In which decade did you start college?

What decade did you start college in?

  • I didn't

    Votes: 5 3.3%

  • 50's

    Votes: 3 2.0%

  • 60's

    Votes: 11 7.3%

  • 70's

    Votes: 44 29.1%

  • 80's

    Votes: 31 20.5%

  • 90's

    Votes: 28 18.5%

  • 00's? is that a thing?

    Votes: 21 13.9%

  • 10's.

    Votes: 8 5.3%
  • Total voters
    151
Shepherd said:
Can't take your poll. Not enough options.
I started college in 1967. (Double major, English and History)
Went back to college again in 1975. (Double major, Math and Physics)
Went back again in 1999. (Theology)
I was actually thinking of matriculating again in the fall. Since I'm retired and don't need a job I want to take something totally useless.
What's a really useless college degree?
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Art History.
 
azblackbird said:
I've been debating whether I need to buy an MBA or not. On one hand it looks good (or so I've heard) to potential investors. On the other hand I ask myself... do I really need any investors... and why would an MBA impress them? :dunno:
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We don’t even think about that when we’re investing in a business idea. We look at whether or not the idea will be profitable and if so, will the profit be worth the risk.
 
Half Fast said:
No surprise. Even my MSEE (UCF) seemed easy after GT. Tech is a very challenging school.

A buddy’s son is a HS senior looking at colleges, and two he is considering are GT and MIT. I told my friend, “MIT is much harder to get into; GT is much harder to get out of.”

If you look at the stats, you’ll see that’s true. GT has a much lower 4 year graduation rate, with the majority of students needing 5 years or so.
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I've known lots of people on the 5 year, or more, plan. I have a son on it, at IUPUI.
 
murphey said:
Art History.
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Two identical replies, that bolster my own observations.
I have an acquaintance from my IBM days, whose daughter went all the way through school to a PhD in Pre-Rennascience Art History, taking loans the entire way.
I think she is carrying $450,000.00 +++ dollars in school loans. The only job she could find was selling ice cream from the back of an ice cream truck, and that only because her uncle owned the truck.
Daddy was smart enough not to co-sign any loans.
Daughter is now living in a country with no extradition, teaching English as a second language.
 
GRG55 said:
That's been a growth industry during my working lifetime. Seems the bloody HR Departments are the most powerful in most companies I've worked for as an employee. That's where all the rules came from, and when it's time for layoffs they do 'em...but not to themselves.
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Nah. They’re just the hired henchmen. They don’t make the decisions.

They’re just the people hired to make sure the decision maker doesn’t have to look anyone in the eye or feel uncomfortable in any way about failing to run the company well enough to avoid the layoff.

Or in a lot of cases, selling the company to get their cut and knowing the staff will be chopped by the new owners who handed them their check.

That last one is what happened at the last place I was at. Place was a decade ahead of their closest competitor and the C-level pushed the owner to sell to a competitor who was so far behind them, the competitor would have bankrupted themselves fixing the mess they’d already made without buying our tech.

Competitor handed the A through C levels enough money to leave or pretend they were happy and destroyed the entire competitive culture and team dynamic of the better but smaller company.

Somebody got paid. The entire 30+ IT department left. Cheaper to **** us all off than lay us all off. They knew it, too. They’d done it to other companies before ours.
 
TCABM said:
We don’t even think about that when we’re investing in a business idea. We look at whether or not the idea will be profitable and if so, will the profit be worth the risk.
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I've already spoken with a couple angel investors and not one of them has asked me about my academic pedigree. Like you said, they're more interested in profitability and exit strategy. However, from what I've gathered, when a company advances more into the IPO stages, the investment groups do like to see a well structured management (and presumably educated) team in place. Thus my reasoning for possibly wanting to buy an MBA. ;)
 
azblackbird said:
... a company advances more into the IPO stages, the investment groups do like to see a well structured management (and presumably educated) team in place. Thus my reasoning for possibly wanting to buy an MBA. ;)
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A well-executing management team is usually more valuable than a well-educated management team.

Anyone thinking about an IPO better be ready to absorb the increased regulatory scrutiny that will follow. Most times I feel an IPO is the wrong way to go; while the capital inflow can be tremendous, the outflows for expenses related to operating as a public company can strangle a company.

I’ve got a buddy who went public about 20 years back. After SOX, he bought it all back and has stayed privately held since.
 
TCABM said:
Anyone thinking about an IPO better be ready to absorb the increased regulatory scrutiny that will follow. Most times I feel an IPO is the wrong way to go; while the capital inflow can be tremendous, the outflows for expenses related to operating as a public company can strangle a company.
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Totally agree! :thumbsup:
 
murphey said:
Please note, it offers a degree in Art History.

I keep telling my CS students who don't belong in CS that there are many advantages to an Art History degree. You can travel in Europe and the Far East, studying at the museums while writing off your travel expenses.
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I was surprised to see they offered engineering. Usually the scammers have enough sense not to offer credentials that could put lives at risk, like medicine or engineering. Most of the subjects tend to be somewhat intangible, like art history or medieval poetry and the like.
 
Started my BSEE in the fall of 1970, graduated in June 1975. Seemed to be a good degree as I retired from industry in June 2015, 40 years later. Still do some consulting to help pay for the travel associated with being active in international standards committee work. Sure glad I got a degree in something that allowed me to get paid. I was in ROTC, planning on a career in the Army when a guy ran a stop sign and hit our motorcycle broadside. The resulting injury to my left ankle caused me to fail my commissioning physical. If I had been a history major like another ROTC cadet I knew, I would have been in trouble. :D
 
GlennAB1 said:
My oldest son has a B.S. degree in Art, he has a decent paying job with an advertising agency.
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That BS in Art should mean he can create something. Art History majors can describe something you can understand yourself with little if any help, thus totally useless:rolleyes:.

Cheers
 
My undergrad ME degree took 5 years to complete because you co-op, alternating working a quarter and school a quarter for the middle three+ years. If you flunked a class, you missed a year since the class schedule was fixed to a rigid schedule. You had to wait a year till it came around again.

Fortunately my co-op job was at a machine tool company and included being enrolled in their apprentice program. I graduated on time as an Engineer and a Journeyman machinist which was (and still is) handy in a lot of ways.

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
That BS in Art should mean he can create something. Art History majors can describe something you can understand yourself with little if any help, thus totally useless:rolleyes:.
Cheers
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My wife took a college course "The History of Wine". I laughed when I first heard she had signed up for it, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult, and interesting, courses she took, getting a B.S. in general studies.

There are decent paying (supervisory) jobs out there for individuals with any degree.

I'd think someone with an Art History degree could teach, or work in a museum... maybe not totally useless.
 
GlennAB1 said:
My wife took a college course "The History of Wine". I laughed when I first heard she had signed up for it, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult, and interesting, courses she took, getting a B.S. in general studies.
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At Colorado State, they have a degree in Fermentation Science. It's probably a difficult program, but how cool to say you have a degree in beer.
 
GlennAB1 said:
My oldest son has a B.S. degree in Art, he has a decent paying job with an advertising agency.
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My sister has a degree in Russian language and wanted to work for the CIA or Navy Intelligence.

Instead she lives off welfare and Medicaid and hopes communism will soon replace the constitution.
 
Zeldman said:
My sister has a degree in Russian language and wanted to work for the CIA or Navy Intelligence.

Instead she lives off welfare and Medicaid and hopes communism will soon replace the constitution.
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You're kidding! :eek:
 
Zeldman said:
My sister has a degree in Russian language and wanted to work for the CIA or Navy Intelligence.

Instead she lives off welfare and Medicaid and hopes communism will soon replace the constitution.
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Were you able to convince her to change her name, or did the entire rest of the family have to change theirs?
 
Started at a NJ county college for Associate degree in Fall 2009, graduated in Fall 2011. Then transferred for a Bachelors degree to an out-of-state state college in Spring 2012 and graduated in Spring 2014.

Took 5 years to get my Associates and Bachelors.
 
azblackbird said:
I've already spoken with a couple angel investors and not one of them has asked me about my academic pedigree. Like you said, they're more interested in profitability and exit strategy. However, from what I've gathered, when a company advances more into the IPO stages, the investment groups do like to see a well structured management (and presumably educated) team in place. Thus my reasoning for possibly wanting to buy an MBA. ;)
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Getting the MBA isn't about putting the parchment on the wall. It's about A) developing the business skill to analyze, develop and execute a strategy and developing your organization and B) broadening your book of business contacts. When I did mine I was a young hot-shot executive on the fast track thinking mostly about getting a credential. Much to my chagrin it turned out there was a lot I had to learn. It's not the degree you earn, but the knowledge you gain from the effort partners will value. Once you develop some advanced business skills, it's easy to spot the fraud at the table.
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
Graduated in 2000 after 5 and a half hard workin years.
I am the only person I have met that has a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science.

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I was roaming the same campus with 6PC at the same time and didn’t even know it. Hallowed halls.
 
TCABM said:
We don’t even think about that when we’re investing in a business idea. We look at whether or not the idea will be profitable and if so, will the profit be worth the risk.
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In making that risk/reward determination, MBA skills can be quite valuable across many dimensions.
It surprises me that so many hold such a negative view of advanced education. Education in and of itself is a good thing, it leads to a richer life, even if not in a pecuniary sense of the word.
 
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X3 Skier said:
That BS in Art should mean he can create something. Art History majors can describe something you can understand yourself with little if any help, thus totally useless:rolleyes:.

Cheers
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OTOH, the art history major can take an ephemeral concept, describe it in terms of the cultural and sociological influences under which it was created, and write and present it in such a way as to make the concept relevant to contemporary readers.

Now, ask an engineer to to the same thing.
 
N918KT said:
Started at a NJ county college for Associate degree in Fall 2009, graduated in Fall 2011. Then transferred for a Bachelors degree to an out-of-state state college in Spring 2012 and graduated in Spring 2014.

Took 5 years to get my Associates and Bachelors.
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Had some time at Burlington County CC years ago.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
OTOH, the art history major can take an ephemeral concept, describe it in terms of the cultural and sociological influences under which it was created, and write and present it in such a way as to make the concept relevant to contemporary readers.

Now, ask an engineer to to the same thing.
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As an engineer, I bet I could do a better job of that than an art history major could do at designing a cruise missile.

FWIW (not much), while an engineering student I aced every class I took in Lit, Modern Drama, History, Religion, etc. Along the way I tutored countless liberal arts majors in math and CS.
 
Started college in 1973 at Clemson. Joined the Aero Club my junior year and got my PPL a few months later. The Club Cessna 150 rented for $10/hour and instruction was also $10/hour. The Air Force ROTC ground school instructor let me sit in on his ground school class. Finished with BS degree in Ag Economics in 1977 after 4 1/2 years. The BS part could have an alternative meaning.
 
Half Fast said:
As an engineer, I bet I could do a better job of that than an art history major could do at designing a cruise missile.

.
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Did you know that MIT offers a degree path in the history of art? My guess is that many of those folks could do both, and probably better than you or I.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
When I did mine I was a young hot-shot executive on the fast track thinking mostly about getting a credential. Much to my chagrin it turned out there was a lot I had to learn. It's not the degree you earn, but the knowledge you gain from the effort partners will value.
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I don't behoove anyone for getting a "formal" education. I was never blessed to be in that situation. I was always out in the real world getting mine. ;)
 
Started in 81. Graduated with BS in General Engineering (a little of everything but no specific field) in 85 and commissioned in Army at the same time. Ended up medically retired from Army in 2003 due non-combat injuries. Never went for additional degrees. I was never a huge fan of school and preferred working over sitting and listening to someone lecture. Been working in corporate world for last 14+ years. Looking to retire in 2-3 years.

As for English Majors, that is what my older daughter has. Graduated 2014 and now making $50K plus as Manager of Digital Publishing for small company...which is a bit more than her husband who has an IT degree.


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