Useless college/university degrees

[PostalBound]

I think any graduate with those degrees have been living off mom/dad/grandpa's bank and taking the easiest path they could find. Reality hits hard when they find out they have to actually work for a living.

A degree still only means so much though. Someone who is motivated means more to me. I'm sending an employee to college right now and paying him for it. Just finding employee's who care is the real problem these days.

 

[andyd]

My BA in Poli Sci was an entre into law school. I graduated in 1975. I was newly married and tired of school. I started working as a carpenter in a shipyard. I never got around to going back for a law degree. Politics and history. Mostly taught by lefties or centrists. But interesting reading and writing. Later, during a fit of depression, I read Samuel Eliot Morrison's History of US Naval Operation During WWII. All 17 volumes. I have never really used the degree for anything. But, I'm literate and can compose one heck of a resume and cover letter. Skills I acquired attaining a useless degree...

 

[dparm]

College is also about becoming a more well-rounded person. Even if you grew up in a diverse area or a big city, you will experience a lot of new things (maybe living on your own, new ideas, new city/state/country) and meet new people.

 

[Loobed]

Originally Posted By: D189379
Maybe the degree is meaningless, but you end up with someone who is hard working, intelligent (usually), and committed at the end.

I am not saying all degrees are meaningless. Back in the 1980's if one person got a job as a machinist right out of high school, and another person went to school to get an engineering degree, when the engineer started work he would be making less than the machinist, and it would take 2 to 4 years to pass him up. He would also have to pay off any loans, so it might be 6 years before the engineer starts to make more money. It isn't that way now.

I know someone who got a PhD in physics from on of this countries most prestigious schools, and he is not doing anything related to what he learned. He is working on wall street analyzing stock data.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: dparm

It's quite rare these days for an employer to pay for your MBA or similar post-undergrad degree. The "best" graduate-level programs will often require 3-5 years of practical work experience anyways.


Agreed. My employer will reimburse 100% of the cost of an MBA, but they basically own you for a number of years or you 'may' have to pay it back.

They reimbursed me for 75% the cost of my BeeESS over a decade ago, no strings attached.

An MBA is pushed on the ladder climbers. Exactly the path I've purposely avoided all these years and I couldn't be happier.

I just can't see the risk of taking on the debt associated with grad school unless you've already got a steady income stream. Too much risk. Not enough reward these days.

Joel

 

[simple_gifts]

Unless you want to climb a corporate ladder "knowing the material and how to apply it" wins out over any less capable degreed individual. This doesn't seem to be a priority at many places of higher education these days.

 

[dwcopple]

Honestly, I am such a fast learner, that everything I learned in college for my career, i could've learned in 3 weeks of on the job training. College is a sham for the most part and degree levels are laughable. There are many people that I work with that have MBA or higher and I know just as much if not more than most of them. The fact that college has pre-requisite classes is so stupid it is laughable. Seriously? Test me out of them and save me the wasted thousands you charge for classes a monkey that can read could pass.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: JTK
I just can't see the risk of taking on the debt associated with grad school unless you've already got a steady income stream. Too much risk. Not enough reward these days.

That sums it up perfectly. End the thread.

 

[Turk]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Honestly, I am such a fast learner, that everything I learned in college for my career, i could've learned in 3 weeks of on the job training. College is a sham for the most part and degree levels are laughable. There are many people that I work with that have MBA or higher and I know just as much if not more than most of them. The fact that college has pre-requisite classes is so stupid it is laughable. Seriously? Test me out of them and save me the wasted thousands you charge for classes a monkey that can read could pass.


Exactly. I am the same. Told by so many people I run circles around people with these "advanced degrees". Plus, I bet I have WAY more money in the bank.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

It's a system to make sure those with money can keep making money, and those who don't have money never will have money.

Because I went to college, I have a good job. Also, because I went to college and came from a poor family, I'm paying $600 a month for the next 20 years ...

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Honestly, I am such a fast learner, that everything I learned in college for my career, i could've learned in 3 weeks of on the job training.


A college degree is NOT job training. It can be the ability to learn to think/learn/view things in different ways.

For example I took Computer Science at college as a minor. They never taught programming but instead concepts about Computer Science. We did program items but in mostly oddball languages and using command line interfaces and text editors etc. They still do that even though incredible tools exist to speed the actual programming part up.

 

[Mr Nice]

True, a degree is not job training but it can and will usually open doors to a better future.

I agree that many colleges are degree mills flooding the job market with grads.

 

[Spazdog]

Not everything that is "completely useless" is really completely useless.

I took a gender studies course...mostly because I thought I could meet girls there

. Anyway, the first half of the course is basically reviewing Aristophanes's Lysistrata, but then we got deeper into the way genders think and work. As a consequence, I tend to deal better in confrontational situations with female executive personnel than my strictly business degreed male counterparts.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Get close to a politician and get a government job. I understand they pay about 12 bucks an hour more, on average, than a similar position in the private sector.

This includes benefits of course.

I had the chance 35 years ago but accepted a private sector job instead. I did well until chronic illness, corporate merger and acquistion hit.

Then I had to apply what I had learned into a small business. I'd love to share experiences and ideas with people who are interested, but there are still laws.

 

[morris]

how about. under water up side down back handed Barovian basket weaving.

 

[eljefino]

I have a BA but am good at BeeS. This has its place in the world.

It was also good to get my back slapped regarding my public high school's terrible English department. A 2nd set of eyes set me straight.

Probably not worth the bunch of money, but worth something.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: Loobed
One person has a 4 year degree in ballroom dancing.


I'll assume you realize that you're not talking about a business degree, but rather a degree in fine arts. There are a number of people who prefer to pursue a fine arts degree and dedicate their lives to something they love; something that expresses themselves as opposed to someone who will spend their lives in the corporate world. In some cases it pays off well, but overall it is much like teaching-as much a labor of love and expression as it is income.

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Honestly, I am such a fast learner, that everything I learned in college for my career, i could've learned in 3 weeks of on the job training.


If your ability to construct a sentence is any indication then perhaps your speed learning ability has failed you. As a business owner, if I had an employee that exhibited such poor grammar and sentence structure they'd be shown the door.

 

[rshaw125]

Degrees in Fine Arts are good. But people should have to do it on their own dime. Taxpayer subsidized loans should only be available for proper accredited degree programs. Engineering, Medicine, nursing,IT , teaching.
Not PE , Sociology, lawn care etc.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: morris
how about. under water up side down back handed Barovian basket weaving.


Sign me up!

 

[95busa]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Honestly, I am such a fast learner, that everything I learned in college for my career, i could've learned in 3 weeks of on the job training. College is a sham for the most part and degree levels are laughable. There are many people that I work with that have MBA or higher and I know just as much if not more than most of them. The fact that college has pre-requisite classes is so stupid it is laughable. Seriously? Test me out of them and save me the wasted thousands you charge for classes a monkey that can read could pass.


Exactly. I am the same. Told by so many people I run circles around people with these "advanced degrees". Plus, I bet I have WAY more money in the bank.

I am working on my masters now, but I have to say undergrad was to a large extent about beer and getting laid.