Many college degrees are useless

B_tallbig

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A lot of kids go to college just because their parents want them to. It's a waste if they pick a bad major and don't get good grades. Doing well in engineering or science majors shows that you are capable of learning complicated things.

As far as the expense, if someone is unsure about college I suggest going to a community college or local college and living at home for a few years to cut costs. Or they can go part time for a few years.

And some of them can't even spell major.:tongue:

English isnt my first language And besides many doctors , lawyer s etc make spelling mistakes too sometimes . Many members here are too obsessed with grammar.
This site is for fun .
 

B_tallbig

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Many things in life are mostly useless. That's just the way it is...
I agree and in reality all threads here are useless the only reason to be in this site is for fun . This site isnt important at all compare to the real important things in life
 

earllogjam

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What i object to is the cost of college and how colleges or college in general is marketed.

Private universities are big businesses and are run as such. They are for profit institutions that market themselves off as beacons of hope and prestige. Although they provide a service in society, don't think they are altruistic institutions that aren't governed by profit. Growing their endowment by attracting Nobel Laureats, quality students, published academians, and soliciting grant money and contributions is how they perpetuate and attract students who will fork over $80K for an education. They have their own best business interests at heart. The private academic world is as political and profit conscious as any corporation if not more so. Many use their reputations to justify exorbitant hikes in tuition above and beyond what's necessary to adjust for inflation and they ALWAYS get away with it because people are sucked up into thinking that getting a degree from the Ivy League or other big name private school is a sure fire meal ticket to easy street.
 

Osiris

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Well, I'm a college professor. I think education is the most important profession: Without it all others would not exist. Education is not intended as a job ticket. Some professional degrees do have saleable value, e.g. medicine, law, engineering, but many courses have a different purpose, eg, philosophy, language, art, history, mathematics, etc., are solely for development of the mind. Please don't ridicule your education.

I do not disparage education at all, but the awful part is that education for careers sake is rarely utilized anymore. I guess I found college to be useless when it was being touted to me as a "you need this to get a job" entity. When I went because there were courses I wanted to take to broaden my horizons, I got a vast amount of satisfaction from my education. My uncle was a professor at a major Illinois university so far be it from me to shoot down education. Like all things, it has it's place and time and some people are not ready for it. Education comes to us at all different times.

I got mine well after the fact and have used it in many ways since I got it (my forum handle being one example of the education I got).

Tiggerpoo? Judging by where you are from, I applaud you for being at one of the countries best journalism and theater arts colleges around. I think if my brother and I had followed our own dreams (journalism for him and film for me) rather than those of our parents (Harvard for him and Stanford for me), we would have gotten a lot more out of our lives educationally in the career market.
 

B_tallbig

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I do not disparage education at all, but the awful part is that education for careers sake is rarely utilized anymore. I guess I found college to be useless when it was being touted to me as a "you need this to get a job" entity. When I went because there were courses I wanted to take to broaden my horizons, I got a vast amount of satisfaction from my education. My uncle was a professor at a major Illinois university so far be it from me to shoot down education. Like all things, it has it's place and time and some people are not ready for it. Education comes to us at all different times.

I got mine well after the fact and have used it in many ways since I got it (my forum handle being one example of the education I got).

Tiggerpoo? Judging by where you are from, I applaud you for being at one of the countries best journalism and theater arts colleges around. I think if my brother and I had followed our own dreams (journalism for him and film for me) rather than those of our parents (Harvard for him and Stanford for me), we would have gotten a lot more out of our lives educationally in the career market.
Going to college for learning sake only will be cool if the courses were free.
 

B_ScaredLittleBoy

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It depends. If you really want to learn [about] something and its not ridiculously expensive, you should do it.

I'd like to go "back to school" (lol) and study creative writing... :redface:
 

SpoiledPrincess

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When I was a lass people only went to college or uni because they wanted to pursue a career related to their chosen course, now I feel a lot of people go on to further education just because everyone does it, they don't know what they want to do or to delay having to join the real grown up world.
 

Altairion

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When I was a lass people only went to college or uni because they wanted to pursue a career related to their chosen course, now I feel a lot of people go on to further education just because everyone does it, they don't know what they want to do or to delay having to join the real grown up world.

That's really true there. A ton of people just get random majors (business/english/communication/etc) just because their friends do or it's easy, but then they may or may not even want jobs in that area.

I'm an engineer and all of my friends that have similar majors all have jobs in their majors, so I've got the perception that people getting jobs similar to their majors is heavily influenced by the major that they actually choose.
 

simcha

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My first degree was something I got just to get my bachelors. I got a BS in Finance with a Minor in French. I HATED finance. I LOVED French. It served me well though. I went on to major seminary and started on a masters of divinity after completing a pre-theology course that included enough philosophy credits for a BA in Philosophy. I don't regret that choice at all. Philosophy and theology helped me to order my thinking in ways that I never thought possible.

After leaving seminary without a degree, because it wasn't for me, I worked in the business world at first. I didn't do anything finance related but I did market analysis and had to use the math and reporting skills I had learned in my bachelors degree. Also I got to use my French because I worked in Paris.

Later I went to a junior college to study computer art and web development and started a freelance career as a web designer/developer. That was back in the days of the wild wild web where money was great and jobs were plentiful.

Ten or so years after my bachelors I went to grad school to get an MA in Counseling Psychology with a Specialization in Transpersonal Psychology. I work as a psychotherapist intern and I'm on my way to licensure in California. (Officially I'm known as a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist Intern) So I actually work in the field. I did work in the field while earning my degree so that helped in landing a paying internship. I know plenty of my fellow graduates who aren't in the profession after graduating.

I believe that all of my education has value. I don't believe any of it was wasted time, even the subjects and classes I didn't like weren't a waste.

Of course, now I know $83,000 in student loans and I make peanuts because that's the lot of mental health professionals in a country where mental health isn't a priority... But I love what I do. So that's compensation enough.

And perhaps in about ten years I'll decide to get my PhD in Psychology centered around clinical work perhaps in Somatics...

I love school.
 

Love-it

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I graduated in 1972 with a BS in Natural Resources, in 1971 there were more jobs than graduates, in 1972 there were more applicants than there were jobs.

I could only find summer work which I loved but there were no careers available.
 

invisibleman

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I didn't go into my field either. But I still use what I've learned in college.

The problems I had were with four professors. My GPA suffered. I did make the DEAN'S LIST in my junior year. Because of the problems I had with my four professors, I don't trust colleges. I took a full course load (18 credit hours) every semester and two summer school sessions--I barely made it out of college (in four years) and it was with a damaged GPA. :confused: I wasn't a party student either.

I was a broke college student yet I wanted good grades. I had to study more with those four professors' classes which took study time from my other classes. :confused: I really didn't like the majority of my college experiences but some I did.

You do the best you can. College isn't overrated. You go there to get the education. You also learn that if you don't know how to get the education, you can find it yourself. That is the best part. You are there to learn how to learn. Learning things is a part of life.
 

invisibleman

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I'd like to go "back to school" (lol) and study creative writing... :redface:

Well, there are a lot of books on creative writing. You can check them out at the local library or buy some at the bookstore. You could EVEN go on creative writing retreats like those they advertise in Writer's Digest magazine.