A Bachelor's Degree No Longer Suffices If One Wants A High Powered

1. 83

   gmwilliamsposted 11 years ago

   
   Career
   Since a Bachelor's Degree, especially in the liberal arts and humanities, even in business is now equivalent to a high school degree, one must obtain a Masters or even a Ph.D. Degree in order to be highly marketable in the employment arena.    Anyone who insist on stopping with a Bachelor's Degree will face a series of dead end jobs unless HE/SHE is EXTREMELY LUCKY or have majored in the sciences, medical, and technical areas.   Agree or disagree?

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2. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I disagree. Many large companies actively do not want people with graduate degrees because they prefer to slot employees into their own training and seniority programs.  If you want to make a good salary, a trade oriented degree (medicine, management, accounting etc) is still the safest bet.
   
   I completed a PhD but that is because I wanted to go into academia.  Which is not a fast track to getting rich by any means.

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   1. 83

      gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I certainly concur with you here.   Technical, math, medical, and health careers are good investments because that is what the society wants and is asking for. Graduates with such majors will NEVER have a hard time finding employment.

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3. 60

   Joseph041167posted 11 years ago

   I agree wholeheartedly. And both of you have some truth. I wish that I could give wisdom and encouragement here, to this young man. I cannot. This is a fair assessment and has been my experience. My college degree, I am glad that I have it, and it has not been valueless, as much as I tend to think many times. I would very much encourage someone to pursue all the education they want to. I will be disgusted if I never get a Master's Degree, I want to. The least that you can do is teach and counsel young teenagers in a wilderness camp program like Deer Valley. Deal is though, eventually we can find an inner city urban job, I think so, I mean, yeah, but you might have to really-really-really bust your behind completely off, way beyond your comfort level, but if it is something you really believe in, you can do it, and you will find a way how. I am preaching to the choir here, and preaching to myself. I need to hear this also, so thank you for the oppurtunity, wink, and smile. When you get to be my age, you realize that you need to start having some real fun, that is what it is about. What could be more fun than writing philosophy books? Just have fun, get a Master's degree, and write philosophy books for fun. That is what it is about man. Get an inner city tutor job to spot it.

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4. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   There are plenty of other degrees large companies seek out.  Psychology tends to do well, language degree are useful as most companies create or edit text. Companies that value innovation still like humanities graduates. 
   
   I just think that any student needs to be thinking ahead.  Will that major in Teutonic guppy poetry make industry come knocking on your door? Perhaps not.  Maybe a second major in organizational psychology or science writing would be wise.

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5. 82

   WriteAngledposted 11 years ago

   My younger daughter decided not to go for a Master's after completing a degree in Computer Sciences.
   
   She has carved out a really good career for herself with extremely good earnings. However, she is conscientious, responsible and a perfectionist, which probably accounts for a lot of her success.
   
   Unfortunately, the same is not true of a lot of graduates. I do think that the standard in degree studies has been dumbed down an awful lot as the number of university courses has increased exponentially.
   
   When I had the misfortune to deal with five science graduates during my employment, prior to going freelance in 2004, I found three of them to be lazy, sloppy, semi-literate, and frankly not very intelligent. I dreaded being responsible for their work. Most of the time, it meant I had to redo it all myself, which involved hours and hours of overtime.

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6. 84

   donotfearposted 11 years ago

   Tell me about it, honey!  I know the feeling.  I labored 13 years (going part-time) for a 4 yr degree in Behavioral Science.  Worked 6 years in my chosen field, mental health/behavioral/social services....lost my job.
   
   Now I find myself back in customer service at the same salary I was making in 2004; about 1/3 less than the salary in my chosen field.  Jobs are scarce in that field, unless you have a MS in counseling, social work or other.
   
   Whatever way you look at it, though, you can never replace knowledge.  The education was well worth it, regardless of where I work now or what I do.  I'm going to be successfull no matter what I do.  End of question.

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7. 83

   gmwilliamsposted 11 years ago

   YOU GO, DONOTFEAR, YOU GO!

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8. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   You got a bunch of well thought out replies based on personal experience.  And that makes you shout semi-incoherently?

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   1. 83

      gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I was agreeing with her a multillion percent as I agree with all of you who posted.

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