Comments on: How college works

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:46:24 +0000

Too bad that doesnt apply to me. I will have a job for the next 30+ years out of college. Gotta love being in the military.

By: carlos spicey wiener

carlos spicey wiener — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:17:45 +0000

thats you, isnt it?

By: Grace

Grace — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:20:41 +0000

I am currently doing a project for my Information Media class about How many people actually find jobs within their major. Would I be able to use your graph for my presentation. (professor wants us to learn about copyright laws and therefor makes us ask permission.)

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:37:52 +0000

Zing! ^_^

By: Wnedy

Wnedy — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:02:16 +0000

This is exactly true in my experience, even including the ulcers. Graduated with my BA cum laude, then worked the drive-thru window at Burger King for months before finally landing a minimum wage office job where I also had to scrub the toilets.

By: ann

ann — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:26:55 +0000

yap

By: lljdude

lljdude — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:47:25 +0000

Hahah yeah! I am not even old enough to get into college but I know what happens dumbass!

By: lljdude

lljdude — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:42:45 +0000

Shtup dude this didnt even happen to me I just know how stuff happens ok?

By: lljdude

lljdude — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:41:03 +0000

Get blamed -> become prez -> fix economy -> get re-elected -> retire -> dont care about economy, just vote for whoever wont blame it on you. lol

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:44:59 +0000

Then you should maybe work on your English a little bit more.

By: TheMoody!

TheMoody! — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:00:06 +0000

No kidding!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:42:07 +0000

I don’t want any part of a profession that leaves me half as angry as you appear to be, sir.

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:25:03 +0000

I went to college fresh out of high school and my parents paid for it. Why? Because there was no way in hell I was going to afford it myself. Especially if I were to wait till now, being 25- with the 23% hike in tuition that just occurred. I appreciated it- I loved it, and I didn’t get wasted and have sex every second like most people think college students do (funny, non-college students do that too! So do adults!)

People who are older and go to college are there because yes, they want to be there- but notice there aren’t a lot of older people in college. Thus, the reason for pushing young people into college after HS, because they are more likely to attend then graduate. If you wait, the chances of you going to college, get smaller and smaller, because you (hopefully) have a job. It’s the same reasoning for teens who drop outta high school-
“well, I work at starbucks and make 9 an hour, what’s the point of high school?”

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:18:38 +0000

The truth is, there aren’t that many successful people. The elite jobs that we all want making over than 100k a year are very few and far between.

People need to realize that most people are not middle-rich class. Most people are poor.

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:12:43 +0000

Getting into college isn’t hard- anyone can do it- even you cat!
Graduating college is different. If graduating were soooo easy, then EVERYONE would have a degree right? Except only 15% have a degree. It’s an elite class now.

You can have ambition and sometimes don’t need a college degree to do well. The truth is, most people won’t. Why? Because most live in a vicious cycle of poverty and classism.

I’ve known people who have succeeded without college degrees- like, 2. They are the few and the lucky.

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:04:26 +0000

going to law school = going in debt. Most people can’t afford the ‘high’ degrees.

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:55:56 +0000

My husband has a teaching credential. But apparently, no one has an opening for a teacher anywhere.
Are you saying education is only important if you are going into finances? Because current CEO’s of banks seem to lack.

By: Alliecat

Alliecat — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:53:40 +0000

Everyone might attend college, but only about 15% have a degree in something.

By: Aleesh

Aleesh — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:17:40 +0000

I’m getting a degree in Sociology… should I quit now and start apping for Jack in the Box?

By: Maximumdarth

Maximumdarth — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:24:36 +0000

haha…I would be surprised if even a Penn student were that slow. And English can get you a better job than McDonalds, if you care.

By: R

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:08:34 +0000

Yes, I realize you can get an ‘education’ by going out and traveling the world, but that isn’t what we are talking about here. I made a direct response to a chart that is about college, which quite obviously fits into the definition of education. I was essentially saying exactly what you just claimed that I didn’t say, which is that education is about learning and building yourself, not the money you make, and the college experience is included in the ways of bettering yourself along with other experiences like travel and whatnot. I didn’t need to say anything about other means of education, because that wasn’t the topic.

All my argument is that the premise of this is wrong.
This is a link to the US Census Bureau’s information on education vs. earnings, and it shows that people with a higher formal education make more money, which is all I am arguing.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/earnings/call1usboth.html

By: R

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:05:01 +0000

It doesn’t have to be entirely from my own experience. You can look at the numbers that are out of there of the difference of income between those who have received a higher education and those who have only graduated high school. Besides the studies, I also have direct experience with friends’ families and the differences in income according to the amount of education, which I mentioned in my original post. I know plenty of people who have never went to college and make a decent income, but on average, the people who get a degree do indeed make more money. My own father never attended college and is a successful business owner through his own hard work, so I am well aware that you CAN make a living without a degree.
As for being ‘scared’ of not being able to use my degree, I am not afraid of not making ridiculous amounts of money when I graduate. For one, almost all of the money I use to attend is given to me in grants that I don’t have to pay back, so I am not certainly not worried about being able to pay back loans. Also, I grew up incredibly poor, living in horrible houses with only just enough food, so I know how to appreciate even the lowest paying jobs a degree would get, which is certainly not as low as the jobs you can get without a degree. My entire family works at those jobs, and out of all of those people, only my father makes enough to live comfortably. None of the people I know that have went to college work at fast food restaurants at all. Most of them, if they were laid off, found jobs elsewhere in the same field that paid less, but not 6 dollars an hour like a McDonald’s, which I have worked at, by the way. The majority of the people I know that have graduated recently have found jobs. They may be lower paying than they were expecting, but they still pay well enough to live comfortably and pay off any loans they may have in a few years, if they don’t live above their means like so many people do.
As to Edward’s ‘people like you’ comment, you don’t know me, and I would prefer you don’t make assumptions as to what I am like. I am well aware that jobs are hard to find at the moment, but I also know that they were not hard to find before the recession, because *gasp* the unemployment rate was lower before and less people were complaining about the lack of jobs for people with degrees.
All I suggest is that instead of arguing with me about it, you should maybe look up information about it from a source that isn’t the sensationalist media that is making it sound like nobody has or can find a job, especially those with degrees. It just isn’t true. I have absolutely no fears about not finding a decent job when I graduate, because this recession won’t last forever. Maybe I won’t find one immediately, but I’ll live. Either way, claiming that college is a waste of time and money, based solely on what jobs you can find when you graduate, just isn’t true.

By: john

john — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:10:03 +0000

i totally agree sorry for my freakout (lol) but i am just fed up with young people today, wasting their time when they could be great…. i look at it like this, if everyone who went to college now works at mcdonalds then why are their so many successful people???

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:52:03 +0000

I agree with everyone that says it is more about motivation. Plus, I hate the college stigma that it’s “cool” to go for the drunken parties and frequent casual sex. THOSE are probably the people that are working at McDonald’s. College shouldn’t be something you feel like you HAVE to do, but rather you WANT to do for the personal enrichment. I didn’t start my bachelor’s degree until I was in my mid-twenties and had two kids, and now I realize that college really is wasted on the young (the ones fresh out of high school and are there because their parents are paying for it). Now I’m 31 and in medical school, and I totally agree that determination is just as important as your grades.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:46:02 +0000

A lot of schools don’t even offer pre-med as a major anymore for that reason but rather as a track program in other majors. I am pre-med, but my major is biology with a pre-health focus. My minor is math with a pre-med track (focuses more on calculus for life sciences, etc). However, medical schools do require all applicants, regardless of your major, to take specific classes as prerequisites. So even if you’re a dance major applying to medical school, you still have to take organic chemistry.

By: john

john — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:17:37 +0000

I HATE ALL YOU IDIOTS AT THIS SITE! I BET THIS IS HOW YOU FINISHED YOUR “EDUCATION” BUT I BECAME A DOCTOR! YEAH THATS RIGHT FREAK, I DONT WORK AT AN F’N FAST FOOD JOINT!!!!!!! WHAT A LOOOOOOOSER! WHOEVER CREATED THIS NEEDS TO GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GET A LIFE!!!!!! MOFO!

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:53:01 +0000

In case no one determined this about me from my numerous above comments: Yes.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:38:14 +0000

“… aside from this graph being completely wrong.”

And how the hell would you know, if you haven’t finished college? I find that people like you are a dime a dozen, who conveniently write off indicators that their plans might not go as smoothly as they expected, because it’s simply more convenient to not entertain that possibility until you absolutely have to.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:35:01 +0000

Haven’t hundreds of people done just that in reality?

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:26:44 +0000

I doubt that your cheery outlook will hold up to scrutiny. Having not obtained professional work in three years, despite graduating with honors from one of the best universities in the country, I think my earning potential is pretty shot. Every year, the job market is flooded with more people touting a similar education, and people my age who fell ass backwards into a promising career have professional experience further bolstering them. As a man in my mid-twenties, I think my degree is worth jack-all now that it is old and unused.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:20:55 +0000

The pompous claim that unsuccessful job seekers’ majors couldn’t possibly have had real world applications pisses me off to no end.

Yes, perhaps this graph applies only to programs that don’t apply to the business world. Or perhaps your personal experience simply isn’t universal.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:15:18 +0000

Let’s also take into account that absolutely everybody goes to college these days, and even if it was a good job market, it probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with the constantly growing, over-inflated demand for professional employment.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:11:06 +0000

Are you suggesting that those who don’t succeed simply didn’t want to? Or that going to college, if a great job doesn’t follow, is never indicative of a desire to succeed?

By: C

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:08:11 +0000

My mom was an immigrant who only got to finish middle school in her country. My father moved here at the age of twelve and dropped out of high school. They’re now both making over $150,000 a year.

I’m planning on going to college and into the engineering field.

By: PhoenixM

PhoenixM — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:49:57 +0000

I walked into a $50k job fresh out of college with a BS in Computer Science.

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:00:29 +0000

I like how you’re fighting for ‘equal’ rights, but your response is conditional depending on gender. Gender shouldn’t matter at all, because women and men hold the same potential for sexism.

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:31:22 +0000

By IQ, you mean “Idiocy” rather than “Intelligence” Quotient, I presume. And by “complicated stuff like the computer”, you mean “inane video games”, of course (judging by your name and its link). You do know that the person considered to be the first computer programmer was a WOMAN named Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, right? Grace Hopper, another WOMAN, helped write, refine and standardize the the FORTRAN and COBOL programming languages. The manual for ENIAC was written by yet another WOMAN, by the name of Adele Goldstein. The list goes on and on, but since you think males have such high IQs, I’m sure you knew all that history already and therefore your comment was meant to be taken as sarcasm… Are you a male or a female? If you are a male, please go back to your online game before your avatar gets creamed – if it’s not too late already (hope hope). If you are a female, your sarcasm is noted and appreciated!

By: Inhumangames

Inhumangames — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:29:47 +0000

Girls have a lower IQ than males, therefore they avoid complicated stuff like the computer.

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:44:47 +0000

“…but it doesnt start for a while due to protests”

Man. What a sign of the times, eh?

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:42:01 +0000

Yes, because it’s so damn hard to get into college.

Seriously. Every retard I know got accepted somewhere, if they wanted to go badly enough. You don’t need to be smart to do well in school. You just have to be obedient, and well-disposed towards repetitive motion and thought.

Schooling, education, and ambition are three completely unrelated concepts. I know a dude with a PhD working at McDonalds, and I know a high school drop out who did so well in IT consulting that he retired at 40 and lives on a sail boat in the Bahamas.

One was motivated. The other was not. The letters they may or may not have had after their names meant nothing.

But you’re precisely the kind of snobby jerk that people do online courses to avoid.

By: adam antichrist

adam antichrist — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:02:20 +0000

if you have an arts degree that is

By: All Hail Me

All Hail Me — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:42:47 +0000

lol. glad i joined the air force then.

By: max

max — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:05:56 +0000

This is clearly written by someone who didn’t get into college. Whoops did I say that?

By: schoolrat

schoolrat — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:36:39 +0000

no, not everyone works fast food….some go to school for 6 years while raising a family and working 60+ hours per week to get a promotion only to find that the “promotion” comes with a pay cut!

By: 7/22

7/22 — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:52:47 +0000

I think by “college” he meant “humanity major”.
It is amazing how quick you can get a 50k $ job with an engineering degree.

By: Cat

Cat — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:16:32 +0000

Exactly. A college education is nothing compared to a simple desire to succeed. And if you don’t have that desire, it doesn’t matter how many letters come after your name. You’ll never get anywhere.

By: Timpanist

Timpanist — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:23:50 +0000

I don’t know. To me, the 19-month mark is just about “give up” time.

By: Timpanist

Timpanist — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:21:50 +0000

I went into music ed, and I realized after student teaching that I can’t take the union, parents, and wise-a$$ kids. I had a job doing sales support, which I left for anything better, and found nothing. Now I’m going to school part time for an MBA while I look for anything. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t bother with college. I could have worked my way up from cashier to manager in the four years I was in college, and wouldn’t have been $30K in debt

By: BGCMEOWRRRR

BGCMEOWRRRR — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:01:39 +0000

I am so with all of you. Not only are the young/mid-aged hurting in this clime, but I’m one of a bunch who were “downsized” in late ’90s, possibly bcs of age-ism. *NO we do not favor Lawrence Welk* We suspect the for-profit health ins. companies (only since late ’80s) pressure employers to dump the likes of us. Let’s stand in solidarity against such injustices, as well as those perpetrated on YOU the young! Cheerin ya on!

By: BGCMEOWRRRR

BGCMEOWRRRR — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:50:05 +0000

DANG that makes me mad! Seeing obvy gifted/talented/trained folks NOT getting what they deserve! Hope it’s only a stop on the way to something better, friend!