Your college days

[Balog]

Grampster,

very true, but given the inflation of degrees it seems a BA is required to do anything not involving brute labor. My sister has ~12 years experience as a secretary and a 2 year degree; she reports grave difficulty in finding  non-entry level jobs that don't require a 4 year degree. 

What I really want to do is either A: learn Russian well enough to be a translator or B: be a pharmacist. Either of those would be everything I want in a job. But I don't know if I am intelligent enough to make a go of either, and after almost 5 years of being married I feel so far behind. I should've finished a Bachelors in something useful and be on my way to a good career. But because I dicked around and joined the military, and then couldn't even make a go of that we can't: buy a house, start a family, afford for my wife to stop working etc.

It just feels like I really messed up, you know? And my wife has to pay for it. I see these 18 yo's going to college, and I think "I'm six years behind!"

[grampster]

The sad state of affairs is that many personnel departments are run by over educated elitists.   The only reason they require degrees is to somehow put some value on the years they used up getting one.  The insurance company I retired from did not require a degree to become an agent.  One just needed a burning desire to succeed.  Virtually all of the agents that were the most successful were ones who did not have degrees;  they/we just had ambition, and were not afraid to work hard.

About 10 years ago, they changed requirements for many jobs within the company to require degrees.  It took nearly 10 years for it to sink in that the company was overlooking highly qualified people simply because of a piece of paper that was basically meaningless.  Our business actually floundered and lost market share because we were hiring the wrong people and turning the right people away.  Many highly talented employees could not move up, so they left.

The question I used to pose to senior managers in my later years was:  "What makes you believe that someone who has a 4 year degree has more to offer our company than someone who has performed various functions within or without the company in a highly successful manner."  In other words, what is more important?  Practical knowledge and performance or a piece of paper from Binge Drink U?  They finally caught on.

Anyway, being a pharmacist is one of the most highly touted careers these days, and for the future.  All it takes my young friend is desire.  If you desire it enough, you will find a way.  Maybe it will take you longer and it will be harder.  But doing it will be much sweeter as a result.

I will tell you something that is true.  You have until you are 40 years old to establish your place.  I am serious.  You have all the time in the world young man.  Just get at it.  One step at a time.  So if you wish to be a pharmacist get your license by the time your are 35.  That gives you 11 years to do so.  It won't take you that long.  Then you have 5 years to find your niche and at age 40 set you plans in motion for your leisure years.

[Balog]

Thanks grampster. That's actually very encouraging. I can generally focus on the positive more, but I've got a big abscess looking infection right next to my scrotum that's inordinately painful. Puts everything in a bit of a darker light I suppose.

[RevDisk]

Thanks grampster. That's actually very encouraging. I can generally focus on the positive more, but I've got a big abscess looking infection right next to my scrotum that's inordinately painful. Puts everything in a bit of a darker light I suppose.

And thank you for sharing the joy.   Hey, worst comes to worse, I'd gladly lend ya one of my battle axes.  On second thought, you could keep it as I don't think I'd be able to decontaminate it enough to sleep at night.

[wmenorr67]

Thanks grampster. That's actually very encouraging. I can generally focus on the positive more, but I've got a big abscess looking infection right next to my scrotum that's inordinately painful. Puts everything in a bit of a darker light I suppose.

See what looking for love in all the wrong places gets you.?

[jeepmor]

I've got a big abscess looking infection right next to my scrotum that's inordinately painful.

I've had bosses like that, more than I care to count.


I visited a college in my folks hometown where my cousin was pursuing a mechanical engineering degree.  Being a kid with a mechanic stepdad and lots of time to twist wrenches also, mechanical engineering was a natural fit.  I was really into cars and the technology that came with it beyond the nuts and bolts level.  I liked the school's small class size of 30 or so students and my cousin was in her sophomore year and exposed me to some really neat stuff.  I made this decision when I was a junior in high school and what made it particularly appealing was the amount of hands on lab work we had to do at this school compared to the large universities that dominate in the realm of books and theory.  I was a rubber hits the road type, theory meant nothing to me if I could not apply it.  I'm still very much still like this today.

I went to a community college for a year to get some general studies out of the way then moved to OIT (oregon institute of technology) where I nearly failed my first term for being a wild child away from the shepherding influence of the parents.  Then I got my act together and started to excel.  I literally went from the bottom of the class to the top by the time I reached my junior year.  My biggest regret was not "getting it" sooner for which my overall GPA suffered significantly.  I graduated with a 3.09 overall, but carried a 3.73 in my major.   

I joined the fraternity and met some profoundly wild people and had a hell of a good time.  These were the type of guys to crash the local mud wrestling event at the bar and steal the trophy in all the chaos that ensued, while simultaneously getting a hold of the DJ's wireless microphone to heckle the entire bar to insure the chaos kept going.  Man, I miss those guys.  I also recall one of the town's watering holes losing their full size fiberglass horse that adorned the roof where it proudly guarded the kegerator for several weeks before they clandestinely returned it back a top the bar roof like it never left.  Those army ranger types are quite resourceful folks.  

My senior year was so busy I rarely had time to party.  All my weekends were taken up with working in the local hospital operating suite as the emergency surgery clean up guy.  It made midweek open for studies, but the real fun always took place on the weekends.  And I missed all of those that year except for our annual snow blowout where we would truck up the Sunriver, Oregon and party and drink ourselves silly while scamming all the women we could get our paws on.   I had a  bit of talent in this arena as was credited as the guy that could scam multiple girls in the three day retreat.  This is not too difficult when you spend ten hours a day in the hot tub and blend daquiris all day for the ladies. Boy was that fun.

My junior/senior summer I met the girl I would eventually marry.  The social networking of the fraternity landed me a job where I work 12 hour shifts 3 days one week, 4 days the next.  After 12 years of this, I really have grown used to having, literally, half of my time to myself.  I've used my degree plenty.  But this schedule made me decide long ago not to mistake my career for my life and I've turned down the engineeirng title positions multiple times because of the hours.  Sure, I could make more money, but on the other hand, I'm an exceptionally good snowboarder because I don't "work too much" and have made time to pursue things I'm passionate about.  Working for a giant corporation and not being a politically savvy type, but rather a tenacious opponent of mindlessly following "The Man" types, it has been the right thing to do.  Everything I have today is inextricably tied to my college background and that social networking the fraternity offered.

My only regret is that I'm old enough now to see the jobs I was offered and turned down be only one or two steps below VPs in a 90,000 employee company.  Did I mention I've had the half of my time free to do as I please in the past 12 years?  I haven't met an engineer yet that can make time to snowboard 40 days a year, so when it comes time to encourage my son to choose a path, I'm not going to be a good "career man" example.  He will be a damn good snowsports enthusiast though, this, I guarantee.

[LadySmith]

My college days were sporadic and brief.
First attempt, I was interested in criminal justice. Took a bunch of classes, including firearms, and was doing well until they found out how old I was. I was too young for them, so they kicked me out.
Second attempt was in 2004. I passed my 1st semester classes even though I tended to argue with the instructors, such as when one opened a class discussion about the AWB expiring and said "there will be machine guns in the street." It was basically me vs him the entire class. I noticed the majority of instructors seemed to go off on anti-Bush tangents, but thought it was a fluke since it was an election year.
My last attempt was my 2nd semester in 2005. My philosophy instructor had a habit of bringing up the positives of abortion during every single class. My history instructor gave me barely passing grades (her course book was "A People's History" by Howard Zinn and I argued his tendency to make blanket statements without supporting facts) until one day I decided to test her. I took a test, stuck to the facts, and she gave me my first "D." I was allowed to take a makeup test, wrote like I was a militant child of the '60's, made everything seem to be The White Man's Fault and threw in a bunch of curse words. She gave me an "A++." The day I got that grade, I went to the Admin office, told them I was paying good money to learn and didn't appreciate their brainwashing indoctrinizing BS, dropped out, got some of my money back and that was it.

[grislyatoms]

didn't appreciate their brainwashing indoctrinizing BS, dropped out, got some of my money back and that was it.

That's my biggest fear. When I go back next fall, I'll be twice the age of anyone else (most likely), set in my ways, and quite opinionated. I already work on campus, and from what I can tell it's a cesspool of socialism.

such as when one opened a class discussion about the AWB expiring and said "there will be machine guns in the street." It was basically me vs him the entire class.

Good job. I hope with an Associate's that I can avoid a lot of the first and second year crap, or maybe clep out of a lot of it.

[roo_ster]

grislyatoms:

Before you open your trap, figure out how the prof tests.  If it is multiple-guess or some sort of objective test, go ahead & talk.  If it is essays & subjective formats, open your mouth at your own risk.