How Powerful is an Oxford Degree?

Another answer for the Oxford Q&A series.

[patriciacrabtree]

Sounds like Oxford was an ambiguous gift to you. They may have temporarily damaged your passion for literature, which you say you repaired within a year of graduating, but the punishing work you did is wildly impressive and terribly valuable to your subscribers. I guess your educating is a gift to us.

[gloriastroedecke]

From my viewpoint it depends on your expectations. I am speaking of higher education in general, but Oxford, Cambridge and American Ivy Leagues are included. If you are going to school for career purposes only, or mostly, yes, it is helpful. If you are going for knowledge and the pleasure of learning, not necessarily.

I did not go to a prestigious school, but I loved the experience. The discussions and input I received were valuable to me. My confidence and latent personality traits developed and flourished in the environment. In the end it did not bring me monetary riches. I went into a career that does not pay well in the entry level (Museum and Library) and shortly into my new " career" I was diagnosed with a major chronic disease which prevents me from not only advancing but working at all. I do not think the time or money used to facilitate my formal education was a waste.
But for me, it was more of a personal goal and adventure, not a means to having a top tier career and salary others would awe and envy.

[emilyfrazier]

depends on the field, no one has ever asked to see my degree, i tell them i went to oxford, but as you say, alot of people going for the job, all comes down to how you do at interview. I think the times of just attending a school have long changed. - i work in healthcare. patients dont ask where i trained.

[tdd]

1. It's damn cool.
2. It's pretty powerful on a resume, no matter your degree.

That being said . . .

I worked for a fortune 500 company for 16 years. (I started with them before they even made a profit.) I was involved in hiring hundreds of people. With Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Penn, MIT, Oxford, etc. on your resume—again, no matter your degree—you immediately made it through the first filter ... that was the biggest advantage. It's a big one.

After that, there were some folks that always gave the degree a huge boost to their consideration. I did not. I tried to look at the whole package. One filter for me, for example, was that if we were hiring straight out of college, but that student had no work history at all, they were almost always dropped from the process.

I didn't care so much what school folks went to. And we have hired many people with no degree if they have compensated in other ways, though not getting that bachelor's often indicates some significant gaps in their education. (The liberal arts element of the BS or BA is incredibly valuable.)

[idebveg]

Every school destroys personality and creativity, I realized that because I studied in 4 different countries of Western Europe for a residence visa.

[shelleywinters]

You sound like you REALLY wasted your life doing this degree. I can relate, I did 3 Uni courses, all the wrong ones. I wish I'd done Literature instead, for me it forces me to read texts I wouldn't normally have chosen to. I still gravitate towards easy reads, but I don't expand my cultural tapestry. I studies screen texts at Uni which forced me to watch Bad Timing, odd film with Art Garfunkel, dark and odd and disturbing.
I can relate though, cause I realised all I needed was a steady job and I could have achieved all my goals in 10 years. Total waste of money and time and also it puts you off the subject, 'cause everything is done at such a rediculous pace, you can barely absorb all the information let alone learn anything.

[threethrushes]

A wildly ambiguous question; an undergrad or post-grad degree? How powerful is any degree? What does power mean? How would you measure it? Vocational vs. non-vocational?

Question needs a bit more scruteousness.