What was your degree and is it relevant to your job?

norfolkngood said:
There were a few more in the early 70's, although Reggie and Ronnie had moved out of the area a couple of years earlier.
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Changing the subject.

Did they have any good gigs there in your time?

Squeeze were due to play there when I was there. It got postponed, Then it did happen in the end. It was a good one. Although I think there was a power failure at one point during it.
 
I’d never realised there were so many educated Archie’s on this board 🙂

I did a HNC in heavy goods vehicle engineering at Longlands. Came off the tools after 17 years and into transport management, which I did for another 8 years. Now working as a fleet technical specialist/ dangerous goods advisor for a major insurer, which was quite a change in direction and far less stressful; couldn’t do it without the prior education and experience.

Oh, and retiring in 115 days, minus 4 bank hols and 11 days outstanding hol 😁👍
 
I got a degree in media studies... Which I regret. Now I'm a digital forensic analyst so haven't benefited in the slightest from said degree.
 
WJH. said:
So has every person who replied benefitted from free tuition fees then before they were taken away?
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I did. I wish we'd go back to that model and have some control of what courses and how many of each are on offer. I can't compute being short of nurses but abolishing bursaries. I also think we need to up the limit of medical courses to help reduce the shortage of doctors.
I know people see limiting places as elitist, but as far as I can tell we have record numbers going to university and an ever increasing skills shortage. Therefore a lot of people must be studying things we don't need.
 
WJH. said:
So has every person who replied benefitted from free tuition fees then before they were taken away?
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Nope, and the interest rate on the loan is absurd right now; I'd gladly welcome it getting written off. With that said had I not gone to Uni I'd personally be doing much worse off.
 
I studied drama, which was basically learning about some interesting plays and getting smashed for 3 years. I realised I needed a real job so I got my nursing qualification. So one useless, and one exactly for line of work.
 
spanishman said:
Changing the subject.

Did they have any good gigs there in your time?

Squeeze were due to play there when I was there. It got postponed, Then it did happen in the end. It was a good one. Although I think there was a power failure at one point during it.
Click to expand...

I remember seeing the Groundhogs and Yes there, but I was more into the folk scene than rock.

Saw some great folk singers, Al Stewart, John Martyn, Ralph McTell, Derek Brimstone, all for about 50p or a £. Then the beer of course was about another 15p a pint!

My god life was hard! Hall of residence was £8 a week when I first went and that included 2 meals a day and 3 meals at weekend. Termly season ticket South Woodford to Mile End was another £8.

And as somebody said earlier it was all on a grant, not a loan. Although I did come out at the end of the course with a bank debt of £100.
 
borolad259 said:
I did a combined honours degree in English and American Studies at Birmingham Uni. Hated the English side (dull literature for the most part) but loved American Studies (great literature, fascinating history and culture). I did a one year media studies module and a one year television and film production module. The latter obviously had some bearing on my career and gave me an understanding of the basic grammar of telly.

For most of my working life, writing and photography/visuals have been at the core of what I do. But I can trace that back to my mid- teens when I started learning about photography, and did my CSE Art almost exclusively with a camera and in the dark room. At the same time I blagged a job writing for the Evening Gazette, covering Billingham Synthonia in the winter and Stockton CC in the summer. I also did freelance gig reviews for the music press. So the seeds of what turned out to be my career as a music video director (susrprisingly writing plays a big part) and television producer/director were already sewn before I went to University.

Once I'd learned how to format scripts (in the TV and Film module ... 2nd year of Uni) I managed to get work writing corporate video scripts for a production company in Wolverhampton. I got paid £200 per script, and they maybe took me a day to write. Insane money in 1982.

I blagged my first music video job by buttonholing Robert Lloyd in the corner shop .... "I can make music videos...I've got a camera....need any doing?". Surprisingly, he said "Yeah, but there's no money. I've got these punky schoolgirls called We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It. We're putting an EP out. You can do something for that". And so it was, with £50 to buy super 8 film stock, that I shot the "Rules and Regulations" video. Warners came up with a grand for me to telecine the footage and edit it. And my career was born.

I've never once had to make reference to my degree as I have been self-employed ever since that moment in 1985.

What has made my career if not a degree? Number 1, chutzpah! Self-belief. Blag .... plenty of people will tell you that you suck. Ignore them. Number 2, the skills and knowledge that I started to build from a very early age. I'm still learning now.

The degree is still partially relevant, but it has only ever played a tiny part in my career.
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Eek! Dull English Lit? Wasn’t the Victorians by any chance😉. Love American Lit myself too.
 
norfolkngood said:
I remember seeing the Groundhogs and Yes there, but I was more into the folk scene than rock.

Saw some great folk singers, Al Stewart, John Martyn, Ralph McTell, Derek Brimstone, all for about 50p or a £. Then the beer of course was about another 15p a pint!

My god life was hard! Hall of residence was £8 a week when I first went and that included 2 meals a day and 3 meals at weekend. Termly season ticket South Woodford to Mile End was another £8.

And as somebody said earlier it was all on a grant, not a loan. Although I did come out at the end of the course with a bank debt of £100.
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I am sure there were more good gigs there in my 3 years.

I just cannot remember them.
 
Business Studies
Nearly failed second yr (hated economics)
Set up a business in 2005
Now employ 28 local people
Sustainable profits from ecommerce


I guess I'm successful but always feel unsatisfied as chasing more....probably a bit ****ed up somewwhere (dad died when I just turned 17?)

Both my sons doing Business Studies
I wanted more for them tbh but guess they are following their dad

I'm 52 and would love to make an impact on the local community (politics) but I hate bull****. Running a business the last 4 years has been hell - ask anyone with a business
 
I did a year of Earth Science in London, had a year out back in Teesside, then did Sociology and Political Theory in Bristol.

All of which had no bearing whatsoever on my future life and career.

This was in the late 70’s, so was in the era of free tuition and grants. I can’t imagine that I would have gone to university were this not the case. I really only went because I didn’t have a clue what else to do.

I ended up as a management consultant/coach and mentor to young entrepreneurs, all of which I love.

Although pretty much irrelevant to my career, university was just a fantastic time - met loads of fabulous friends, my future wife, and saw more gigs than an NME reporter. I wrote and did music reviews for a pretentious student magazine, including reviewing a support band called ‘Dire Straits’ - I predicted that they would be very successful. Clever me.
 
I had 8 years of full grant at uni (BA, MA, PGCE and PhD) and I'm not particularly bright. There's no way I would have been able to do this today.
 
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