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March 28, 2024, 09:10:38 pm

Author Topic: Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?  (Read 28156 times)  Share 

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appianway

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Re: Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?
« Reply #30 on: October 03, 2012, 07:02:50 am »
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You can graduate with an Arts degree which gives you coherent skills and knowledge. The danger is that because it's a broad area of study, your subjects might be scattered all over the place.

Muuru

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Re: Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?
« Reply #31 on: October 03, 2012, 04:10:32 pm »
+7
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

Just curious, but which companies have you talked to? Or is this merely hearsay?

If you take a look at GradStats, you'd be surprised to see that arts and science graduates are on an equal footing in the full-time employment market. The percentages below are the number of graduates who have gained full-time employment within four months of graduating:

Arts

Humanities: 64.5% (down from 67.1% in 2002)
Languages: 65.3% (down from 71.3% in 2002)
Social Sciences: 63.7% (down from 71.2% in 2002)
Psychology: 63.7% (down from 65.4% in 2002)
Social Work: 77.3% (up from 77.2% in 2002)

Science

Life Sciences: 61.5% (down from 79.2% in 2002)
Mathematics: 71.9% (down from 72.6% in 2002)
Chemistry: 61.7% (down from 77.0% in 2002)
Physical Sciences: 70.2% (no direct data from 2002)

Sources: http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/gca002770.pdf (2012 data); http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/gca001218.pdf (2002 data)

As you can see, science graduates had the edge in the full-time employment market in 2002, but now they're relatively on par with arts graduates. A science background is nowhere near as attractive to employers as it used to be in 2002, with Chemistry and Life Sciences majors having a particularly tough time.

If you delve into those sources further, you'll see that the number of arts and science graduates in part-time/casual employment, as well as those who are unemployed and seeking work, are also very similar. Now, I have no issue with science students per se, but those studying science (as well as onlookers like yourself) who believe they have a greater chance of landing a full-time job over an arts student are seriously deluding themselves. Look at the data, then judge.

In any case, I studied a Bachelor of Arts. In addition to the various discipline-specific skills and knowledge that I gained through my English and History majors, the BA afforded me various opportunities to engage with the world critically and creatively and helped me become a more effective communicator, which, I feel, has transformed me into a better person. As I am now studying to become a teacher, I have no doubt that the skills, experience and knowledge gained through my BA will be an asset to my students in the future. That, to me, made the BA a worthwhile degree.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2012, 05:05:26 pm by Muuru »


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Eriny

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Re: Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?
« Reply #32 on: October 03, 2012, 09:24:07 pm »
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^ On that, it would be interesting to see underemployment figures (as in, the number of Arts or Science graduates working in industries such as retail or hospitality who want a job more related to their degree), those are probably hard to collect though!

slothpomba

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Re: Is bachelor of arts a waste of a degree? or worth it?
« Reply #33 on: October 04, 2012, 01:23:41 am »
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Yeah, those of us in science degrees know its a not so well kept secret that a lot of majors dont have absolutely fantastic job prospects either.

We have a bit more direction and know where we're heading a bit better but even if that is true, jobs don't suddenly appear.

The market is flooded with graduates (i think a lot of problems we have are related to *too many* uni places being available, pharmacy for example) and honestly, there aren't all that many entry level jobs. Even now into my second year, i still know some people with a vague image of being a "scientist" and doing sciency things. A lot of the jobs are very low and entry level (eg. run this sample for the higher up scientists) and do things like that.

Everyone seems to want to do post-grad because there are so many undergrads...see the problem here? More debt for everyone and not necessarily greatly improved pay or secure prospects.

So, to the OP, don't think worries like this are necessarily unique to arts. I wouldn't let it throw you off.

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2011-15: Bachelor of Science/Arts (Religious studies) @ Monash Clayton - Majors: Pharmacology, Physiology, Developmental Biology
2016: Bachelor of Science (Honours) - Psychiatry research