Ahhh....the age old fashion of continuing an education after your bachelor's degree. Sometimes a graduate degree means you have failed in the real world, other time's a grad degree is simply a career advancement. Either way, most people fall into one of those two categories. There is a third option which is a career change. However this method is generally only used when a baseline of education at the lower levels meets or exceeds graduate education admissions.
In my case, I have something different; something strange. I have a situation where my GPA is so low that I may never be able to recover for a graduate degree in my life time. To put it fairly, I have between a 2.0 and a 2.5 undergrad GPA in accounting. The major is difficult and has a high wash out rate. I should have washed out, but didn't because my military back ground has taught me to never quit. Even when giving up would have a better outcome.
On this night, I am having quit a bit of trouble blogging about what I want to say. I can tell you that my small dog is eating her dog food and in front of her is a crowbar mark where the previous owner of this house removed the baseboard and damaged the drywall.
Anyways, I have pondered graduate education since my sophomore year of college. I even went up to my professor and asked her what grad school was like. She immediately looked at me, leaned back in her stance, and said "wow, I was not expecting that from you". After some thought she said that I think like a grad student. I guess that's an easy way of saying you just don't have the grades for it. This is a problem. As most can imagine, grad school requires good grades to get into. Grad school is also not a joke that one just meanders into. As it happens, when choosing a grad school one can expect that they will master something. For me that almost certainly has a reference to accounting. This circles back to the whole idea of needing a solid GPA to get into grad school in the first place.
I've thought about accounting, then other area's of study. My problem, and apparently that of others too, is that I am at a disadvantage for higher education wherever I go. The only real solution is to start completely over and earn another bachelor's degree. Since I really do not want to start over as a freshman, I could have some classes transfer over and finish in another field. My problem then becomes my GPA in total. If I stay in the same state school system, my grade point average will only add or subtract based on the new classes that I take. So in theory a person with a 2.7 GPA and 120 credit hours trying to get another degree with recycled classes will only raise his or her academic profile slightly. This brings back the idea of attending another school as a freshman and never bringing up the previous bachelor's degree. It's a smart idea I would say, but one that will cost four years of hard study.
This brings me to the masters degree. I have been thinking lately about a career in dentistry. I could care less about the money, however I would be very interested in helping people. Not to mention I love researching, and to figure out ways to make preventative care more specialized would be grand. However I have very few science classes under my belt. Not to mention I have 1 reference from a professor in college. That's how poorly I did.
So where does this put my readers and what questions can you solve with this? Well to be truthful, if you have a low GPA academics are probably not your strong suit. You can give up, but for a person similar to me that is just not an option. My sergeant once told me that a strong head leads to a soft ass. I may just be proving that point in this blog.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Getting a job
Hello everyone. As I write this I am currently thinking about how pure this white e-document is and how with every letter that I type, I am somehow making it dirty.
Anyways, years ago I used to write obsessively on Facebook. I had people following, commenting, loving and hating my blogs. I would write something and make half of my "friends" happy and the other half pissed. These days, I'm not followed as much anymore and I have noticeably reduced my Facebook presence. I used to write about college when I was switch schools and the differences between these "Mickey Mouse" schools that pop up everywhere. When I say MM, I am talking about these for-profit piece of shit schools that market themselves to the working adult. I left that type of education for something more real, and something more recognizable. That would be a state education.
I earned that degree, and let me tell you it was hard. I learned quite a bit at the University of Colorado, but I guess nothing more prudent than I had partied harder in the Army than the most distinguished have in college. So I spent the majority of my time working through classes. The college experience just was not there for me. Graduating was, and that was something I did last year.
......Since that time, I have found a flaw in our society that has opened a black hole of sorts: The Bachelor's degree. As it turns out, if you don't have one of these pieces of paper you can bet that when layoff's come you will be the first to go. Many of the people who I talk to at recruiting agencies have years of experience in Accounting, HR, Marketing or some other field that has a degree attached to it. Most were let get because they didn't have the piece of paper. That type of lay-off just doesn't make any sense, and here is why: every place I look for a job with my credentials they always want experience. When I ask them why they didn't just keep employee X, they say that X employee did not have an education. Well I am candidate Y, and I have no experience yet I have the degree. So I continue to ask what exactly they are looking for. It seems that without answering my question, I have found their answer.
That answer happens to be someone with the degree, and a boatload of experience who is willing to take a pay cut. What they don't know is that candidate with an MBA and 10 years of experience is better suited as a controller, not an entry level accountant. I found this out by applying to jobs that required an associates degree. When I apply, I always get an interview because of my education. I swarm through the interviews and leave everyone smiling because I have the degree. Then the second interview comes and I tell them my salary range and it's as if they didn't see it coming. They ask would I take an X dollar an hour decrease, to which I reply no. For instance I applied for a job the other day and got an interview. I asked for an hourly wage of $19 an hour, which just so happens to be the median for my accounting degree and right around what most of my peers in my graduating class are making. They try to negotiate me down to $12, to which I feel like just walking out. However I stay and listen to their arguments. It always boils down to what my potential co-workers are making. This says one thing to me: Bachelor's degree = Eye Candy.
So to make my point, I would suggest that when a job opens up and you just happen to be on the prowl for a new position just make sure that you are ready to have a stellar GPA for bachelor's degree level employment. On the flip side, expect your salary level to be in the cellar for jobs with less than the degree you currently have.
Anyways, years ago I used to write obsessively on Facebook. I had people following, commenting, loving and hating my blogs. I would write something and make half of my "friends" happy and the other half pissed. These days, I'm not followed as much anymore and I have noticeably reduced my Facebook presence. I used to write about college when I was switch schools and the differences between these "Mickey Mouse" schools that pop up everywhere. When I say MM, I am talking about these for-profit piece of shit schools that market themselves to the working adult. I left that type of education for something more real, and something more recognizable. That would be a state education.
I earned that degree, and let me tell you it was hard. I learned quite a bit at the University of Colorado, but I guess nothing more prudent than I had partied harder in the Army than the most distinguished have in college. So I spent the majority of my time working through classes. The college experience just was not there for me. Graduating was, and that was something I did last year.
......Since that time, I have found a flaw in our society that has opened a black hole of sorts: The Bachelor's degree. As it turns out, if you don't have one of these pieces of paper you can bet that when layoff's come you will be the first to go. Many of the people who I talk to at recruiting agencies have years of experience in Accounting, HR, Marketing or some other field that has a degree attached to it. Most were let get because they didn't have the piece of paper. That type of lay-off just doesn't make any sense, and here is why: every place I look for a job with my credentials they always want experience. When I ask them why they didn't just keep employee X, they say that X employee did not have an education. Well I am candidate Y, and I have no experience yet I have the degree. So I continue to ask what exactly they are looking for. It seems that without answering my question, I have found their answer.
That answer happens to be someone with the degree, and a boatload of experience who is willing to take a pay cut. What they don't know is that candidate with an MBA and 10 years of experience is better suited as a controller, not an entry level accountant. I found this out by applying to jobs that required an associates degree. When I apply, I always get an interview because of my education. I swarm through the interviews and leave everyone smiling because I have the degree. Then the second interview comes and I tell them my salary range and it's as if they didn't see it coming. They ask would I take an X dollar an hour decrease, to which I reply no. For instance I applied for a job the other day and got an interview. I asked for an hourly wage of $19 an hour, which just so happens to be the median for my accounting degree and right around what most of my peers in my graduating class are making. They try to negotiate me down to $12, to which I feel like just walking out. However I stay and listen to their arguments. It always boils down to what my potential co-workers are making. This says one thing to me: Bachelor's degree = Eye Candy.
So to make my point, I would suggest that when a job opens up and you just happen to be on the prowl for a new position just make sure that you are ready to have a stellar GPA for bachelor's degree level employment. On the flip side, expect your salary level to be in the cellar for jobs with less than the degree you currently have.
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