I have some questions for people who decided to get a second bachelor’s degree. Was it to get a better job/lead to a new career, to prepare for a graduate program, or just because you wanted to study the subject? How long was the period between the first degree and the second, or did you do them at the same time? Part-time or full time? Was it worth the cost? Did you go to the same school as your first bachelor’s?
I couldn’t find much of anything on the web about this, so I’d appreciate any responses. Thanks!
I got mine to avoid be drafted into the Viet Nam War. I maintained my deferrment as long as I kept a full load and did not actually graduate. Actually, I was well on my way to a third BA/BS when Nixon invoked the draft lottery and I ended up with number 30 and my overeducated little brain was on its way to Southeast Asia.
I’m doing two at the same time. Here, a bachelor’s degree takes 3 years, but I’m doing 2 in 4 years (full time). I’m doing a B Business Management and a B Arts. I can only have one major in Business because there are a great number of core courses, and in Arts I can have a double major or two singles.
I don’t have time for any electives. Plus, I have to do one more subject than most people for a few semesters.
I decided to do a double degree for a few reasons. I wanted to keep my options open for the future, instead of only being qualified to do one job. I wanted to continue studying Chinese, which I could only do through Arts.
I’m not even thinking about the cost! In Australia, Aussie students can defer payment and then have it taken out of your pay once you start earning over a certain amount.
I graduated from U of Maryland in '99 with a BA in ‘Government and Politics’. I went back and got a BS in Comp. Sci. in 2003. I did the 2nd degree part-time as I worked full time. It was a very busy year or so but I couldn’t be happier with the results. I stopped working as an Administrative Assistant and am now a Programmer working on a very complex Bioinformatics project. I’m also making a lot more money.
I loved studying poly sci but there were just no job prospects.
I did two at once. I wanted a math degree and all the classes that I needed could only be taken over five years. With a second degree the math courses that did not count toward math could be used as electives against my second degree. I also wanted something to pull up my GPA. I got a second degree in computer science and graduated magna cum laude. I now work in IT.
I had a friend that got three from the same institution. He didn’t feel like looking for a job with his Anthropology degree and he had a student job that he wanted to keep. He was close to a Philosophy degree so he finished it up, then he started Psychology which he also was close to. It took around 6 years as I recall. After the third he quit and I was told he found a job working for Mindsping. I haven’t seen the guy in several years and don’t know what became of him.
He did his degree’s both as a matter of convenience and interest. Plus he didn’t have a job to go to.
I completed my accounting degree last December. I should be finished with my finance (concentration in economics) degree either this December or next May. I am taking the second degree because I am interested in the subject and to get enough hours to take the CPA exam. At present I’m working part-time and interviewing for jobs.
I have three (undergraduate) - I got multiples because of three reasons -
I was most of the way through my first degree (English) when my career plans changed and I realize I didn’t want to go to Grad School in English. I loved teaching and wnted an education degree, too.
I met my wife and got married, and she had at least 2 years before she could go anywhere, and I was making more money through part time jobs and stipends while going to school full time than I would have in “the real world” of my local college town.
I thought I would be a better teacher of English and History if I had degrees in those subjects, as well as in Secondary Education.
In the end, I taught a few years and then went to law school, so except for the part about staying with my wife, it was all mostly a wash.
I earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2001, and a year and half later, went back to get a BA in History. In my case, it was in preperation for graduate studies. The second degree took me four semesters (full time), as I went to the same school, and the courses I had previosuly taken counted toward their respective categories.
Was it worth it? Well, I got accepted to my top choice of grad programs, so in the short term yes. I’ve yet to see what’ll happen in the long run.
My first degree was a Bachelor of Science in Biology. After a disastrous two years in graduate school I ended up working in a clinical microbiology lab. A year into that I decided to go back to school (a different university) to get my Bachelor’s in medical technology so I could earn more. The second degree only took two years since I’d already had most of the prerequisite courses. During the first year I also worked 40 hours a week-it was the only way I could afford school. However I started falling asleep on the job and had to go to part-time work for the second year and take out a bank loan. Overall it was worth it, even though I was wading in debt for a while.
I was a double major in Communication and Philosophy, minor in International Studies. I was originally a Com major with a double minor in International Studies and Philosophy, but the Philosophy department talked me into stepping it up to a major. I already had more credits than was needed for the minor, so I only needed three more courses (advanced Logic, and then the two-semester senior seminar) to get the major.
I basically just did it for fun, it’s not like I thought I was going to get a high-paying job as manager at the philosophy plant or anything. It was kind of difficult to do two senior seminars at once while carrying a full course load, but it wasn’t too awful. And my particular situation was worse than usual for double majors because I had to have a major operation the second semester of my senior year and missed six weeks of class. My convalescence period gave me plenty of time to write my senior papers, though. I would up being the first person in my school’s history to receive dual nominations for Best Senior Paper; my Com paper wound up taking the prize.
I did both at the same time as well. I have a BS in Political Science and Economics. Not sure how far it has gotten me. I tend to ignore the Poli Sci degree as too many people tend to dismiss it as, “Poli Sci, why try?”
I have 2: BS Electrical Engineering, and a BS Computer Engineering, 21 years apart. Primarily #2 clears the mediocre GPA of #1 so I can get into grad school, but it also formalizes all of the work experience I’ve gained since #1.
I graduated from college with a dual major in French Language and Literature and Political Science.
I started working on the Political Science degree and needed 3 French classes as a requirement. I did really well in the French classes so decided to minor. At that point, I was pretty much done with my Political Science courseware (and was making decent grades) but I loooooved my French classes and I was making fabulous grades. The program was small, I loved the faculty and my classmates (lots of shared classes). I ended up staying an extra semester to finish up my French degree. My college diploma lists both degrees
Mrs. Nott got a degree in elementary education right out of high school. That career didn’t work out. Much later, she took classes while working as a bank teller (the bank picked up the tab.) At 39, she got a degree in accounting, and she’s a CPA. Both degrees were from Ball State University.
I have no degrees, aside from a bullshit Doctorate of Divinity from the Universal Life (mail order) Church.
Currently working on two majors and a minor. I’m finishing up psychology this quarter (for the parents) and I’ll be devoting the rest of next year on Asian American Studies just because the classes are interesting. My minor is Chicano Studies and I’m working on that because I love that department and its professors.
I mostly decided to double major because I knew I wanted to stay in UCD for five years, so I figured why not get another degree? And I had already taken a few ASA classes, so why not? Might as well make my parents’ money worth it.
Thankfully, these classes will be greatly helpful in my job career after I graduate: adolescent counseling. Guess I lucked out in my choices!
I have a business degree with an double major in accounting and corporate finance, plus a law degree. I studied for both degrees concurrently. In Australia and the UK, law is a bachelor’s degree, although it’s usually only taken by post-graduate students. To be allowed to study law as an undergraduate, I had to take on the business degree concurrently. This meant five years of study, with five subjects taken each semester.
I don’t work as a lawyer, but having both degrees lends a certain credibility to my CV, plus the legal knowledge is occasionally useful.
