I dropped out of college and joined the military. 20 years in the military, and I now have a management job with a major defense contracting company. My salary plus my military retirement put me way over 6 figures, with plenty of upward mobility, and still no degree. Life is what you make of it.
As someone with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, let me say that while the degree is not as financially useful as, say, an MD it certainly did open doors for me that otherwise would have been closed, even in circumstances where the degree was apparently unrelated to the job.
Would I do it again? Likely not, but then, today’s world is very different from how it was when I went to college.
Also, I made sure I had basic job skills to fall back on, and graduated with minimal debt, back when you could actually live on a minimum wage job and make a small loan payment as well.
Well, Sciency, certainly no-one has a ghost of a chance of contributing anything to science these days without a college education, without at lest two degrees, really.
If your goal is employment a college degree in a STEM curriculum well worth it.
But college isn’t necessary to find a lucrative career. There are a lot of jobs out there that do not require a college degree that still make decent wages with strong futures. One of my favorite TV blabbermouths advocates a program that helps people get gainful employment.
Oh really?! :dubious:
Yeah that’s what I hear too. Employers still see it as a good potential.
A friend of mine (same friend as above, actually…) was distressed that her son was going for a BA in History, with the reasoning being that there’s no career path there… I pointed out that Susan Rice started with a BA in History, and seems to have done pretty well from that point on.
This may surprise you but the sorts of opportunities available to history majors in the 80s are not all the same as the options a history major in 2014 or 2018 will have.
Well, that’s one. We could have a similar discussion about lottery winners.
Susan Rice was also a Rhodes scholar who followed up her BA with a couple of graduate degrees. A student pursing a BA in History should not expect to be as successful as Rice unless they are similarly capable/dedicated. If you’re not at the top of your class, and you don’t want to continue your education past a four-year degree, a History degree provides a poor ROI.
That guy sounds like he had a bad experience with college. A lot of people do; but a lot of people don’t. A lot depends on what college you go to, how good it is at what it does, and whether what it does is a good match for what (if anything) you want out of college.
In times past (1970’s), a BA or BS in anything opened all sorts of career doors. The Army would take you into Officer Candidate School with a bachelor’s in anything, even Medieval Fashion, because college taught you to think and all they needed to do was train you as to how the Army thinks. You could also get a public school teaching license pretty easily with a bachelor’s in anything, and settle down in some nice small town. Now, everyone has a bachelor’s degree and they have to be more selective.
I know a guy who went into Army OCS with a BA in Elementary Education. Guy never intended to teach - he just wanted a 2LT’s commission, and the BA in Elementary Ed was the easiest major to complete. Times are different now.
Big shout-out for the community college concept for a variety of reasons. Cost is cheaper, of course. Get at least one full year out of the way, and do the academics that everyone wants: English, history, etc. Maybe even go on and get the Associate’s Degree in your field and start working in it. But the nice thing is that when you apply to the four year university, you’re coming in as a transferring college student with a proven track record and not just another body in the herd of graduating high school seniors. You’ll probably get priority on your application if enrollment is limited.
As far as transferring to a “big-name” university…not so much. Most people do not care whether your degree is from Harvard or from Footrot Flats State University. All they care about is whether the college is accredited and you pulled a good GPA, and maybe picked up some experience in the field along the way.
I think there’s something to be said for the breadth of knowledge one receives in a college. I’m a software developer, and got my degree in computer science, but I’m glad for the knowledge I gained in anthropology, psychology, other non computer related classes I took.
I have an economy-size axe to grind against academia so if the OP wants the worst-case scenario that’s what he’ll hear from me. I know a number of people who found it to be their own personal version of hell. But of course some people feel differently. What you’re studying, in what program and at what school are all important factors. YMMV and all that.
It’s a calculated risk. Probably depends on the school and community. Possibly less important for undergrad? I would say it has made a difference for me. My grad school program & associated reputation got my foot in many doors and set me up with a good network. I’ve been hired twice by people I never met who were attracted to me because they attended the same school. I also got one of my colleagues a job (which she fully deserved.) I consider my grad school network to be one of my most important career resources. Again, YMMV.
I do have a gripe with those tenured humanities professors who write to the Times whenever this comes up and say that college students can’t possibly learn how to think unless they take the classes these guys teach. Your learn to think quite well in science and engineering, thank you.
My objection is to the stereotype of the PhD being an adjunct English professor sentenced to eternal non-tenure hell. I know lots of engineering professors who are quite happy and well paid.
In support of this, my company does not hire from lower ranked universities without special approval, which is not easy to get. And not just hire - even phone screen.
It makes a lot of sense to go to the best university you can afford, get into, and which is a good match for ones talents and attitudes.
A political science degree is pretty useless unless you want to go to law school. Then it is fine. There are some degrees which make it easy to get a job, and some which are good for moving on to the next level of education. Though almost all are better than not having one.
Is college worth it? Yes and no.
A lot of people have pointed out that they wouldn’t have gotten their job without a bachelors in something. This is very true. There are a number of jobs and companies out there who won’t hire you without a Bachelor’s degree, the subject doesn’t matter. I know of a large insurance company I interned at for a few years that had many entry-level positions as adjusters and customer service types that would require a Bachelors to apply - and they really, genuinely didn’t care what it was in.
If this is what you’re looking to do with your life - go for it. Pick an easy (generally a liberal arts) major at Local Podunk State. The point is - don’t spend a lot of money getting your degree, either by going extra years or by going to a top-tier or even mid-tier school. The reality is that you’ll have a degree, a decent job and make a decent living - but that’s about it. So, you might as well not spend a fortune getting there.
On the flip side, if you’re looking to do more than that and get into a top-tier company and advance quickly - or especially if you’re looking to go into a STEM field - you definitely need to go to college, and at that point, where you go matters. You still don’t strictly have to spend a lot of money going to a top-tier school, but getting into a college with a good reputation and a decent job-placement program is a very good idea, you’ll have a better chance of landing that first job and then a better chance of moving on. Because in STEM fields, what you know actually matters.
Friedo said it first and best: “It depends”.
Didn’t go to law school.
Doing just fine. Beyond fine, actually.
Don’t regret it for a second.
YMMV to be sure.
EDIT: I will concede that I am probably not the “norm” in terms of out-of-the-gate salary for my major. I also know that there are engineering friends still spinnin’ their wheels.
Honestly, I think the answer is it depends…though, I’d say that ‘yes’ is more in line with my own preference. I think you get out of ‘college’ what you put into it, by and large, but the biggest thing I personally got out of college was the intangibles. For instance, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned in both my major and minor (aerospace engineering was my major with a minor in math), but what I DID get out of the experience was, I guess, polish. I went to school at a time when they wanted engineers to be ‘well rounded’, and while at the time I thought that was stupid, in retrospect I think that was actually exactly what was needed. I learned philosophy, literature, history and other subjects that I took as electives but that have actually stayed with me a lot more than my major courses.
Also, having a degree gives you a leg up on someone without one, especially down the line in your career. Though I don’t have a specific degree in the field I actually work in (I have a CMIS degree but not specifically in my field, since computer science when I took it was basically software engineering), a lot of my later career advancement has been due to having degrees in basically anything, as opposed to IT people who don’t have any (this is true once you get into management or the upper levels of IT engineering, where a degree is almost mandatory).
Well…yeah. It is a racket in a way. Once you have your degree in hand and you actually start to work you’ll rapidly find out that what they taught you is practically worthless to actually do the job you thought you were training for…at least, that’s my own anecdotal experience. However, you will have acquired that polish…you will (or should), for instance, be able to write to a certain degree. Also, it gets your foot in the door so you can gain the experience and skills to actually do that job you thought you were training for in college…something that might take you years to get to without that degree giving you a head start.
Sure, but it’s still not a waste. This gets back to you get out of it what you put in. My original degree was aerospace engineering, but I haven’t worked a full year in that field. It still wasn’t a waste, however, even though my actual job and career is in IT.
Yup, and getting your foot in the door initially, when you don’t have a lot of experience. Down the line it’s also going to enable you to go further than someone without a degree, even if you both actually have the exact same amount of experience and skills, especially on a management or senior engineer track.
I didn’t get, or desire, any “networking” from my college experience.
It was, however, a life changing four years that I wouldn’t have missed for anything. As everyone has said, there are a ton of variables, including who you are and what you’re looking for. I had four years of interesting classes, great professors, solid friendships, and fun extracurricular activities (radio station, newspaper, drinking, road trips, etc).