Master's as the New Bachelor's

[danthebugman]

Yeah, I feel you. I spent four years of college to get a B.S. in Biology. That was 5 years ago and I haven't been able to find a job yet. I either need a Masters or X number of years experience doing such and such. Well most all my experience in the last 5 years has been in veterinary medicine, not wildlife biology. Anyway...

Dan

 

[cvm4]

Good luck to ya Hal! Great to see ya back around or may'be just not lurking :thumbsup:

 

[pfm721]

I'll chime in here and just add my perspective.

I graduated from college in 2005 with my BA in Communications. I was on a full ride so I was lucky that I didn't have loans to payback. Over the next 3-4 years a held a number of different jobs, none of which paid particularly well and none of which were fulfilling.

Finally, in 2008 I went back to school to get my law degree. It was right after my first year of law school that the legal job market began tanking. In 2010 the legal field lost 8% of it's jobs. Also in 2010, enrollment at law schools rose by 20%. I think anyone can see the problem here. Additionally, only 65% of the 2010 graduates had a job requiring a J.D. a year after graduation.

So here I am in 2011 graduated in May, waiting on my bar exam results, and looking for a job in a depressed market. I am working hard to find work and know that I will find a job eventually.

The biggest lesson that I have learned now, that I wish I had learned in law school, is that finding a job is all about WHO you know. I should have spent more time attending law functions/meetings while I was in law school. Then I would have known some attorney's when I started my job search. The majority of my friends that have found work have done so by word of mouth. I can't help but believe that this is how finding jobs in other fields is done right now.

So I encourage those of you looking for work to get out there and attend some professional meetings in your area. Increase your network and increase your chance of finding work.

 

[vivalanation734]

My wife and I lucked out.... She got a great job in her field right out of school and I am working a decent job that I was working at before I graduated. Right now I am getting my masters and we don't have any student loans. Florida has pretty legit scholarship options for state schools.

 

[PLUSH]

I'll bring my bills to the next herf...

LOL, bills are something you have to pay.

and one word for you guys, engineering. Get an engineering degree and you will pretty much always have a job.

 

[Kenman25]

I will add my thoughts...

My wife and I both have a B.S. Degree from a great college. She works in her field that she studied and for the most part has a pretty stable job. She loves her job, she doesnt make a six figure but makes great money. She has had no trouble finding work.

For me, I have yet to work in my field of study besides an intership I did while in college but, my degree has been one of the main reasons for being hired. I have been employed the entire time out of college. I was hired while finishing my last semester. I am 27 and already in managment. My job is completly secure. My thoughts on education may be biased since we went to college and are still paying for it, but its worth it, atleast in our case. Everyone has different things happen but for then, college has done us great things in life and taken us to places we might not be if we had not gone.

Between the wife and I we have over 100,000 in student loans. Student loans are not fun to pay, trust me but they are worth it. I may not be using my degree as I intended but college does more than teach you one subject or degree. College just prepared me in my mind. If we have to do it again we would run the same path over and over.

 

[Mmalone999]

IMO, suck it up and stay in school as long as you can possibly hold out. I have a BS in Accounting and an MS in Finance, and if I had to redo it 99 more times, I would go the same route all 100 times. In my first year out of college I made more than some people retire at. I went on 6 interviews and had 6 job offers, and I guarantee you it was due to my degrees. Regardless of if I have to pay back student loans (or other debt accrued during that time period), I will continuously reap the benefits over the rest of my life. Assuming I work until I am 65, I feel like my degrees will help me earn at least an additional 3 million over my lifetime. Was it worth it to me, yes. Just my .02

 

[dabullup]

Going into college I was content just getting my 4 year... After looking for jobs it made me realize how important it was to continue through my masters.

 

[gui_tarzan]

I have an associates degree in my field (marketing), but I also have around 18 years sales and marketing exprience. I interviewed for one job and after a few mins I could tell that it was obvious I was not going to get it because the interviewer kept bringing up college degrees and trying to down-talk me. The interviewer asked me why I feel qualified when I'm going up against people with their master's degree. I told her to ask the next interviewee about all the theories they read about and chances are I helped develop those theories while they were trying to decide which Backstreet Boy or Spice Girl was the cutest. I wished her well with her interviews and walked out of her office.

You sir are my hero. I've turned down three jobs in my career field over the last 12 years (17 years at my current job) because 1) the boss was an asshole at one, 2) the stress would have killed me and 3) the third job was just not worth driving a ways to for a little more money. Each of those jobs put me through extensive interviews and called me with the offer. I am not so sure I wouldn't take a job in a different field at this point if the offer was good, but it sure as hell felt good to be in a position to not have to say yes.

I see I posted close to the same thing last month. lol! That's what I get for not reading the whole thread.

 

[andy]

i was listening to a call-in show about unemployment and the education bubble and it occurred to me that most people are going to school with hopes of employment upon graduation. what happened to going to school to learn about stuff so you can start your own venture? hell, what happened to just starting your own venture? its big company this and big company that. benefits this and benefits that. why isn't it more popular to start your own thing?

 

[thegentleman]

The problem with a college degree is that it creates a sense of entitlement to most students now. I'm 29 yrs old, so I'm speaking to myself and my peers. A person graduates college now and they expect to make at least $40K straight out. If they can't make that, they'll stay in school and get their MBA, Masters, etc. This creates a domino effect because now they won't take a job less than $55K-$60K, but they have ZERO work experience. Not to mention, I have many college graduate friends who will collect unemployment checks because they don't want to humble themself and take a job they think is below them. Nine times out of ten they will get outhustled by the guy/gal that didn't have as much opportunity and created something for him/herself and learned how to actually work. I graduated college on an ROTC scholarship and served in the Air Force. I recommend every high schooler to look into this option as it pays for your education and guarantees you a job out of college...and they'll pay for your Masters if you choose to go for it. I'm done...

 

[andy]

college grads do have a certain expectation for salary upon graduation. but i don't think it's a sense of entitlement. i think it's expected because it's a tried and true outcome - or it was.

 

[weskimad]

Parents also have a responsibility to set some limits on where jr is going to go to school, and for what degree.

Who has a better prospect of finding a job and being dept free?
1) son or daughter goes to a private school and lives on campus for a archeology degree
2) Son or daughter commutes to a state school for a nursing degree.

BTW, as often as not, the state school has highter standards and is more difficult to get into (at least here in NJ).

Sure, kids can live their dream, but not at mom or dads expense.

 

[kafreeman]

LOL, bills are something you have to pay.

and one word for you guys, engineering. Get an engineering degree and you will pretty much always have a job.

I wish.

I applied everywhere from Colorado to the east coast last year for every entry level mechanical engineering position I saw and got a single phone call back.

I graduated December 2010 with a masters of mechanical engineering with distinction (4.0).

Not a single phone call after sending out hundreds of resumes. Ive had my resume reviewed by my professors, the career office and independent resume consultants. Ive removed my prior experience as a database programmer, minimized it to show 10 years of work experience but not make my resume seem to much of "programmer wants to change to engineering."

Finally needing a job... I stuck my pinky toe out into the world with my classic database programming resume... and had 5 phone calls within an hour about different positions.

Apparently mechanical engineering isnt for me, but database programming is.

I feel like I spent all that tuition to go back to school after 6 years after graduating high school was a waste. It has gotten me the needed "education" on a resume though. Between 2002 and 2004 I was having an extremely hard time finding a job, now I get phone calls every few weeks from people looking for my skillset.

 

[andy]

LOL, bills are something you have to pay.

and one word for you guys, engineering. Get an engineering degree and you will pretty much always have a job.

you really believe an engineering degree is recession proof?

 

[andy]

the wsj has an interactive unemployment plotter here. it's pretty cool. you can plot the national average vs. specific occupations.

 

[tmoney2007]

you really believe an engineering degree is recession proof?

Significantly more than most. I do things that people can't do without notice engineering degree or lots and lots of experience. That and there is a profit driven industry attached to what I do (several, and actually). I got laid off from nasa and changed gears. Luckily, I am young and cheap to employ so I didn't have much trouble finding another job.

Engineering isn't for everyone but as far as employability, it's hard to beat.

 

[LigaPrivadaFanboy]

Significantly more than most. I do things that people can't do without notice engineering degree or lots and lots of experience. That and there is a profit driven industry attached to what I do (several, and actually). I got laid off from nasa and changed gears. Luckily, I am young and cheap to employ so I didn't have much trouble finding another job.

Engineering isn't for everyone but as far as employability, it's hard to beat.

Werd. I also think the article at start of thread downplays the problem. I have a sw eng degree and 11yrs experience. I interview tons of people with masters degrees and they all seem worthless. PhD is money and B.S. with experience is good too. M.S. just seems to be the worthless middle ground. Not bashing everyone with a Masters, just saying in my field people get dumber when they go B.S.->M.S. and get smarter again when they go Ph.D.

 

[LigaPrivadaFanboy]

Leson learned: pay for your schooling only as you can AFFORD to do so in CASH... gaining valuable work EXPERIENCE along the way.

Yes, you'll have your degree a few years after the kid that jumped into student loans out of High School... but you will be WAY ahead of him/her in the LONG run; good careers are marathons, not sprints.

Same with a Master's... get your entry level position with your BA (which will be fine with you since you have no debt)... and work for promotions and even more experience while you go to school part-time as you can AFFORD to by paying CASH for your classes.

By the time you finish your Master's, yes... you might be 30-35... but will have no debt, over a decade's worth of real work experience, and can afford to RETIRE by 55, even if you start a NEW career with your Master's!

THIS is the lesson to pass on to your kids. Trust me.

Maybe I'ma fluke, but I got out of school with 33K in student loans at 24yrs old and have made waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more money after that (age 24-35) than I would have had I tried to scrounge pennies in a vain effort to pay cash up front and get out of school at 35. The debt was a useful tool to me. If you can pay cash, good on you for sure.

 

[cmhicksusmc]

i only go to skool because its free otherwise i would hate owing an institution like a university.

stossel did an episode on the college scam ive got if anyone is interested.