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Value of a University Education
Munki
Member CommonPosts: 2,128
After a lengthy stint in the Politics and Religion section, a place not for the faint of heart, I was starting to wonder what other member of the mmorpg community think of University.
Did you do it? good idea? what did you take? what would you take?
I realize I'm incredibly biased being in the last semester of my bachelor of Computer Science, I think it was a great experience that helped me learn how to organize my thoughts logically; think about problems better. I learned a lot of economics, and ethics with my electives. For example I feel comfortable in discussions about interest rates, foreign currency and Canadian Banks. I also know how to apply game theory to computer science, politics, ethics, and Business/mico-economics.
Thats all on top of the Math and Computer crap I learned from my major.
I think its an amazing experience if you take advantage of it. I agree its not for everyone, and I know a lot of people don't fully take advantage of it while they are there. But What is everyone else take on the 4+ years of study.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Comments
I think its a great thing. Like you said, It helps get your Mind in order.
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude; greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Samuel Adams
Overall I think getting my Bachelor's Degree was a mistake. When I put into perspective the cost aspect, its salary benefits are outweighed by the total costs. Especially when you are using student loans. When I think about how it prepared me to work, I imagine I would have been better served learning the material through high school. When I think about the competitive advantage, I find it to add very little as now everyone has a degree and of those with a degree in my generation the level of knowledge is lower then previous generations. I think the maturity it added to my concentration levels has more to do with age then actual concentration.
If I could do it all over again. After graduating High School I would have worked until I could afford paying for college tuition without loans using a combination of savings and scholarships accumulated. We are reaching a point where the higher education systems are going to collapse from easy money and an increased level of non-affordability. After a collapse happens, the levels on a tuition will more then likely reach the actual proper levels. I also think the added layer of maturity and knowledge I previously worked for every dime I am paying would have given me a greater motivation to excel.
Now that I am older I also wish we had a proper high school education that included trade skills. Trade skills are the most common type of skill needed in the real world, and they are being dropped for mandatory education in subjects that aren't overtly necessary. If you could get a mechanics license while in high school you would be making more then a college graduate on high school graduation.
Out of curiosity, what type of degree did you get Cleffy? I know as a science major all my friends have had an easy time even in these economic times finding some very nice paying work with their BSC's, but I really don't have many friends in arts so I really have no idea whats going on with them.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
I got a degree in technical arts. So yeah the selection of degree has to do more with personal focus rather then education. I think even if I choose to go down computer science I would have the same position. Paying $15k/year for what should be a high school education. At this point I would have rather been the High School graduate who got a certificate as an automotive technician as they get paid $40/hour. I could learn the other technical and art skills on my own.
Bachelors in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. Spent a year afterwards taking graduate courses towards a masters abroad but decided against finishing.
Worth it? Yep. My IT career has mostly been contract work, so I have to meet requirements here and there several times a month. I don't think I recall every seeing a contract passed to me by liasons that didn't list a 4 year degree as a requirement. Even if it weren't a requirement, half of the jobs I do begin with negotiations of competitive rates, and having a degree helps that.
That said, knowledge wise my skills have had to change drastically. I mostly work as a .NET developer, so case in point when I was in college the COM model was becoming dated by Windows DNA, which was transforming into .NET 1.0. Fast forward to today, I've spent a lot of money the past year or two updating my certifications across the spectrum of .NET 3.5 and SQL 2008. Come next year I'll be recertifying for .NET 4.0 if I have to. And that would just be one of a few example ecosystems, Microsoft's, that I work within.
In short, for me my degree has mostly served the point of meeting prereqs and looking good on paper alongside other experience and credentials. As far as skillsets go, not all of what I learned remains applicable today, and what I had to learn afterwards and what I'll continue to have to learn will dwarf the few years I spent in university.
My degree actually is a detraction. In my field college students who weren't up to snuff but believed they deserved a position put a bad name on degreed personelle, although my field is about skill having a college degree makes a recruiter think twice.
I personally think an education at university level is extremely valuable, and I'm making most of my time at university. I'm taking tons of extra courses, internships, et cetera - all of which will hopefully be worth the trouble in the long haul. I have a BSc in Biological Psychology. I do not regret that bachelor's degree, however, when I started psychology I did not know what I wanted to do, so I chose a pretty allround discipline. In retrospect, seeing as I want to become a professional archaeologist, a bachelor's degree in geology, earth sciences or Egyptology would have better augmented my current track in archaeology. I plan on getting at least two masters in archaeology and hopefully a doctorate, too.
While I think higher education is very valuable, I do not think one should look down on autodidactism. I believe the main problem with being an autodidact (compared to the many advantages), is not the level to which you're educating yourself, but because you're selecting your own study material, you'll likely only study material that support one stance in a controversial subject. Controversial subjects, of course, are not rare in the academic world.
Do you want to become an archeologist so that you can carry around a whip and have a fear of snakes while still being man enough to kill countless Nazis? It's okay, you can tell us, it's the OT forum.
"Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up." - Robert DeNiro
Do you want to become an archeologist so that you can carry around a whip and have a fear of snakes while still being man enough to kill countless Nazis? It's okay, you can tell us, it's the OT forum.
Dur. Why else would anyone bother? There's only one thing archaeologists do best - killing nazis.
It belongs in a museum!