Vanessa is a 24-year-old stay-at-home mom, wife, military spouse, and veteran. She started her online education while she was still in the Navy. After receiving an honorable discharge, getting married, and having two beautiful girls in two years, she is still going strong with her education at Ashford University. She is currently doubling up on classes with hopes to attend graduation December 2009 with a Bachelor's in Business Administration.
I've started to recently wonder if people are boosted towards success by their degree (which is what many online schools advertise) or if the success is due to the byproduct of getting that degree which is an education. In getting a degree you of course are exposed to all sorts of new ideas and ways of doing things. You will be exposed to key concepts in various topics depending upon your classes and you may even find that you become something of a subject matter expert in the field of your major. There are things however that almost every degree, regardless of major will teach you or reinforce in you that will also propel you to success in corporate life. Some of these things are:
- 1.) A good work ethic
- 2.) An ability to meet deadlines
- 3.) An ability to accept constructive criticism and be judged
- 4.) An ability to comprehend what you read, see and hear (an ability to learn)
- 5.) An ability to write (in most cases)
- 6.) Often an ability to use various software suites to one extent or another
- 7.) Basic computing skills (which seems elementary, but you'd be surprised)
- 8.) An ability to think abstractly. For example, rather than seeing a wall and thinking "I'll go over it" you will think, "I wonder if I can go under it, through it, around it" or if you majored in philosophy "I wonder if there is even an actual wall or if this is merely my perceived reality". Yeah, philosophy people are strange like that.
- 9.) An ability to communicate you ideals
- 10.) You've been tested and forced to meet a standard, you'd be surprised at how many people have not
Of course many of these things could have been seen in high school, but as we all know college is an animal unto itself, often having little to nothing in common with grades K-12. In college, you have to be/have those things mentioned above (at least in my experience). When you hire someone with these traits, they are often going to be one of your better people. I've hired people who had this and some who have not, I can unequivocally state that the people that I have hired who posses these traits are more successful in my line of work than those who do not.
So is success really because of the degree or is it because of the process of getting the degree?
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About Cajun
Cajun is 31-years-old and currently employed as a Project Analyst for an Information Technology department at a major financial firm. He has recently changed careers after spending 7 years in Federal Law enforcement of which he spent 5 years as a supervisor. His management experience combined with the MBA he finished in October, 2008 allowed for a career change even in the face of these uncertain economic times.
Cajun was introduced to the concept of distance education while working full-time as a law enforcement officer with a demanding and unpredictable schedule, obtaining an Associate of Science degree in Criminal Justice from
Ashworth College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Southwestern College of Winfield, KS graduating Magna Cum Laude and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Organizational Leadership from
Ashford University. To further his new career Cajun will be working towards a Master of Science in Management of Information Systems with an emphasis in Project Management from
Bellevue University.