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In life you will come to understand that all this stuff your talking about doesn't really amount to anything.
You can major in whatever you want the key is what are you going to make of it. Some majors push your very limits and forces you to change and adapt to the situation. This is a very important skill-set to have in this jungle we call life. Other majors you easily breeze by with little effort. This translates to those who have a very difficult time finding employment and managing life's challenges.
I am a degreed mechanical engineer with an MBA and have learned this changing and adapting skill-set. You can put me in any situation and I will find mine and my teams way out of it and into a brighter path. That is what I learned and what companies pay me the salary that I command. Not because of my GPA when I graduated college which I admit wasn't even a 3.0 gpa. It is my determination, drive, leadership, and results that matter.
that is a good point that i had never thought of. However, albeit off-tangent and all due respect (even a sub 3.0 in engineering is respectable and took lots of hardwork), how did you get admitted into MBA program with sub 3.0 gpa?
Is this normal/common to want to get a degree with super high gpa just for to stroke your ego, even if you know it is irrational?
I was guilty of this for the early stages of my PhD, but part of this was also that I suffered from self-esteem issues. It took me one bad midterm season to make me realize that I actually had mental health problems that were becoming too severe for me to ignore. For me the sweet spot was somewhere in the 3.8-3.9 range (3.9-4.0 could incur the wrath of some prospective research advisors, if I decided I wanted to do observational particle cosmo; IME experimentalists are those who cringe at 3.9-4.0-range grades in physics) and 3.8+ is not some arbitrary target; it actually builds upon my masters GPA, which was 3.80.
But I would think my ego was fueled by this: I would be much more confident doing research that had some grounding in graduate-level coursework if I had sufficient mastery of the material. Yet I somehow equated that with fulfilling a quest for high grades as if said grades actually signaled the level of mastery that would boost my confidence. Now I understood it would not come effortlessly at all; I did the homework just fine, in line with my target, and I understood the material behind them just fine, but man did it take hours upon hours.
Even though I came to the PhD because I was passionate about an area within physics (my passion for particle cosmology reached a pathological level but that's for another thread) to the point I felt I could do it for an extra six years, I also kind of viewed a PhD as some luxury good...
The things you should ideally take away from a college/university education are: how to communicate effectively in verbal and written media; how to think on your feet; the ability to think logically and clearly and present an argument to your peers; the fundamental knowledge needed, ancient and modern, to function effectively in society and in the workplace; and a lifelong curiosity and desire for learning. In short, you should learn how to learn, and never stop doing so. Give me someone with those skills, and I'll show you an effective employee, no matter what the problem domain. A good friend who's an IT manager prefers hiring first-rate liberal arts majors for IT jobs over tech majors, because they can actually present a successful argument in a presentation and write a coherent paragraph of text.
Some of the specific skills I've used on the job have been learned in class (I have Masters degrees in computer science and clinical psychology, and have had careers in both fields), but most haven't. My choices have stemmed from a major love of learning and a desire to do something meaningful and rewarding with my life; ego had little to do with it. It's called curiosity, and without a healthy dose of it, you won't get far, no matter what you've chosen for a career. If you think you go to college/university to learn a specific set of skills (many of which will be obsolete by the time you get your first job), you're fooling yourself.
that is a good point that i had never thought of. However, albeit off-tangent and all due respect (even a sub 3.0 in engineering is respectable and took lots of hardwork), how did you get admitted into MBA program with sub 3.0 gpa?
Several years work experience after college, excellent GMAT scores, connections/recommendations from my CEO, and sure-fire determination. That's all you need to get accepted to a top-tier business school and graduate.
Why don't you just take intro to programming and intro to algorithms and see if you wash out? You don't need a BSCS to get a job in tech.
Not for IT but for programming it really really helps. Also, not getting the degree will limit how high you can climb as well as your salary. People with CS degrees can easily see salaries beyond six figures once they've gotten several years of experience under their belt.
Not for IT but for programming it really really helps. Also, not getting the degree will limit how high you can climb as well as your salary. People with CS degrees can easily see salaries beyond six figures once they've gotten several years of experience under their belt.
He'll have the accounting degree, a CS minor gets his foot in the door. I know multiple software engineers who are college dropouts making six figures (or liberal arts majors) and after a couple years, job performance trumps your major, GPA, and alma mater for most employers. He'll know after the two classes I mentioned whether he can handle the work.
Not for IT but for programming it really really helps. Also, not getting the degree will limit how high you can climb as well as your salary. People with CS degrees can easily see salaries beyond six figures once they've gotten several years of experience under their belt.
I think people in their twenties tend to think their college major is their destiny, and it really isn't. Take the OP and his college major - he doesn't want to be an accountant, fine, but I've seen people specifically ask for accounting degrees in non accounting jobs, like QA. Intuit would probably value accounting background. Consulting shops like Accenture still will mold consultants out of a diverse set of majors, and you don't have to be Ivy league.
On the ego topic: dirty little secret from someone with a STEM degree. We want people to think we're naturally brilliant, but mostly success, both academic and career, is related to stubbornness and an inability to ignore an unsolved problem. This can lead to long hours early on in the career, but it doesn't feel like work when you're young and motivated.
. A good friend who's an IT manager prefers hiring first-rate liberal arts majors for IT jobs over tech majors, because they can actually present a successful argument in a presentation and write a coherent paragraph of text.
This is why I have a business & tech major, but combined it with a writing minor. I cannot tell you how many interviews I went on when I first graduated where they were impressed that I could write well. That is a skill that will help you in any position, but it is also something that can be learned. I think your good friend would know that these skills can be learned by tech majors just as easily as liberal arts majors can learn tech skills.
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