Have you ever regretted doing an Arts degree?

karaokeman

A lot of people persistently argue Arts degrees like in NUIM and NUIG are useless for everything except for teaching.

They also cling to claims that employers don't look for Arts graduates nowadays, which is also false because through an Arts degree you get a joint honours in one or two specialized subject areas.

I'm pretty sure that these assertions are untrue.

Comment on whether you agree or disagree.

thetonynator

Reminds me of a joke i heard about, written on the wall above the toilet roll in a toilet in a university: For an arts degree, pull here.

:P

InReality

I regret going straight from school to college.
I think a bit more life experience is esp useful for a prospective Arts student,
to help ward off the "why am I doing this" self doubts that come along.

I regret that I didn't discuss my college plans with anyone. My parents were not good at dealing with me, and thought the whole college thing was something they could not advise me on.

I also regret not taking economics , (which I was very good at and interested in ), and instead taking philosophy , (ditto) , which meant that job question was always on my mind.

Cummybaby

InReality wrote: »

I regret going straight from school to college.
I think a bit more life experience is esp useful for a prospective Arts student,
to help ward off the "why am I doing this" self doubts that come along.

I regret that I didn't discuss my college plans with anyone. My parents were not good at dealing with me, and thought the whole college thing was something they could not advise me on.

I also regret not taking economics , (which I was very good at and interested in ), and instead taking philosophy , (ditto) , which meant that job question was always on my mind.

Inreality you have pretty much summed up my experiences.

6 years ago I went to UCD to do an Arts degree after securing a very good leaving cert. I did 5 subjects (Joint major and electives) in my first year and spent the whole year locked in my room doing essays. In the middle of my second year I became disillusioned with the whole Arts degree because I thought the degree would be no benefit to me. Inevitably I dropped out and spent the next two years working and on the dole. Eventually I decided to go back to college on my steam and start from scratch choosing something more hands on.

Like you my parents didn't know enough about college/ education to offer any guidance but I dont hold it against them. Even though they never talk about me dropping out I can see that I'm a disappointment in their eyes which is fair enough. I too should've taken a year or two before starting third level but as they say hindsight is 20/20

My advice to anyone currently do and doubting their Arts to degree is to stick at. It is a pure myth that Arts degrees are only useful for teaching. It is a very general degree but it has its uses. For instance my dentist majored in French and English - an Arts degree he used to get into dentistry. Another friend of mine is using his Arts degree as a stepping stone into law.

If only I knew then what I know now but hey its not the end of the world.

Salty

I think I may be starting an Arts degree in September, and I hate all this generalised nonsense about them being "useless" degrees.

Certainly, plenty of people go on to become teachers. But where's the harm in that? When I think of my best/favourite teacher in school, I'm grateful that they decided to do an arts degree, and do teaching.

I can't stand the snobbery from 6th year students and other 3rd level students regarding arts degrees. Really grinds my gears. If arts is what I end up doing, I have plans of a post-grad already lined up. I'll be taking none of this superiority business!

Overall, disagree that they're useless.

Cummybaby

_meehan_ wrote: »

I think I may be starting an Arts degree in September, and I hate all this generalised nonsense about them being "useless" degrees.

Certainly, plenty of people go on to become teachers. But where's the harm in that? When I think of my best/favourite teacher in school, I'm grateful that they decided to do an arts degree, and do teaching.

I can't stand the snobbery from 6th year students and other 3rd level students regarding arts degrees. Really grinds my gears. If arts is what I end up doing, I have plans of a post-grad already lined up. I'll be taking none of this superiority business!

Overall, disagree that they're useless.

I think the problem a lot of people face is that most other degrees narrows the field of potential jobs you can get. For instance If you study medicine more than likely you are going to be a doctor, same for nursing engineering etc. An Arts degree on the other hand is so open that it can cause some people to question the point of it if indeed they do not wish to enter the teaching profession.

I know about 2 dozen people about to complete an Arts degree in UCD this year. And you can split them into three different categories. First category are the guys who want a good degree because they believe it will enhance their careers. The second category are the guys who have a love/hate relationship with their degrees and still dont know what they want to work at in life. And finally you have the guys who would be happy to spend the rest of their lives in college because they dont want to face the real world. So to sum up: in the end you get what you put into it.

Anyway best of luck in your studies.

Tom Dunne

Interesting opinion piece on CNN about this: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/21/roth.liberal.education/index.html

citizen_p

Cummybaby wrote: »

My advice to anyone currently do and doubting their Arts to degree is to stick at. It is a pure myth that Arts degrees are only useful for teaching. It is a very general degree but it has its uses. For instance my dentist majored in French and English - an Arts degree he used to get into dentistry. Another friend of mine is using his Arts degree as a stepping stone into law.

I

I was considering one in history, but all I can see is it leading to a job in teaching (not for me) or as a stepping stone to somthing else, a 3 or 4 year course is a pretty big stepping stone.

karaokeman

_meehan_ wrote: »

I can't stand the snobbery from 6th year students and other 3rd level students regarding arts degrees. Really grinds my gears. If arts is what I end up doing, I have plans of a post-grad already lined up. I'll be taking none of this superiority business!

Overall, disagree that they're useless.

Thank you for pointing this out.

Arts degrees are very benefitial if you know before hand what you would be interested in doing for a post-grad.

I believe they are only useless if you don't know what you want to do, same as with every other degree if you don't have a plan.

randylonghorn

thetonynator wrote: »

Reminds me of a joke i heard about, written on the wall above the toilet roll in a toilet in a university: For an arts degree, pull here.

You'll probably find the same joke scratched into the wall of the lavatory under the Colosseum, it's that old.

paky

arts degrees arent useless. this is normally said by people who couldnt find a job after college because they didnt try hard enough.
this however is not to say that some subjects in college arent there to get your hard earned money from you. when picking subjects to study, have the end in mind. law, economics, mathematics are all very good subjects to choose in arts and you can make alot of money from them when u finish

Fluorescence

I do. I went into it because I had no idea what else I might want to do, and wasted 2 full years of my life and tuition fees for nothing. I'd have been better off working for a few years and coming back to college when I knew what I was doing.

Unless you're passionate about the subjects you're taking and have a vague plan in mind, I would not recommend an Arts degree at all.

karaokeman

fluorescence wrote: »

I do. I went into it because I had no idea what else I might want to do, and wasted 2 full years of my life and tuition fees for nothing. I'd have been better off working for a few years and coming back to college when I knew what I was doing.

Unless you're passionate about the subjects you're taking and have a vague plan in mind, I would not recommend an Arts degree at all.

Where did you do it?

I've heard NUIM has quite a comprehensive Arts course, supposedly better off than UCD.

Fluorescence

I went to UCD. It has the biggest Arts&Humanities department in the country IIRC, and the widest selection of subjects to choose from.

Either way though, you're better off doing something else before college if you're only going into Arts for the sake of going to college and getting any degree you can. Unless you're doing the degree because you want to and you think it's right for you, I would not recommend it. It's a hard slog when you don't enjoy what you're doing.

Ficheall

I regret not doing an Arts degree.

Chuchoter

You know when theres a science course but its a BA, say biochemistry with immunology, what does that mean? Why is it an arts degree and not a science degree?

Fluorescence

I don't know why. That's a good question. It might be worth considering if a BA in science is the same as a Bsc in science. There's a fair chance many people wouldn't see it as being equal...

LC2010HIS

Cummybaby wrote: »

Another friend of mine is using his Arts degree as a stepping stone into law.

Hey, very interesting there.
I want to do Arts and always liked Law but ruled it out for being too high in points. How did he do that?

scotty_irish

thetonynator wrote: »

Reminds me of a joke i heard about, written on the wall above the toilet roll in a toilet in a university: For an arts degree, pull here.

:P

if empty, please replace with commerce.

paky

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Hey, very interesting there.
I want to do Arts and always liked Law but ruled it out for being too high in points. How did he do that?

you can pick law as part of your arts degree but u must get 60 percentage to continue on into 2nd year

Fluorescence

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Hey, very interesting there.
I want to do Arts and always liked Law but ruled it out for being too high in points. How did he do that?

I'd try to do it the Law route instead of taking your chance with Law through Arts - there's very limited places and you could end up stuck with subjects you don't want if you don't get into the Law classes (they fill up ridiculously quick). Pure law in UCD was only about 460-470 anyway last I checked. It might not necessarily get too high.


You should never choose a course based on points anyway.

LC2010HIS

paky wrote: »

you can pick law as part of your arts degree but u must get 60 percentage to continue on into 2nd year

Seriously? But the 1st year subjects are all english history etc...

I saw no law/legal studies?

paky

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Seriously? But the 1st year subjects are all english history etc...

I saw no law/legal studies?

what college did u apply to? ucc and maynooth do it as far as i know

srsly78

fluorescence wrote: »

I don't know why. That's a good question. It might be worth considering if a BA in science is the same as a Bsc in science. There's a fair chance many people wouldn't see it as being equal...

Trinity gives out BA degrees for most stuff, including Physics, Chemistry and even Computer Science. It's just the old nomenclature.

LC2010HIS

paky wrote: »

what college did u apply to? ucc and maynooth do it as far as i know

Yea, UCC!

I know Politics is on it which Im gonna do? But didnt see law

paky

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Yea, UCC!

I know Politics is on it which Im gonna do? But didnt see law

hmm, thats unusual. i would of thought it was part of ucc arts. if your keen on doing law, apply to a uni where they do it through arts. hold out for a year if you have to. theres no point going to college for 3/4 years to study history and then go do a law degree

Chinafoot

I did an Arts degree in UCD - English and History. I don't regret it at all. I'm currently working in a public library and studying (distance learning) for my MSc in Information and Library Studies.

Having the Arts degree really stood to me in the interview my job, as did the fact that I went to Australia for a year after my Leaving Cert which is something I would recommend to anyone. Not necessarily Australia but some sort of travel after school, if it's possible.

My report and essay writing skills are quite good (13 2,500 word essays a year in college will do that for you ) and have served me well in both my job and my further studies.

All I would say to those planning to do Arts is make sure you pick the subjects you really enjoy.

cork*girl

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Yea, UCC!

I know Politics is on it which Im gonna do? But didnt see law

Law isnt there, I do Arts in UCC! Law is in UL as an Arts subject I think!!

almostnever

Several High and Supreme Court judges in this country are history/arts grads. You don't necessarily need a law degree to practice law, pretty much any degree is enough to do the legal studies course in King's Inns before the entrance exams, it just takes two years longer overall. And I think you can go straight from any degree to doing the FE1s, although I'm not totally sure about that. There's always a way to get where you want, an arts degree is very often a solid stepping stone or even an end in itself.

AdamD

Chinafoot wrote: »

I did an Arts degree in UCD - English and History. I don't regret it at all. I'm currently working in a public library and studying (distance learning) for my MSc in Information and Library Studies.

Having the Arts degree really stood to me in the interview my job, as did the fact that I went to Australia for a year after my Leaving Cert which is something I would recommend to anyone. Not necessarily Australia but some sort of travel after school, if it's possible.

My report and essay writing skills are quite good (13 2,500 word essays a year in college will do that for you ) and have served me well in both my job and my further studies.

All I would say to those planning to do Arts is make sure you pick the subjects you really enjoy.

Do you even need a degree to work in a library?

Fluorescence

AdamD wrote: »

Do you even need a degree to work in a library?

Depends on the library AFAIK. You need a post grad in Library Information Studies or something to work in most of the larger libraries and archives, I think.