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Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

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Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#101

Post by tonyedgecombe »

massysett wrote: post #64
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #59

>Most satisfied: Those with science, technology, engineering and math majors, who are typically more likely to enjoy higher salaries, reported more satisfaction with their college degrees. About 42% of engineering grads and 35% of computer science grads said they had no regrets. >Most regrets: Humanities majors, who are least likely to earn higher pay post-graduation, were most likely to regret their college educatio…

It makes even less sense to pay to educate doctors. Their earnings pay for the education many times over.

On the other hand if earnings are so high perhaps you need more doctors so should encourage them.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#102

Post by dillonmckay »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #59

>Most satisfied: Those with science, technology, engineering and math majors, who are typically more likely to enjoy higher salaries, reported more satisfaction with their college degrees. About 42% of engineering grads and 35% of computer science grads said they had no regrets. >Most regrets: Humanities majors, who are least likely to earn higher pay post-graduation, were most likely to regret their college educatio…

You know you are currently subsidizing student loans, right?

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#103

Post by dillonmckay »

hermitdev wrote: post #78
phil248 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to explain how the college experience is amazing without writing several paragraphs. I honestly thought my sentiments were near-universal. For several years I got to literally pick a topic out of thin air and then have seasoned professionals teach me all about it three days a week. I got to live independently and among bright people all in my age group and craft whatever life I wanted within the rela…

This largely echos my experience. Moved from a small rural town to Chicago. Was surrounded by professors and industry professional instructors. Most of my non PhD instructors had decades of industry experience from the likes of Motorola, Comes or Bell labs/Lucent. Classes at my school were generally pretty small, except for a few weeder classes in freshman/sophomore years. I studied Electrical and Computer Engineerin…

This is quite atypical, but I am glad you had this experience.

It seems you lucked out with some great human relationships, for both your internship and getting your foot in the door for your first job.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#104

Post by perfunctory »

malandrew wrote: post #56
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to let students' aspirations guide jobs, rather than what companies need? That seems really unlikely to work out well for the society. Society needs companies that can actually produce stuff that people need and want, worse than they need companies that create jobs that fulfill everyone's aspirations.

This. So much this. Passions and aspirations are for hobbies. Jobs are about providing value to others in society in exchange for IOUs that you can exchange with others.

To reply with a personal anecdote.

When I went to study computer science, Google did not exit yet. Facebook did not exist. Apple was an obscure company. World Wide Web was a hobby. My parents were genuinely worried I wouldn't be able to get a job. Fast forward. Had I been more realistic and chosen a degree that better matched the job market of the time I would probably be unemployed by now.

Draw your own conclusions from this.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#105

Post by remeq »

chaostheory wrote: post #9

From the article: "Most satisfied: Those with science, technology, engineering and math majors, who are typically more likely to enjoy higher salaries, reported more satisfaction with their college degrees. About 42% of engineering grads and 35% of computer science grads said they had no regrets. Most regrets: Humanities majors, who are least likely to earn higher pay post-graduation, were most likely to regret their…

People don't realize that whatever path in their career they choose it is going to have its own set of obstacles, pitfalls and frustrations which results in false impression that would they choose something else they would live happily ever after.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#106

Post by nrook »

legitster wrote: post #13

In WA, there is a program where you can finish the last two years of high school at a community college and graduate with a two year degree for free. It was probably the best decision of my life. I basically got to trial and error all of my interests for free much earlier and cheaper than everyone else. And it went against the guidance of my school counselors. They thought community college would hurt my chances at g…

Does anyone here have good research on the difficulty of getting into elite schools as a transfer student? I tried to do a little research and found this page:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/transfer-admission-rates

Which seems to indicate it's slightly harder, but not by much. But, I'm concerned that your average transfer student looks a lot different from your average freshman, so I don't really believe the stats; for example I could imagine that your average transfer student has somehow "failed to launch" at their current institution, implying they're a weaker student than your average freshman application. Or, I could imagine the other way around; they've already succeeded at a community college, so they are actually stronger than your average freshman applicant and these stats are underrating how hard it is to get a transfer.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#107

Post by tuesdayrain »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #86
metildaa wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSU has quite a bit to offer that can jumpstart a CS career, like the OSU Open Source Lab: http://osuosl.org Meanwhile, not really sure I think of Stanford as a CS school, unlike MIT & similar.

"Top tier CS" school is pure marketing. Data structures and algorithms don't change based on geography or the amount of money you pay a school.

The quality of professors, lectures, and general atmosphere definitely do.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#108

Post by miranda_rights »

bradlys wrote: post #73
nostrademons wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have the option of going as a normal student. If you do, top-tier colleges usually look at college and AP courses taken at other institutions as a bonus towards admission. I went to Amherst College (#1 liberal arts college in the U.S. when I matriculated), having taken courses at Harvard Extension School, UMass Lowell, and Boston University as a high-schooler. They didn't give me credit for any of them, nor for t…

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm saying it's just less likely. The admissions statistics for these universities show that. After all, they really only admit transfer students to fill in for students who dropped out of their school. They base class size solely on the freshmen class. In your case, I don't think you were applying as a transfer student. You were also not going to your local CC. Those universities are…

You're not considered a transfer student when you do Running Start. As long as you haven't actually graduated high school when taking the community college classes, you're considered a freshman applicant when applying to colleges. It's offered as a better alternative to just taking more AP or IB classes, which are also 'college level'.

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#109

Post by malandrew »

perfunctory wrote: post #104
malandrew wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. So much this. Passions and aspirations are for hobbies. Jobs are about providing value to others in society in exchange for IOUs that you can exchange with others.

To reply with a personal anecdote. When I went to study computer science, Google did not exit yet. Facebook did not exist. Apple was an obscure company. World Wide Web was a hobby. My parents were genuinely worried I wouldn't be able to get a job. Fast forward. Had I been more realistic and chosen a degree that better matched the job market of the time I would probably be unemployed by now. Draw your own conclusions…

Sometimes the two coincide. Had you been born 20 years earlier but still had the same passions, how might things have been different?

Another fun thought exercise, what subject can someone go study today that would be a hobby right now that parents would worry about with respect to job prospects, but that in 5, 10 and 20 years will have its own Google, Facebook, Apple and World Wide Web?

Re: Two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees

#110

Post by perfunctory »

malandrew wrote: post #109
perfunctory wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To reply with a personal anecdote. When I went to study computer science, Google did not exit yet. Facebook did not exist. Apple was an obscure company. World Wide Web was a hobby. My parents were genuinely worried I wouldn't be able to get a job. Fast forward. Had I been more realistic and chosen a degree that better matched the job market of the time I would probably be unemployed by now. Draw your own conclusions…

Sometimes the two coincide. Had you been born 20 years earlier but still had the same passions, how might things have been different? Another fun thought exercise, what subject can someone go study today that would be a hobby right now that parents would worry about with respect to job prospects, but that in 5, 10 and 20 years will have its own Google, Facebook, Apple and World Wide Web?

> Another fun thought exercise, what subject can someone go study today

That's a nice one. As Alan Kay said - the best way to predict the future is to invent it. I guess we should let kids study what they like and then let them go explore and discover and make mistakes and invent that future. Instead of trying to shoehorn them into the existing job market.

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