Do you think a bachelors degree is still worth the time and money?

[JosephStalin]

You need a degree to get a job, full stop; it doesn't matter what that degree is or how little respect it garners. Even with the job market proving slightly better than it was during Obama's presidency, jobs are still so scarce that hiring firms can demand whatever qualifications they want, no matter how ridiculous. There's simply too many people looking for work who will tolerate the worst wages, hours and working standards if it means any employment.

That being said, the universal demand for bachelor degrees was very intentionally facilitated by the government, banks and educators in a massive 3-way scheme. Get all the stupid children to take out a huge federal loan to afford college, where they get their dime-a-dozen degree, then gradually increase productivity hours while not increasing hourly wage in proportion. There's no reason not to; they'll do whatever you want for a pittance salary. Even respectable jobs like doctors or lawyers aren't free from this, as their debt is simply three times bigger.

It might just be the greatest scam in human history, right next to tearing apart Europe to fill the bankers' coffers.

Heck, in the military officers generally need a master's degree to make O-4 (major/lieutenant commander). Rarely matters what the degree is in, just need that degree. There are schools, such as Webster University, who specialize in degree programs for active duty military. Work during the day, school in the evening. ICBM crews will take their textbooks/materials down into the hole to study while on alert.

But I'll add my mite to the voices saying a bachelor's degree in many majors now is much like a high school diploma used to be fifty years ago. The master's degree is the big discriminant. And you need that bachelor's degree for med/law school.

Going a bit further, believe high school could easily be cut from four to two years. Not likely because the powers that be don't want a bunch of 16-year-olds looking for work/getting into college/doing whatever.

 

[GS 281]

Do HVAC

 

[cistendered]

Who’s even getting an interview without at least a BA or a shitload of work experience? Any large company inputs resumes into a database, and no human eyeballs are looking at that resume unless it hits every single metric they claim to need (even when they don’t actually need it). I’ve heard of a lot of fights over this between HR and managers actually in the field. Much of the time, managers want someone hardworking who can learn but HR insists on a four-year degree from a top tier college because HR is lazy as fuck and doesn’t want to do the work of actually reading cover letters and resumes, let alone holding interviews. The only times I get interviews are when I apply to small companies that don’t even have an HR department.

Like has been mentioned several times it really depends on your industry. If you can find any meetups or professional organizations in your field you can network with people. If you make friends with people that hire you can bypass HR.

Also, if you're early career I think working for a smaller company is better. Bigger companies have more resources, but if you have a good work ethic and are a curious person you can take on much more responsibility and develop skills way faster in a small company. If you can be a big fish in a small pond it's easier to transition into being a big fish in a big pond.

 

[nonvir_1984]

Like other people said, it depends on the place you do it and what you do. If you do bull-shit subjects (Gender studies, and heavily politicized shit), its is pretty useless. Just take up drug, you will be happier.
But the core subjects in the humanities - history, ancient history, philosophy, classics, English, a foreign language - are worth it. Sociology and psych can be worth it but you have to be careful about cultural marxists and feminists and those types of truth dodgers who are afraid of whitey and penises.
I disagree about Art history - it is really worthwhile, when taken with History/Ancient History; I know heaps of people who did Art History nd for fuck's sake, philosophy who walked into cool jobs. but you have to apply yourself and get good grades. Doing is at the University of Shitsville in toad suck Alabama, may not be a good idea, unless you go on and do professional quals. The point is that a good BA should give you a capacity to write well, think clearly and present ideas well. Christ knows, we need it at the moment.

 

[queue-anon]

Like has been mentioned several times it really depends on your industry. If you can find any meetups or professional organizations in your field you can network with people. If you make friends with people that hire you can bypass HR.

Also, if you're early career I think working for a smaller company is better. Bigger companies have more resources, but if you have a good work ethic and are a curious person you can take on much more responsibility and develop skills way faster in a small company. If you can be a big fish in a small pond it's easier to transition into being a big fish in a big pond.

As a result, I've pretty much only worked for small companies, and I don't regret that. I left my old long-term job partly as a result of it being bought out by a multinational and my getting sick of being treated like a cog in the machine. But it still shows that going without a bachelor's is a risky bet.

 

[ForgedBlades]

I have a unique perspective on this topic. I had a falling out with my dad, left the family business, and enrolled at a traditional four year university at age 28. I'll be done with my BS next year when I'm 31 and I'm (probably) sticking around to start an MS shortly thereafter.

I can say without a doubt that the best thing to come from the whole experience was getting a foot in the door with a number of businesses high up in my industry and making connections with people who could hook me up with a job when I get out. This simply wouldn't have been possible if I wasn't paying tuition to gain access to the "club". My adviser took a liking to me immediately because I was older, knew that I wasn't there to party and have a good time, and because I was pretty good at what I was doing. Because he was willing to go to bat for me, I got a prestigious internship with a fantastic company and he's introduced me to a number of other respected researchers in the field and a handful of recruiters for the top businesses in the industry. As you get older, you realize that the old adage of "not what you know, but who you know" is undeniably true, and I've really come to view the entirety of the money I've put down as fees for an agent. What I've learned in the classroom is largely gravy.

Granted, the field I'm in (greenhouse horticulture) is extremely niche and the upper echelons are very much an elitist fraternity you need an invitation to visit, so what I've said may not ring as true for something more mainstream like marketing or chemistry. Still though, when I see kids who cruise through classes just to get a fancy piece of paper, the ones who aren't out there with their nose to the grindstone looking for internships or networking opportunities, I feel like they have lost the plot.

 

[Slap47]

Hopefully retards don't devalue it too much before I can actually use it.

 

[ObeseScreamingBlackMan]

By the time I’m dead my bachelors degree will have come into play exactly twice in my life.

1. It allowed me to skip all of the gen-Ed requirements when I enrolled at trade school.

2. It will allow me to apply for/take by default my boss’ job when he retires in about twelve years. I’m still on the fence about the extra $40k a year being worth all of the bullshit that poor guy has to deal with.

 

[Red Hood]

I feel like unless you're very sure about what you want to do and have targeted a particular major, then no, they're generally not a great investment anymore. I feel like generally speaking though, a few years in the Navy or Air Force will get you better results, a little taste of life away from home while still having basic needs taken care of by the Gov't, and a truckload of bennies. Including that GI bill if you do want to go to college.

 

[1Tonka_Truck]

Anything in the health care industry is good except for X-ray tech.

What's wrong with X-Ray tech as a job? The 3 I know are very happy with their work/job.

 

[crocodilian]

What the hell are you talking about? That's the opposite of what's going on. The job market is a bit better than "slightly better than under Obama", instead try "The best it's been in 40 years."
And no, actually companies are having trouble finding enough workers to fill unskilled positions. They're also having trouble with the skilled positions, as always.

You really couldn't have stated a more wrong summary of the job market right now.

Interesting data, I thought it was still pretty low. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

No. The college industry wants you to believe this, but no, this is not at all true.

Getting a job is about being good at bullshitting, like many other things. Having the actual knowledge to do the job is a big help in service of this bullshitting.

If you go into an interview with the attitude that you have to make up for your lack of a degree, yeah, you probably aren't getting that job, you're coming out of the gate saying "I'm not actually quite qualified, but..."

If you go into an interview with the attitude that you have what it takes to do the job and you know it, the degree matters a lot less. Of course some people get hung up on it, but then people get hung up on all sorts of random things. Honestly your hair length is probably a better predictor of whether you'll get a job than your degree status.

Once you have experience in an industry the importance of that degree is basically gone. The degree proves a level of knowledge, but experience proves both knowledge and success at application of knowledge(Otherwise they would have fired you).

I wish someone would have told me this when I was young, I allowed myself to be incredibly underpaid for a long time with the idea that I had to because I didn't have a degree. It turns out the main reason I was underpaid was that I didn't ask for more.

Agreed 100%. Knowledge related to the job, and the ability to show that you possess it, is far more important that some piece of paper that actually proves nothing conclusively.

I never went to university but I have certain specific knowledge that got me started in my career field, and a lot of general knowledge that helps me be well-rounded. These are the things that got me my job(s). Plenty of people I know spent 4 years in university or more, and after all that work in fields that are completely unrelated to their degrees because they simply can't find a good paying job otherwise. I'm sure all my friends with law, accounting, sociology or management degrees that now work in photography or as self-employed craftsmen don't feel bad about wasting 5 years of their life for a piece of paper they have never once actually used.

What's wrong with X-Ray tech as a job? The 3 I know are very happy with their work/job.

I think the idea is that x-ray techs are usually exposed to much more than the background dose of radiation as part of their job (even despite the protection and precautions in place), increasing chance of birth defects, cancer, etc.

 

[Polystyrene Glioblastoma]

I believe an associates degree or an applicable certification is far more worth your time and money than a bachelor's degree, generally. The only way I can envision a bachelor's degree being useful is through military, government jobs, overseas teaching, or nabbing a significant promotion related to an already established career.

 

[Otterly]

There are plenty of companies who say you need a degree - that’s just really saying that they need people who can hit a certain level of ability. If you go in and demonstrate you have that, the need for the degree itself is less important.

For those having trouble getting CVs that work: read the job description. Highlight every single keyword in it. Rewrite your CV so that all of those words are in (i have heard that writing a list of them in white text on a white background is invisible but still picked up by filters but I can’t vouch for that.) this should get you past the filter.

For interview. Make sure you are able to demonstrate every skill on the needed list in a sort of STAR format (google it.) so Situation (our widget machine was blocked) Task: (I needed to get the widget machine working in a day because we needed to deliver x widgets to customer) Action (I did this and that to troubleshoot and fix it) Result (the widget machine worked again and we were able to hit our target.)

 

[lurk_moar]

What's wrong with X-Ray tech as a job? The 3 I know are very happy with their work/job.

It’s a good paying job and everything, but in my state the programs are full. The market is over saturated like nursing.

 

[Professional iPad Hoarder]

Yes if you are an IT Professional, most HR's know shit about it, they just look at your degree first and then they look everything else, sure you can still get a nice job without one but if you don't live near any major corporation (they know how to properly select resumes) having one is quite important

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

No fucking idea what a bachelor's is in America, but in EU it's basically half a degree without a master's. A lot of people are starting to advocate for the 'legitimacy' of just a bachelor's, and I can see why, since most people learn 60% of what they'll actually be doing day-to-day AT the actual job. Having a degree is just a checkmark in "actually has the persistence and maturity to do academics".

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

Getting a job is about being good at bullshitting, like many other things. Having the actual knowledge to do the job is a big help in service of this bullshitting.

As you get older, you realize that the old adage of "not what you know, but who you know" is undeniably true, and I've really come to view the entirety of the money I've put down as fees for an agent.

Although it wasn't as useful as I hoped, a meeting I had attended years ago for job-seekers had someone give a presentation how finding a job has evolved from what you know and who you know to who knows you. While I didn't agree with the guy's premise that one should go on sites such as LinkedIn and link up to anyone and everyone you can find in your field and employers of interest, the fact that the job market has evolved beyond what one knows and is based more on connections and field-related contacts is the biggest takeaway.

My adviser took a liking to me immediately because I was older, knew that I wasn't there to party and have a good time, and because I was pretty good at what I was doing.

When I went back to the local community college for a certificate and career change, I attributed my success to the fact I was older, wiser, and more focused on an end goal. When it came time for my internship, the internship director even remarked that my resume was already in a decent format and just needed minor tweaks associated with someone switching careers.

To address the OP topic and question, a Bachelor's degree has its purpose and relevance in certain fields, but isn't always the silver bullet it's made out to be. In some fields, with the right level of experience, exam-based credentials and certifications can do more to advance one's career as opposed to going back to school for another Bachelor's or even a Master's degree. The best bet for people is to determine which options are best for them in terms of their career path and what they want to do within the field.