What is your highest level of education?

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What is your highest level of Education?

No diploma or degree--I am a dropout
1
4%
High School or equivalent (GED)
3
13%
Associates Degree (2 year)
5
22%
Bachelors Degree (4 year)
5
22%
Masters Degree
8
35%
Doctoral Degree
1
4%
 
Total votes: 23

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bk7794
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by bk7794 »

potownrob wrote:I earned a B.A. Spanish language w/ French minor, then went directly to graduate school for an M.A.T. Spanish degree to teach Spanish (and possibly French and even Italian); ended up abandoning the M.A.T. due to the combination of being lazy, not wanting to read a bunch of books about literature (the final test before getting the degree and needed to get certified was to discuss and answer questions about 20+ books mostly literature books - I was good at linguistics, not literature and what goes with it or history, and they wouldn't let me use books on Spanish and Romance linguistics), and being busy with work while working on the degree.

My current jobs do not require even a high school diploma - there are high school students and probably people who never finished high school who have worked here - at the hotel you can work your way up within the hotel or within the owners' empire of hotels and restaurants, so i've had people who should (IMO) be scrubbing floors and toilets as managers and supervisors. Contrary to popular belief, very few hotel workers (at least around here) have degrees in hospitality nor have they studied it at all, and I don't know of any hotel managers who have taken courses on hotel management or even basic hospitality courses. Everything I know about my job, I learned on the job. At CVS, it's the same thing of people who either worked their way up within the stores to become supervisors and managers, or they came in with no experience and just fit the personality of a CVS supervisor or manager. CVS does train its managers and supervisors (albeit often not too well), and the regular clerks also get some basic training, both hands-on training and some reading and assessments. Not that I'm that smart, but very few people who I could characterize as smart have made it as managers at either of my jobs, from what I've seen.

edit: i'm 33
You can always work in a private grade school. Many of those people aren't even certified by the state. Though I think they are abandoning that philosophy of hiring anyone. Still might be worth it.


I'll answer this question though. I finished high school and am currently working on a bachelors degree in Computer Networking. It's at a local state school where tuition is....reasonable.

I'm in the 18-24 age group.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by SonicHKS »

tankinbeans wrote:Sonic, you're right. I'm not really passionate about any job. I've tried gauging the market and choosing my education accordingly and that hasn't really helped much. I usually get annoyed and try to do the right thing by asking questions and get sent out to some dumb website where I can take a personality assessment.

Invariably the assessment comes back with mycology (the study of mold) or something similar. Then I get sent to some website that is so confusing it may as well be written in Greek. I'm not interested in being upper management and prefer to go to work then home and I have no desire to "live to work."
lol the way you're doing it, there's a gap between what you're studying and what jobs are actually out there. Don't focus on the subject material, focus on the job. First step should be finding a specific job you WANT. Look on Indeed. Your goal needs to be that specific, not just "Oh I want a job in biology". Also, don't look for something hard to get....look for things that are entry level. Basically, you need to find the job you'd get with your degree, before getting your degree, and use as your goal to choose your major.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

SonicHKS wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:Sonic, you're right. I'm not really passionate about any job. I've tried gauging the market and choosing my education accordingly and that hasn't really helped much. I usually get annoyed and try to do the right thing by asking questions and get sent out to some dumb website where I can take a personality assessment.

Invariably the assessment comes back with mycology (the study of mold) or something similar. Then I get sent to some website that is so confusing it may as well be written in Greek. I'm not interested in being upper management and prefer to go to work then home and I have no desire to "live to work."
lol the way you're doing it, there's a gap between what you're studying and what jobs are actually out there. Don't focus on the subject material, focus on the job. First step should be finding a specific job you WANT. Look on Indeed. Your goal needs to be that specific, not just "Oh I want a job in biology". Also, don't look for something hard to get....look for things that are entry level. Basically, you need to find the job you'd get with your degree, before getting your degree, and use as your goal to choose your major.
This is one way to do it: Focus on a job that may or may not be there when you get out. I tend not to advise most of my students in this way because
(1) No job is perfect. All jobs will have their cool parts and their crappy parts.
(2) The job market changes every year. The job you thought would be cool based on salary or location alone may very well change or disappear all together before you get your degree.
(3) Are you aware of all the possible jobs out there? Those offered by small companies and large companies and everything in between---not forgetting that, with the right market research, starting one's own business could work, too.

No, you have to start with what you love. But Sonic is right, "biology" is a bit broad. Do you like biochemistry? biophysics? computational biology? experimental biology? molecular biology or macro biology? Maybe it wasn't biology but ecology? Or was it botany?

Get your degree in what you love. Only in this field will you put your best effort.

And it's only with experience in the job market will you be able to narrow down your desires.

I love physics. All physics. But I was rapidly learning during my graduate degree program that some aspects of research just weren't very fun. And I was always jonesing for the latest theory that I hadn't yet wrapped my head around. My last job was supporting biologists at a synchrotron x-ray facility. Part of that was fun, but, what was even funner (to use my GF's term), was when they let me teach physics. Then I knew what I wanted to do.

All that was left was to apply to open positions in the states I would even consider living in (Did The South once... not going back).

It really is a never-ending process of trying out a gig, finding out if it's worth staying and, if not, figuring out what's wrong and getting a job that doesn't have what you didn't like (or has what you couldn't get in the last job).

It's not easy, but if you have the right attitude, it's both a fun and enlightening process.

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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by tankinbeans »

I'm very interested in micro-biology. When I read "The Hot Zone," which I mentioned in another thread, I got very impressed and interested in the subject. I spent a good three years reading similar books when I had the time.

The nice part of my current degree program is that it focuses on the broader subject area to begin, and then allows you to drill down to the specifics too find what you're really good at. I'm mostly done with gen eds since they were required for my A.S. Now, I just need tho find a job compatible with lab courses.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

tankinbeans wrote:I'm very interested in micro-biology. When I read "The Hot Zone," which I mentioned in another thread, I got very impressed and interested in the subject. I spent a good three years reading similar books when I had the time.

The nice part of my current degree program is that it focuses on the broader subject area to begin, and then allows you to drill down to the specifics too find what you're really good at. I'm mostly done with gen eds since they were required for my A.S. Now, I just need tho find a job compatible with lab courses.
As I mentioned there, I am aware of it, but haven't read it, myself. But when you move on and do your labs, pay attention to how well you're... well... paying attention. :-) If you're really doing well and enjoying the class and pestering the instructor about details not explored in your lab book, you've found a niche to explore.

Keep us posted....
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by Squint »

zenfiz6 wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:I'm very interested in micro-biology. When I read "The Hot Zone," which I mentioned in another thread, I got very impressed and interested in the subject. I spent a good three years reading similar books when I had the time.

The nice part of my current degree program is that it focuses on the broader subject area to begin, and then allows you to drill down to the specifics too find what you're really good at. I'm mostly done with gen eds since they were required for my A.S. Now, I just need tho find a job compatible with lab courses.
As I mentioned there, I am aware of it, but haven't read it, myself. But when you move on and do your labs, pay attention to how well you're... well... paying attention. :-) If you're really doing well and enjoying the class and pestering the instructor about details not explored in your lab book, you've found a niche to explore.

Keep us posted....
Unfortunately, part of this might be related to how good/interesting the instructor is. History (where I have my degree) is considered boring by most but I enjoy it. However, even I can be bored by a monotone lecturer who is just reading notes off a podium.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

Squint wrote:
zenfiz6 wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:I'm very interested in micro-biology....

The nice part of my current degree program is that it focuses on the broader subject area to begin, and then allows you to drill down to the specifics too find what you're really good at. I'm mostly done with gen eds since they were required for my A.S. Now, I just need tho find a job compatible with lab courses.
As I mentioned there, I am aware of it, but haven't read it, myself. But when you move on and do your labs, pay attention to how well you're... well... paying attention. :-) If you're really doing well and enjoying the class and pestering the instructor about details not explored in your lab book, you've found a niche to explore.

Keep us posted....
Unfortunately, part of this might be related to how good/interesting the instructor is. History (where I have my degree) is considered boring by most but I enjoy it. However, even I can be bored by a monotone lecturer who is just reading notes off a podium.
You can be bored by the lecture, but would that make you dislike history? Hardly. If you're turned off of a subject just because of a poor instructor, you were never really interested in it in the first place.

I've been in physics lectures that were far from exciting. Either the lecturer wasn't prepared, or talked over our heads, or clearly couldn't care less. But I always took home something interesting because it was my favorite subject. Even if what I took home was an unanswered question to go look up.

I've heard students complain: "I was really interested in X until I had to take a class on it from Prof. Y."

Bullocks.

Prof. Y may have been boring or may have made them work hard. Lack of interest plus hard work equals whining. But when you really like something, the work you put into it never feels like work. And even a boring or indifferent lecturer only emboldens you to learn in spite of them.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by tankinbeans »

Speaking only for myself, it's the format that I can't quite get a grasp on. Taking classes online is not my first choice and I will be doing my best to avoid them in the future, whether it be through Saturday classes or evenings (pending amenable employment). I have no doubt that this would be working better if I had the opportunity to go on campus. I guess it's something about driving to campus that allows me to get into the right mindset to really absorb what I'm trying to learn.

There are too many distractions at home.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

tankinbeans wrote:Speaking only for myself, it's the format that I can't quite get a grasp on. Taking classes online is not my first choice and I will be doing my best to avoid them in the future, whether it be through Saturday classes or evenings (pending amenable employment). I have no doubt that this would be working better if I had the opportunity to go on campus. I guess it's something about driving to campus that allows me to get into the right mindset to really absorb what I'm trying to learn.

There are too many distractions at home.
On-line courses tend to favor those who are home-bound (because of job, kids, etc) and can set rigid study habits at home.

And when I say this, I'm not knocking you in the slightest. Trust me: if I didn't have to leave the house to go to work, I'm fairly certain that I'd get nothing done.

I mean, c'mon... PJs and mocha in front of Babylon 5 reruns!
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by theholycow »

zenfiz6 wrote:You can be bored by the lecture, but would that make you dislike history? Hardly. If you're turned off of a subject just because of a poor instructor, you were never really interested in it in the first place.

I've been in physics lectures that were far from exciting. Either the lecturer wasn't prepared, or talked over our heads, or clearly couldn't care less. But I always took home something interesting because it was my favorite subject. Even if what I took home was an unanswered question to go look up.

I've heard students complain: "I was really interested in X until I had to take a class on it from Prof. Y."

Bullocks.

Prof. Y may have been boring or may have made them work hard. Lack of interest plus hard work equals whining. But when you really like something, the work you put into it never feels like work. And even a boring or indifferent lecturer only emboldens you to learn in spite of them.
I think there's a middle ground where someone could go either way. You could even imagine Pavlovian conditioning where a student generates an internal emotional association, good or bad, with a subject as a result of formative experiences with said subject.

This sounds a lot like a nature vs. nurture argument.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

theholycow wrote:You could even imagine Pavlovian conditioning where a student generates an internal emotional association, good or bad, with a subject as a result of formative experiences with said subject.
And now you know the reason why a large number of teachers bring candy to class. :lol:
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by tankinbeans »

I thought the candy was meant to be beamed at the sleepers in class and startle them awake.
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by Squint »

tankinbeans wrote:I thought the candy was meant to be beamed at the sleepers in class and startle them awake.
That turns it into a win-win for the sleeper. Nap and then candy!
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by zenfiz6 »

Squint wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:I thought the candy was meant to be beamed at the sleepers in class and startle them awake.
That turns it into a win-win for the sleeper. Nap and then candy!
I just throw bricks. :D
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Re: What is your highest level of education?

Post by ClutchDisc »

zenfiz6 wrote:
Squint wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:I thought the candy was meant to be beamed at the sleepers in class and startle them awake.
That turns it into a win-win for the sleeper. Nap and then candy!
I just throw bricks. :D
That's more effective. :mrgreen:
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