Going back almost 40 years to my initial time in college, I would estimate that considerably less than 50% of my 3rd level colleagues pursued a career related to what they studied in college. And since then, judging by the rate of dropouts from 1st year college courses and the inherent flaws in the way the CAO system tends to push many second level students towards a particular academic choice, my recommendation to young people today would be to educate yourself for life rather than with an eye towards a particular career.
I'm frequently taken aback with how poor our second level education system is or how much it fails our young people in equipping them with basic life skills such as food and nutrition, communication skills, financial literacy, personal well being, respect and hygiene as well as manual dexterity and DIY skills (beyond the obvious woodwork, metalwork, engineering and home economic specialisations). I suspect part of the problem is in making what is being taught relative to real life. I'm amazed for example to discover how second level students of geography or trigonometry can make no connection between what they are being taught and the functionality of Google maps or a gps. My grand aunt, who emigrated from the rural west of Ireland to the USA, taught all her sons to knit and 4 of them went on to study medicine, where their tutors commended them for their dexterity and the neatness of their stitching, nurtured by the knitting skills imparted to them by their mother.
Certainly having a 3rd level qualification, irregardless of its speciality, will assist you in getting a foothold in a career choice, but unlike one younger friend of mine who had a great sense of entitlement "because I have a degree!", a degree (or masters or doctorate) is no substitute for what you will learn on the job and through experience and which may ultimately point your in the direction of further studies to enhance your ability to do your job or advance in your career (or indeed even change your career as you discover what you do NOT want to do!)
I'm also mindful of the irrelevance or impracticality of some degree's which serve minimal connection or functionality to the realistic career prospects of all but the most passionate or driven. From my own interest and passion I knew many people who graduated with a Degree in Outdoor education from GMIT/ATU (something I'd love to have studied myself were it available when I was 18) where the realistic prospects of a feasible career were mininscule without further specilisation such as a MA or H Dip to teach. So the vast majority of the graduates in that course were obliged to pursue alternative careers or find different forms of employment such were the low pay rates, lack of progression prospects and job security inherent within the outdoor pursuits industry. However, I like to think the course equipped them with some useful life skills which they can apply to other areas or their life and career, but such was their passion for particular aspects of the course (e.g. watersports, mountaineering, photography, etc) that they would probably have ultimately gained those skills in any case without the necessity to pursue them via a degree course.
