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Topic: College degrees

Topic: College degrees

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Alan Swank
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College degrees

Posted: 4/27/2011 5:27:10 PM

Since this seems to be where the action still is, I thought I'd post this link to a story on college degrees. So much for an OU journalism degree.

http://www.rr.com/news/uselessdegreesgallery?cmpid=RRWMHero#rr%2F39978847%2F37163255%2F

Pataskala
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 4/29/2011 1:31:14 PM

It's because newspapers are dropping like flies or cutting back to skeleton staffs, and broadcasting is relying less on real journalists and more on social media.

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giacomo
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 4/29/2011 3:09:49 PM

Amen, Pataskala. Whether you're reading an article on Yahoo or watching some so-called cable news show, the man on the street is chipping in his two cents. You might as well stand on the corner of Court and Union and ask passers by their thoughts on the middle east, QE2, etc. And as far as reality shows go, a good one would be "Bagel Buggy".

Monroe Slavin
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 4/30/2011 4:22:50 PM

I about never listen to or watch local news in L.A. Because they do ask one or two people their opinion about the Middle East or gas prices or the European debt crisis, taking those really not-meaningful-or-precise lightweight opinions as Very Important. Ugly. Explains a lot of the decline of the U.S.

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Paul Graham
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/2/2011 8:32:03 AM

I'm not sure roadrunner.com is the most authoritative source on this subject (or any subject). Mechanical engineering and chemistry are stuck at the end with no explanation.

MedinaCat
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/2/2011 9:25:52 AM

Paul Graham wrote:

I'm not sure roadrunner.com is the most authoritative source on this subject (or any subject). Mechanical engineering and chemistry are stuck at the end with no explanation.

Totally agree. And while a journalism degree may not land every grad a position in a traditional media organization, having the degree better prepares them for the future job opportunities.

Recovering Journalist
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/2/2011 6:01:07 PM

Wow. My experience has been quite the opposite. I suppose if one looks at it as a sheer vocational degree leading to a newsroom job, they may have a point, but my journalism degree has been incredibly dynamic and allowed me to land a number of jobs. I'd say the same about an English degree, which is also the frequent target of misinformed people. The truth is that very few people know how to write in today's world. If you can write coherently, your employment possibilities are remarkable. A journalism degree teaches clear and concise writing, coupled with research skills and ethics. It doesn't sound useless to me.

SBH
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/2/2011 7:26:58 PM

I agree with Recovering Journalist. Good writers are treated like rock stars in some corporations.

bornacatfan
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/3/2011 3:32:53 PM

Recovering Journalist wrote:

My experience with OU grads who boast degrees from Scripps is exactly that. Met folks in Atlanta who are working in feilds ranging from Human Resources to software documentation and publishing manuals. Others I have met include speechwriters for government officials, marketing and materials publishers and a myriad of other things that are covered by writers and journalists that are far outside mainstream reporting functions. I would be interested to know how much of Scripps overlaps with the T-com and media production education at Ohio.

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Paul Graham
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:40:31 PM

Recovering Journalist wrote:

That's definitely true. Though almost all of my friends that got english and journalism degrees (some from elite universities) have had to get additional degrees to get a decent job. Not that it's bad, but by the time you're making a decent buck you are 100K in the hole. But I suppose that is the times we live in.

UpSan Bobcat
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/3/2011 7:32:31 PM

Paul Graham wrote:

Recovering Journalist wrote:

As one who can speak from personal experience, there's not much money to be had in the journalism field. Starting pay out of college often is lower than jobs that don't require any degree (factories, construction, etc.). However, it's a very competitive field, especially as jobs begin to disappear. This is part of the reason the pay is what it is. There's people who will work for the cheap rate (and often long and awkward hours).

As in most jobs, you learn a lot more from experience, but my education at OU was exceptional. I think it prepared me exceptionally well. I'm sure the reason journalism is included on this list is because so many consider it a dying field, not because the education is unnecessary. I will say this, though: there is little use to advanced degrees in journalism (unless you want to teach or something). Journalism is not a useless degree. It's just a different field than it used to be.

OUWoo
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/3/2011 7:51:46 PM

Can't be of complete uselessness, as at least one journalist put that story together.

Bobcatbob
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 7:50:03 AM

I've certainly encountered my share of degree bearing paupers over the years but I have found most of them to be engaging, intelligent and philosophical about their lot in life. On the other hand, I've met as many, or more, people with no post HS degree who, despite a modicum of success, still bemoan their "lack of an education". I guess perspective is everything.

If the aim of a college degree is to guarantee financial success, then I concede the point, but if that were the aim of our universities, they would all have closed decades ago. In a nutshell, I think that is the challenge facing the Presidents and Trustees today. How to "prove" their value in a world where nothing but landing a lucrative job equals success.

bornacatfan
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 11:43:37 AM

Paul Graham wrote:

. Not that it's bad, but by the time you're making a decent buck you are 100K in the hole. But I suppose that is the times we live in.

Yeah

100K would have been nice. Double that and add the price of a luxury car payment on top and you would equal my student loan debt.

I am just happy all 3 of my children in college are on fulll scholarships with their developed talents. They will start out 242K ahead of the old man.

Last Edited: 5/4/2011 11:44:42 AM by bornacatfan

TWT
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 2:06:52 PM

bornacatfan wrote:

Paul Graham wrote:

. Not that it's bad, but by the time you're making a decent buck you are 100K in the hole. But I suppose that is the times we live in.

Yeah

100K would have been nice. Double that and add the price of a luxury car payment on top and you would equal my student loan debt.

Why exactly did you do that? That was not smart. If you don't have the money I don't understand why you would want to take on a pricey education. I'm going to an expensive private university for grad school but I'm paying it in cash one semester at a time. I waited to go back until I could comfortably afford to do so. If I was starting out today I'd do 2 years of community college (save the money and inflate the grades) and then finsh out at a 4 year state school. That isn't what I did but it wasn't 20,000 dollars a year to go to school at a public university back then.

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TWT
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 2:27:16 PM

bornacatfan wrote:

Recovering Journalist wrote:

That is interesting. From my experience Journalism (more so Communications) is like majoring in Business, a common major for a college grad wanting a successful career in industry. I've got a lot of Business and Communications majors in the office. Competitive types that played sports in college or recreationally. Its a degree you can pick up pretty much at any university. I think there is something to be said for great writting ability but I don't necessarily really see it among thoe types. Attitude, preserverance is more what I notice. I like recruiting from the "studied" liberal arts fields like Sociology or Political Science that are more missional and academic.

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anorris
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 2:38:27 PM

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2011/05/03/ut-alumnu...

JSF
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/4/2011 6:25:31 PM

An OU journalism degree helped lead to this headline: http://bit.ly/lFhidI

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Monroe Slavin
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 2:02:52 AM

I know that generally people do not hire as I do so that what I am about to write is, sadly, not going to favor those who write well as they job search.

But the ability to write well is directly tied to being able to organize one's thoughts and to being able to think in a logical manner. If you can write well, you can probably understand a problem, analyze it for key points, think of appropriate solutions, choose a good solution and execute the solution. All of these are key business skills. For most careers, you can pick up the subject matter along the way--but the first requisite is sound thinking..

But the basic ability to reason is a relatively rare quality. But one that an education in writing well seems to refine.

As a one who switched to a career in accounting very late in life, I can assure you that the ability to write well is the number 2 (if not number 1) skill that an accountant needs. One makes one's mark in the tough situations...and tough business situations require solid reasoning and communication skills.

Not that employers hire on that basis. But hiring criteria and the criteria for success are usually not the same.

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Mike Johnson
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 10:18:26 AM

giacomo wrote:

Nothing new. London's Hyde Park Corner has been Court/Union for ages.

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Mike Johnson
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 10:25:33 AM

SBH wrote:

I agree with Recovering Journalist. Good writers are treated like rock stars in some corporations.

Don't know about Rock Star status, but during my years at TRW men who figured out trajectory problems for ICBMs and designed science and communications satellites and payloads used to call me frequently for counsel and writing for a range of situations - letters, congressional testimony, technology symposiums, etc. (BTW, loved working with them.)

I do believe that j-school grads strengthen career prospects with an advance degree - law or business or both.

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bornacatfan
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 11:07:52 AM

Uncle Wes wrote:

Why exactly did you do that? That was not smart. If you don't have the money I don't understand why you would want to take on a pricey education.

Education was a little different back then ....as an 18 year old on my own in Chicago I had saved a ton of money by using the hospital where I worked employee benefits for education attending the City Colleges of Chicago (Amudsen/Mayfair then Truman College) at 11 dollars a credit hour and being taught by moonlighting Northwestern and U of Chicago English and Humanities folk. Once I decided a career path I needed to transfer choosing Northern Illinois as most of my credits transferred with out much problem. I had in 4 years at the hospital saved 10K which promptly went bye bye when I applied for Financial Aid and found I had to use it for my tuition, room and board. After a year at a woefully decrepit science department and downtime at McCabes bar and grill in Dekalb I decided I needed to switch to a University with a better track record for admissions finding 3 in the Midwest and settling on Illinois Benedictine who had at the time well over 95 % of it's science grads matricualting to Med Schools. Pricey yes....but when you are on a path sometimes there is no choice.

Medical Schools are not set up to start and stop when you have cash. I was accepted at several schools I applied to based on what specialty I wanted to pursue and all cost between 25 and 43K a year with books, tuition, etc.

Under the Carter administration all my loans were prime plus 3% which the more august members of this board will remember prime was hovering between 16 and 18 % at the time (and gas jumped from 44 cents a gallon to 1.53 according to my logbook I just dug up) . You can imagine after deferring some of those through residency how the principle and interest blossomed. I consolidated all my loans in early 90's into a managable 9% loan and paid them all off by the time I was 43....even though I am currently in dispute as I had Illinois benedictine call me 2 weeks ago demanding 348 dollars for an NDSL loan I know I paid off long ago.....they wanted to see my cancelled check from 1993 or 94 to prove I had paid it off or they were going to send to collections.... As if anyone would keep that around. Still unresolved. WOrd to the wise youngsters. Keep those records FOREVER>

cc-cat
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 11:34:03 AM

JSF wrote:

An OU journalism degree helped lead to this headline: http://bit.ly/lFhidI

Perhaps, but the accused was also reportedly chanting - "We Are, Marshall"

Last Edited: 5/5/2011 11:37:56 AM by cc-cat

bornacatfan
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/5/2011 12:41:08 PM

anorris wrote:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2011/05/03/ut-alumnu...

That is a great story.

OhioCatFan
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RE: College degrees

Posted: 5/7/2011 9:53:01 PM

cc cat wrote:

JSF wrote:

An OU journalism degree helped lead to this headline: http://bit.ly/lFhidI

Perhaps, but the accused was also reportedly chanting - "We Are, Marshall"

Clearly more of the WVU-type, if you ask me.

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