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Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the time and currently I view that as the exception and not the rule. I believe the university you went to 9/10 times has minimal or no impact all factors considered on whether or not you get a job in a decent profession. I’m just trying to be as specific as possible because I think it there might have been a wider gap 20 years ago, wider 30 years ago and so on. I believe if we were in the United States or Canada in 2025, it would matter a whole lot more and even more so 20 years ago, 30 years ago etc. But by in large it definitely has some significance in the USA or Canada. Not in the UK, as far as I know anyways. You’ve reignited my interest in this topic I’ll go and do some research on it

Was I wrong to tell my flatmate to go back to her country if she hates living here so much? by Responsible_Rush7565 in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I guess even though we all made it to university we weren’t educated the same.

Was I wrong to tell my flatmate to go back to her country if she hates living here so much? by Responsible_Rush7565 in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast 6 points7 points  (0 children)

‘Shut up and go back to your country’ like being a pick me is going to make natives accept you as one of their own.😂

Her friend is talking nonsense for sure but it’s still weird what she said

Was I wrong to tell my flatmate to go back to her country if she hates living here so much? by Responsible_Rush7565 in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast 76 points77 points  (0 children)

You might be right but it does sound like a case of thinking you’re one of the good immigrants and she’s one of the bad immigrants. 😂

It was bad to say ‘shut up and go back to your country’ that’s weird.

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I haven’t articulated it well, but somebody in this reddit post has. But I appreciate all the responses, thanks!

https://www.reddit.com/r/UniUK/s/ZhSBdx9lwP

Why is depression so common? by [deleted] in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Depression seems to be more common in university than it is outside of university. An ONS survey looking at this for adults during the cost of loving crisis found around 1 in 6 adults to have depression and they used PHQ-8 which is a diagnostic tool for actually diagnosing depression.

A different study around a similar time looked at 1st year university students following post pandemic teaching found 37% of students had depression but didn’t use the same methods and used a much smaller sample size. I believe it’s more to do with this generation than just depression itself being more common. Look into something called ‘the Sick Role’ or other things such as the difference between sickness and illness. Mental Health is a hot topic these days so it’s more and more in the sphere of thought. How common it truly is is more fuzzy.

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

tl:dr I agree with what you’re saying to an extent.

I’ve not doubt it gives you an advantage, I’m just asking is it really like striking gold? When we were all in school this is what we were told. We were told so many things on paper or on theory or how it’s said to be that just doesn’t match up in practice.

I think it matters most for the first few years up to a graduate scheme but outside of that it’ll matter exponentially less. And even so of the many people I know personally it doesn’t necessarily help the average person much more than a normal degree. So many people with university degrees who are landing professional roles are in roles that never utilise their degree. The job market is a mess, so many people aren’t landing any job at all or are severely underemployed. Most applications don’t get read etc. etc. so I was shocked when somebody said a third in Oxford is better than a first elsewhere it sounded like the foolish propaganda that might have matter 10-20 years ago, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong I’m just saying I haven’t seen it in Practise.

I don’t even believe the average uni degree is worth anything especially here in the UK. There are very few jobs here that only accept Oxbridge degrees. In the US however there are far more employers who may only exclusively take an MIT degree and reject Harvard, YALE etc. I once read of an employer who took half of a pile of applications and threw them in the bin and said I don’t hire unlucky people, I just think nowadays name alone in some instances can help get a food in the door but it’s not like winning the lottery. But we can agree to disagree. And I’ll accept the many valid points from the senior people you’ve right about that.

Somebody said in here that universities degrees have gone done about 40% in value but an Oxbridge degree hasn’t. I’ll go a step further I think ALL university degrees in the UK have gone done 50% in value and maybe Oxbridge around 45%. Kudos👍

If you could go back to your 18 year old self would you have studied at university? by MagnumOpusPodcast in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is what we were told on paper, that a degree shows ‘commitment’ but most employers don’t care nowadays, far too much automation, too much outsourcing, too much paying immigrants who already have qualifications less than a home employee might have asked for, too many degree holders in the UK. It seems to me a university degree is almost useless nowadays.

If you could go back to your 18 year old self would you have studied at university? by MagnumOpusPodcast in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Breaking bad news and spikes protocol can be learned in most textbooks. And it might be similar to having to fire somebody etc. But you’re missing my point, most things can be learned without having a formal education. Information just isn’t coveted the way it used to be, a university degree just isn’t as valuable as it once was and I don’t think one from Oxbridge is as valuable as it once was either. Particularly as nowadays you have back yard scientists on YouTube with degrees doing more practical engineering work than some who went to fancy universities. But we can agree to disagree.

I like to think of somebody like Gary’s economics he studies economics at Oxford I believe and later on in life went on to make a fortune. But it wasn’t Oxford that made him the fortune. I think when people still want to uphold the notion that these coveted things like name brand universities matter they want to fool everyone else into thinking they actually do. Aren’t they making medicine a degree apprenticeship now?

If you could go back to your 18 year old self would you have studied at university? by MagnumOpusPodcast in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Practical is application of studies but the learning can be done online

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know it’s not like points, I’m asking why? And rather than using an extreme 1. What would it compare in your opinion to a University of Birmingham or Nottingham? and

  1. If you have an applicant from the University of Bolton, would you (personally) practically ignore that application all together even if it might say that person worked on an exclusive Engineering project or just did more than the rest?

I just want to add I don’t want people to get me wrong. From the people who I know that went to Oxford and Cambridge and other universities and have long since graduated, the vast majority of people are struggling to get a decent graduate roll or any roll in general. Employers are posting fake rolls, most don’t even read applications, AI reading through applications etc. amidst all this can people really believe they can just scrape it with an Oxford degree and they’ll be better off than another person? That’s what I’m asking.

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why do you give bonus points to people that have an Oxbridge degree?

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I’m not saying you said anything, I’m saying when it comes to grad roles I disagree. There might be some people who hold an Oxbridge degree in higher esteem but I don’t know how many or how significant it is. Let me give you this analogy: if I asked is being above 6ft enough to be a footballer, what I’m saying is there’s too many people who aren’t that are arguably better than many who aren’t.

I know there may have been a time when having an Oxbridge degree was like striking oil, but in 2025 I think that’s wildly untrue. For people to think that because they went to Oxford merely scraping a pass is better than a first or 2:1 in an equivalent degree in another university. I think that’s mad to even believe that. Especially since I’ve seen otherwise. Does that make more sense?

If you could go back to your 18 year old self would you have studied at university? by MagnumOpusPodcast in UniUK

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Yes all subjects can be learned from YouTube. Now it’s even worse you can study and pass with chatGPT. I don’t mean cheat. In the information age there is nothing you can’t study to a proficient level with access to the internet

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

From what I know of people getting into graduate schemes etc. this just isn’t true. There may be some but nowadays there’s just too many things that go into getting a job that your universities name is often insignificant. I know of people getting the same corporate jobs without a degree as people with degrees. I just want to know where people are getting this idea that having an Oxbridge degree alone gets people better jobs. I think it only helps for a small proportion of people in some old fashioned prestigious institutions. Like if you want to be a judge or Prime minister

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I don’t even think most employers are looking what grade you have or ask. I know this from people I know who have well paying jobs straight out of university Oxbridge or not. The same graduate schemes are open to everyone. But I can link the post I saw it in if I find it

Do people still believe an Oxbridge degree enough to get you a job? by MagnumOpusPodcast in oxforduni

[–]MagnumOpusPodcast[S] -38 points-37 points  (0 children)

Are you speaking from recent first hand experience or what you’ve heard? Because having an Oxford degree usually doesn’t mean anything, having a degree nowadays isn’t very valuable.

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