Is a Bachelors degree worth it?

[GenMarshall]

This servey question is more aimed twards CFCers who currently holds a BA/BS in a science/field .

Anyway, I have heard from several sources that it is good to have a BA/BS since it enables you to earn more money than with a High School Diploma and/or an associates.

While other sources said that you wont get far without a masters degree or above in that particular field.

My question to the CFC community "Is a bachelor's degree worth it?"

 

[Moss]

Yes, of course it is. Even if it is just a means to get your masters degree. To me, any degree higher than the previous degree is worth it in some way. Even if you don't necessarily get payed much more, I value education and the more education you get the better. (IMO)

Now there are some jobs that I can think of where it is worthless to try and get a higher degree, but those are mostly service jobs. If you want to succeed, you need to have ambition. Degree's will help you, but it is the person behind those degrees that matters.

 

[eyrei]

I have a BS in psychology. I've never done anything professionally with it, but it has come in useful at times...moderating this forum for example.

 

[stormbind]

BS sounds so... wrong. Why not call them BSc?

They are becomming extremely common, if you want to stand out then get two or three.. maybe a PhD.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

It better ****in' be.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

While other sources said that you wont get far without a masters degree or above in that particular field.

One needs a BA to get the masters, I imagine.

 

[samildanach]

My question to the CFC community "Is a bachelor's degree worth it?"

You want to be stupid forever? You might learn some self-discipline while you are at it .....but I don't hold out any hopes for you on that front.

 

[MajII]

Aside from the educational value of attaining a Bachelors you do stand a good chance of entering a higher paying job with one than without.

But if you want to avoid postsecondary education yet still want the big bucks, I'd suggest picking up on one of the trades. With so many young folk enrolling in colleges an increasing dearth of tradesmen has triggered a substantial increase in wages and salaries for high demand professions such as auto mechanics and electricians; at least in many local markets. Too many Bachelors, not enough welders.

Every self-employed plumber I have met earns more than many of the Ph.D wielding doctors I know. Anecdotal evidence, but the statistics back up the general claim.

 

[samildanach]

I have a BS in psychology. I've never done anything professionally with it, but it has come in useful at times...moderating this forum for example.

Hmmm...IIRC I thought you said in another thread that you had studied English and were looking for a job in teaching?

 

[GenMarshall]

I have a BS in psychology. I've never done anything professionally with it, but it has come in useful at times...moderating this forum for example.

Eyrei, what good would a Psych Degree help if you dont use it professonaly? Im just curious since I am planning to get a BA in Psych in 2 years along with an associates in marine science (My family jokes around that I would be analizing the behavior of clams )

 

[Milan's Warrior]

Usually yes, there is tons of scientific (economic and statistic) literature on this point. But what the statistics tell you is only for the average case. Than it depends on how good you are, how good is the school where you go...
Yes, many field scientific fields require a master or more to work in that field, but even a ba/bs is usually not wasted.

You are better off talking with a good career counselor to explore all the possibilities.

 

[GenMarshall]

Usually yes, there is tons of scientific (economic and statistic) literature on this point. But what the statistics tell you is only for the average case. Than it depends on how good you are, how good is the school where you go...
Yes, many field scientific fields require a master or more to work in that field, but even a ba/bs is usually not wasted.

You are better off talking with a good career counselor to explore all the possibilities.

Hmm, I usualy think the guys with the Masters and Doctorate Degrees (Ph.D.) are the top of the todem pole in leading a research while the Associates and the Bachellors are the technitions that usualy do the grunt work (IE do the hands on stuff).

 

[kronic]

Well, the Bachelor/Master system is new in Germany. It has been introduced some years ago. Before that, you could just go for diploma (Diplom), Master of Arts (Magister Artium) or state examinations (for lawyers, teachers etc.). All of them are comparable to Master, none of them to Bachelor.

Therefore, the Bachelor is a bit looked down upon in Germany. Of course it's better than just having a High school degree. But I've the feeling that many people get a Bachelor and so I'd say, if you can go for a Master, give it a try.

The reason why the German economy pushed for the introduction of the bachelor is simple. The better the education the higher wages (in average).

Many of the universities and professors oppose directly or indirectly the BA/MA system, but it's quickly gaining ground due to political pressure.

 

[samildanach]

Hmm, I usualy think the guys with the Masters and Doctorate Degrees (Ph.D.) are the top of the todem pole in leading a research while the Associates and the Bachellors are the technitions that usualy do the grunt work (IE do the hands on stuff).

This is generally true. But there is always exceptions. While being shown round Scripps by some friends I was introduced to a lady who ostensibly was a research technician but was being paid more than some Profs. on account of the very specialised and valuable skills she had picked up over the course of her career.

Also a guy I knew at an institute I worked in for a while got recruited straight from school and is now a world expert in his field and is also a head of a department. The nobel laureate Karl Power got a job in a pharmaceutuical firm straight from school. Neither of these guys had degrees but it helps to get your foot in the door.

 

[yoshi]

@Moss321: Yes, of course it is. Even if it is just a means to get your masters degree. To me, any degree higher than the previous degree is worth it in some way. Even if you don't necessarily get payed much more, I value education and the more education you get the better. (IMO)

An MA is fine but only people who are really into their field of study will go past graduation. There are perks though: some universities are known to shower their graduate students in gold while they put undergrads through boot camp--even though the undergrads account for the primary cash source.
As for your comment about the more eduaction the better, I've heard similar comments before and I respect that. What I don't respect are people who just learn and learn and learn, endlessly filling their brains with information without applying any of it to the real world. Most people don't make any advances in their fields nor do they at the very least obtain enlightenment from their eduaction; to these people, it's just stuff that you learn because the society you live in now requires that you have an education higher than secondary school and you just happen to get used to that environement so you just keep taking courses until the cows come home or the money runs out.


IMO:

If you're working towards a BA just for the sake of learning (as opposed to increasing your chances of employment) but don't intend to go on to an MA from there, I suggest you not waste your money (or take on those unpayable loans).

Where BA/BSc classes are concerned, don't expect to learn much from just attending lectures--if you read the material, the lectures won't add usually much to your understanding. Talk to your profs (they've been around longer than you have and most of them aren't as numb as your average joe). Forget the TAs; they don't want to be there so unless you find one that's more than the sum of their MA, ignore these bums entirely.

Academia has really gone down the drain in the past decade.

I gotta say it: It makes me personally sick when I hear 22-year-olds gloat about how they got their BA and now they're working for a big time firm with their biggest problem being which club Med location to go to on their upcoming vacation--not mentioning that they come from a well-off family that pays all life expenses while the kid's studying full-time to finish the BA/BS in record time (the financial security means the most stress the kid gets is the fear of missing out on Saturday night partying because of the cold she got from staying up way into the morning in a wet t-shirt at the last party) and then gets the job thanks to her daddy's connections.

 

[jonatas]

i would say Bachelor's of science are generally more worthwhile than B.A's.... in fact an awful lot of B.A's are just plain worthless... i mean maybe a B.A. helps you climb the social ladder in a particular area, but in terms of actual discipline and knowledge, i remain suspicious of alot of "artsy" b.a's... of course, there are always exceptions

 

[Mrogreturns]

I have a B.Sc and a Ph.D and sometimes I wish I'd been a plumber instead.

 

[samildanach]

I have a B.Sc and a Ph.D and sometimes I wish I'd been a plumber instead.

You should have thought it through more and did a PhD in fluid dynamics like me. That way you could have fulfilled your plumbing ambitions at the same time .

 

[yoshi]

If you get a PhD, you frequently run into the ol' "overqualified" obstacle (i.e. you don't get the job).

Plumbers make good money because they are ALWAYS needed.

So there you have it: give up your academic daydream and get real by becoming a plumber!

Don't let the promise of cushy office job fool you, it seems like just anybody has a BA these days, so you'll face just plenty of competition--especially given the *ucked up nature of the present international market economy. Soon you'll need a bloody BA just get a plumbing permit!

And if you're looking for a position in academic circles, forget it. Each old Prof. that retires or dies off doesn't get replaced, the course is closed--except for certain technical fields. Universities are becoming more like technical training colleges every day.

About the BSc being better than a BA:

I'll give you a simple formula that will clear things up for you: science cannot exist without knowledge, knowledge requires imagination, imagination requires insperation, art provides insperation without any (or little) prior knowledge.
This society is in a state of social stagnation precisely because there are more BScs than BAs (political science doesn't count because it really should be a science). Technological development means nothing if the capacity to innovate isn't there (i.e. innovation requires creativity and that rises from arts, not sciences--in the past, the two have been meshed together whereas now they are completely seperate); it is not progress because its purpose is not to enlighten humanity but rather to research for its own sake. If it were otherwise, society would not be disfunctional as it is now (that term refers to the fact that society does not serve its primary purpose which is the maxization of benefits to all people who participate in it). Of course, the arts have tried to adapt by making themselves more applicable to the day-to-day and have only degraded their position in doing so.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

How are you going to get a masters without a bachelors?