Char, they spend their excess student loan money on strippers. :))
Speaking from experience?
The connections alone are worth going to the right private school. If my [future hypothetical] kid can go Ivy league, or even somewhere like Wake to a lesser extent, and get in with the right crowd, they’ll be set.
Just depends I guess. I came out with my BS in Finance from Charlotte making $35k in 2000. I was lucky enough to have no student debt. I had a couple of Wake grads and a Davidson grad on my team making the same amount of money but complained about their loads of payments/debt. Don’t know where they are now and they could be making 3X me, but I’m glad I was relatively stress free when I was younger with a limited income.
clt says we need to join to join the Ivy League.
“Right” is the key word. I went to high school in Cleveland County, and I always wondered why so many people were willing to spend $30,000 a year to go to Gardner-Webb. It is a pretty cool campus (for a conservative Christian school their students still know how to have a good time), but their average academics do not justify the high cost.
if it’s done “right”, most of “college” teaches you to think, analyze, reason! now there are different ways to go about these things…but still.
i know, some purely professional programs teach you how to design a structure or whatever. but even after one of these, most graduates (and firms) are convinced that further training in specifics is essential.
my other response (the one i’d bring up if we were having a beer) concerns the meaning of “worth” and “worthless”. in my opinion, this is the more pressing question.
[quote=“earlyniner, post:27, topic:28565”]if it’s done “right”, most of “college” teaches you to think, analyze, reason! now there are different ways to go about these things…but still.
i know, some purely professional programs teach you how to design a structure or whatever. but even after one of these, most graduates (and firms) are convinced that further training in specifics is essential.
my other response (the one i’d bring up if we were having a beer) concerns the meaning of “worth” and “worthless”. in my opinion, this is the more pressing question.[/quote]
Winner across the board.
[quote=“earlyniner, post:27, topic:28565”]if it’s done “right”, most of “college” teaches you to think, analyze, reason! now there are different ways to go about these things…but still.
i know, some purely professional programs teach you how to design a structure or whatever. but even after one of these, most graduates (and firms) are convinced that further training in specifics is essential.
my other response (the one i’d bring up if we were having a beer) concerns the meaning of “worth” and “worthless”. in my opinion, this is the more pressing question.[/quote]
I’m glad you said most because I hate the Engineers that I have met from Penn State, NC State, Va. Tech, etc. that come out of college and get a job as a team leader for a fortune 500 company. Most of those kids are dumb, and they try to tell the guy with no college how to operate equipment that he has operated for longer than they have been alive. One company in particular, L’Oreal must look all over the country for the hottest women engineers. Every facility that I go to you will find team leaders that are 6 foot blondes or brunettes. Great looking girls, but they couldn’t direct you to the parking lot from the street. Back on point, I think the only worthless degree is the one you went to school for and didn’t finish getting. My oldest has two semesters of loans to pay with nothing to show for it.
Personally I think we in society put too much emphasis on getting a college degree. College is simply not for everyone, it was never intended to be. There are many jobs that pay fairly well that do not require a college degree, and the people in those jobs live happy lives and have loving families. Yes that statistics show on avg. you will make more, however the average is easily skewed due to the few people that have more money than God pulling the overall average up. There is no point in spending 60-200k on a degree that will not generate positive returns in the near future.
My wife graduated from UNCA and has a lady with a Masters from W & M working for her as well as a UNCCh grad and a Wake grad. Degree is great but aptitude will normally take over at some point.
That being said, unless you can get in and graduate from Duke or Wake relatively debt free, go to UNCCh (if you can get in). Probably more bang for the buck than any other state school as far as alumni base and getting your foot in the door.
In addition, I personally believe that about 75% of all college freshmen should be in a tech school learning a trade in the first place instead of wasting their money (or their parents) on a worthless degree, if they finish at all.
Just my .02$
Dowless, it’s Loreal, it’s not a real job, so what difference does it make? If it were a real job, then I could see being upset.
LOL. There is a manufacturing side to that company.
Art.
The only worthless degree is one where the person got the degree then doesn’t use that degree to further their career. It is very easy for those of “technical” mind skills to just say everyone needs a degree like theirs. The fact is people think different. While engineering and other technical degrees are great for those that it fits it would have been a disaster for me. I suck at math - always have, always will. If my parents had forced me into a science or math field I probably could have forced my way through - failing classes here and there and barely making it through. Then I would have been stuck with a “valuable” degree in a field that I hate. That means most likely I would not have gone into a field utilizing the degree and wasted a ton of money and time.
I have a friend whose dad was a CPA. He forced his son to get not only his undergrad in accounting but also his masters. You know what he does now with his “valuable” degree? He drives a limo around the airport.
In the end the point of a degree is simply to help the individual achieve their goals. If your goal is to be a scientist or a doctor then you better be sure that you get the degrees that support that field. If you are more open to what you think you may want to do, but you know it is NOT one of those technical areas, then you may elect to find a degree in a field that resonates with you. Once you find the field where you belong then you can pursue what ever education is needed.
For me personally - I have a degree in Religious Studies and a minor in Philosophy, by all accounts worthless. I am not using either degree exactly, but I am applying research techniques and writing skills I learned while obtaining that worthless degree. I found my field (which requires having a degree of some sort) - training and development in the financial services field and am now pursuing a masters in training and development as well as holding a few different brokerage licenses.
The other thing with regards to this topic is that what sets societies apart in the world is the arts, the creativity, the ability to see things differently. While math and science is important and should always be important - the arts play a critical role. Science and math are the same through out the world - it is the arts that distinguish ourselves from others.
What is more interesting to look at is careers that require a specialized degree vs. salaries that they achieve. For instance education requires an education degree and in NC they start at 30k. When compared to the price of the degree - is that degree worthless?
Most Worthful Degrees:
Highest paying right out of school != most worthful (or worthwhile).
NWA I have no problem with Liberal Arts degrees, I have two myself with a minor in another. But there is really no use for a Doctor of Letters, Major in AAAS, and some other degrees.
Hey, I want to drive a limo!
NWA, I wouldn’t say a Teaching Degree from UNC Charlotte is worthless. But if you go to an Ivy School, it is. There is no reason to spend $$$ unless you are going to make $$$.
[quote=“NinerWupAss, post:35, topic:28565”]The only worthless degree is one where the person got the degree then doesn’t use that degree to further their career. It is very easy for those of “technical” mind skills to just say everyone needs a degree like theirs. The fact is people think different. While engineering and other technical degrees are great for those that it fits it would have been a disaster for me. I suck at math - always have, always will. If my parents had forced me into a science or math field I probably could have forced my way through - failing classes here and there and barely making it through. Then I would have been stuck with a “valuable” degree in a field that I hate. That means most likely I would not have gone into a field utilizing the degree and wasted a ton of money and time.
I have a friend whose dad was a CPA. He forced his son to get not only his undergrad in accounting but also his masters. You know what he does now with his “valuable” degree? He drives a limo around the airport.
In the end the point of a degree is simply to help the individual achieve their goals. If your goal is to be a scientist or a doctor then you better be sure that you get the degrees that support that field. If you are more open to what you think you may want to do, but you know it is NOT one of those technical areas, then you may elect to find a degree in a field that resonates with you. Once you find the field where you belong then you can pursue what ever education is needed.
For me personally - I have a degree in Religious Studies and a minor in Philosophy, by all accounts worthless. I am not using either degree exactly, but I am applying research techniques and writing skills I learned while obtaining that worthless degree. I found my field (which requires having a degree of some sort) - training and development in the financial services field and am now pursuing a masters in training and development as well as holding a few different brokerage licenses.
The other thing with regards to this topic is that what sets societies apart in the world is the arts, the creativity, the ability to see things differently. While math and science is important and should always be important - the arts play a critical role. Science and math are the same through out the world - it is the arts that distinguish ourselves from others.
What is more interesting to look at is careers that require a specialized degree vs. salaries that they achieve. For instance education requires an education degree and in NC they start at 30k. When compared to the price of the degree - is that degree worthless?[/quote]
NWA!!! the post of the month…at least! good thinking!