Universally speaking

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1536697]

Comments

[e-halmac.livejournal.com]

I should probably filled this out twice - once for my undergrad (an MA, so the first point doesn't apply!) and once for my PGDip (a more practical training in how to be a curator, so the first point does apply).

I now wish I'd become an architect, or a nurse, or a plumber - something where you do vocational training. I loved my Undergrad, but it does seem like a bit of a luxury spending 4 years leanring nothing particularly useful (a least in a practical, getting a job kind of way).

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'm with Ems on this. I absolutely learned things at university, most of it pretty useless, although fun, and basically all it gave me was the ability to bullshit convincingly on numerous different topics, which although a life skill isn't a particularly concrete one. A vocational degree might have been more useful, or, more probably for me, one in media of some description - web design, graphic design, commercial art etc - that would have meant I ended up on the approximate career path I'm on now a bit earlier and would be a bit more employable now, and given that I'm a trivia-sink, uni or no uni, I'm not sure that I'd be any less learned in the useless way that I currently am.

It's hard to say, though. I most certainly needed to leave home when I did. Whether I needed to go to uni, or to study what I did, is anyone's guess.

[errolwi.livejournal.com]

Bit of a cultural difference, I have a NZ Commerce degree (accountancy major). NZ accountants rarely 'spend 4 years learning nothing particularly useful', they either get a 3/4 year year B.Comm and do a couple of professional papers after working a year or two, or get the equivalent part-time over several years. About 40% of my current job is derived fairly directly from by B.Comm (system design, testing and implementation).
Roleplaying (continued doing at uni) is great for working on problem-solving and relationship management.

[meihua.livejournal.com]

University sucked, because I was quiet and depressed and spent all my time in my room not attending lectures or socialising.

I'm getting all the stuff now that others got in Uni, namely your 2nd, 3rd and 4th points.

Frankenstein's Martial Art

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Answered for my Medievalist MA/MSc. (Strangely the IS PGDip comes in useful most work days).

I used my training in Medieval primary sources and culture to help reconstruct a dead martial art.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Going to university at 18 makes absolutely no sense for many, many people. I know what I'm good at now, and know what I want to do now, but I'm almost 35. At 18? 'Er, psychology I guess because I like... brains?'

[matgb]

Going to university at 18 makes absolutely no sense for many

Yup. I did my degree at 25 as a 'mature' student. I've used it directly or indirectly in every job I've had since, including a lot of voluntary stuff.

Degree in politics was directly useful to my job in tourism marketing and administration, and is still useful as a playground supervisor.

It's naturally useful as a campaign manager, but I don't get paid for that (yet).

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I went to university which allowed me to leave the family home where I didn't fit and may not have survived if forced to endure it while working long enough to afford to move out.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Same here. I didn't stay at university on that go-round, but the tradition of going to college right after high school allowed me to escape an abusive home, and gave me the opportunities to build friendships that meant I didn't have to go back.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Seventeen years (with two years off in the middle for good behaviour), and I'm still at university.

[broin.livejournal.com]

You must be very bad at exams.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

So bad, in fact, that they let me teach and set exams for other people.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Then you may get a kick out of this TED talk. :)

[ias.livejournal.com]

Opps,

Realised I filled this out reflecting on my undergrad (Mediaeval Studies which I don't use on a daily basis rather than for my masters (librarianship) which I do use on a daily basis, being an academic librarian.

(missed my coffee this morning and definitely not on the ball)

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I went to university when I was 18 and then did an OU course in my late thirties, the OU course was much more useful, but at 18 I had no idea what I wanted to be or do and so I still think my first spell at university was wasted on me.

[broin.livejournal.com]

What did you do then, and what do you now?

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I did Chemistry at uni first time around, not for any good reason except I was good at sciences at A level. Didn't have any idea what I wanted to go into at the end so mooched about in various IT/admin jobs until I got interested in the law and got a LLB from the OU. I now do legal help (as was legal aid) work for the Citizens Advice Bureau.

[simont]

"Something else useful": my choice of project in my final year was highly relevant to, and hence contributed to me catching the attention of, the company that ended up employing me (and still do).

I didn't know whether to tick the personal growth box, because I've no idea how to judge whether or not the personal-growth type experiences I had at university were better, worse or incomparable to the ones I might have had if I hadn't gone. (The knowledge and skills questions, by contrast, are much easier to do that what-if exercise with.)

got something else useful out of university which I will explain in the comments...

[yalovetz]

Lasting friendships.

[simont]

An excellent point. Yes, that too!

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

It took me 10 years and 5 schools to get my BA, and the only thing I learned from the experience was how to avoid doing a lick of work and still get an A in the class.

I am not a classroom learner.

[pete stevens (from livejournal.com)]

Management experience. I regularly had to put gigs on under very tight timescales with a team of 2-4 people. It's vital that everyone agrees who is in charge and respects their decisions and goes with them, even if they disagree with them. It often doesn't matter who is in charge providing they're competent, merely that everyone agrees who is in charge. It also taught me that people who weren't apparently doing any work (just socialising) may be doing a very useful job in keeping idle people who had to be present out of the way of productive people.

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

it got me away from the useless fucking shit hole i grew up in.
course was pointless. lots of fun but no jobs, unless you know the right people to suck up to.
but hey, i now live somewhere with a decent bus service and i'm noe of the thickest people i know. its great.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

The single biggest impact university had on me was living with strangers. This had a massive effect in terms of personal growth. As electricant says, there are more specific things. I mean, I met my wife at university; that was something pretty useful!

The second biggest impact was that I read a hell of a lot of books. Some of these were for my course (first and second tick boxen) but the majority weren't (second and third boxen).

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

I would say that a lot of the knowledge that was supposed to be imparted on me in the course of getting an English degree didn't stick. I really can't tell you all that much about the literature of any time period, a fact that led me to jokingly refer to the English department as "the world's most expensive book club." But I do think I write better than I did before college and despite not learning any particular analytical techniques, I have a much better eye for media analysis.

Some bits of knowledge did stick with me, of course, particularly from the linguistics classes I took.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

That... was not supposed to be a reply to a specific person.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

I went to uni straight from school with a science bent, it took me a year to find the right course, I enjoyed the course, I took a break of a few years to make sure I was in the right line of work, I went back, I finished my degree with a much better result than if I'd stayed the whole time, I continued to pursue a vaguely relevant career (Marine & Freshwater Biology Degree to Conservation Worker and now Ecologist).

Just thought I should add this, as unlike everyone else on your comments I thought uni was fun, I enjoyed learning, I use knowledge gained on my degree pretty frequently even now several years on.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

General knowledge, mostly (though the foundation for that was solidly laid in HighSchool).

Also, Got something else -- discovered that I _really_ like associating with people who are smarter than I am &/or who know more than I do ... and who like to share (or even Impress people with) their abilities.

(Note that I attended University -- U.C. Berkeley, California -- after spending 18 months as a Draftee, mostly on the battle-line in Korea {c. 1951), which may have been an even more significant Educational Experience.)