Are equine management degree's a waste of time?

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dolly dimple

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Just wondering what pushes people into studying Horse management type courses/degrees ?

Obviously if you study veterinary nursing, the jobs you apply for are quite clear.


I was quite happy being a groom and enjoyed my National Diploma, however since doing my degree, find myself in the exact same boots as I was three years ago. I may be missing a lot of opportunities from this degree but as far as I can see, I had my head in the clouds when applying for places and wish I'd gave it more thought.

Got turned down from jobs for event management in the equine industry, need to study more to be a veterinary nurse, therapist or saddle fitter… Oh and got debt to pay off :D

I know I will be working with horses either way, it’s not the issue on whether I have horses as a hobby or career, as I know I want to work with them, but really wish I’d stopped and gone into work after my ND.
 
I think you hit the nail on the head. I did my ND and worked in the equine industry for a couple of years. Couple of friend carried on to degree level, yet when they left they were applying for the same jobs I was already doing! IME I think that with the equine industry, pure experiance and hard work is wortha thousdand degrees!
 
I don't know about Equine Management, but I did a general Animal Management degree and it was the most expensive piece of A4 card I've ever bought :rolleyes:
I would have been better off using the money to learn to drive and maybe get qualifications in something there are still jobs in, like dog grooming, for all the good it has done me.
 
They are a complete waste of time. Biggest regret of my life so far.

I did it for a different reason in that I enjoyed my ND and did the HND, and I only had to do a top up year to gain a degree. In fact I walked away with a 1st class degree and our top up year was business and finance focused, no horsey chores/interaction whatsoever. I was aiming for a police career and did the degree as when I did it employers focused on education, and having a degree to your name was certainly no downfall. I got into the Met Police and then a year and a half of waiting for a start date, got scrapped along with 2000 others because they over recruited. The Met kindly informed us as the timing for recruits to be eligible to transfer their application into local forces expired. Amazing timing in that we were then into the depth of recession. At 25, a first class degree to my name and I'm still stacking shelves in the supermarket despite applying for hundreds of jobs.

Education to degree level unless you have a specific career or route you can take and achieve is a waste of time. I know as I'm now braindead and resent going into work everyday.
 
Warwickshire college have just redone their degree curriculum.

Equine management there is very much that. Managing horses / yards etc.

Equine Business management is more business based, obviously.

I'm doing equine business management, and haven't a clue when I want to do afterwards.
 
God glad I haven't offended anyone reading it back! But I must also say... there's some right beginners on my degree too which makes me feel even more of a ***

Not to mention I have never really enjoyed school, nor do I find the teachers to be anything great. It's been three years of torture. The teachers on my ND had more knowledge!!!
 
No degree is a waste of time if you enjoyed it, learned from it, and used your time appropriately in terms of balancing academia and fun.

Personally speaking, within my own sphere of business, I have noted that of many of the people whom I have had the good fortune to work with, those who are younger and with degrees have displayed a maturity in dealing with certain situations that their contemporaries without have not. That's not to say those without don't have such a maturity, but it is usually a maturity that comes with experience and as a result, those that do are slightly older. I am not tarring all with the same brush here - far from it. Some of the most respected and revered people in my life do not have degrees but have learned the hard way.

A degree gives you the tools, if not the experience, to do the job and well. It gives you the tools to formulate an argument based on proven fact, to put your point of view across in an appropriate fashion, and to weigh up options as to what might and what might not work in certain situations. Add to this experience and you'll one day be flying if you want to.

I know how you feel. I have an MBA and passed with distinction. No one (read corporate entity) wants to employ me as I'm over 40, have two young children, and have been self employed for a number of years. However, I now have a good number of clients and can certainly be confident in the advice I give knowing that it has been explored by academics and trialled in the relevant industries successfully. It's only a matter of time...;)

Don't view your degree as the end and the start of the next chapter of your life. View it as the means to an end. When you're ancient like me, you might find it was quite useful after all.
 
Considering I actually got shown the door of one recruitment agency after mentioning my degree... yes it was a total waste of time and money! I didn't stay I horses (money) but I'm now three years behind on the career ladder compared to my friends who didn't do degrees. And I'm in debt. I wouldn't do it again if I went back to being 18!
 
Mine wasn't a waste of time...

I did Equine Business Management degree at Hartpury and when I went we did the same business modules as the students at Bristol UWE and the same Equine science modules as the students on the Equine Science degree course.

It was a bit of a weird degree, it was purely lecture theatre based, we did not have do any of the equine management side unless you choose to do equitation as a mosule it didn't involve any yard work.

We used to treavel to Bristol for some of the business lectures like Strategic Management. This is back 10 years now so I don't know how they structure it now.

I have found it really useful tbh! I got my first job working for RBS Insurance not horsie at all. I just left out the Equine bit in my CV :o. Said I had a Business Management degree from Bristol UWE which I do. They obviously took references and were fine with it.

Then I got a job at Zurich no problems. Then I went back to RBS. Now completely different I actually used my proper degree title to get my current job.. I run all the admin and accounts and office management for two big farming and livery estates. My boss actually gave me the job because of my degree in Equine Business Management.

So for me, no not a waste of time at all. I have heard regularly that when companies are looking for staff they aren'nt too interested in what the degree is in just that you have one :). My friend has a masters degree in geology and she works as a management consultant in Japan!
 
Depends if you know what you want from it. I graduate this year, have a job offer and start in June. They said specifically that my degree was the reason why they looked at my application. They weren't looking at anyone who didn't have a degree or wasn't a student so for me it was probably worth it. I may well not stay in the equine industry but I can't say I regret doing the degree when it has given me so much in terms of experiences I may not have otherwise been able to have (i.e. study abroad, job offer post-uni and certain volunteering positions).
 
Speaking from an employers angle. I would never be interested in college qualifications etc. I either want experience or I'm happy to take on a younger person and have them learn on the job.
I would go as far as to say I will avoid college trained staff
 
I didn't do a degree, did an HND in Equine Science but I don't think degrees are a waste of time at all. I think it shows you have thay ambition and ability to study and I think skills can easily be transferred in an equine management degree to any type of management role. That's my opinion anyway and, when I was looking for jobs many of them did want people who studied to degree level.
My current job (well, actually I'm between jobs) and those before that have nothing to do with what I studied, although I have worked in insurance for the last 10 years and the first position I got was as an equine underwriter - I got the job due to my equine knowledge, I had no insurance experience. Since then I have moved to working in a commercial insurance company and moved up to a management position.
To be honest, getting your foot in the door for an interview is the biggest challenge and a lot of that is about selling yourself in the first instance.
 
ladyt25 said:
To be honest, getting your foot in the door for an interview is the biggest challenge and a lot of that is about selling yourself in the first instance.
Click to expand...

This is the important bit. I used to do a lot of recruitment, and the amount of poorly written CVs and letter used to make me feel ill wading through them! We used to get hundreds of applications for each job (bue chip company) and your letter really had to stand out to be noticed. It wasn't unusual for us to interview someone with no experience in that job or even line of work, but with transferrable skills. So someone with supervisory skills could supervise others to do the work he perhaps didn't have the in depth knowledge to do but he could motivate and inspire and ensure what was needed doing got done properly and on time, and if enthusiastic, keen and interested in the work itself perhaps through a hobby or past knowledge (as mentioned in the letter) that was someone worth speaking to..
 
I almost did a degree in equine science (so glad i didnt)!!

great fun (which is why i wanted to do it lol!) but career wise whats the point? but i did business management - only taken 9 months after uni and in a crap paid job but I have 4 interviews over the next week :) because of EXPERIENCE. degree helps to give me the edge - nothing else.
 
I think it depends what you wish to go into. I’m sure like any graduate, I may have a jobs along the way that I wasn’t planning for. But everything’s an opportunity.

I wish to go into bitting and saddle fitting. My dissertation has been on bitting and I feel fairy positive that now being able research the way I can, will help greatly in the future.
 
On my first yard we used to get summer placement students from a local agricultural college who were doing equine sciences. Some of them needed to be shown how to muck out a shavings bed...

One friend used her equine science degree constructively as a step towards the career she now has. Others (plural) work as grooms and I have to question the value of a degree qualification for them.

Now that students have to pay for degrees, I can see a lot of these sort disappearing as potential students ask themselves hard questions as to whether they would be better off learning by just getting a job, or via the apprenticeship route.
 
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