Does a degree define your skill?

We have all been there. Throw yourself back into the last months of mandatory schooling - that freaky feeling where you are on the very edge of the world and about to take the last breath and jump head fast into reality. Those who are confident of what they would like to do career-wise, fall into safety nets on the way down, whilst you're left free-falling and wondering where you would like to land. Years pass by, you've done nothing that you wanted to do and you're feeling panicked as life trickles by.

For those few lucky people who have fallen into nets and have ended up going to University and obtaining themselves a shiny new English or Creative Writing degree - well done you guys, you worked hard and was rewarded for it! But what about those who neither had the choice nor the money to be able to work for a degree? Does that make them any less of a writer?

Reading a LOT of literature in my 20 years on this little planet, I have read amazing works from both sides of the spectrum. But I never once noticed purely from the content, who was the Author with the full education and who ended up in full time employment. 

But DOES a degree define your skill as a writer?

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

- Holly