply, to whoever said forcing people to learn trades is like forcing their career path and that we shouldn't be expected to do music, art and dt post-year 8, I think that that we shouldn't be forced to History, Science and Geography either? I think by year 9 you'd know if you had an interest in all these subject areas. It all depends on when we need to be given choice, right?

I also don't think it's overrated. It's been one of my few aspirations simply 'cos no one else in my family has (lol @ the middle child). Whilst a trade is good money it does get hard to do later in life and your physical health/fitness is almost directly related to your quality of work (for the majority of trades) and then there's really a lack of opportunity. I believe a degree does give you more opportunity. I mean simply just for the "higher-level thinking" you need to pass a bachelor of X.

In my opinion, subjects like History and Geography aren't as specific as something like Music or Art. These subjects (often) deal with either past issues of relevance or social and global issues of modern times. Personally, I didn't much care for Geography but looking back, I don't think it was an unreasonable ask to have students study it up until the end of year 10. The subjects are taught with a lean toward "Civics and Citizenship" which I don't think is as irrelevant as pushing someone to learn skills in a career direction they're not happy with.

My opinions on Science aren't as clear. I do think though, to some degree, Science is skills-based and these basic skills can transfer over to the Sciences in years 11 and 12. I think, perhaps, that allowing 14-year-olds to "choose" whether or not they do the subject might be to their detriment as they may be more likely to be swayed by peers into choosing other "cooler" or "more bludgy" subjects. Of course, people with a huge passion for science won't be deterred but what about the people who are still in the middle of the road? What do you think they'll choose if all their friends are taking Visual Arts or PASS? Where a particular passion or talent for art or music may be evident at this stage, I think an interest in science may take further time to develop and it'd be a shame for someone to get to the end of year 11 and realise they've made a mistake in not choosing it.

I never did say the system is perfect as it is in making people study the subjects they have to up until the end of year 10 - merely that the ideas the other poster proposed might not work to make the system better. Perhaps there SHOULD be a revision of the subjects students are or are not allowed to choose to study in Stage 5.

 

[Sultun]

It would be fine if places like Vic Uni, UWS, Deakin, La Trobe, UB, ACU stopped calling themselves 'Universities' and fessed up to being TAFEs.

 

[Lou283]

To give my opinon to the original post:

I am in my early 20's and have been working full time for the last 3 years. I am well respected within my company of over 120 staff, I have had several pay rises and am paid the same or slightly more than those in the same position as me who are all older and have a degree. It is in an industry some people fall over themselves to try and get into BUT I have quit and start uni in a couple of weeks to do commerce. Why? . . . because I may be doing well now but as I grow and fight for the more senior positions in companies I will always be looked at less favourably (in most cases) than those with a degree. This is not because a degree is necessary but because if you have 100 applications you have to narrow it down some way and experience will only get you so far if you are up against those with similar experience. Yes personality and how your interview goes is important but the hardest part is just getting that interview!!!

Therefore now that a degree has become 'the norm' it is those without a degree that find it harder. Also my experience is limited to the job/industry I am currently in and without a degree it would be much harder to change industries in the future, something our generation is known for.

Overrated = perhaps if you don't know what you want to do. Uni is important if you know what you want to do and have a goal. It is worthless if you are not ready, take time out and figure out your life.

 

[Omar-Comin]

To give my opinon to the original post:

I am in my early 20's and have been working full time for the last 3 years. I am well respected within my company of over 120 staff, I have had several pay rises and am paid more than those in the same position as me who are all older and have a degree. It is in an industry people fall over themselves to try and get into BUT I have quit and start uni in a couple of weeks to do commerce. Why? . . . because I may be doing well now but as I grow and fight for the more senior positions in companies I will always be looked at less favourably (in most cases) than those with a degree. This is not because a degree is necessary but because if you have 100 applications you have to narrow it down some way and experience will only get you so far if you are up against those with similar experience. Yes personality and how your interview goes is important but the hardest part is just getting that interview!!!

Therefore now that a degree has become 'the norm' it is those without a degree that find it harder. Also my experience is limited to the job/industry I am currently in and without a degree it would be much harder to change industries in the future, something our generation is known for.

what industry?
fruit picking from the sounds of it?

 

[Lou283]

what industry?
fruit picking from the sounds of it?

haha hilarious. Why does it matter lol!? If you must know its event management, and yes a lot of people want to get into the industry. My company itself does also have other services but that's what I do.

 

[Failure_123]

I don't think that's right. I think it will become more and more necessary. I've actually found that, being a tradie myself as mentioned earlier. Trades are excellent to have under your belt, and I wholeheartedly recommend for anyone to do in the future. Personally, I would like trades to be made part of the curriculum at high school from about year 9 onwards. I'd like to see work ready, trade qualified people straight out of high school. Depending on the apprenticeship length (they vary), an extra year could be tacked on to high school or direct entry into TAFE for the longer apprenticeships. It would take a lot of pressure out of getting into university and solve a lot of unemployment problems. By all means do a degree after high school but students will have a trade behind them. That's another story though.

Trade is underrated and that's definitely true.

 

[Failure_123]

To give my opinon to the original post:

I am in my early 20's and have been working full time for the last 3 years. I am well respected within my company of over 120 staff, I have had several pay rises and am paid more than those in the same position as me who are all older and have a degree. It is in an industry people fall over themselves to try and get into BUT I have quit and start uni in a couple of weeks to do commerce. Why? . . . because I may be doing well now but as I grow and fight for the more senior positions in companies I will always be looked at less favourably (in most cases) than those with a degree. This is not because a degree is necessary but because if you have 100 applications you have to narrow it down some way and experience will only get you so far if you are up against those with similar experience. Yes personality and how your interview goes is important but the hardest part is just getting that interview!!!

Therefore now that a degree has become 'the norm' it is those without a degree that find it harder. Also my experience is limited to the job/industry I am currently in and without a degree it would be much harder to change industries in the future, something our generation is known for.

Overrated = perhaps if you don't know what you want to do. Uni is important if you know what you want to do and have a goal. It is worthless if you are not ready, take time out and figure out your life.

Over 120 staff members and several pay rises? without a degree?

It's either you're hired as a cleaner or pay rises as in $10 to $15, otherwise you're dreaming.

 

[terminator69]

lol says the student doing arts - psych not even B. psych from UWS. I'd say most if not all degrees in the 96-100 uai region have great if not excellent job prospects. Poor marks = poor prospects what ever the cuttoff except for med and other health professions where marks are almost negligible.

You can't tell me degrees like med, optom, physio, usyd/unsw/uts -law, will require you to join the dole lines. Your seriously delusional. If anything, its courses like yours that are diminishing the image of a university student. Any hobo that did the hsc can study arts and major in psych from UWS. How many more arts psychology students can we have? its such a dead end degree.

Well said.

 

[rajputsingh]

I've been to UWS and can say that its business degree is just like High School but with more stupid people!

 

[Cookie182]

What do you university experts think of Wollongong uni?

 

[okimura1170]

B' Commerce at Macquarie 2010

Finally finished and enrolled in my timetable for first year!:

Sem 1
ACST 101 - Techniques and Elements of Finance
BBA 102 - Principles of Management
ECON 111 - Microeconomic Principles
MKTG 101 - Marketing Fundamentals

Sem 2
ACCG 106 - Accounting Information for Decision-Making
STAT 170 - Introductory Statistics
ECON 110 - Macroeconomic Principles
ANTH 151 - Human Evolution and Diversity (People Unit).

Lou283, I was at macquarie for my 1st degree, and some of those subjects look awfully familiar. Good luck if this is the 1st time you have set foot in a uni, you will be in for a bit of a shock compared to office life. Most of those subjects will be 300+ students so you are a number not a name. Also I think Macq has a large % of o'seas students so any groupwork could be a challenge.

But back to the main thrust of the post, yep 50 yrs ago being a uni student meant you were in gifted/privileged small minority of the population but not the case anymore in 2010. I agree with an earlier post that the new Bachelor degree is the Masters - and the Masters is done part time whilst working.

At my last job in a Big 4 bank , in our group of slightly more than 10 persons, there were only 3 persons without a masters ( and one of these 3 was the exec asst who had a bachelors degree) . The guy on my right had an MBA from New York Uni in the USA, the guy on my left had an M Applied Finance from Macq Uni. The boss had an MBA as well.
But the weird thing was that the degree was only a threshold hurdle, whether you stayed depended on what you were able to contribute to the group ie experience and skill on a regular basis.

 

[Makro]

I've been to UWS and can say that its business degree is just like High School but with more stupid people!

I've been there for an open day... UWS is shit because I saw it.

No, stop bashing it when you're just spreading around more rumours and gossip.

 

[spence]

totally agree, studying psychology at a place like UWS makes an absolute mockery of the notion of 'tertiary education'. Places like UWS, and courses like psychology, are just continuations of high school like 'sit and get taught' learning. Most people could pass their shit-easy exams without even taking the course. It's a joke.
And ambermorn please stop apologizing for the fact you got into UWS, your not fooling anyone.

Have you done a psych degree? If not, then how the fuck do you know how easy it is?

Okay NOTHING against you since this is my first post in this thread anyway.

BPsych @ UWS ATAR cutoff 2010 = 81.75 (Depends how you define "well enough")

YOU, are currently a BA(Psych) student at UWS (as stated in your signature).

BA(Psych) @ UWS ATAR cutoff 2010 = 70.25/70.75 (REALLY stretching it if you define 70s as "well enough")

BA(Psych) is not a professional degree. You might get a career out of it, but definitely not a professional one. BPsych* is the one you SHOULD BE doing but you happened not to choose it (based on your signature) yet claim you do (based on the above quote).

How would you know if she can't get a professional job out of it? It doesn't make a difference what the degree is called, if you get into honours then you can get into a professional job

 

[rajputsingh]

I've been there for an open day... UWS is shit because I saw it.

No, stop bashing it when you're just spreading around more rumours and gossip.

No I actually attended UWS last year and its business degree and the uni is like a high school. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Last year I was one of the people who was defending it, disregarding the prestige element and so on but after attending there, I can say that all the haters out there are correct. The law degree is quite good however from my experience in the business degree, it is shit!

 

[Omar-Comin]

Have you done a psych degree? If not, then how the fuck do you know how easy it is?

Okay NOTHING against you since this is my first post in this thread anyway.

BPsych @ UWS ATAR cutoff 2010 = 81.75 (Depends how you define "well enough")

YOU, are currently a BA(Psych) student at UWS (as stated in your signature).

BA(Psych) @ UWS ATAR cutoff 2010 = 70.25/70.75 (REALLY stretching it if you define 70s as "well enough")

BA(Psych) is not a professional degree. You might get a career out of it, but definitely not a professional one. BPsych* is the one you SHOULD BE doing but you happened not to choose it (based on your signature) yet claim you do (based on the above quote).

How would you know if she can't get a professional job out of it? It doesn't make a difference what the degree is called, if you get into honours then you can get into a professional job

Stop apologizing for the B.arts (psychology) degree at UWS, it's a complete joke, it takes no intelligence to pass (most of the marks are based on tutorial attendance) and it isn't professionally recognized.
UWS is an upper level TAFE for academic failures, there is nothing you can say that will change this fact. No one cares about your lies and apologies.

 

[Makro]

Stop apologizing for the B.arts (psychology) degree at UWS, it's a complete joke, it takes no intelligence to pass (most of the marks are based on tutorial attendance) and it isn't professionally recognized.
UWS is an upper level TAFE for academic failures, there is nothing you can say that will change this fact. No one cares about your lies and apologies.

source, facts and references before making idiotic claims please.

 

[Sultun]

Are places like UWS legally permitted to title themselves a University? What are the requirements for this title?

 

[spence]

Have you done a psych degree? If not, then how the fuck do you know how easy it is?


Stop apologizing for the B.arts (psychology) degree at UWS, it's a complete joke, it takes no intelligence to pass (most of the marks are based on tutorial attendance) and it isn't professionally recognized.
UWS is an upper level TAFE for academic failures, there is nothing you can say that will change this fact. No one cares about your lies and apologies.

Swing and a miss.
http://www.apac.psychology.org.au/Content.aspx?ID=1048
Again, have you done the course? If not, how would you know how hard it is to pass?

 

[paulpang22288]

Are places like UWS legally permitted to title themselves a University? What are the requirements for this title?

It's called the UNIVERSITY of Western Sydney for a reason.