Shall I go back to school?

catch22

i graduated, took 2 years off, then went to law school. it was easy for me though, i was waiting tables and my 18 year old gf was telling me i was a loser. maybe it would have been harder if i'd had a real, decent job. most of my classmates had 2-3 years of work under their belt before they quit to go to law school though, so it's not uncommon.

reversedarwinism

I'm attending college this semester for the first time in 9 years. Its crazy, but its got to be a good thing no matter what I decide to do.

GraySaturday

I'm going back to school, and I'll be 25 next month..

not really later on in life.. but its hard to go back once you've been away from it. I just felt like I had no career, and no path, and I wanted to be a teacher, and the only way to do it was to bite the bullet and go back.

Now, I'm really excited for it, and I'm happy I chose to go back to school. Wishing I did earlier!

Porchsitter

Turned 32 last October, graduated college with my Bachelors in December. It's worth it.

TrixieCat

know1 wrote:

I don't think that's always a good idea. I think real world experience is better than the degree for a lot of fields unless you're just wanting to go to school

I don't know of any fields that would prefer experience over a degree these days.
Colleges are pouring out thousands and thousands of degrees every year. You almost have to have one in your field. And a masters is becoming increasingly important.
Someone close to me has worked at the same company for 15 years and was at the end of the line concerning promotions without a degree. The highest level he could achieve was a project manager. A VP is out of the question.
Yes, you may think it is just a piece of paper, but when the 50 other people going for the job you want have it and you don't...your experience won't matter.

patrickredeyes

brainofPJ wrote:

do it.

i'll be 29 in october....monday i start school...

yippy

My first real day of school is today.

I'm excited and nervous both at the same time.

KosmicJelli

DO IT!! If your insides are telling you too... GO FOT IT!!! I know people that still go to school at 75... your never to old to learn... and education is one of the world greatests gifts... knowledge is power and nobody can ever take that from you! All my best whatever you decide to do!

decides2dream

cutback wrote:

of course you should

what do you want to study? eventual degree?

absolutely!


do consider what you want to get out of this degree as well. are you looking simply for personal enrichment, or financial/career gains......consider both for what you truly want.


btw - considering the experience vs. education debate...it really DOES depend on your field, your company/firm, etc....and even then, there are exceptions. my sister has NO college degree and she is just below the partners in her firm. she got there solely on her experience alone, sure with some coursework thrown in early, but no degree. i have a MA and it was necessary in my previous field, education, but right now i make more $$$ in a completely unrelated field where my degrees are unnecessary and unrelated, although certainly did have some bearing on my salary, etc. other fields/firms won't touch you without a degree of some sort, so thus why i said, truly consider what you want to get from it and where you want to go with it.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Yes.

dunkman

TrixieCat wrote:

I don't know of any fields that would prefer experience over a degree these days.
Colleges are pouring out thousands and thousands of degrees every year. You almost have to have one in your field. And a masters is becoming increasingly important.
Someone close to me has worked at the same company for 15 years and was at the end of the line concerning promotions without a degree. The highest level he could achieve was a project manager. A VP is out of the question.
Yes, you may think it is just a piece of paper, but when the 50 other people going for the job you want have it and you don't...your experience won't matter.

and thats fucked up is what that is.

BinGnarly

I'm trying to do the opposite. I'm trying to get out of school for the time being. I'm 20 and broke. My mom seems to think that ill be fine financially which isn't the case. As of right now I don't have a job and she doesn't have a job. I live on my own and feel I just need to save up some money before I go to school full time. Last semester I failed out of a community college because I was stressing about money. I never knew if I was going to have enough money to make rent or not. It sucked. Don't get me wrong here. I want and know that I need to get an education but I want to do it on my terms. Not my moms. But my advice to you is get back in school if you want to be there. Having an education is a very important thing to have in our world.

EvilMerlin wrote:

So I'm on the fence right now of resigning from my position in a couple of months, going back to being a bum server

Serving is one of the more stressful job and hard working jobs i've ever had. You bust your ass for $2.65 an hour in hopes that someone will leave you a nice tip. Yes you can make amazing money when it comes to serving or you can make nothing. I've worked 10 hour shifts and made 300 dollars i've also worked ten hour shifts and made 20 dollars. So this whol "bum server" thing I don't much appreciate.

EvilMerlin

BinGnarly wrote:

. So this whol "bum server" thing I don't much appreciate.

Don't look into it too much and let it offend you. I've served for a few years myself, my sister has 10+, my mother has been in the restaurant business her whole life. I know the in's and out's of it and I'm sorry you live in a state where they calculate your tips to account for your hourly wage. Where I'm at all restaurants give at least minimum wage hourly. Also living in a high convention/tourist area there's a more constant tip flow on top of that. With that comes a higher stress level but shifts usually only cosist of 4-6 hours. Not to mention you don't take your work home with you while serving. It's a short burst of a stress period, nothing major if you know how to deal with it. Many people can actually make a profession out of serving in SoCal.

TrixieCat

dunkman wrote:

and thats fucked up is what that is.

It is what it is.

Of course years ago someone can get further in their career with experience...but it is not the norm.
GO to school .

ofthegirl75

Go now before kids and spouses and all the stuff that goes with it. It took me 5 years to get a 2 year degree.

EvilMerlin

Thanks to everyone that replied, and that continues to reply if I don't get to you. I had no idea this many people would reply to that long of a post.

I suppose I was just looking at other perspectives of what people thought. I only see it from one side with my family and close friends. They're all of the 'experience is more important than school' breed and think I'm out of my mind.

I was finishing up my junior year when I had to leave school. So with retaking a few classes I should be able to finish up in 2 years. My degree was for Biological Psych, on a neuroscience path. I was also preparing to take courses to lead into my credential program so I could teach while I continued on to get my masters after I graduated. Possibly taking a year off from school to get settled into teaching and knowing my location, then going back the next year. My goal is to teach, I'd be happy with high school because I can then go on and coach basketball finally since I've had many offers I could take and do that, which has always been my dream. However...no degree, no credentials, no job at the school and my current job right now doesn't leave me enough time to go on and coach.

Also, as I continue on through graduate school, I'd consider moving up into teaching at the college level depending on how far I extended my education.

It was all planned out until I was about 21, and was close to being there until I went to work full time.

EvilMerlin

ofthegirl75 wrote:

Go now before kids and spouses and all the stuff that goes with it. It took me 5 years to get a 2 year degree.

That's my whole thing as well. I know many people at my age that are now looking at getting married, or started having kids, and I don't have that on me right now. So I would need to get this out of the way also before that comes, because once it does, then all hell breaks loose as far as trying to finish. My sister went for two years, had a kid, then it took her five years to finish her junior and senior year.

dunkman

TrixieCat wrote:

It is what it is.
.

yep.. fucked up.

jamie uk

dunkman wrote:

yep.. fucked up.

let it go buddy let it go. You can always get a job on the bin lorry and boss those fuckers about

dawng

go for it I went back to school at 27 and it was a great experience. good luck!

EvilMerlin

TrixieCat wrote:

It is what it is.

Of course years ago someone can get further in their career with experience...but it is not the norm.
GO to school .

I got this job based on experience and not a degree. They hired 12 people and I was the only one without a degree, BASED on my experience.

And because of my experience in 18 months I've already been promoted ahead of the class I was hired in with, and moved on from there. However I'll continue moving up, and be their supervisor within a certain amount of years...however, that's where I'll stop. I'll be making a good living, but with a lot of responsibility and travel, and they'll have their degree and be able to move elsewhere in the company and get out of this area and continue on moving up. So basically I'm here to give those new kids the experience they need so they can just basically bunny hop over me within the organization and move on to other things. It's one of the few places left I suppose where experience does count(like you were saying, it's not the norm anymore), but experience+degree will get you there if this is the place you want to be.

However when things slow down I'll be laid off right away which is bound to happen. Not in the next five years, but anything beyond that is uncertain. So rather than hit that uncertain point and then scramble to figure out life and get by until I'm needed again, I'd rather get working on what I want to do now, and get myself setup the way I originally planned. I'm so far off track from what I was doing it's not even funny, and all of a sudden like a big slap in the face it hit me, that's why I was frustrated with life. I wasn't doing what I wanted to do. The money didn't make me happy, the new job didn't make me happy, the nicer apartment didn't make me happy, the nicer car didn't work, none of it helped me become who I wanted to be. It just deterred me from being that person. Well, I'm not caught up in a situation where I have responsibilities that keep me from going to school, so I might as well get it done before I can't any longer.