<p>My</a> master's wasn't worth the debt - MBAs: A dime a dozen? - CNNMoney</p>
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Be careful what you study. Going to grad school isn't always worth the time, effort and money.
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<p>The same can be said about going to college, especially for marginal students with a high probability of not graduating. The article profiles six people who regret having studied for master's degrees.</p>
<p>Why are you so concerned about all the “little people” who shouldn’t go to college? What’s it to you? They aren’t taking spots at elite schools away from your kids.</p>
<p>About 80% of the people that I work with have at least MSCS degrees - we need the specialization and the ability to do and read research work. Most of the people that we’ve hired in the last few years have Phds.</p>
<p>Ah, yes - another feel-good article.
I’m surprised that this guy hasn’t found a teaching job, though he doesn’t say that he’s applied for those specifically. Alternative certification programs are in place to allow people with advanced content knowledge in math or science to be hired as high school teachers. Maybe he wouldn’t like teaching at that level; maybe he lacks the skills other than content knowledge that make for a good teacher (of which there are many); maybe he has other issues.</p>
<p>People get worked up warning about cash for gold scams that can cost you a few thousand. </p>
<p>Here we have a group of people telling how they got bilked out of $50K-$100K for degrees that prepared them for nothing and its supposed to be no big deal?</p>
<p>As a side note to that article, the article about nursing job shortages is a good one and reflects the reality in many areas. That information should be disseminated more widely because the myth remains that nursing jobs are very plentiful.</p>
<p>It’s the common media, not representative of all folks, all the time. We can dig broadly enough and find the horror story that fits our perspective. Sometimes, it’s also good to check what that perspective is, in the first place.</p>
<p>I think everyone should know that it is not a sure thing that one will find a better job or a job at all when any college degree is attained, including advanced degrees, and degrees from highly selective, name elite colleges. There is too often a sense of entitlement and desire for immediate gratification and reward that does not always happen. In fact, these days, it’s happening less. I remember when certain engineering jobs got scarce, there were angry students and parents who had banked on a degree in that area to provide a lifetime of security in terms of a high paying job. Didn’t work that way, and it can happen in any field. </p>
<p>All any degree, any accomplishment, any additional traing can do is increase the chances of finding a job and ones chances of getting when an opportunity arise. I’ve written about my friend who got a master’s just because she could from a no name school, correspondence course and was mocked and derided for the effort at the time and even after wards (she even would take part). Her hubby and kids have shut up about it now that she landed a rather prestigious positon in academia at a well regarded school. HAD to have a master’s. Without it, no go. And she had a master’s and they accepted it without a murmur. Time and (a little) money invested 30 years ago finally paid off. Her other jobs didn’t require any degrees as they were with small organization that just needed someone who could run them and do what was needed, and they didn’t care what the academic credentials were. She worked herself to the top of those organizations and now aproaching age 60, has her dream job, and the master’s from XYZ, now defunct, but accredidation still considered valid for degrees conferred while accredited, corresponsdence program was essential to getting that positon.</p>
<p>The vast majority of people are employed. The unemployment rate for people with high school degrees is 8%; with some college or an associate’s degree, 6.9%; and with a BA or higher, 3.9%.</p>
<p>So, while it is true that, in individual cases, highly educated people can’t find jobs, I doubt that the advanced degree is a problem. It may not help, but it is unlikely to hurt.</p>
<p>Now, paying $120,000 for two advanced degrees from no name colleges is probably not the best idea. Frankly, I wouldn’t hire him for a job finance job in my organization.</p>
<p>What people need is a crystal ball to tell them whether their educational efforts will pay off.</p>
<p>If you can convince an employer that you are ‘a ten dollar man’ going for five dollars (as FIL used to say) then good for you. I just looked at that networking site beginning with an L. A distant cousin, who I assumed did technician work based on the vague things relatives say, lists plenty of job details indicating that he does work that engineers do. He does not list his ed credentials, and i know that is because he has none. So there is one engineering job being done by a non-degrees individual. I have another relative who eventually got an AS but does work that you would think would require a 4-year degree. Good for them, but how do you plan for this?</p>
<p>Certainly everyone has to do a realistic cost-benefit analysis, including the opportunity cost of what you could have otherwise have done with that time, energy and money. </p>
<p>However, keep in mind that one of the main reasons to get a masters degree is not just to get a resume credential in your 20s. It is to sharpen your mind, develop analytical skills, improve your writing skills, etc. Also, in your mid-career period, having a masters degree will make you more credible if you apply for a management position.</p>
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<p>Pizzagirl, from watching the pattern of the OP’s posts for the past few months, I believe he is pushing a political agenda. One that says government money is not well spent on things like Pell Grants and student loan interest.</p>
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<p>Most of the people in that article were employed. One guy had three part time jobs. </p>
<p>Nominal employment is not the point.</p>
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<p>Well, duh. Who doesn’t know that? Who thinks there are guarantees in life about anything?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, young people from families who don’t have a history of higher education often believe that a college degree is a golden ticket. They don’t have the frame of reference to understand all of the qualifications, particularly in schools with a high concentration of kids who are first generation and where most don’t go to college. For that population, nothing should be taken for granted or go without saying.</p>
<p>I know that nominal employment is not the point. My point is that the vast majority of people with college degrees are employed. The vast majority of those have jobs for which they are properly qualified.</p>
<p>The fact that we can find a handful of people who got advanced degrees who can’t find appropriate employment tells us what exactly? That no one should get an MBA? That no one should get a BA, because some people with BAs can’t find good jobs?</p>
<p>Maybe these guys interview poorly. Maybe they have body odor. I don’t know. But the statistical evidence tells you that having a college degree, in general, helps you get a job.</p>
<p>I know kids with good GPAs, internships (engineering) from Ivys and other top schools that are struggling to find work and they are going to grad school after graduation. Getting research work with a professor with good industry connections should really improve their employment prospects. Six years ago, I don’t think that these folks would have had any problems finding work with their BS degrees.</p>
<p>Times are harder for new grads. But once they have that first job, their future prospects should improve considerably.</p>
<p>Going into serious debt ($100K+) for a master’s degree in this economy is dangerous. I’ve advised our kids to think really hard about doing that…</p>
<p>Getting into a funded program is a much different thing though. A funded position means that someone is willing to pay for your research contributions and that your work may have significant value to someone after you graduate.</p>
<p>Getting an MBA INSTEAD of working is not a great idea, in most cases. However, getting an MBA while working is an excellent idea.</p>
<p>The great ruse the educated class has always attempted to impose on the less educated class is the idea that education does not matter, while blithely going about educating their own children.</p>
<p>I have noticed in these current “education is a waste of money” articles that none of the writers with children think that education is a waste of money for their own children. Only for somebody else’s children.</p>
<p>When one of these writers comes out with the story of how they discouraged their own children from pursuing higher education and how well that worked out, then they will be a sample of “one.”</p>
<p>I don’t know one person in our highly educated area who believes an education would be wasted on their own children, even those of us with a kid who is not of the “intellectual” variety. We all know the truth. Education is the bottom line, the starting gate. It matters.</p>