Is a college degree worth anything?

[BillytheFish]

I think a lot of things can be "on the job" . You caught me off guard with an extreme example.

I was more or less talking about most of the other subjects people study in American College. For most subjects, testing is just written test, or classroom lab (not something that will blow up whole building kind of deal). If you are employer seeking individual workers, you can just test them yourself. That will be the screening.

Alot of things can and should be on the job, but they require varying degrees (pun intended) of in-classroom academic learning. A mechanic might learn most of his trade via hands on work- but if he can't spell the parts he needs or manage basic costs and budgets then its going to suck.

You could be highly knowledgeable at historical events or an excellent writer- but the employer wants proof of this. And since employers don't have time to typically ask 1000 questions it is up to the 'symbol' of a degree or course completion to prove a persons skills.

A degree shows the MINIMUM that a person is capable of, without which it is extremely hard to prove. Some fields such as animation they simply make a 60 second portfolio of a video clip, that 60 seconds tells potential employers everything that person is capable of in the art world. You cannot do that for the majority of other jobs.

 

[Carl Sonnen]

A college degree is like anything else - its utility is in how you use it. That said, college is definitely a scam, unless you are studying a hard science or something society needs. College is not only a scam, but it is a noxious environment, especially to white, heterosexual males. Young people now are better off getting a trade and eventually starting their own business. I have seen many people do that over the years and did a bit of that myself when I was younger.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

That degree might help you get a job. Some companies only hire people with a degree for management positions. Many don't care what kind of degree a person has. I know a facility manager who had a degree as an English teacher. It ended badly.

I wouldn't say some companies but a lot of companies will not hire you without a degree in corporate America. You simply won't get past HR and it's for a lot more positions than management(unless you happen to have a good inside connection). The degree opens up a lot more positions.

Note I'm not saying you need to go to college but it makes many things easier depending on the career.

 

[MetalGearTrump]

some colleges do respect non-academic learning in the for of APL (accredited prior learning). Some also allow you to 'test out' of subjects, if you know the material required to pass the class one should know how to answer questions in the exam...as opposed to taking a 3 month course.

I agree with ditching the fluff, but so does alot of America and it is a hotly debated topic. They claim to want well-rounded students. In the medical world they are pushing courses like arts and ethics because they claim it fosters students abilty to empathize with patients and be more 'human'. As in not having some robotic doctor tell a patient theyre dying in 3 months like they're reading a bank balance.

Whether this all works or not I dont know...all I know is I don't want to be studying texas government as a bachelors requirement because Im moving state when Im done lol.

Sounds to me like they wanna rationalize to the students the extra money they're being charged for that degree for unnecessary classes

 

[90 50]

I wouldn't say some companies but a lot of companies will not hire you without a degree in corporate America. You simply won't get past HR and it's for a lot more positions than management(unless you happen to have a good inside connection). The degree opens up a lot more positions.

Note I'm not saying you need to go to college but it makes many things easier depending on the career.

The last time I job searched I never got past Hr without a degree. I stopped going to school and started working full time and moved up through the company over the years and earned in house engineering certificates to keep moving up in the company. I left, and didn’t get anything but “sorry we are looking for people more qualified “ canned hr responses. In a field where I’m one of the best of the best , have numerous field recognitions and accolades and an well known in the field.

I only got offers from people I personally knew, that heard I was looking and we could skip the hr apply online part of the process.

If I had a degree in basket weaving I would have been called by all of them

 

[Streeter]

Trade school 5 years in ibew to be electrician make over 100k after those 5 years. Just saying college isnt only way

 

[Madmick]

So having a degree from certain schools is not giving you the status you need to obtain high paying entry level, which is the stepping stone to another higher paying job?

With status comes perks too.

You're overlooking the fact that people from those schools are being taught objective knowledge sets and skills that are prerequisite to the most valuable skillsets in the job market.

You're trying to reduce university to a network, which is certainly one of the seats of its financial empowerment, but not remotely its exclusive one. You can learn these things outside of universities, but the problem is, for many of the highest paying jobs, and most valuable skillsets, they rarely teach them anywhere else.

How many doctors do you know who didn't go to medical school?

 

[MetalGearTrump]

I disagree there. A good college education is more than just job training. You should come out of college a well-rounded person. It should broaden your understanding of the world, not narrow it to a single field of study.

Also, there's the theory that the reason you can't do these things that way anymore is because they're more complex than they were 100 years ago. I always think about cars and mechanics. 80 years ago, anyone could change their oil and probably work on their engine in the driveway. These days, it's nearly impossible with a lot of specialized knowledge and tools.

This guy alludes to it in a piece about how the claims about grade inflation aren't true.
https://patrickjuli.us/2018/03/04/is-grade-inflation-a-real-problem/

Well yes, things are much more complex nowadays, however it shouldnt necessitate studying things you shouldnt have to in order to be successful in a particular field.

I agree that people should be well rounded and such, but some things are only learned outside the classroom. Generally you're gonna become more well rounded with real life experiences. I'm not opposed to college, it just seems so easy for them to charge you extra for what you dont need in order to make you "well rounded".

 

[Lubaolong]

Unfortunately, a degree is required for many jobs, even though there is little correlation between education and job performance.

 

[Lubaolong]

Re: Medical school, it's mostly a continuation of the college scam. Mostly all self-study. Not a ton of teaching is going on. Not much you can't learn on your own. Almost no one attends classes. You're paying the big bucks for the rubber stamp.

 

[tmnpothead]

You don't need a sociology degree to help the less fortunate but I get what you're saying. You could probably find gainful employment as a teacher or government employee for HHS or HUD. My pops has a liberal degree but he was already set into being a lawyer so he just took the easiest path before he took his LLB, LLM and D.P.A.

Would you need any kind of degree or training to get into that line of work? I dont think teaching would be my thing but I honestly have no idea how hard it is to get into a government job.

 

[loyalyolayal]

Would you need any kind of degree or training to get into that line of work? I dont think teaching would be my thing but I honestly have no idea how hard it is to get into a government job.

I'm pretty sure a college degree wouldn't hurt in the department that you prefer. Veterans have preferential treatment. Each department have their own set of tests and I guess you guys have your own general federal/state employment test. Can't really help you with details as I'm not a US citizen. Just spitballing here.

 

[therealdope]

In light of the recent scandals and what many of us knew previously about people buying degrees, does a college degree have any real value?

About $500,000.

 

[Madmick]

Why are all the people who keen to argue that college diplomas don't have worth not citing any statistics about money? Anyone saying it isn't worth it is blanketing, and if we were to blanket, that's the wrong blanket. It would be better to generalize the opposite. This isn't a subjective subject. Objectively, college diplomas have value. Objectively, any who are saying that college isn't a wise investment for an individual are wrong. You have to qualify what you're telling them.

"Don't just go get a liberal arts degree without a plan, and without considering your school's value. Beware schools that have acute political identities that might be coloring their liberal arts educations with an agenda that isn't in your best interest. " That is good advice.

"College is a waste of money". That's hick hogwash. Ignorance.


For the kids considering a higher education with money on the mind I would steer you towards these resources from the US News survey:

• Universities
  https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/best-value
  Alternatively:
  https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=top-50---best-value-colleges
• Colleges
  https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/best-value
• Top Business Programs
  https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-overall

Payscale

• Highest Paying Public Schools
  https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-type/bachelors/public-schoolsHighest Paying Schools, Bachelors/All, and by State
• Highest Paying Schools: Bachelor Degrees/All, and by State
  https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors
  https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-state
• Highest Paying Schools: Associate Degrees, and by State
  https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/2-year-colleges
  https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-state

Business Insider Survey: The 50 best colleges where students earn high starting salaries
Forbes Survey: Top 25 Public Colleges with Highest Earning Graduates


About majors:
Payscale: Majors that Pay you Back
Payscale: Common Jobs for Majors
Bankrate: The most valuable college majors, ranked


Look for rankings that focus on IRL metrics instead of classic prestige metrics. Example for a common professional degree:
Above the Law: Law School rankings
Above the Law: The Most Affordable Law Schools with the Highest Starting Salaries for Graduates


Alternatively, for those who really deprived of resources, or those who insist that people should seek education as cheaply as possible, steer towards resources like this:

• Class Central
  • List of over 8,000 Free Courses from over 800 Universities/Colleges
  • 393 Online Courses With Real College Credit That You Can Access For Free
• EdX (Android/iOS apps exist for this)
  • HarvardX
  • MIT: OpenCourseWare
• iTunes U
• Udemy
• Coursera
• Lynda
• TVAddons for Kodi: Educational
  • Highlighted Channel: Udacity
• Grasshopper (Want to Code? Google's brightest have made it f2learn)
• Project Gutenberg
• WorldCat: The World's Largest Library Catalog
• Public Library Index
• DIY Genius: Mobile Learning: A Guide To The 100 Best Educational Android Apps

 

[BillytheFish]

I can speak from both sides of the discussion...I left school after GCSE's in Northern Ireland when I was 16 (equivalent to US high school graduation) and joined the military. I then worked in a private sector where I was clearing six figures a year (without courses, certifications or anything else). Here is the problem...I do not wish to be bouncing around in a potentially physically demanding environment when I am 60.

This is where the there is similarity to those other high paying jobs without degrees come in- a fisherman may be making bank when young, or those guys working on rope access, or wind turbines, or oil rigs, or commercial diving....do you want to be doing that when your back and knees are fucked?

On the other hand, to have a high paying career without travel and physical hardship GENERALLY you will need a degree.

Also, looking at the options...there is infinitely more reason to get a degree than to not get one...so why limit yourself. Especially with distance learning nowadays. Be a mechanic but study in your spare time and get that degree. The question was: "is a college degree worth anything" not "should college degrees even be a thing"...they ARE a thing, and as the years go on I'd rather have one than not.

Why rely on experience to get you the job when you can have experience AND a degree.

Edit: obviously this doesnt apply to sherdog because here we are all similar to Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and dont need 'book learnins'

 

[therealdope]

Only speaking for myself but I still use most of what I studied in ugrad, grad school and post doc -- to this day -- to make money.

If your degree is useless then that's on you, not the school.

 

[TeTe]

For most fields, it's an overpriced piece of paper. It's basically a gatekeeper when hiring managers are trying to narrow down a field of candidates.

 

[tehJameson]

The only people who will say college degrees are useless are the losers that didn’t or couldn’t graduate from a university.

Your opinion on this doesn't mean a thing since you didn't graduate high school haha

 

[RetiredSlave]

Its worthy for most people because most people are "normal" or it may be more apt to say within a certain intellectual and creative range. Very smart and/or very creative people dont really need a degree to succeed but its also true that a very large percentage of very smart and/or creative people fail in their pursuits.

Drive and determination are generally the only two things that can circumvent the college degree racket. The time tested adage of who you know is more important than what you know will always hold true unless youre some kind of prodigy in any given field as well. Its pretty muddy waters when looked at as a whole.

 

[bushman505]

Your opinion on this doesn't mean a thing since you didn't graduate high school haha

That’s a complete lie (but that’s usual for you). You crack me up, this is the 3rd thread you’ve followed me into to make petty insults. You’re a racist and a liar. Not only did I graduate Highschool, I graduated college and finished a masters degree.