Scott Davis is a 37-year-old management professional from Austin, Texas. He comes from an engineering, management, and support background, and has worked for some of the largest corporations. He also has experience in the world of start-ups. Employers
include
Dell Computer Corporation, UUNET Technologies, Wayport, and Time Warner Cable. Scott is also on the advisory board of EFF-Austin.
Scott started his degree program in 2003, and had no prior college credit before jumping into the distance learning environment. He graduated in October 2007 having attained an A.A.S. in Information Systems and a Bachelor of Science in Management from Kaplan University.
Scott is now a MBA student at Norwich University.
Scott welcomes feedback and questions. Feel free to email him at sdavis (at) WheelCipher.net or visit his web site at http://www.ScottDavis.info
The cost of an education is very high. I don’t need to remind people about that. There comes a time where we have to ask ourselves what we want out of a degree. I remember back in the early 1990’s when a friend who graduated from The University of Texas Law School told me that he knew people that graduated with advanced degrees, but were waiting tables or driving a cab to make a living. I couldn’t believe that, but I also had no reason to doubt him.
This article pretty much tells us that some things never change. Many students are graduating with loan debt that exceeds the yearly salary they might get if they are hired in the field in which they are educated. Payback on a degree can take many years. In “the old days”, a degree set you apart from other people when looking for a job. In today’s world, I think an advanced degree (Masters and above) just gets you in the door a lot of the time.
Despite an overall pay increase in recent years, one in four graduates still work in bars, cafes and other low-level jobs several years after leaving university. Some are being forced to take poorly paid jobs to clear debts amid unprecedented competition for the best graduate positions.
(source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/06/ngraduates106.xml)
Another spin on this whole situation is the benefits of distance education. I feel very lucky in that I am well-established in my career. I got to where I am without college. That is a very rare thing. But with my years of work experience, I think that I would reap major benefit with a college degree. I am certainly not getting a degree in order to get a job or make a name for myself out there. I am doing so in order to further what I’ve already built. For this reason, I think I’m in a better place than a newly-minted graduate with no other skills or professional work experience.
Don’t let this scare you away from getting a degree if you don’t already have one. You will need one just to get in the door in most situations. You will still be better off for it.
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About WheelCipher
Scott is a strategic consultant in the customer care industry and an avid amateur photographer.
You can see his work at http://gallery.scottdavis.info
He has experience in the high-technology industry in management, engineering, and support positions with Time Warner Cable, Dell Computer Corporation, UUNET Technologies, Wayport and others.
Scott started his degree program in 2003, and had no prior college credit before jumping into the distance learning environment. He graduated in October 2007 having attained an A.A.S. in Information Technology and a B.S. in Management from Kaplan University.
In 2009, he graduated with his MBA from Norwich University and is now a student at Gonzaga University.
Scott LOVES fan mail. You can e-mail him any questions about distance learning at sdavis@wheelcipher.net