Merits of an Arts Degree?

[Tobias Funke]

Hey all,

I'm finishing this year, and I'm hoping to do Arts/Law at Monash, but i know that realistically my chances of getting in straight away aren't that high anymore, meaning that I'd have to go through Arts first, then hope to transfer to law.

What I wanted to know here was, what would an Arts degree by itself provide? Not many options is there? (inb4 nothing.)

Cheers

[Spargel]

How do you mean 'provide'? As in pathways into other areas of study? employment potential? knowledge?
If you did well enough in Arts, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to transfer to law - It's marks based isn't it?

[slothpomba]

I think Tobias means if he somehow winds up in straight arts only (Doesn't get the transfer, doesn't want to do law anymore, ect).

To be honest, an arts degree isn't *as* useless as everyone else makes it out to be; Thats coming from a science student who does the occasional arts bashing too!

Just in a general sense, a university degree (any degree) will make you better off in life and more educated. People with university degrees earn more as compared to those without*.

A lot of places will take you with any degree. Click some of those, they'll train you up once you apply, they really just want university educated professionals. Teaching is also a option if that is your thing or you could get a higher degree and become a university academic.

If you're doing something more specific like criminology for example, i think deloitte(Sort of like a big accounting firm but they offer a lot of services to businesses) have a place for you. If you're doing a language you can work as an interpreter, pretty much every path in an arts degree will qualify you for some jobs another path wont. Outside of maybe literature or like philosophy, they will open a couple doors i guess like teaching or things like that but not as many as others.

Things like criminology could allow you to work as a counter-terrorism analyst (exciting i know) or languages could allow you to be an interpreter or you could be a lecturer/academic and maybe even publish your own book[/u] if you get real good. There are paths out there, it isn't *as* much of a dead end as everyone says. It would help us more if you tell us what you plan on majoring in.

For some more info take a look here - http://arts.monash.edu.au/careers-matrix/  You can also just Google "Arts Careers" or something similar and set it to Australia Only on Google.

Hope it helped, took me ages to write it.

(I might be transferring to Arts/Science or Picking up a handful of Arts subjects so thats why im interested in this.)

*It's American but I'm sure the same relationship is pretty much true anywhere

(I provide all this in good faith but i cant exclude the fact i could be totally and horribly wrong, you should look into it further yourself if you're interested in this path.)

[EvangelionZeta]

kingpomba basically said it all.  With that having been established, don't be discouraged by his saying that literature and philosophy don't open as many doors; I'm doing both of them.  :p

[Sah123]

In the end, Arts is what you make of it, just like any other degree. If you work hard and apply yourself, Arts can open many doors for you. In terms of employment it by no means provides a guarantee into a specific area of work like a Bachelor of Accounting, for example, may do. However, as a degree it provides you with the foundational knowledge and skills which many employers seek in their employees. It is a fact that KPMG often search for Arts students because their way of thinking is at a different, sometimes more sophisticated, level. There are countless opportunities for graduate study also after completing a BA.

Oh, and I agree with EvangelionZeta, philosophy opens many doors. The skills you gain in terms of forming arguments are invaluable.

[Russ]

That won't open any doors for you unless you've got other skills/degrees as well.

Biggest problem with an arts degree is how to leverage it into qualifying you for a job - unless you take one of the majors that lead into a specific area, it's kinda hard to turn history/philosophy dual major into a highly employable resume. Don't be put off by that, it just means you'll need a bit of creativity and probably a grad-dip in something

[slothpomba]

kingpomba basically said it all.  With that having been established, don't be discouraged by his saying that literature and philosophy don't open as many doors; I'm doing both of them.  :p

Well, i didn't mean they don't actually "open doors" per se; more that their a less direct line to something more ready made for you but of course it is still a path none the less.

Of course you can still get things out of those particular majors, just needs a little more creativity.

I didn't even realise this myself for awhile untill i wrote this post, a lot of arts majors actually do *lead* into something. Art history for example while it doesn't sound all that great i guess you could work in a museum or something, ect the list goes on.

Plus, theres also postgrad options. I mean if he really wanted to Tobias could do medicine through arts if he swung it right but it might be a bit harder since he lacks biol and physics but if you get creative im sure you could find a way (I'm talking deakin or monash where they only need the GAMSAT (which needs 1st year chem, 1st year biol (year 12 i hear is *Ok* and physics ) and no additional subject like melbourne does).

I'm pretty sure though you asked about a arts degree on its own but postgrad options are something to think about.

[Eriny]

I definitely don't get why the myth that Arts degrees get you nowhere is so pervasive! I know so many Arts students and all of those who wanted to get a job did so within about three months of graduating and those that didn't want to get a job were all successful at going on to do further study (teaching, masters, PhD, JD, etc.). Granted, I might have a scewed sample because being in Canberra seems to automatically qualify you for a place in a public service grad programme.

[Spargel]

Don't forget that an education isn't just about what job you end up with. It's about learning and developing your potential as well. To view it purely instrumentally is to miss the point a bit, and that goes for a science education too.

from an interview with Susan greenfield, who i believe only entered science in postgrad after an undergrad degree in classics:

BARONESS SUSAN GREENFIELD IN VOICEOVER:  ...When I was at school, I actually detested science, from start to finish. And I opted for Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Maths as my Advanced Level subjects. Then I got promoted to all the Oxford and Cambridge streams because I realised you had to work. And if you worked, then it wasn't just winging it - you could actually do well.

PETER THOMPSON: One thing you should be cross-examined about is what taste you had of science in those days, you didn't like the taste.

BARONESS SUSAN GREENFIELD: I didn't like science at all. I had a few cursory introductions to the amoeba, and distilling water, but no-one told me why distilling water was interesting, or, indeed, why I would want to know about the amoeba. Because all you did was draw a circle, then you drew an hourglass, and then you drew two circles, and that was the amoeba reproducing itself. Whereas, in History and Literature, and certainly in Latin and Greek, you could actually have ideas, and you could actually use the history or the literature as examples of something. And for me, it's always been using things as examples of more general ideas that I've always been very taken by. You know, why people fell in love, why wars started, what makes you the individual you are, compared to the amoeba. I mean, heavens! You know?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/talkingheads/txt/s2840448.htm

[slothpomba]

Yeah, i was going to get onto the point Spargel made but i largely forgot.

Too many people around these forums and in this country in general have a more narrow view of uni, more like that of a job factory.

You only probably only have the time/cash to go to uni for one chunk of your life, why not also just go for the sake of learning and not just getting a job out of it.

(I was going to write something more long and elaborate but this pretty much gets to my point)

[Tobias Funke]

Bump.

So it's been three months, and basically, I'm edging towards an Arts degree - Melbourne vs. Monash is hard.

I didn't mention, I was thinking of doing some languages laced with some proper stuff, right now I'm considering a Bachelor of Arts with a DipLang - As a result majoring in Japanese, French, Psychology and minoring in Philosophy (or something like that, Melbourne bloody offers a subject that focuses on Nietzsche! Bliss.)

Also steadily considering Film and Television too - wonder if Swinburne offers such an option

[slothpomba]

I don't have any advice per se but nietzsche is pretty damn kick ass. At melbourne you'd have to do breadth you may or may not be a fan so thats something to consider. Also distance.

In terms of academics i think they're more or less the same to be honest. I wouldn't fuss over that. Both are very good universities.

[Tobias Funke]

Mmm yeah, basically it's down to whether I want to also try intra-transfer into Law as well, and risk not getting Nietzsche (Monash's version of the subject "wasn't offered in 2011", which kinda indicates Melbourne's version may have a use-by date)

Distance is basically the same either way but it'd be more fun to go to Melbourne than to Clayton, but really it shouldn't be a pull factor for a university. But yeah cheers for that, I thought your input the first time around was perfect by the way

[MeLucky]

I'm also planning on doing Arts next year.
Would it be a good choice if I'm planning on becoming a psychologist(major in psych of course)?
I've been told majoring in psychology in subjects aren't that different from actually doing the psychology course.
I'm just wondering if I'd have an advantage over doing the actual course itself because I've heard it's more medical/bodily based? This is because I want to become a research psychologist as opposed to a clinical psychologist(yuck).

[Eriny]

Distance is basically the same either way but it'd be more fun to go to Melbourne than to Clayton, but really it shouldn't be a pull factor for a university. But yeah cheers for that, I thought your input the first time around was perfect by the way

I think 'fun' deserves a place on a pros and cons list when choosing a university. After all, if you do an arts degree and a diploma, you'll be there for at least four years!

Unfortunately, the courses change so much from year to year that it probably isn't worth going to a university because they have a cool sounding later year course. It's a big risk too because sometimes the best sounding courses turn out to have a boring lecturer or just weren't as interesting as what it initially seemed like.

I'm also planning on doing Arts next year.
Would it be a good choice if I'm planning on becoming a psychologist(major in psych of course)?
I've been told majoring in psychology in subjects aren't that different from actually doing the psychology course.
I'm just wondering if I'd have an advantage over doing the actual course itself because I've heard it's more medical/bodily based? This is because I want to become a research psychologist as opposed to a clinical psychologist(yuck).

Yes, the course is pretty much the same if you just take a major within an Arts degree. However, if you want to do psych research, you probably should take a few bio units here and there and get a very good handle on statistics. If you do a statistics course offered through the statistics school/faculty (as opposed to through psychology), your knowledge of stats would be way better than the average psych grad, which will be very useful when it gets to honours+ time. That isn't necessary though, and depending on what area of psych you want to work in, you may not need a large background in other sciences - it is very different to work in social psychology than neuropsychology, for instance.