Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?

[spectroscopy]

everyone always makes jokes "oh im an arts student LOL JOKES HAHAHAHAHAS" and it seems to be generally looked down upon, and seen as more of a broad degree for baristas/prelawyers/creative white kids,  and people with no specialisation or anything

so is it really worth getting? ive heard of companies hiring cross discipline from commerce to science to engineering etc. but never arts. so im just curious as to the value you see in it

if in uni i would do whatever i wanted and forgot about money completely, id do a double major in classics and politics (probs uom) but im worried about job prospects and things afterwards

my school wants us to know what degrees we're sort of headed for because a whole bunch of programs are coming up (kld scholars, etc.) , and also subject selections etc. and theyre really pushing us, and also my parents have been talking about it, and i know its still early and theres tonnes of time til im in uni but this would really ease my mind in subject selections etc

cheers guys
oh and dont mind the spelling errors ive been studying all day and my brains turned to mush -.-

[Eriny]

In terms of career stuff: What can a BA lead you to?
Lots of companies tend to like Arts graduates, but they tend to be US-based where there aren't professional undergraduate degrees. Still, I don't want to discount the fact that a degree in Arts DOES lead to employability. I don't have stats and it's a harsh economy right now, but really, there isn't anything to worry about on that side of things. However, it'll be rare for an arts grad to get a job where they actually use their knowledge in classics (politics is a bit different) unless they go down the academia route (which is also cool). It's all about soft skills, analytical thinking, communication, problem solving, etc. Arts is particularly good for soft skills, so are other degrees.

everyone always makes jokes "oh im an arts student LOL JOKES HAHAHAHAHAS" and it seems to be generally looked down upon, and seen as more of a broad degree for baristas/prelawyers/creative white kids,  and people with no specialisation or anything

There's a mix. Some people take it seriously, some don't. I'm sure it's the same in any degree, maybe having a lack of direction is a bit more common in Arts since it has a reputation for being good for people who don't know what they're doing. If you really like English/social sciences/humanities/languages, it's the only degree you can really study those things in depth, so some students are actually quite focused and specialised. Others are still finding their feet. Whatever, what matters is why you're doing it, not why other people or even most people are doing it.

[pi]

everyone always makes jokes "oh im an arts student LOL JOKES HAHAHAHAHAS"

I try and stay away from people who make those jokes, because as Eriny has pointed out, not all Arts graduates end up in Maccas etc (in fact the vast majority don't).

My mum has a Masters in Arts and is now a teacher (was previously a lecturer), a profession she loves and enjoys.

As for other career paths, they are vast and varied. Including journalism, being a diplomat, historians, working in admin roles, academia, etc. Let's just say that if was a totally useless degree, it wouldn't be offered by the top unis

[Truck]

As Eriny said, an Arts degree can on its own lead to different careers. Another very common route is to do your undergraduate Arts degree and specialize afterwards with your graduate degree - especially since the incarnation of the Melbourne Model, this is a very popular route and if you really want to do an Arts degree then Melbourne will facilitate that for you excellently imo.

If you like Arts, I say go for it.

[Water]

I don't know if I can speak for most Arts Kids here, but I can you assure you it is not a waste of a degree, and it is definitely worth it.

Firstly, I want to eliminate some misconceptions about Arts.

a) You don't learn anything in Arts The Degree rewards you for the Effort you put in. You don't put the effort in an Arts Degree, you rightfully belong in McDonalds. The gap between an accomplished Arts Kids and a not-so-accomplished Arts Kids is significantly large.

b) Arts Kids have so much free time compared to other degrees. Actually, with so much free time, you are expected to do further study, to do further readings and acquire greater knowledge to broaden your understanding of the world, and in your area of study

c) Arts Subjects have so many bogus subjects. Unfortunately, universities need to make money. You will find bogus subjects in other areas of discipline like Science and Commerce too. Arts shouldn't be pigeon-holed.

d) You have no vocational skills. It is important to ask yourself, what do you want in life? Firstly, what do you want in University? Do you want to become a manufactured employable slave or do you want something that's even more valuable than that: analytic skills, broad understanding of the world, sense of enlightenment.

I could have done Commerce, I could have done Science, I could have done Bio-medicine,  but the Arts, to me, if you pick the right subjects, equips you with the  mode of thinking and the analytic tools that if you do want to pursue those courses/ or a post graduate degree, in the future, you can with ease. If you've got that method of thinking, I can't see why it's not applicable in other genres.

So, what do you want your next 3 years of University to be?  Money or Enlightenment

[spectroscopy]

Money or Enlightenment

well you tell me, so far has enlightenment been worth it?

[brenden]

well you tell me, so far has enlightenment been worth it?

it is definitely worth it.

[spectroscopy]

1 more question LOL
what exactly do you do in your arts honours year? i mean, what are the options?

[yearningforsimplicity]

It depends on what you want to do after your Arts degree - if you go into Arts with no idea about what you want to do or become in the future, then obviously it won't be that worthwhile (this would be the case in any course). I'm doing Arts right now and I enjoy it a lot - and I put this is as my first pref last year KNOWING that I wanted to get into academia/education after I finished Arts and postgrad As long as you have some direction about what you want to do (your eventual destination after uni) and choose a degree that will take you there, I don't see how an Arts degree (or any degree for that matter) could be worthless or a waste of time

[MJRomeo81]

Do you want to become a manufactured employable slave or do you want something that's even more valuable than that: analytic skills, broad understanding of the world, sense of enlightenment.


So, what do you want your next 3 years of University to be?  Money or Enlightenment

Is this implying that a vocational degree does not provide enlightenment? A vocational degree doesn't mean you graduate without deep analytical skills, especially given the number of gen-ed electives that are incorporated into vocational degrees. I'm in an IT degree yet I took philosophy last semester (scored 96) and I'm taking Roman history this semester.

And even then, it's not like you don't gain an understanding of the world and enlightenment in fields like IT and science. Technical fields aren't just memorization. I can sit at home and educate myself with the same classic texts that are studied in an arts degree, I can still observe the world around me, etc. I'm not paying 20k for that skill set either.

I believe an Arts degree isn't worthless, but it depends on the major. I just feel that if you're going to be a teacher, do a teaching degree. Likewise law or psych.

[Water]

Is this implying that a vocational degree does not provide enlightenment? A vocational degree doesn't mean you graduate without deep analytical skills, especially given the number of gen-ed electives that are incorporated into vocational degrees.

It is all relative.  However, if you have a journey set in life, and you are passionate about it, then you should pursue that path.

And even then, it's not like you don't gain an understanding of the world and enlightenment in fields like IT and science. Technical fields aren't just memorization. I can sit at home and educate myself with the same classic texts that are studied in an arts degree, I can still observe the world around me, etc. I'm not paying 20k for that skill set either.

Read Above

I'm in an IT degree yet I took philosophy last semester (scored 96) and I'm taking Roman history this semester.

Congratulations on your 96 for Philosophy

I believe an Arts degree isn't worthless, but it depends on the major.

That's what I said.

[Eriny]

And even then, it's not like you don't gain an understanding of the world and enlightenment in fields like IT and science. Technical fields aren't just memorization. I can sit at home and educate myself with the same classic texts that are studied in an arts degree, I can still observe the world around me, etc. I'm not paying 20k for that skill set either.

I believe an Arts degree isn't worthless, but it depends on the major. I just feel that if you're going to be a teacher, do a teaching degree. Likewise law or psych.

If you can sit at home and read the content of an Arts degree then good on you. I wouldn't be able to. It's too in-depth and challenged my way of thinking to the extent that I needed guidance. Realistically a lot of arts students skip their classes and still manage to pass, but that's very different to really understanding and engaging with the material at an advanced level to the extent you can actually be creative with the concepts.

Likewise, I could sit at home and reach myself the grammatical stuctures of languages, including programming languages. I could learn the words and use it. Would I properly understand what I was doing? I might be misled to thinking yes, but actually thinking that I'd mastered something by reading and studying it for a few hours would be nothing but a sign of my own ignorance. Same goes if you think you've mastered an area of [insert discipline] by reading a few papers.

A lot of arts students are very critical and do not like making certain assumptions about how the world is or isn't. Other disciplines, in comparison, do make many assumptions. This is totally fine as we need to make assumptions in order to do certain practical things, like earn money. Is this what you're referring to Water with your dichotomy between enlightenment and money? (it's a false duality, but I can see where you're coming from).

[thushan]

The "lamp of enlightenment" strikes again.

But I pretty much agree with your post Eriny.

[ninwa]

1 more question LOL
what exactly do you do in your arts honours year? i mean, what are the options?

Firstly you need to have done a major in the area you're wanting to do honours in

You generally do a supervised thesis - so you think of a topic that you're interested in, tell your supervisor and they'll approve it

I don't know about other disciplines but in language honours you also do 12 points worth (equivalent to 2 subjects) of seminars alongside your thesis. I'm not really sure what these seminars are though

[charmanderp]

Any merit in doing a combined honours year at UoM for an English & Theatre/Politics and International Studies major. The appeal of writing a thesis and doing academic research is huge to me for a breadth of reasons but it'd be good to have some quantifiable benefits too.