College degree = worthless (1 Viewer)

[Jimi C]

Exactly.

But seriously, it would be one thing if they were to say we want you to have a business degree, but they dont care if I get a degree in landscaping. It just seems a little strange. Frankly, I just dread the thought of going back to school.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Everything you just said intimidated me, beginning with "kinesiology"

 

[KurtEP]

Interesting how this discussion has flowered.

A few comments:

First, Mid thirties is by no means too late to go back to school. I dropped out of a very well paying job to go to law school in my late 30's. I feel like I have a huge advantage over my peers in some regards. Instead of concentrating in the field du jour, I'm more interested in work a day things where I know I can make money. I also know that school beats the hell out of work any day. Of course, I'm looking forward to getting back to work because the money in school sucks. :frowning:

Second, I know a few people who argue that a lot of colleges are guilty of misrepresentation in some of their fields. I don't completely agree with this, but I am starting to come over to their side. If you spend $33k per year to go to a private institution, pay for it in loans, and don't intend to go to grad school, you may be wasting your money. Especially if you major in something like communication arts. The argument is that they should tell people in that position that they should consider something else. I went to an excellent private college, which these days costs more than $30k per year. They have an education program that is decent from all accounts. Thirty miles away, there was a state school that was really cheap (especially for residents) and easy to get into. They also had one of the finest education programs in the state, far better than my alma matter. I think it's legitimate to question why they even have their program...

Finally, never be afraid of the skilled trades. There's money to be made in things like plumbing, auto mechanics and tool making. You also need education to get the best jobs (you can always go back to school for that, too), but they make money a lot of college educated people would envy (I used to audit and do tax returns. At the time, I was doing returns for plumbers who made a LOT more than I did). Of course, you'll get dirt under your fingernails, but hell, I do that for a hobby (work on trashed old Jaguars).

 

[Carl Miller]

I agree, it would make more sense if they were specific in their degree requirement.

At the same time though, your employer doesn't have a degree requirement for the hell of it. There's a reason for it, and while from your perspective it may not be readily obvious, it probably is from your employers perspective. They've probably found that in the past, degreed employees provide them more benefit somehow at and above a certain level in the hierarchy. Even if the requirement is non specific as in your case.

What I'm saying is that your employers policy isn't an arbitrary one that they just made up. IMO, this is an opportunity for you. You're sort of being forced (though not really because you could always say no) to do something you otherwise might not do....The real opportunity for you then is to make the most of it because you could benefit from this if you allow yourself to do so.

You could take a bunch of bullshit classes, or you can take classes that interest you which may lead to a new career if you want one or just be fun. Or you can take classes that might help you advance even further at this company or any combination of the above. Who knows? You may look back on this 10 years from now and find it was a really beneficial thing for you even if right now, it doesn't look like such a good thing.

 

[Jimi C]

I know that I will. I cant see how it could'nt be. I just love to complain.

I will however, probably end up taking a bunch of bullshit classes. If you want to call college degrees useless, than a 2 year degree would have to be on the top of that list.

I will be going to a SUNY school, so all the credits earned will be transferable to other SUNY schools. If things go well I may decide to transfer to a state university and persue a 4 year degree. Who knows?.. the possibilities are limitless.. oooooooooh.

The only thing I know for sure is, there are no english or writing degrees in my future! I suck.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

And, as this thread has made abundantly clear, English or writing degrees will prove useless anyway

SUNY schools like Geneseo, Albany and Binghamton run great programs. I sort of wish I'd gone that route. My friend's about to graduate with his associate's (he had a rough semester), and the garanteed admittance to one of the SUNY four-year schools is proving to be a real boon for him right now; he currently works at a supermarket.

 

[Robert_Z]

Today, I watched "The Pursuit of Happiness," starring Will Smith. His character said something I could say every day of my life.

His character was smart, and he had a nickname growing up -- "10-gallon head" -- because his capacity for learning was so large. However, he had not experienced success as an adult.

As he struggled to survive and care for his son, he reflected on this life and wondered what went wrong (paraphrase): "When I was in school and made an A on a history test, I always felt good about myself. I was excited to think of all the things I could grow up to be...Now I have to face the reality that I never became any of them..."

Like Smith, I had sooo much potential...or so I thought. Apparently, the only thing I had the potential to do was score well on tests, because I am failing in life.

My decision to pursue a Comm degree is undoubtedly one of the reasons I am failing. I still remember my first job out of college. I worked as a reporter for a semi-weekly newspaper...about 10 years ago. My starting salary after all those years of higher learning: $6.50/hr, no benefits. I knew then what a huge mistake I had made, but broke and owing several thousands of dollars in loans, what was I supposed to do?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

While you may not feel you're 'winning' in life I highly doubt you're really failing in the big picture. As the others have said you basically have two choices...go though the rest of your life feeling the way you do now or get off the pot and do something about it. The fact is you need to change something so the real question then becomes are you going to do it today or tomorrow?

 

[Jimi C]

Did you think you were failing a few days ago when you were making more than your girlfriend? I say you dump her, go to mcdonalds, find the girl that can't figure out what the beeping sound coming from the fryalator means and buy her an engagement ring. Then you will feel awesome.

 

[nolesrule]

I have a Comm degree, I'm self employed doing computer consulting and web development and my wife makes 4 times what I make (I don't complain much as I'm a stay at home dad). She has an English degree and works as an accountant for a major defense contractor. The company paid for her MBA, which has come in handy for her.

So we have the two of the most useless bachelors degrees possible, but the experiences we had during college are what got us to where we are today.

If the concern is only money, there are better ways to improve your income than a 9 to 5. Of course, building personal wealth is not something they teach even in college.

 

[Jim Barg]

What a fascinating, informative and hopeful thread. I'll toss in my two cents:

I have a B.S. in communications/journalism from Canisius College in Buffalo. I'm 28, have roughly about four years of freelance experience and that's about it. Right now, I'm working two PT jobs that vary between 35-50 hours a week combined. I live a very Clerksian existence at the moment. Depending on what mood I'm in, I'll either not give a damn (Randall) or whine about the sad state of my life (Dante).

I've never had any illusions about rolling in cash. I still remember the local news reporter who came in into a class I had and berated us for being comm majors. I didn't give a crap about how much money I would make after college. As long as I made enough to support myself, and found a modicum of happiness (wife/kids/home) along the way, that would be fine.

As you can guess, I’m still looking. I almost got a job twice: once right out of college in Connecticut, and off of my Epinions work (of all things) out at a paper near Syracuse. The CT paper ended up reorganizing about a week after I got recommended for said job, and I had to turn down the Syracuse job because I couldn’t afford to move out there for $8.50/hr.

Problem is, well… somewhere along the way I lost hope, kind of like where Robert seems to be right now. I could easily look at college friends who went into other things, lament the fact that I followed my heart and not my brain, and plunk my butt down on the Barstool of Missed Opportunities.

But I can’t quit. Too many people are pulling for me. I’ve been given the ‘Will Hunting’ treatment (the speech where Chuckie rips Will a new one for wasting his gift was quoted verbatim by a dear friend 10 months ago), and I am constantly sent openings for local jobs by others. The only way I’ll fail is if I do nothing.

It's been a dream of mine to work at a newspaper since I was 12. To throw that away would be a shame, I think. And I’d bet if I did, I’d sound an awful lot like Robert. I hope that he got himself good and drunk on Saturday, but ready for a new challenge by Monday.

As for me, there’s a newspaper down the street. I need to see if they’re hiring.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

I have always viewed college more as an experience where you will learn more about yourself...than you will learn about what you want to do for a career.

College can really make an individual mature and learn how to learn. But for many, the degrees we get today, in reality, have little bearing on what we will do in our careers later in life.

For example, I have a degree in Biochemistry and wrote an extensive senior thesis project that involved developing a technique to be used in one small part of a much larger breast cancer research study. I was pre-med and at the time thought that was where my heart was. I went on to work for a Neurologist doing clinical research for 3 years. But, much soul searching taught me that my heart was not in the science. For my career, I am now a music composer for films and a professional musician in L.A.

Figure that one out.

 

[JonZ]

Nowadays theyve pretty much made it necessary to have a degree.

"I could do that, but I am in my mid 30s. Way too old to make any kind of career change. I am so screwed."

This isnt true at all anymore. In fact at 37, Im looking to make a career change and hopefully will find something to do I hate much less than what Ive spent the past 10 years doing.


Times have changed and people arent working the same jobs for 30+ years like they did in the past. Instead of people having 1 or 2 careers in their lifetimes, people are having 4 or 5 now, including vasty different fields(ex: moving from engineer, to procurement,to education, to massage therapy for example (based on someone I know in her later 40s)


"That's going to vary significantly depending on location"

In the area I live in the population has gone up about 300% in the past 15 years.The cost of living about the same. However salaries have only gone up about 30-40% in that same time. A single bedroom apt here can be $1100 a month. Most single people cannot afford to live alone in this area. The numbers of 30 year olds still living with their parents is pretty high as well as singles living with room/house mates.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If working for the great metropolitan newspaper is your dream, pursue it. I'm not, because I already hate it. The job opportunities are there, since it's such a high turnover industry. Have you tried freelancing? If you can nab a good story on your own and bring it to a paper, that's probably a better leg in than any interview. At the very least, it'll get you printed and get you clips - which will lead to staff positions down the road. The only thing that sucks for you is that as circulation numbers continue to plummet and lay-offs become more and more common, the field is being flooded with experienced professionals. It sounds like you're willing to work for less than them, though, in order to get your start.

 

[Marty M]

This was very true when I was going to college from 1967 to 1971. That was a very exciting time to be in college, with the music, anti-Vietnam war sentiments, et. al. Most of my friends were in college for the experience rather than working towards a career.

Of course college expenses were much cheaper back then. Tuition was a very small part of the college expenses. IIRC, tuition was only about $100 per semester. It was a time when the minimum wage was only $1.25 or so, and you could buy a new car for $2,000. But people didn't go into as much debt to go to college back then. I have always felt that my college years were the best four years of my life.

Yes, I was able to graduate in four years. The Selective Service wouldn't allow me to take more than four years. My 2-S deferment from the draft was only good if I kept up passing grades and made the appropriate progress towards graduation. If I tried to drop-out, I would have been declared 1-A, draft eligible. It was a real challenge to stay in school. Fortuneately, I received number 309 when the draft lottery was instituted, so I didn't have to worry about getting drafted after I graduated.

 

[Robert_Z]

Well, I feel lots (LOTS) better today than I did yesterday. Thank you all for attending my little pity party.

I bought my ex some flowers today and am taking her out to a fancy dinner tonight. In spite of my ranting yesterday, I really am happy for her and proud of her. I just needed to blow off some steam.

Thank y'all for the encouragement. Y'all are right. I just need to get off my ass and do something different if I dislike my situation so much. Simple as that.

And if I choose to do nothing, then I guess my situation is not that bad.

...but I still think my degree is rather worthless, FWIW.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Not worthless...just worth less then you'd hoped for

 

[MarkHastings]

Good for you Robert...


Chris L. challenged my notion that you should not judge the value of a degree based on the salary you make. This is because I feel that a degrees value is what you make of it. My degree didn't get me a good job, my degree gave me an opening that I took advantage of and got a good job.

What I know now, was not learned in college, but I truly believe that I could have never learned what I have learned, had I not had a solid foundation (of learning) that college gave me. I could have easily graduated college and not done anything to better myself and I would not be in a decent paying job right now.

That's why I don't think you should base its value on your salary (or as compared to others salaries). The value of your degree is what you make of it.

 

[george kaplan]

It's certainly not true that a college degree is worthless. What is true is that certain degrees may not be worth certain things. If you measure worth in terms of how easily you'll find a job, or how much that job will pay, then certainly some degrees will be far more worthwhile than others. I got my degrees quite a while ago (my Ph.D was in 1989), but today I make six figures, and that certainly wouldn't be true without my college degree.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Actually, that's not that big a leap. Trust me.