I do computer stuff for a living. I found that it was extremely difficult to get ahead in the science world without an advanced degree. I went back to school to study chemical engineering; I was forced to take a programming class, and at the end of the semester I switched my major to CS.
If you ever decide to get a second degree, go for a master’s. Silly me, I thought you had to know something about a subject to enroll in the master’s program – not true at all.
Cool, did you find that your science education helped you in getting a job in computers?
I plan on getting my MBA as well as a degree in CS, actually. 
I spent 12 years getting my BS, but that included 2 years off while I bought a house, got married, had 2 daughters and started a business. I also worked full time (or more) through all those years of schooling, so I was limited on the number of hours I could take per semester. And I was also going on my own dime for the last 6 years (after the GI bill stopped paying in 1989 - grrrr).
I also knew a few (very few) in the same college (engineering) who had been at it longer and graduated after me by a semester or two.
I would also go back to school full time if I were able to do it without continuing to work full time. I’d love to get a Master’s in some esoteric field, just for the sheer fun of learning.
Don’t be discouraged by how long it’s taking to graduate. The trick is not in how quickly you complete school, but how well.
Not really. At the time I got the CS degree, it was a hot job market, and dozens of companies were recruiting on campus. What helped me get the best interviews was a good GPA. Internships are helpful also.
I can think of a lot of places where your science background would be a plus (e.g., businesses concerned with pharmaceuticals, biotech, oil, environment, etc).
That’s a good combination, especially if you’re interested in going into management.
Now I want an MBA.
Dropped out of HS: 1997. Started JC: 1999. Graduated with A.A.: 2004.
I console myself by thinking I had to make up for 3 years of missed highschool, and I had a year in there where I didn’t go at all. Hopefully I start university fall '06, putting my graduation at the ripe old age of 27.
The Highwayman was on the ten year plan, he’s 33 and just started his first year of law school (after a one year break between that and uni). Hey, we’re taking the scenic route, mkay? 
It’s taken me 6 1/2 years and I’m finally graduating in December. I lost two semesters when I went abroad (with a different university than the one I’m at now), those credits didnt transfer to my new university - along with a lot of other credits. I did goof around for about a year though and made some pretty bad grades (and dropped a lot of classes). I’m already thinking of going back to school after I graduate though, I like it, and there’s still a lot to learn!
I entered NC State in 2000 as a computer science major. Toward the middle of my sophomore year, I started a computer science/computer engineering double major. At the beginning of my junior year, I changed my major to mechanical engineering. As of right now, I have seven courses left. I’m supposed to graduate in December 2006, but if the department decides to start offering certain electives again, I will be extending that date.
That story is kind of vague. He does seem economically self-sufficient. There are 2 reasons to go to college:
#1) Doing so to get a decent paying job. AND/OR
#2) Because you like going to school.
What if someone managed to become economically well set? Say got a big inheritance, or won a lotto jackpot. For them #1 could be irrelevant. If such a person found going to college enjoyable, say they like intellectual stimulation and a party life, why NOT keep going for decades? For them college is just a hobby.
Let’s see, I started college in 87, got suspended for a year, because I missed one too many classes (very strict attendance policy for that course, and I overslept thanks to too much sex and drugs the day before 
), and when I started school there was guy who had to be in his 30s and looked like a hippie version of Captain Kangaroo. Everyone I talked had seen the guy and said that he’d been there for at least 5 years. When I went back a year later, he was still there. I then dropped out for three or more years (don’t remember the exact number). The “Captain” was still there. I’ve been meaning to drop by the uni and see if he’s still there nearly 20 years after I first saw him. Oh, and he was most definately a student, and not a prof.
Graduated from high school–1996.
Graduated from college–2004.
I didn’t start college until 2001, however. I’ll have that second bachelor’s next month, and I would like an MBA, but I’m really not sure. What I’d really like is to start working full-time again. Strangely enough, I’ve missed it.
My dad went to University with a guy who was left an inheritance in a trust fund by an elderly and very rich aunt.
The trust fund was specifically to support him while he studied to become a doctor. Once he passed his final exam the rest of the money was supposed to go to a dog’s home or something.
Anyway, this guy managed to fail every year once.
What should have been a 6 year course, became a 12 year course. This guy managed to fail by just enough every other year to make sure the college would let him back again, but not enough that they were willing to pass him, and he had to make sure not to pass too spectularly when he did-except for the final exams, when he got honours!
The thing was that this guy was so bright that he spent the years he repeated living the high life, safe in the knowledge he could pass at the end, and the years he failed living the high life, safe in the knowledge that he had to fail!
Which just goes to show that if you’re leaving money to your intelligent wanna-be doctor nephew, you should probably think very carefully about the condiditons in your will.
While I was working in an administrative position in college, I came across someone who topped my 250 hours. The guy was appealing to be re-admitted; he said he knew he’d messed up, but he’d changed his ways and really wanted to graduate. The college requires a 2.0 (out of 4.0) GPA to graduate. The guy had 280 hours with a 1.1 GPA.
The guy would need 126 hours of straight A to raise his GPA to 2.0. This would bring his total college hours to 406. If he only managed to pull a 3.0 (B) average, it would take 252 hours.
He was not re-admitted. He would’ve been better off going to another school and starting from scratch.
Let x = the number of hours in which the guy would need to make a 4.0 to pull his GPA up to 2.0.
280 hrs @ 1.1 + x hrs @ 4.0 = (280 + x) hrs @ 2.0.
308.0 + 4x = 560 + 2x
2x = 252
x = 126 hours
I guess the reason “why not” is that for a lot of these people, it seems like they are hiding from the “real world”. College (at least my college) was a nice little protected enclave of parties and beer and girls. Yeah, I would have liked to live in my fraternity house for a few extra years, hook up with 19 year old coeds and spend my evenings going to parties or the local bar. But at some point you have to grow up and move on.
Another thing is that these people are missing their 20s. Actually having money, a cool shithole appartment in a trendy neighborhood. Adult bars instead of teenager keg parties.
But yeah, if you work full time and live like an adult, there’s no reason not to continue educating yourself. That’s much different from living a Van Wilder fantasy existance.
Tommy boy: “Lost of guys go to college for 12 years…”
David spade: “Yeah, they’re called DOCTORS!”
In my field—history—the average time from start of grad school to completion of the PhD is a bit under seven years.
When i started, there was a guy in my program who was in, i think, his 14th year of grad school. In the end the university gave him a letter saying, essentially, “If you’re not done by the end of next semester, then we’re kicking you out.” He finished pretty quickly after that. He was independently wealthy, so i guess there was no particular urgency for him to finish.
This jerk goes to my school. I’ve seen him perform his “coffeehouse” act. Bollocks! He’s kind of condescending and . . . smarmy. He’s so full of himself it’s unbelievable. Very, very fake. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started playing the guitar to pick up girls and continued to play because it worked. Uninspired, unoriginal. Like frat boys who listen to Dave Matthews or because it makes them sensitive. If a song is just three chords on an acoustic guitar and bad poetry, it’s not a good song, and he’s fooling himself to think otherwise. He’s trying to be The Barenaked Ladies and it’s not working.