Spinoff to the college degree post (WVU, bachelors, computer science, masters degree)
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My degree is a mix of technical and business courses. I did not get to apply the very technical parts of it in a job but the business part of it more than once came in handy. I found though that the technical part of it was a good background in a manufacturing industry even if I would work in a corporate or administrative function.
Well, mine has to be. I have a MA in Counseling and work as a therapist. However, sometime in the future (hopefully not too long) I will be leaving this profession and doing something that has nothing to do with my degree. I have found I really tired of listening to everyone's problems. It's just too much. $100k in stud loans down the drain.
What I want to do is either go back into RE in some capacity (as it's a passion) or just sell merchandise on the internet. A part of me just doesn't want to deal with people anymore - I've had my fill!
Do what YOU really want to do in life. If that doesn't involve college, then don't go!! It could be a waste, seriously. There are huge amount of highly successful people in this world who did not go to college. Even though I may not use my degrees anymore, I don't really regret going and finishing. It was a path I went down that didn't really satisfy me. Oh well. Good luck!
I have an AS degree in Electronics Technology. It was very strange how I got there...and I was young and should have taken more time out or something. When I graduated high school I wanted to be an airline pilot. I enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for that. But I couldn't afford the flight fees coming in, so I decided to do like an "Aviation Studies" (that's like their general studies) for the first year. Then more financial issues came up my sophomore year, and I opted to go back to my home state (PA) where I could get more financial aid. Ended up working for a year with the intention of saving up money for school (really was a drop in the bucket though).
Then that summer I got the idea that I just wanted to go to a "regular college", get a degree...and try to get back into aviation later. I did (went to WVU) but the general education requirements were so different, I was like a second semester freshman (and not a second semester sophomore). I plugged away for a year and a half, but I was working 2 jobs and my grades we not that hot. Again I felt like I was wasting money. Again, I was out of state, so financial aid was sparse.
There was a technical aviation school about 10 minutes from my house in PA; Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics...I decided to give them a call. Turns out with 12 months, I could get an AS with them...so that's what I did. Signed on for the Avionics program. But I was so miserable at that school and the curriculum wasn't challenging at all. Also it was expensive...despite being in-state because the program was not eligible for many financial aid programs. So I bailed out early...switched from "Avionics" to just "Electronics" and saved myself a little money & time (3 months).
Got that degree in Spring of 2002. I was 23 (should have had my Bachelors) and the timing was horrible (country still recovering from 9-11...aviation was at a standstill).
I moved to South Florida and worked in I.T. for a bit. Strangely, I never made "good" money doing that (highest pay was like $15/hr and that was a contract job) because I had not I.T. certifications or a BA/BS. Electronics jobs? Yeah right...bottom basement wages because a lot of immigrants who were engineers in their home country but employers didn't recognize their foreign degrees here (Cuban especially). So I got into real estate in late-2003. Made more money...and it was actually a lot of fun. Of course until the economy started taking a nose-dive.
I had planned to go back to school...but a car accident threw me out of work and got me "on the ball" a whole lot sooner. I'm now not working...back in PA...and back in WVU. Thank goodness, some things have changed for the better. I do not have bills hanging over my head (thanks to some insurance settlements...I'm good until the end of the year) and WVU is a part of the SREB (forget what it stands for) where online classes are charged at a flat rate...regardless of residency (so I'm not paying an arm and a leg for classes for a change). Last Spring they re-admitted me and due to taking some classes for my job here and there in FL...I had 74 credits. Took 9 credits during the Spring, and will be taking 11 credits this summer which pushes me to senior status this Fall 2008 .
The BA I'm working towards is multidisciplinary studies; but one of my minors is business. Hopefully I can be done by summer of fall of 2009. I plan to go to graduate school for accounting.
LOL...this post was kind of long to a seemingly easy question. I think a lot of people finish college at 21 and 22 and sort of have no clue what to do next. In my case, yeah I could have shaved a few years off of what I went through, but I still feel lucky to have been in the corporate working world for a bit. Let's put it this way...if I had the work opportunities when I was 19...I wouldn't have so much student loan debt now because I was trying to find "my perfect program" (for a field I wouldn't even like). I feel like my degree doesn't represent me at all....as far as knowledge and what type of career I want. It's just something that had some requirements and I was able to somehow meet those requirements. And not to toot my own horn or anything, from what I've seen, I feel on par with many that hold Masters degrees -- I mean I've trained and evaluated employees, incorporated several entities, I'm the National President of a sorority, I gone to Israel and studied in religious schools there -- lot's of stuff that many that hold Bachelor's degrees know nothing about!
Well, I'm currently a SAHM, so it depends on how you look at it But before that I was an orchestra teacher. My degrees were in music performance and pedogogy, with an emphasis in piano. So it was related in that I did learn how to teach according to method. I took conducting classes, so that was related. But I learned how to play and teach a lot of instruments during my student teaching days when I went back to get a credential. If I had gotten an education degree I would've already had the credential. Right now I also conduct the handbell choir at my church, so that is also related.
However, my degrees alone wouldn't have gotten me where I am. A lot of it depended on the elective classes I took, the fact that I already knew how to play 2 stringed instruments, and the luck to have 2 mentor teachers that allowed me to learn the other instruments while doing my student teaching, instead of requiring me to take those classes first. The job that shaped my career was at a school that lost their orchestra director mid-year and desperately needed a longterm sub. They took a chance on me, and allowed me to prove myself. I ended up building a full-sized program there over the course of 8 years. Most people with my degrees wouldn't have gotten a chance to do that. Heck, I wouldn't have gotten the chance if they were doing a teacher search at leisure. At the time, I had two things going for me 1) degrees from a brand name school, and 2) a mentor teacher would was widely known in the area as a top notch director/teacher/composer.
Well, my degree is in Screenwriting and I currently work in a restaurant (like I didn't see that one coming ) Aside from writing on speculation, I have never actually done anything in the field.
I am currently enrolled in a marine biology program, in which I started back at square one (freshman) even though I have already put down four years of college under my belt prior to my current enrollment (only two previous courses transferred). Judging by what I have read regarding this field I can only speculate that the majority of what I am learning in the classroom will actually not be used in the field (I do, however, understand the importance of learning these basics as part of the background knowledge). But I dunno, as I am not there yet.
I am currently enrolled in a marine biology program, in which I started back at square one (freshman) even though I have already put down four years of college under my belt prior to my current enrollment (only two previous courses transferred). Judging by what I have read regarding this field I can only speculate that the majority of what I am learning in the classroom will actually not be used in the field (I do, however, understand the importance of learning these basics as part of the background knowledge). But I dunno, as I am not there yet.
Well something like Marine Biology; you probably would be applying a lot that you learn. I dunno...I think that comes in more with the non-science based majors; and certain kinds of engineering and computer science courses of study. But that is namely because academia is out-of-sync with what the current workforce is doing. But science is science. I have heard stories from people in Florida Atlantic University's Marine Engineering program and it gets rave reviews for preparing them for their future work.
According to the poll, more than half of the posters on this subforum have advanced degrees, and very few posters have no college degree at all.
My question is to those who have degrees: Is your current career related to your degree?
This sort of a trick question. My undergraduate degree is in engineering and i never worked a day as an engineer. However, my graduate degree is in finance and I did work for many many years as a financial analyst. I currently work pt as a bookeeper so, yes, my job is related to my degree, but one certainly does not need a graduate degree in finance to be a bookeeper.
I have a degree in English and minored in communications. I currently work as a techinal writer for an alarm company, but I plan to go back and get my masters in Public Relations since thats the field I want to have a career in.
I found that out through a lot of trial and error At 18 I had no concept of what I wanted to "do" with my life.
I was just curious... so many people say that you need (or should have) a college degree to be successful, but most people seem not to be working in the field that they earned their degree anyway. I agree that deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life at 18 is a hit or miss proposition at best... heck, deciding what you want to "be" at 25 or 30 can be hit or miss!
Thanks for the answers!
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I have found I really tired of listening to everyone's problems. It's just too much. $100k in stud loans down the drain.
But before that I was an orchestra teacher. My degrees were in music performance and pedogogy, with an emphasis in piano. So it was related in that I did learn how to teach according to method. I took conducting classes, so that was related. But I learned how to play and teach a lot of instruments during my student teaching days when I went back to get a credential. If I had gotten an education degree I would've already had the credential. Right now I also conduct the handbell choir at my church, so that is also related. 
) Aside from writing on speculation, I have never actually done anything in the field. 
