Degree or a diploma in anything, the point is all they want to see is that you can apply yourself.
I agree totally , the fact that you have a degree,diploma shows employers that you can commit yourself to something
I don't agree however that if you fail your medical your degree becomes 'useless' , when I look through career magazines and papers most of the recruiters would like to see that you have a qualification higher than bursary etc.
If you for instance provided a copy of your c.v and it said for example that you had completed ue and the had obtained some pilot licences and say the job was for a position with an advertising agency they wouldnt take much notice of the fact that you had achieved such licences. However if you took in your cv and they saw you had a degree even if not totally relevant to the position that you are applying for , it shows you have a achieved a higher level of education and commitment in preparing yourself for the workforce( through there non aviation eyes)
There is nothing stopping you once you have achieved a degree to doing another years study while in GA and adding diffrent qualifications to that degree ie say for instance you get a Bachelor aviation or whathaveyou you could add some advertising papers to it , or some accounting papers to it , or some management papers to it , some medical papers , the list goes on ....
In my opinion there are plenty of advantages to having a degree in avaition.
I also would like to hear some more thoughts about this issue.
FB