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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

#81

Post by nostrademons »

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…

I wasn't applying as a transfer student, and I'm saying that it absolutely does make sense to restart from level 1 if you get into a high-tier university, and that doing so can help you get into such a high-tier university.

Yes, it does unnecessarily crowd local community college. Such is the arms race that is today's college admission's scene.

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

#82

Post by junar »

nostrademons wrote: post #57
bradlys wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And it went against the guidance of my school counselors. They thought community college would hurt my chances at getting into "Prestigious Schools". I mean, they're not wrong. You will statistically be less likely to get into those schools. Once you're a transfer student, your acceptance rates go down significantly for prestigious private colleges. (And some public universities too) If your goal is to graduate fro…

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…

It depends on the school. Dual-enrollment often does not count as entering college to the eyes of admissions committees. However, if you enter in a full-time degree program, you may be required to apply as a transfer student.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/index.h...

> You're a transfer student if you enrolled in a regular session (fall, winter or spring) at a college or university after high school. (Taking a class or two during the summer term immediately following high school graduation doesn’t make you a transfer student.)

https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/transfer/credit.html

> Students who have enrolled either full-time or as a degree-seeking student after leaving high school or through an early college entrance program must apply for transfer admission.

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

#83

Post by brightball »

StephenCanis wrote: post #75
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…

Is it just me or are those two paragraphs worded in a way that makes the difference between most and least satisfied larger? If only 35% of computer science grads say they have no regrets does that not mean that 65% of them have regrets? That's pretty close to the 73%-75% for the "Most Regrets" group. Thought that was interesting framing.

It was likely done on a scale of 1 - 5 from No Regrets to Serious Regrets

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

#84

Post by brightball »

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…

I can’t remember which state it was but there was one that specifically subsidized tuition for degrees that had job demand in the state.

IMO that always made sense to me. States paying to help train people to work for jobs in the same state.

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

#86

Post by jacobsenscott »

metildaa wrote: post #46
bradlys wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they're pushing people to get the best school for their major. I think going to Stanford for CS will open more doors than going to Oregon State. There is a significant networking aspect to these top schools as well. I see it very clearly with my friends who went to CalTech and Stanford. It's probably not a coincidence that many (most?) of my peers in the bay area are people who graduated from top schools and/or…

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.

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

#87

Post by jdm2212 »

legitster wrote: post #30
Ill_ban_myself wrote: post #2

There is a worthwhile discussion to be had about the cost of college tuition and actuarial tables of different degrees and their earning power and how that relates to pay structure for graduates and for professors and how college programs are run. Trying to have that discussion on hacker news starting from a primary source consisting of a CBS News poll is like trying to get to the moon on a North Korean rocket with s…

If I remember correctly, the previous administration proposed a program where schools and degrees were valued based on their potential earnings but the collective pushback from universities killed the idea.

The idea got killed because it's really hard to measure value added as opposed to just graduates' earnings (students who appear identical on paper self-select into schools and majors and later on careers based on non-measurable stuff). And if you basically just measure graduates' earnings, you're going to punish schools that take a chance on less prepared students, majors that cater to students with weaker backgrounds, etc.

University administrators and professors aren't dumb. They know that good faith efforts to measure value added today will give way next month or next year to laziness and crude numerical targets. The end result will maybe be better numerical scores, but little substantive improvement in how well students are educated or prepared for life.

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

#88

Post by WalterBright »

phil248 wrote: post #24

This is truly shocking to me. I'd have thought that most people value the experience of college so immensely that it was worth the cost. I'll be paying student debt for the rest of my life, but in retrospect I'd have happily paid double for the experiences and perspectives I gained.

My college experience too has been immensely valuable to me.

That's not a guaranteed result, it depends a lot on what you're willing to put into it and the choices you make.

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

#89

Post by jacobsenscott »

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.

I don't think that's true unless you become a specialist. If you become a GP, or a pediatrician, or work in a rural area where docs are in short supply you don't make huge money.

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

#90

Post by killjoywashere »

fiftyfifty wrote: post #16

It's crazy to spend so much time and money in school and not have a plan for what kind of career you are going to get when you get out. Parents and educators are failing these young people in not guiding them into realistic jobs and careers. The process before anyone attends college should be to decide on potential careers and then pursue the schooling and other qualifications you need to succeed in that career. A st…

I'm a huge fan of the Occupational Outlook Handbook. That said, it's breakout of some interesting categories is fairly weak. Many medical specialties are simply not listed, while virtually every subset of engineering is listed, except software engineering (perhaps due to a lack of PE involvement?)
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