Education (Line of Work)

High school diploma - law enforcement. Although alot of departments now require atleast a bachelors degree I do not see the relevance between the two.

 

Personally, I did what it takes to own a Wooden Ferrari. Do the same and you can have one too.
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Bachelor's Computer Science. Funny, i never got a job as a computer scientist lol.

I never leanred anything in college. I knew everytihng goign in, and everything I do know - I had to learn on my own. However, a degree is great to be able to get past H.R. screening. That's it (funny, head of Harvard just said a 'degree may not be for everyone'. I guess you can say that when you get enough endowments to not care about enrollments!).

Also, back then I paid peanuts to get my degree. Today is like 6 figures - screw that. I'd rather do it online just to get the paper or go to a foreign country. Saddled with debt for 15 years just to brag about a paper and bang hot college chicks - heck no!

 

A college degree, IMO, is nothing more than a useless piece of paper unless you're going to be a professional (doc, dent, law, etc.). Most of the people I've met that have college degrees are in a totally different field than what they majored in. My dad's dad is very smart and has a business degree; I think he makes just over 100k/yr. My mom's dad isn't all that smart, but he's extremely outgoing and barely graduated high school; he makes triple what my dad's dad does...

 

My wife is completing her degree so she can teach grade school. If she was not going into teaching or another degree requiring trade I would advise her against college.

I have a HS diploma, 20 years in the industry and am very well compensated. A degree would not help me at all. Even certifications are no help. Proven ability to get things done = value.

 

Obviously to practice medicine or law you need the appropriate degree and license. Same with being a professional engineer or similar. But what about an ordinary job that does not require "professional" credentials?

A BS, MS, or doctorate will open doors that otherwise would remain closed in many fields. Minimize their importance at your career's peril. It will certainly not ensure success, but without the appropriate degree you might not ever get the chance to prove yourself in many jobs.

Please keep in mind I am absolutely NOT a paper worshipper, it is just fact.

 

Quoted for truth. That BS/BA may not be important to some, but when a hiring manager is looking at a pile of hundred or thousands of resumes for a job, it makes for a handy elimination tool. I've done that as a hiring manager. Sure, I might miss the one golden nugget buried in there who dropped out of school in the 8th grade, but it's more likely that I'll find someone else who will fit the job just fine and who also has that degree.

Unless you own the business, are a craftsman, or have some other very rare skill, there's plenty of folks available to replace you.

 

Unfortunately, the college degree is now the new high school diploma. While it may or may not actually contribute to your career and just set you back money and time, it's incredibly hard to get hired or noticed without one. Not that having one gives an edge over anything, but the lack of makes for an easy select-out when reviewing job applicants.

 

Last week I saw a joke written by a guy who basically was saying that senior-level courses in his major taught him nothing, and he just turned up for exams. FFS why pay tuitoin for useless courses? If you get to your senior year and you're learning nothing...I guess you're about the norm. Sad. Somehow I doubt many ChemEng students blow off classes for four years and just stop by to pick up their degree.

Most valuable class was probably in the philosophy department: formal logic. Difficulty: for the rest of your life what other people call "logic" will make your head explode.

Edit for OP: I also took a 200-level Econ survey course: very informative. Apparently I'm an idiot: like every other class, I never ditched and sat in the front row, because by God I paid to be there.

 

Degree - Bachlor's in TV Production.

Occupation: US Army Signal (Communications) Corps (sometimes).



Some Post-Grad (Masters-Level) courses from military schooling.

 

So unless you are a craftsman or own a business you will be paying 250k for that degree which buys you a job where the guy above you thinks, there's plenty of folks available to replace you. No thanks.

 

1) Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Most folks are 8-5 type folks (me included)

2) If someone is paying $250K for an undergrad degree, they're a fool. The only reason to spend that much $$ is to make the kind of contacts that price implies. Otherwise, junior college + state school is fine for most non-technical degrees (read: Women's Studies; Film; English; Marketing; Teaching).

3) Most resumes look alike. Even if you're 1 in a million, there's 12 of you in my area. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. ~Chuck Palahniuk. That has -nothing- to do with personal worth, but from a business machine cog viewpoint, many folks really are interchangeable. The results may not be identical with different people in place, but close enough.

 

To answer the original question posed by the OP

I have a pair of Bachelors degrees, one in Radio, Television & Film and the other in Journalism; I cannot recall which is a BA and which is a BS. There's also minors in Marketing and English Composition in there, I don't remember which is associated with which major. Interestingly, the diplomas don't mention the course of study.

I also have a Master of Arts in Communication Studies, with an emphasis on Rhetoric.

I'm currently in law school. When I complete _all_ of this, I will still be well under the $250K number stated above.

My career has been in IT, and the degrees haven't had a direct relation to that career. However, the combination has been a point of interest for employers and has certainly helped differentiate my resume from the pile.

If I had it to do all over again and was 17, I would move to a sunny place and learn a trade. Alternatively, I would join the military and go to med school on their dime. The 'fluffy' degrees like Art Education and Economics and the ones I earned are essentially useless.

 

$250k for four years of undergrad? Where?

To your point though it could easily be $100k if you had to take loans for everything. But what is the alternative? Fact is an easy first screen for an entry-level job is a degree or not. Second screen would be GPA, at least it was 15 years ago when I did my first co-op during school.

Later in life as you build experience and a reputation, perhaps the degree is not as important. But getting that first job today in the field might be very challenging without one.

 

Wow Tillman! I have a new favorite quote!

I'm going to tell all my daughters that.

 

Just take some time and sift through this site. Look for posts where Doctors and Lawyers are crabbing about how much plumbers get paid. Think about that for a bit.

There was just a post about someone who paid a plumber 240 bucks to fix a broken pipe and I bet the plumber wasn't even there for 15 minutes, that's a thousand dollars an hour! Even if someone were to try the trades and didn't like them at the very least they wouldn't have to give up 240 bucks for a 15 minute fix. 240 bucks buys a great meal at the Prime Rib in DC.

I may, no I did go over board with the 250k thing. But in my opinion if you're gonna get a degree, no If I were going to get a degree I wouldn't get the degree everyone else is getting I'd get the 250k degree because that's the degree which will open all the doors.

I agree with Tillman and I too would have joined the Military and moved to a warm place if I could do an entire do over but that's looking at it from where I am now. At the time I had no money which left no choice. So with no choice it was pretty easy decision for me.

I have made the argument in the past about two people both 18 one starts college one starts a business. After 4 years have passes one has hopefully put money away for retirement the other has debt. One has a 4 year jump on the other. The guy who has put money away has something to leverage against way before the guy who just got out of school.


What ever you decide make sure it's something you enjoy or that it's some where you can make enough money to retire early enough to go off and do something you enjoy.

 

The assumption is that at 18 you have the ability to start and grow a business. I would say very, very few kids have that ability. Some may be able to survive the four years you mention, IMO the vast majority would end up losing their shirts and also have debts.

So then start a business with low capital costs, car detailing for example. What is the maximum income available to a young 20-something where anybody can start the same business next door for with no cost to enter the market?

It is exceedingly rare for a young person to have a developed unique talent that is marketable and they know how to manage a business.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with someone learning a trade such as plumbing, and that then given them the ability to soak some poor sap with a leaky hot water heater supply pipe. But that is just another form of education. An 18 year old couldn't just put an ad in the yellow pages for plumbing and expect to see any business.

 

There is a SERIOUS lack of people who are willing to work until they sweat and also do a good job at the same time.

There is a SERIOUS lack of people who you can depend on and not have to call 20 times to get them to show up, see recent spost by S Brake...waiting for sheetrock installer.

A unique talent is not what is needed. Putting work first and willing to work hard will pay off.

 

International Operations Management business undergrad at CU in CO.

going to work for a few years after graduation and eventually head to law school somewhere on the east coast

 

I agree, but I also suspect that someone with the work ethic you mention will be successful no matter their level of education, as long as they have the motivation.

 

Management information systems undergrad and MBA with IT management emphasis. And I even work in the IT industry. Having that piece of paper can make a difference sometimes, I recently interviewed for a CIO job that required a graduate degree. And my old boss was laid off partly because he only had a high school diploma (probably something to do with him working at a university). In my current job I was given a pay increase after I got my MBA.

 

I wouldn't even wanna work for a company that values a piece of paper over my knowledge, experience and work ethic. These are the same companies that want people to fill chairs from 8-5.

I would tell them I'm going to their competitor so they can take advantage of my skills, experience & work ethic to bury them. If you work in a job where you can do a fantastic job but get written up cuz you took an 1 1/2 hour lunch or were surfing ebay during work hours - is not a place you wanna be at. I feel sorry for people who work in these offices.

 

Didnt graduate high school.

Started special effects company at 17, sold it at 33. Now I own a collectibles manufacturer and produce independent film.

I think college degrees are pretty necessary if you want to work in the corporate world.

I think college degrees are unnecessary if you are more entrepreneurial.