Posted on 01/15/2009 10:10:48 AM PST by rabscuttle385
You're absolutely correct. There are professional tiers in America- if you don't go to the "right" schools, there are some doors that will never open for you, no matter how smart or hard-working you might otherwise be.
At base, high-end employers like to play the odds. Not everyone who went to Harvard will make a great employee, but he's more likely to be what your looking for in most situations.
Lucky. 9:30-6:30 are pretty much standard working hours for me. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve had to work weekends. I’ve never billed more than 1975 hours. Pay is just a little bit below market.
Definitely lucky
Poly Sci - I didn’t think of that one. Makes sense now.
I’m glad you still love it. That’s got to be the best blessing a person can have - enjoying what they do on a day to day basis.
I’m looking for career #3 myself (#1 - was engineering and had too many hand/arm surgeries to keep using the computer. #2 - was teaching. Hated deal with all the libs and incompetence.) I hope I find something I enjoy as much as career #1 and can physically do!
Read over the weekend BUMP!
College teaching in Engineering should be great (though they to make a career out of it you’d be expected to also reasearch).
If by teaching you mean elementary/middle/high school teaching, then .... UGH.
Newt Gingrich's academic claim to fame is his history degree. It is something more persons who aspire to lead this nation need to study. Without knowing history, we keep repeating our mistakes.
>>It’s not the same degree, though. If a person has an opportunity to get into a “name” school—particularly for post-graduate work—and chooses not to go because of money, that person is being foolish. There are a lot of opportunities available to people that graduate from those types of schools that simply aren’t there to the person that graduated from the commuter school.<<
No. If you do two years at a community college then a local secondary college and your grades are high enough, you get the same opportunities.
You’ve been snowed by the University scam.
I worked on the executive floor of BP American and then an Office Manager for two Psychs and three therapists. On two years of community college and a City University.
You’ve been duped, my friend.
Yes, I did mean high school. And UGH indeed! I made it all of one semester. Schools are indeed dumbed down considerably from when I went to school eons ago.
I thought about teaching in a community college - beginning engineering courses or software. BUT again, lots of typing required for the programming courses. But it ‘might’ be a better crowd than HS. These days in Mexifornia, though, with all the anchor babies going to school on grants, who knows?
Well, I ended up with two degrees, including a JD and no student loans and am making a reasonably good income although still 30 years out not six figures. My son has a bachelors with no student loans and by choice plays music for a living but has minimal debt and is happy. A lot is life style choice.
I know some community colleges (especially those that act as feeders to a four-year college) would have an engineering programming course. After you develop the course, you may be able to cut the typing by reusing your examples.
Good luck and the third time’s the charm!
No, you don't. If you don't believe me, take a look at the folks that are being tapped for positions in the cabinet. Where'd they all go to school? It wasn't the local commuter college. Let's take a look:
Susan Rice (UN): Stanford
Ken Salazar (Interior): Michigan Law
Eric Holder (AG): Columbia
Tim Geithner (Treasury): Dartmouth
Ray LaHood (Transporation): Bradley
Hillary: Wellesley/Yale
The list goes on. If you think you have the same opportunity to ascend to the highest escleon of America having graduated from a commuter school as some of the one that I've listed above, you're living in a dream land.
>>Where’d they all go to school? It wasn’t the local commuter college. Let’s take a look:<<
I’m talking about regular people here, not exceptions to the rule.
How many cabinet positions are there? Which one do you hold?
Like I said, you have been duped. The normal people, who don’t get above middle management in the country have no difference in a degree from MSU or OSU.
And two years of that at a Community College, saves big bucks.
I did it. And came out with no debt.
Yes, that's exactly right--the normal people. And part of the reason that they are the "normal" people is because of their choice of college. You're right--there's no difference between MSU or OSU. Whatever. But there's a light years of difference between OSU and Middlebury, or Southwest Missouri State and Yale or IUPUI and Washington and Lee. The people that go to the latter schools will have opportunities that simply aren't available to graduates of the former.
An illustration: I remember when I was interviewing for graduate school, and I visited University of Chicago. While I was there, I took a tour with two or three other candidates, and one candidate asked the tour guide whether the school was competitive. He tour guide laughed and said, "dude, this is University of Chicago. You can finish dead last in your class and still land an awesome job." That guy was right--because having U of C on your resume opens doors that UIC won't.
Several years ago, a family friend's son was picking colleges. He was a football player and got offered a scholarship to play football at a few Big Ten schools. He also got offered admission (no athletic scholarship--Ivies don't give them) at Yale, where he would play football.
My friend was debating on the advice to give his son, and I told him it was a no brainer: he could play football at BigTen U and graduate with the same degree as several hundred thousand other people or, he could play football at Yale where his classmates and teammates would be future Presidents, Senators, Ambassadors, and titans of industry. He did end up going to Yale, and he'll have a lifetime of contacts and opportunities the likes he never would have had at State U.
I have some college. Graduated from high school. Now I make ~$70,000. Of course, I work long hours. Working a craft job is the way to go in my opinion. Too many people who can’t work with their hands, results in too few people who can. Meaning that the blue collar worker wins in the end.
BWAHAHAHA!
>>And part of the reason that they are the “normal” people is because of their choice of college. <<
Just keep believing those dreams...
I think it's naive to consider the two the same degree. The truth is that when looked at as a whole, the degrees from the "big name" schools will on average net their recipients much larger paychecks than those who went to commuter schools. There are very few Harvard grads stuck in middle management, slaving away at the same desk until retirement. However, you'll find countless grads from commuter schools who'll never leave the cube farm at any point in their careers. It might be an ugly truth, but it's true none-the-less.
It sounds good, but I know from working at BP up on the executive floor, there are many things that get you where you are.
That degree is only a part of it.
TRUST me.
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