Be Excellent To Each Other

Over the last few months, I've slowly realised that I've wasted my time at university a bit, and am about to graduate into a deep recession with a degree that would be more or less useless in a boom*. I'm not really looking for sympathy or scorn- I'm aware that all the decisions I've made over the last four years were my own- but I was wondering if there was anyone else in a similar position, and what you'd all advise I should do with myself. Beexers seem to be terrifyingly successful as a rule, so cunning tips about that would be helpful. I'm in an extremely fortunate position in the sense that my parents divorced just before I went to university and I ended up with quite a bit of money as part of the settlement, so I'm not in debt and am in a position to finance further study. I'm in an unfortunate position in the sense that I'm a massive whining emo.

*-Biology, but one of the unhelpful specialisms. I can't do research because I have dyspraxia and spill mutant flies all over my face.

Get a job? Seriously.

The degree doesn't really matter, for most jobs, it's just the fact that (a) you have a degree and (b) you got a good grade. My wife did a biology degree at Exeter and got a first. I wouldn't have seen that as leading to much in the job market as a subject, but it didn't matter. She got accepted onto the NHS management training scheme. That then lead on to a job as a management consultant.

It depends what you want to do, really. If you want to do something that requires a specific field of study in your degree (e.g. law, medicine, architecture) then you'll have to do a new degree, but for most "normal" jobs the subject doesn't matter a jot.

If you *don't* know what you want to do, I'd recommend just picking something and giving it a go. If you hate it you can look for something else, but it means you won't have a big "how do I explain this" hole in your CV later down the line. Employers don't like those.

True that. At my last job, there was a woman in the IT department with her degree in Geography. Mind you, she was rubbish at IT. However, she was pretty, which seems to go a long way.

So if the degree doesn't help, try becoming a pretty girl.

Biology and its variants are seen as pretty good degrees, aren't they? I mean, they aren't exactly the easiest of courses around.

Have you been to see the university careers advisor/service? Opinions on these are varied but if you have a good one they can be a really big help in suggesting potential careers for you.

If you want to stay in science, it doesn't necessarily have to be doing experiments in a lab. There's a lot else that goes on. I was quite keen for a while on going into regulatory affairs. I've thought about sales (although it isn't the best time for this right now).

I even considered going into teaching, as I love the idea of helping people learn, but think I'd struggle with the discipline and especially the more bureaucratic side of things.

I think the biggest tip I can really give is to go and speak to as many people inside and outside of your department as possible. It helps if you have a nice tutor or a lecturer you get on well with that can introduce you to people.

My bro got a History degree from Huddersfield and is now chasing bad debt for a major high street bank. Like Kissyfur said, it's not what you did... it's that you did it well. If you're looking for something impressive from education, maybe you should think about a PGCert in say, Professional Development.

I echo the above.

I've worked in IT, insurance and risk management... and my degree is in Physics.

If I could choose a degree and the related knowledge to have zapped into my brain, I would choose biology, or something like it. Seriously, pretty much any science degree will put you in the top half automatically - they're relatively undersubscribed and the skills aren't generally the kind of thing you can pick up with any old hobby or on the job like with, say, a history degree. I think you're being way too negative.

Besides which, as has been said, the best thing to do is simply get a job, and then worry about what job you want to do. Planning your career while at a crossroads rather than a straight is a bit like going food shopping on an empty stomach. You'll make hasty, silly decisions and end up buying a pile of cack you don't eat and forgetting a load of stuff you really need.

you sound like I did when I left uni with chemistry, now I am king of the world, despite what governmentyard claims.

Seriously, I then did a MSc conversion in Computer Science, mainly cos I couldn't think of what else to do, and it helped no end, I am still working in science. So you don't need to then go on and do IT if you don't want, but it is a very useful qualification to have, plus it puts off any real decisions for a year.

You also sound exactly like I did about halfway through my degree (Journalism! Bleh!).

Just go out and get a job... try and get one you like if at all possible, don't end up in a call centre.

Kinda partially offended by the first post, as I am a person with a degree in Biology.
I have a pretty damn good job now (3 years post graduating) and before that I got by on about average salary (£17k starting up to £23k) working lab for a small biotech company.

Id say a science degree is one of the better degrees you can have regardless of the ecconomic climate - as people have said, its quite transferrable, and depending if you actually like science, you can build a worthwhile career.

I done lab work for 6 years or so and now am a student again, but get a job whilst looking for a better one, as gaps on CVs are a pain.

Try getting in with your lecturers too, I went for a coffee with mine yesterday and practically got pounced on with regards to a job that might be available. They often get requests from companies looking for suitable people particulaly the heads of departments and faculties.

Filthy bugger.