College Degree?

[cat rider]

Does anyone on here feel like they made the wrong choice in their college degree? If yes, what did you do? I'm beginning to feel this way

 

[summitguy98]

Right now I'm trying to get in to Pharmacy school. I'll let you know if I feel like I've made the wrong choice or not...if I get in. What major have you been pursuing?

 

[cat rider]

I'm 12 credits from a B.S. in meteorology. I'm going to the SD school of Mines and am now wishing I went with an engineering degree rather then science.

 

[Wade]

So are you doing simulation work in meteorology?

If so, it applies to a lot of engineering work. The basic science of Meteorology also applies itself to thermodynamics. Once your done, and making money, maybe you could go back to school, and get some science degrees that lend themselves to engineering. I know several physics majors, that do engineering work. There not that far apart.

 

[Fosgate]

I'm at the University Center her in SF going back to earn double majors. A batchelor's in Business Admin and a batchelors in Health Information Admin. At my age I'm wondering WTF am I doing going back to school at 36. But then I remember, despite 12 years customer service, 7 years in management, 4 years as a business owner as an insurance agent and financial services agent with professionaly licenses, don't mean jack squat now without a degree. 5 states, 6 months, and 387 applications and resume's later, I could not even get anyone to talk to me let alone return a call. And after seeing a job add for both a dairy truck driver and a farm hand where they both required a 2yr degree. Welll yeah, I decided it's time to go back to school.

 

[Ollie]

Chances are you will change careers 3 - 4 times in your life time.
I have 4 degrees and don't use any of them in my current job.
Oh, and I love my current job.

 

[mynameislance]

I graduated from tech May 08 with ME degree, wish I would have stayed for my masters; thats about my only regret.

I'd say if you are wanting a different degree get it now while you are there. Finish what you started but then pursue whatever engineering degree. What will it be, an extra 2 years max? Plus with the job market in the crapper, in 2 years there might be more/better jobs.

 

[Fosgate]

There will also be more competition since there are currently so many people returning to school for degree's. You need to make yourself as marketable as possible. That's why I'm going with double majors. Nearly 80% of my class is non-traditional students. Most that I talk to got laid off and couldn't find employment. Most places use degree's as a screening tool to find the best candidate and to filter through 200 applicants for a single position. So in a couple of years you have all these people in position with degrees, vs the past when experience often counted. The ones who will have opportunities for advancement are the ones with the education. When I was a manager a little more than a year ago I saw other managers with degrees got all the projects. This allows them to make themselves stand out from the other managers and in the event of downsizing where typically the less valuable are let go, thus degree's make all the difference in the workforce now.

 

[Circus Midget]

I went to school and got degrees in Marketing and Management. I've been out of school 3 years and I'm now taking classes again for agronomy/crop production. I don't think I went the wrong way with my original degrees, but I've been around ag my entire life and it's definetely something i'm interested in. Odds are I'll end up farming full time sometime in the future, so it made sense to get the education now.

 

[cat rider]

Thanks for all the great replies guys! That gives me some more ideas to think about and consider. I need to make some big decisions in the next few months and consider what might be the best plan for my career path.

 

[Rob1334]

I would not worry to much about the degree that you have. Find a job where the meteorology overlaps into a field of study that you like and use that to market yourself as an asset to them... Ex. If you understand the engineering side and market your resume that you did good in those classes such as math's etc, then sell them on the I also have this which will bring this much more into your company as far as knowledge base goes.



I have a masters and still haven't had a job in that field.

 

[Rob1334]

Ya prob. know this, but if you are only 12 credits away, finish that first THEN start looking into other areas. Alos look and see what other majors overlap in that field, not sure how many engineering classes would, but I know when I got my double major it was only around 20 or so more credits for the second one, couldn't go wrong with a few over-loaded semesters.

 

[BigJake]

I have two degress and as of right now they mean absolutely nothing. The profession I am in the only way that people get ahead are the ones that choose to be yes men and a$$kissers.......education means nothing. I refuse to do that, so I am stuck in the position that I am in, even though I am more educated than 95% of the people that are in higher positions than myself. It is a very sad situation. One that I am trying to get out of, but there are not a lot of jobs available for the pay I am currently making. Government work sucks as there isn't a lot of accountability.

 

[rynokron]

I started my job at the Railroad right out of High School. Almost 20 years now. Since it's a seniority system it has worked out well for me. There are alot of "smart" guys with educations that are older than me in age, with less seniority.

 

[go high fast]

My perception is the guys/gals with the most opportunities are those with engineering degrees followed by an MBA.

I'm a major believer that ambition along with any and all money spent on the very best education posible is a serious start in life.........even more so in these troubled economic times.

If i had to do it all over again the engineering/MBA thing is what I would do however this may be way over estimating my academic abilities since the Engineering curiculums are rigorous as heck.

 

[hilinerider]

in the field

imo experience and common sense are hard to find and from the people i have been around lately with multiple degrees cannot find out how to tie their shoes, book smart but no common sense and you can't tell em nothin

 

[Duddin]

Thats totally me man. I spend 2 years and $40K getting a degree in autobody from one of the top schools in nation. Got out and $9-12 pr hour was the average pay. Tried it for a while and decided that I hated it as a job and wanted to do it as a hobby. Now I'm going to a university for Mechanical Engineering. I'll probably do my masters and thinking about doing a double major just to make myself more versatile. I really hope this one works out better than the first one.

 

[Wolfrun]

Having worked a lot of years in heavy and highway construction, the college degrees were often a way to get your foot in the door so to speak and then common sense and experience led to the really good jobs.

 

[hilinerider]

^^ x2 !!

thats what i did

 

[Supplicate]

I definately made the wrong choice, and that choice was in not finishing my degree.