Big Three Grads, What Did Your Degree Do For You?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by thaddoc, Nov 7, 2006.

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  1. MrLazy

    MrLazy New Member

    Ok, thaddoc, I believe you are not trolling. However, you are making logic errors in your statements. In the quote above, you are replying to Pugbelly's statement that MOST employers don't know about accreditation and you give examples of TOP firms in a particular area or field.

    Pugbelly is most probably correct in saying that MOST employers don't know much about accreditation.

    You are probably correct in saying prestigious universities or a top company do know some about accreditation. However, that is also probably dependent upon for which position the applicant is applying. Also, it is a matter of logistics as to where companies do their recruiting. Even large firms aren't going to go to the expense of recruiting at every school. They recruit at the most prestigious schools because that is where most assume the most talented students would be.

    However, consider the fact that the "Director of Education" for Best Western has an MBA and a doctorate from an unaccredited institution. That sounds like a fairly high-level job with a large company with an unaccredited degree. A "Big 3" degree at least gets you an accredited degree which is sufficient to get a person into probably the bottom 75% of graduate schools in the country. Also, as I mentioned in my earlier post, simply getting a bachelor's degree puts a person ahead of the 73% of the population that don't get a degree.

    I'm not deluding myself either. I'm never probably going to achieve a managing partner position with Deloitte-Touche with an accounting degree from Excelsior and an MBA from University of South Florida. But can I work up to Senior Accountant for a mid-size firm or even Controller making around 125k-175k a year? That is entirely possible.

    So is a Big 3 degree worth something? Yes. Is it worth as much as a degree from Harvard? No and nobody here is claiming it is.

    You started this thread by asking Big 3 graduates what their degree had done for them. Big 3 graduates answered and some did pretty well. As I mentioned in my earlier post, not all graduates of the Big 3 are members here and not everybody feels the need or desire to brag or share their experience or achievements. Your later post in the thread seemed like you were belittling those who had achieved their degrees and improved themselves as not being relevant because they hadn't gotten into a prestigious school afterwards. (Your exact words were "why bother".) Many people do not get into prestigious schools, no matter where they got their undergraduate degree. Your earlier postings seemed trollish because of the simple question and the perceived belittlement.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    And some choose not to apply because their criteria consist of more than the latest U.S. News rankings. A big factor for me is return on investment. Charter Oak was fast, cheap, and regionally accredited. I knew it would get me into whatever grad school I wanted. Easy choice. GW was different, in that I was looking for something well known, since at the Master's level there would be no time or money advantage in a lesser known school. I just got offered the job of Director of E-Learning at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, so I suppose so far my reasoning has been confirmed by the job market.

    Doctoral study is turning out to be more difficult. I really like the idea of the Executive EdD in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania -- an Ivy League school ranked seventh in the discipline. But the tuition is $100,000, and when I consider the ROI of picking up a $850/month student loan payment for the next twenty years, well, suddenly doing research through a South African school with negligible tuition becomes a lot more attractive.

    -=Steve=-
     
  3. Longwaytogo

    Longwaytogo New Member

    Slight thread jack, but Congrats to Steve Foerster for getting that position at Marymount - a great school in the D.C. area that I have been wishing would offer an online Psychology program.

    Also I'm super impressed with a fellow NVCC grad. who got an Excelsior degree and was accepted to Virginia's TOP School, U VA.
    Way to go!
     
  4. Mark A. Sykes

    Mark A. Sykes Member

    To be fair, thaddoc was actually responding to Pugbelly's statement that most employers don't know anything about rankings. I agree with Pugbelly that most employers don't consider an applicant's institution's ratings as a primary hiring consideration, but thaddoc is right that the top dogs - the Fortune 500 - will place a premium on an ivy league education. Pugbelly is correct because most employers are not Fortune 500.

    Other than that, thaddoc is making a curious point at best with this thread. To draw an analogy, it's gone roughly like this:

    thaddoc: What has your Big 3 automobile (GM, Ford, Chrysler) done for you?

    Degreeinfo responses: Well, we bought them economically and they've driven us to and from work reliably since.

    thaddoc: But you can't place in the Indianapolis 500 - why did you bother?

    In my particular case, my TESC degree evidently resulted in a minor promotion - it wasn't made clear but it happened after I told my boss - and I have the prerequisite entry credential into most any of the fine midwestern state college Masters programs here in Southwestern Ohio. That's what I was shooting for; in that respect, I'm 100% successful. How could I have done better than that?
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Thanks! I'm actually in charge of more than just distance learning, and there are a few situations there that require more urgent attention, but it's my goal to expand greatly the programs we offer online.

    If only there were an EdD! But that one's well out of my hands. :)

    -=Steve=-
     
  6. Arl911

    Arl911 New Member

    Thanks for the kind words longwaytogo. As an 18 year old father coming out of high school with no college aspirations; I would have never imagined pursuing undergraduate, much less graduate studies at UVA at the ripe old age of 38. Happy holidays.
     
  7. xgoddessx

    xgoddessx New Member

  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    As a happy alumnus, I recommend them all the time, and would be happy to be to be interviewed about my experience with them.

    -=Steve=-
     
  9. cmt

    cmt New Member

    I have not posted much since finishing my COSC BS. I made $10/per hour as a security guard three years ago (before degree) and now I make into the six figures as an Executive Director of Resort Marketing. More than pays for itself every month. Owned one used Pontiac before and now I drive my choice of a Viper or Beamer everday. Wife had to work before and now...well, she doesn't! Major quality of life change for me. Thanks COSC!
     
  10. Vincey37

    Vincey37 New Member

    With regard to rankings and credibility, I'm pleased no organization has taken the time to look at the Big 3. Because, honestly, I wouldn't want anyone to know the truth about the academic standards of my alma matter, Thomas Edison State College.

    First, there's the fact that the degree can be comprised completely from courses from any RA school, making the difficulty of each course theoretically as low as the worst RA institution.

    Second, I don't care what statistics say, CLEP exams are NOT equivalent of undergraduate knowledge in a comparable course. I took the old Principles of Accounting exam with a vague knowledge of the basic accounting equation and what I had read in BusinessWeek, and passed. Same with Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

    Finally, the curriculum at TESC is ridiculously easy. The most glaring example is the non requirement of courses above the 200 level for the Bachelor of Arts. With the increasing number of community colleges offering one or two technical Bachelor's degrees, it would be entirely possible to complete a TESC BA at a school that is for all intents and purposes a two year institution.

    With that said, my TESC degree has allowed me to be approved to sit for the Uniform CPA Examination as a California candidate. I will be testing in April.
     
  11. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I have my Master's from a fairly respected B&M school, and I drive a 12 year-old Jeep Cherokee. What am I doing wrong? :confused: :D
     
  12. AGS

    AGS New Member

    Can you explain this to me ?

    Okay , can you explain this to me ?

    A University of Chicago Graduate student of philosophy has a job working as a waiter at some hotel while a unix programmer from the Robert Morris College making 80,000 dollars a year....

    hmmm .....

    can you explain the income discrepancy between the prestigious school and the no-name generic school you hear in T.V. commercials?

    Its called economics of job demand in the labor market ...

    increasing demand for those technical jobs over the Humanist-liberal fields..
     
  13. jtaee1920

    jtaee1920 New Member

    I was thinking something similar :) I have never put too much importance on depreciating assets like cars.
     
  14. you should tell cosc about this, they'd probably put you on the front page of their brochure.
     
  15. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Are you just stashing all that cash away???
     
  16. Marylars

    Marylars New Member

    Proud mom chiming in...

    This is in response to the original question...

    My 22 year old daughter graduated from Charter Oak with a bachelor's (concentration: Business Administration) this past summer -- combining credits from AP and CLEP testing with COSC coursework, as well as coursework from two community colleges, and approximately 30 credits from a B&M 4-year institution -- because she wanted to complete her degree in under 3 years.

    She is planning to go to law school in the fall and has already received acceptances from a number of schools, including Villanova, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Richmond, and Penn State. Additionally, she is getting some amazing scholarship offers. One of them is offering her $25k a year based on her GPA, community service and LSAT scores. She can receive that $$ each year, as long as she stays in the top 25% of her class. She still is waiting to hear from a few more schools, but so far, the offers are rolling in.

    To the naysayers on this board...yes...she has not been accepted at Harvard, Penn or Yale (nor did she apply to any of them)...but these are good, solid schools and any one of them should give her a fine education.

    Needless to say...her mama is proud!
     
  17. Marylars

    Marylars New Member

    Proud mom chiming in...

    This is in response to the original question...

    My 22 year old daughter graduated from Charter Oak with a bachelor's (concentration: Business Administration) this past summer -- combining credits from AP and CLEP testing with COSC coursework, as well as coursework from two community colleges, and approximately 30 credits from a B&M 4-year institution -- because she wanted to complete her degree in under 3 years.

    She is planning to go to law school in the fall and has already received acceptances from a number of schools, including Villanova, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Richmond, and Penn State. Additionally, she is getting some amazing scholarship offers. One of them is offering her $25k a year based on her GPA, community service and LSAT scores. She can receive that $$ each year, as long as she stays in the top 25% of her class. She still is waiting to hear from a few more schools, but so far, the offers are rolling in.

    To the naysayers on this board...yes...she has not been accepted at Harvard, Penn or Yale (nor did she apply to any of them)...but these are good, solid schools and any one of them should give her a fine education.

    Needless to say...her mama is proud!
     
  18. Jigamafloo

    Jigamafloo New Member

    HUGE congrats for your daughter, Mary! Tell her I wish her the best. Powerful testament for "big three" accomplishments.

    Dave
     
  19. Marylars

    Marylars New Member

    Thanks! I just had to share...after all, that is what proud moms do best, isn't it? It is kind of neat that we are a two-generation DL family.
     
  20. gmohdez

    gmohdez New Member

    Teaching

    I wanted to teach. Having been self-employed all my life with only a GDE, getting a teaching degree was way too slow. In Texas any bachelor's is accepted along with additional certification courses. I finished my degree very quickly and within two years of starting I was teaching, which I really love. This is my 4th year teaching. I stayed away from this forum for a long time, but I am now ready to start on a master's so I am back.
    This forum has been by far the best source of information for me and the many people I have referred to the site on the opportunities in education without having to neglect the family. I have a 9 year old daughter and being able to be with her is definitely worth staying up late at night to study online.
     

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