Universillege.

[Rye]

Yeah, your parents at least have an idea of how college goes, Hux. XD Today, my Dad freaked out about me signing up for 5 classes, because he thought full year students only took 3 courses, and that I was going to run up the bill extra or something. I mean, I can't fault them if they don't know about college, but they should at least have the common sense to not act like they know more than I do about my own college education, when they've not even the slightest clue that full year students have to take at least 12 credits a semester.

At least my Mom knows better and has me basically do everything for my brother that his adviser hasn't already done, now that he's going into college this year.

[Jessweeee♪]

Advisers are so useless! My first one convinced me to take a math class I wasn't supposed to take (though I got an A in it while only going in about four times xD) and another calculated my GPA wrong

I guess it's my fault for not double checking ._.

[rubah]

advising? *_*

"here, ah, you take dis papa, and oh!? you fill it out already?! good, good"

ILU ICJ, even if I cried for like an hour after the first time being advised by you <3

[Raistlin]

BAs are definitely not less respected by normal people. By petulant nerds who get their rocks off by talking about their BS degrees, maybe.

The real difference in a BA and BS degree is that one is related to science and the other is not.

BA and BS degrees are academically and professionally equivalent. The denotation of your degree means a whole hell of a lot less in using that degree than... actually using that degree. Certain courses of study may be more challenging to some, but that doesn't mean people with BS degrees are any better or have any better shot at a job outside of their specific training.

When deciding upon what type of degree you want, and what course of study you'll pursue, I advise against focusing on what makes you look smart. Focus on what you would like to be doing in 10 years and then pick what'll get you there.

This, absolutely. The most obscure artsy degree can be great for you if you know what you want to do with it.

Also, the university and professors have way more impact on the difficulty of a certain degrees. At Gettysburg, for instance, History was widely considered one of the most difficult, work-intensive majors (which is not true at many other schools; I took a 300-level history class at American University which was an absolute joke). This was due to the history professors Gettysburg attracts, who are all crazy obsessed people.

I think what many people actually do look down on is degrees without any meaningful thought on what you want to do or how to use them, not just based on a ridiculous and arbitrary B.S./B.A. hierarchy.

[Clo]

I attend Niagara University currently, and I'll be out of there soon enough with a teacher certification for English Education 5 -12.

Huzzah.

[Miriel]

I have a BA in Sociology from the University of Southern California. I knew going into it that I wouldn't use my degree career wise. But it's made me a better person and I really loved all my Soc classes. I think Sociology should be required class, starting from High School.

I love the subject so much that I'd happily take courses in Sociology at UC Berkeley which is really close to where I live, and they don't mind having random non-students drop in to take classes. They have some really interesting classes that USC didn't offer like Sociology of Gender. That sounds fascinating to me.

Student loans are no joke though. Daaamn.

[oddler]

Gun to your head, what's harder and more useful, English Lit. or Physics?

Le sigh.

If I do go onto having a career in education on the university level, then I'll have to get a PhD. If not, I'll probably stop at my Masters degree.

I was of the understanding that a Masters is enough for university level education. Is that wrong or does it differ across states?

Even now when I talk to my dad about other schools he'll go on and say something like "oh and I'm sure they have plenty of basketweaving if that's what you wanna do, whatever."

EDIT:

I am also in that club. My parents never finished high school.

I read the first part and then got to the edit and had to do a double-take. I can understand that maybe he's going into some protective mode where he's trying to safeguard you from doing something you'll regret but it looks like he has very little room to pass around advice.

A couple of the reasons I never seriously went to college were because:
1) I didn't have a good reason to go. I didn't see what I was going to gain in the long run that I couldn't learn through self-discipline or through practical application and
2) I didn't know what I wanted to "do."

Those and this...

Student loans are no joke though. Daaamn.

When I graduated high school, I chose earning money over spending money. xD

So yeah, I'm "uneducated" but I'm happy and financially well at the same time.

[Clo]

If I do go onto having a career in education on the university level, then I'll have to get a PhD. If not, I'll probably stop at my Masters degree.

I was of the understanding that a Masters is enough for university level education. Is that wrong or does it differ across states?

It seems to differ across the states and depending on the degree. I'm an Education major, and if I stay in NY I'll be required to get a Master's degree in so many years in order to continue to qualify to work. In other states, this is not the case, and you only need an Undergraduate degree. Since I don't plan on staying in NY, my continuing education is a big question mark depending on where I move (though I would eventually like to see a Master's either/or).

[Shiny]

I am too lazy to go upstairs and get my schedule, but I know it will include Advanced Avid and After Effects class. I'm also taking a class on Advanced Production with Chris Newman who has worked on films like The Godfather, The Exorcist, and Silence of the Lambs so that should be pretty cool. My major is in film editing. I'm going for a Bachelor. I may pursue a Masters at a near-by college after I'm done getting my Bachelors.

[Raistlin]

I was of the understanding that a Masters is enough for university level education. Is that wrong or does it differ across states?

The minimum requirement may only be a Masters, but today in order to have much of a chance of getting tenure (or even a job in the first place) you need a PhD. I think all of my professors in the History and Poli Sci departments had PhDs. The only ones that I remember didn't were my Spanish professors.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah, you can teach at uni level here without a PhD., but I'd say about 80-85% of people do have one, and many of the remainder are working as teachers whilst doing their own doctorates.

[Rye]

I was of the understanding that a Masters is enough for university level education. Is that wrong or does it differ across states?

The minimum requirement may only be a Masters, but today in order to have much of a chance of getting tenure (or even a job in the first place) you need a PhD. I think all of my professors in the History and Poli Sci departments had PhDs. The only ones that I remember didn't were my Spanish professors.

Yeah. I'd need my masters as a minimum even if I were to teach High School within 3 years of getting a job there, like Clo said.

But on the university level, you can land a job as a lower professor, perhaps an assistant or part-time with just an MA, or as a full teacher at a 2-year school. But you have to work towards your PhD and obtain it before you can be offered a full position at the majority of four year universities, let alone be offered tenure there. To get tenure, you have to already be publishing a lot within the field of your position. It's hard to get tenure, but when you do get it, you're pretty much set for life.

[Fujiko]

Yeah, you can teach at uni level here without a PhD., but I'd say about 80-85% of people do have one, and many of the remainder are working as teachers whilst doing their own doctorates.

That's how it is in Sweden (at least in Stockholm, since I go to uni there); they all have at least a PhD (but most are professors). If they don't have a PhD they're doing their doctorate research when they're not teaching uni students.

[The Man]

I have a bachelor's degree in political science. I went into the field because I wanted to help people, and by the time I had completed my degree I had concluded that there was no way to do that in any meaningful fashion by working with politicians. Maybe I'm just being too cynical, but nearly every political official in our government has too wide an ideological gulf separating them from my own views for me to be able to tolerate working with them, both on the authoritarian/libertarian and on the economic scale. And there's no chance I can get elected to anything significant, with my social and (somewhat anti-) religious views. To be honest I'm not sure an atheist could get elected dog catcher in this country.

I'm still hoping that I can make some meaningful changes outside of the system, but we'll see. For now I'm just working at a book store whilst I recuperate from motivational depletion due to six years of university. (Yes I switched majors a lot).

[escobert]

I went to Plymouth State University in Plymouth New hampshire. I only attended for a semester and decided homework and tests weren't for me ata the time. Now after grinding in the working world I've been thinking I'd like to go back at somepoint. But I'm not sure what I'd want to do. I was a history major before but I'd either like to work wiht animals or computers imo.