Did I Just Waste Four Years on a University Degree? (Laurence Cruse)

Hi peeps! . I came across this article that seems very interesting and i thought it needful to share .

For the few of you that are loyal and regular readers of my posts (you know who you are!), you may have noticed that my publishing frequency has been somewhat limited of late. The primary reason for this has not been creative fatigue, a lack of interest,

or the political chaos on these fair shores, but because of a dissertation.
I recently submitted my final piece of work for my degree with the Open University (looking at the economics of innovation systems and which is best for the EU as it attempts to achieve its 2020 targets - a thrilling read!), and it left me in a strangely reflective state.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Open University degrees, they are completed primarily online and by correspondence (with occasional tutorials) - think of all the best bits of university and get rid of them, then do all of the studying during your social time, in the evenings and on weekends, and you get the gist of what it's like.
Admittedly I came to despise completing my degree this way for two reasons with the first being it meant I lived the antithesis of the 'rock star' lifestyle working during playtime. The second was that as an aspiring entrepreneur, I felt that if I ever needed the degree (i.e. to find work) it would have meant that my business endeavours had failed.
So all in all, not the best foundation to completing a self-funded and long term course of study, and I felt at times I was really wasting my life in pursuing it. However once I'd printed, blessed and posted my dissertation, the tiniest of pennies dropped, and this is what I realised:
1. What I learnt about how to work was infinitely more valuable that what I actually studied.
Plenty of the material was less than thrilling, however consistently putting the work in, hitting the deadlines and achieving the desired grades was an incredibly valuable process. Am I going to remember everything I learnt in business strategy 301, of course not. Have I tasted the success of grinding out an essay on the most impossibly boring material even when I'd prefer to receive a full body massage from Nigel Farage? Absolutely (the essay wins everytime!).
2. The more you do something you don't want to do, the better you'll get at doing the stuff you're interested in.
Most of my University experience was like swimming upstream because I felt that what I was doing was counterproductive compared to my ambitions. However pursuing, and most importantly finishing, something that counterintuitive taught me an awful lot about getting the unpleasant tasks done. I've found that there are plenty of boring things to do when starting a business and my degree has taught me how to be a master of getting the sucky things done!
3. Degrees unfortunately carry credence.
As much as I dislike this notion, having a degree acts as a basic competency pre-qualifier. I definitely learnt more in three months of trying to start a business than I did in four years of studying business management, however the fact that I've studied it does carry its own weight in networking scenarios and general business chit chat. Not the best yard stick in my eyes however it exists and I've now got my little piece of paper.
4. You've completed something that took a bloody long time.
I'm the first to admit I'm easily distracted, and proving long term commitment is something I've struggled with. Now that I've seen out four years of study I can proudly say that I'm a finisher, and that carries tremendous personal satisfaction and professional value.
Final thought:
No, I didn't enjoy the entirety of my degree, in fact, very little of it. However now that I'm done, I've got a tremendous sense of pride in what I've completed, and much to my own surprise would readily recommend tertiary study to one and all. To those of you just about to embark on your studies - stick it out and enjoy it for what it is without getting too concerned about what happens afterwards. For those who've just finished, be proud of completing it even if you questioned it at times, now go and suck the marrow out of the job market.

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