[ladytiger]

I have been thinking about my current position at work. I have been thinking about going back to school for grants. I am paying my student loan for Uni. of Phx, but haven't spoken to them about the current BS I was going for. I know I have been told I need to advance my Associates to a BS, I have nothing against learning or anything.

I feel and also seen in college how theories are taught and doesn't help with job experience or landing a job. I did read an article that someone wrote about schools need to teach skills that is going to help not only land jobs but to provide relevant experience when applying which I agree.

I am looking at taking free or open ended courses through MIT or something similar. The community college where I graduated from really doesn't provide me what I really want. I do want to advance myself, but I am torn between either finishing my BS or not. I feel if I finish the BS degree and coming out of college again then be told you have no experience or you are overqualified for the job. I was told that when I got my AAS in 2010! it took forever to land a job even min wage jobs didn't want to hire me with a degree.

I also want to go back to my language studies and be fluent in a few languages. I keep hearing go back to school yet it's more money and debt, I am not sure what to do. My job is a start up company they don't have a tuition program. I used to work for a comm. college for 2 yrs and saw a lot of things from the admin. side of things and saw they were screwing a lot of students over.

Any advice?

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by ladytiger

I have been thinking about my current position at work. I have been thinking about going back to school for grants. I am paying my student loan for Uni. of Phx, but haven't spoken to them about the current BS I was going for. I know I have been told I need to advance my Associates to a BS, I have nothing against learning or anything.

I feel and also seen in college how theories are taught and doesn't help with job experience or landing a job. I did read an article that someone wrote about schools need to teach skills that is going to help not only land jobs but to provide relevant experience when applying which I agree.

I am looking at taking free or open ended courses through MIT or something similar. The community college where I graduated from really doesn't provide me what I really want. I do want to advance myself, but I am torn between either finishing my BS or not. I feel if I finish the BS degree and coming out of college again then be told you have no experience or you are overqualified for the job. I was told that when I got my AAS in 2010! it took forever to land a job even min wage jobs didn't want to hire me with a degree.

I also want to go back to my language studies and be fluent in a few languages. I keep hearing go back to school yet it's more money and debt, I am not sure what to do. My job is a start up company they don't have a tuition program. I used to work for a comm. college for 2 yrs and saw a lot of things from the admin. side of things and saw they were screwing a lot of students over.

Any advice?

Just in my experience, employers are looking for that BA or BS degrees, not an Associates. So I think to advance you may need to move up to a Bachelors level degree. However, lots of students come out of school and think they are qualified for higher level or higher paying positions when they don't have the requisite experience. I see that A LOT with Masters students, who have spent 7 years in school but have no real world experience.

I think getting your Bachelors is a good idea, but what would also help is looking into getting an internship in your field of interest. That will provide you real world experience and help you land a job in your field after you graduate.

Good luck,
seesaw

[hvert]

I think a BS can be very helpful, but I would look into an accredited not-for-profit brick and mortar school (even if you do online classes) vs. an online for profit school. You can learn a lot for free doing the online courses through MIT/Harvard, etc, so that sounds like a good plan to build knowledge and skills.

[ladytiger]

Originally Posted by seesaw

Just in my experience, employers are looking for that BA or BS degrees, not an Associates. So I think to advance you may need to move up to a Bachelors level degree. However, lots of students come out of school and think they are qualified for higher level or higher paying positions when they don't have the requisite experience. I see that A LOT with Masters students, who have spent 7 years in school but have no real world experience.

I think getting your Bachelors is a good idea, but what would also help is looking into getting an internship in your field of interest. That will provide you real world experience and help you land a job in your field after you graduate.

Good luck,
seesaw

It'd be hard to do an intern as I am full time with my job and they don't have intern positions. I could finish my BS and say here it is lol.

[ladytiger]

Originally Posted by hvert

I think a BS can be very helpful, but I would look into an accredited not-for-profit brick and mortar school (even if you do online classes) vs. an online for profit school. You can learn a lot for free doing the online courses through MIT/Harvard, etc, so that sounds like a good plan to build knowledge and skills.

I haven't checked out Harvard yet. I am also looking at masterclass.com, where famous singers and write teach a class for $90 for 20 video lessons not the kind of teaching they teach in schools. I do need to see if I could get more grant money while paying my current school loan.

[Misssy2]

So, if you want the BS than absolutely Go for it!

And many companies give promotions based on peformance vs. type of degree you hold.

I was advanced in a company that now only accepts employees with BS or above.

I have a high school education and the last year I worked there I made 110k.

That is because i was there for 19 years..acquired many skills that were beneficial to that company that no schooling could provide.

But, every company is different...seems like you think you need a BS to continue to succeed so go for it....any way you can.

[seesaw]

Well, as a friend recently said to me as I was thinking about going back to school too, having more education never looks bad on a resume.

[ladytiger]

Originally Posted by Misssy2

So, if you want the BS than absolutely Go for it!

And many companies give promotions based on peformance vs. type of degree you hold.

I was advanced in a company that now only accepts employees with BS or above.

I have a high school education and the last year I worked there I made 110k.

That is because i was there for 19 years..acquired many skills that were beneficial to that company that no schooling could provide.

But, every company is different...seems like you think you need a BS to continue to succeed so go for it....any way you can.

I suppose. My current job promotes you based on performance and not a degree which is a good thing. I guess I could finish my current BS not sure how well that is gonna serve me already been told with an AAS that I am overqualified.

I never said I felt I need a BS to continue to succeed, I am not happy or thrilled by what these colleges are doing not really preparing us for anything and I have seen that back in college when I was a former student. Degrees have been becoming nothing but pieces of paper to thumb tack on a wall only to take a job that makes 8 bucks makes no sense.

I do need to talk to the counselor at the uni about this, going back to school I'd have to fork out 500 dollars for a class I failed out of my own pocket which is why I am looking at scholarships or grants.