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[Bauglir]

I think Aqizzar may have the right of it. Although, from mathematics, you may find it possible to branch out into some more obviously practical areas in a grad program, particularly if you start planning for it now and taking introductory courses on the side of your major-required ones. Might I suggest biology hint hint nudge wink?

[fqllve]

The associating thing I personally find is very important.

Frankly, that's what I've always considered the main purpose of college to be. Education is kind of a side benefit, but what it really allows you to do is make connections with the people in your field, which will be far more important than any information you could acquire.

[Protactinium]

My father is a PhD in biology, and he teaches at a community college in New York City. He constantly pushes me to ask my Computer Science professors if they have any projects that I could help them with. The reason is because that's how he knows the system works: you want to appear to be interested in the subject matter, which makes the professor likes you, which enables you to get on a good path as you get recommended for internships at labs here and there. My sister, who is 5 years older than me, is about a year away from getting her own PhD in biology, and she did exactly as my father said.

And now she's working in a lab that is having a lot of success in trials in developing a vaccine for breast and pancreatic cancer. She found people who took her up, and edged her way into a lab where she conducts experiments the legit scientist way--on mice. (Amusing side-note: the term used by most scientists is "sacrifice" when they kill an animal in order to dissect it. At every single instance where you could use the word "kill", they use "sacrifice".) Because she found people to associate with, her degree ended up giving her a pretty good career path, even though she majored in Biology with NO IDEA WHAT SHE WANTED TO DO. She got lucky, and by that, I mean she maximized her chances at getting a good job by associating with relevant people, and it worked.

[Leafsnail]

Hmm... so does having a college degree not have any kind of value if your subjects didn't directly relate to the jobs your applying for?  Here generally it can be vaguely helpful in finding a job since it shows you were able to stick it out and work hard for 3 years.

[Bauglir]

Yeah, up to the point where it overqualifies you, a degree of any kind is probably better than nothing. The concept of overqualification barely makes sense to me, though, certainly not with unemployment as high as it is.

[Gunner-Chan]

In the US getting a degree is like... I dunno. You get it and doors close and others may or may not open. It's nuts and I decided given my situation, and my need of only coming up with $250 a month it's NOT worth it for me.

[fqllve]

Hmm... so does having a college degree not have any kind of value if your subjects didn't directly relate to the jobs your applying for?  Here generally it can be vaguely helpful in finding a job since it shows you were able to stick it out and work hard for 3 years.

That doesn't always help you get started on your career path. In the end, though, it's about how good you are at bullshitting how useful and relevant your degree will be to the job you're applying for.

'The things I learned getting my Masters in flute performance will be DIRECTLY relevant to restoration ecology because I learned when playing a melody the border between two chords is JUST AS HAZILY DEFINED as the border between two ecosystems.'

[Protactinium]

Hmm... so does having a college degree not have any kind of value if your subjects didn't directly relate to the jobs your applying for?  Here generally it can be vaguely helpful in finding a job since it shows you were able to stick it out and work hard for 3 years.

It depends on the job you're applying for, and to be frank, the attitude of the particular interviewer. Some people/jobs really DON'T care about what your degree is in, because they do a comprehensive-enough on-the-job training and the college degree simply tells them "This person is not a total idiot, since they managed to survive that long." Some professions, like in the scholastic world, view you as a nutcase to have that mentality. If you want to be an engineer, you better have an engineering degree or a physics degree or you're wasting everybody's time.

Some jobs actively want you to be from a strange background, because they value "unique outlooks". These are few and far between, but interestingly to some people in these forums, it's often that way for video game developers. The founders of Bioware were both medical doctors. The current lead developer of World of Warcraft, Greg Street, was a Marine Biologist (PhD) before he somehow got the job developing for Age of Empires II. Toady is, of course, a pure math major with an advanced degree, and I've recently discovered a SC2 modder who no longer can support his mod because of his new job developing an EA Games-published title, even though he has a degree in 'Materials and Chemical Science'.

[MaximumZero]

Spent two hours in a store doing absolutely nothing today. No customers to sell stuff to, and no employees to talk to, because they were busy getting all the stuff off the floor so it could be waxed. *le sigh* Such boredom.

[Leafsnail]

If you want to be an engineer, you better have an engineering degree or a physics degree or you're wasting everybody's time.

Well yeah, obviously there are some jobs where you really need the degree.  The point is more that however bad the job prospects for someone with a degree look they probably aren't as bad as for a young person without one (unless an "overqualification" view is particularly prevalant).

[Protactinium]

If you want to be an engineer, you better have an engineering degree or a physics degree or you're wasting everybody's time.

Well yeah, obviously there are some jobs where you really need the degree.  The point is more that however bad the job prospects for someone with a degree look they probably aren't as bad as for a young person without one (unless an "overqualification" view is particularly prevalant).

Overqualification may or may not be a problem. In a nutshell, the reason people fear overqualified job candidates is because they're essentially a risk to the company's stability. If you can't pay a person enough to justify how much they bring to the table, they're likely to quit the position for a better opportunity as soon as one shows up. I've seldom actually seen a real scenario where this is a problem from the employer's end, though--usually, if you have a Masters Degree, you simply don't want to settle with a crummy car-washing job, and view it as a job "not worth your time" since with the amount of money and experience you invested into your degree, it frankly isn't worth your time.

[Vector]

Found out from someone else on Facebook that Rosewood apparently has a girlfriend.

Good for him.  I'm going to go over here and continue being a fuckup.

I hope they kill each other.  In the mean time, I'll be making sure not to take any evening walks in my hometown anymore.

[Aqizzar]

I hope they kill each other.

Spoken like a true ex.  Just be glad you didn't run into him in person and find out.  You never meet your ex's when you're looking good or doing well.  It's always when you've got a cold and you're wearing dirty sweat pants walking out of a pharmacy with Ointment and a 48 pack of toilet paper or something, that's when you always have to run into the ex and your replacement and their new car or something.

[Vector]

Of course, he's still rake-thin, blond, rich, and CS-degree endowed, whereas I'm still short, vaguely chubby around the middle, kinda darkly Jewish-looking, temperamental, and about to get a degree for which no one will hire me with many, many B's (mostly because I took many, many honors courses, but hey!  Who gives a shit).

And my parents are in Russia so I can't call 'em, I'm behind in two of my courses (for which I have midterms next week, of course), I'm still working off last week's rejection, and just generally rawr.

Oh, and he still hasn't apologized.  Once.  For anything.  Trust me, he should have.  He really, really should have.

Fuck 'im.

*knocks back shot of mugicha*

[Aqizzar]

*knocks back*  Ex's unite.  Let's be bitter all night long.