Education

[pegkerr]

Gacked from klig. I'd be interested to know what the level of formal education is among my LJ friends. I'm not snobby about education - I'm very well aware that a piece of paper is only part of the story.


[Poll #349908]

Leave details of your areas of study in the comments if you so wish.

Edited to add: I'm sorry I didn't have choices that fit some of the experiences that you have recounted, i.e., still in junior high, still in high school, finished some college but have no plans to complete, etc.

But I just wanted to say that you are all pretty damn impressive. It's been very interesting reading about the wide variety of your education and experience. Thank you, and congratulations to all those of you who have recently completed degrees!

Comments

[dawn-came-dim.livejournal.com]

I chose "currently doing an advanced study" though I'm stalled in the middle. And with my new job, I'll probably be pursuing a very different track -- MBAish, in Finance or Management.

I was so glad to read of your job interview -- I hope they come up with something amazing for you down the road!

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I have a Master's in English. Although it was quite an awakening, where I decided that the Ph.D. and the life of a professor weren't for me, I'm glad I did it, because that's where I learned that I really liked to edit -- my current job.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I was a National Merit finalist, skipped grades, blah blah blah. But I did not Apply Myself (too busy surviving the bullies, ackshully). Parents wouldn't let me use my scholarship to my first choice college because I was only 16 when I graduated high school, made me live at home and go to local community college. Bored to death. Quit 5 credits short of Associates degree.

Sometimes I think about going back to school, but honestly I've learned more from self study than I did in college, and I don't know that it's economically feasible.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

It's never too late, you know. My dad graduated from college following the normal schedule, but he went to graduate school at age 55, and finished his Psy.D. at age 60. I've always thought he set me a pretty good example in that way.

It was weird, too, calling home to complain about my job, and he'd be complaining about his statistics midterm.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I have a Master's in human genetics. It was supposed to be a PhD -- and I finished all the coursework and comps to become a doctoral candidate -- but my life at the time was particularly annoying and my faculty were far less than supportive, so I bailed. I still peddle the sheepskin in getting jobs: "I know genetics and biology in general really well, please hire me, O Most Pecunious Pharmaceutical Company or somewhat less pecunious company that provides services to pecunious pharma companies."

[kate_nepveu]

I'm assuming a professional degree (J.D.) is an "advanced degree."

[ceilidh]

I have my undergrad degree in Music Education, but this spring (hopefully) I'm going to start on a Masters degree in Divergent Learning - assuming everything works out.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

How about "four years of college, including grad-level classes, but no degree"?

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I know. But I'd like to have one less excuse to get out of writing. I used the "I don't have an English degree like most of my favorite writers" thing in my head for a while. Which is silly, because I wasn't ever planning on an English degree anyway; my path was Poly Sci.

If anything, I'll take classes that interest me a la carte, with no particular goal or degree other than learning useful and entertaining things that I can apply toward my writing.

[darius.livejournal.com]

I didn't fill out the poll because there's no option for junior high.

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

Graduated from the Undergraduate Film and Television (UGFTV) department of the Tisch School for the Arts at New York University. Oh so exciting < /sarc > ;}

[minervacat.livejournal.com]

As of right now, I only have a B.A. in English and Theater. But I was accepted to and enrolled in a Masters program in Library and Information Science program, and deferred my admission for a year - I start next fall. I'm in that no man's land between student gigs right now.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

As You Know Peg, I just finished my Ph.D. in English lit. Area of study: Renaissance literature. Specialty: Renaissance drama.

Eight years of bloody-mindedness is about what it amounts to.

[splagxna.livejournal.com]

master's in religion. another master's will show up in the next 5-10 years, if all goes well.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

B.S. from M.I.T. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.

(I also have a professional engineering license in mechanical engineering)

[aome.livejournal.com]

Master's degree in speech-language pathology, completed Dec 1995. Field abandoned Dec 1996 - great career, very interesting, not a good fit for me.

I'm thinking there should be an option for those who are still *in* high school. :)

[snippy]

My formal education ended mid-sophomore year in college, but I've been learning ever since. With my kids grown I've been thinking about going back to finish a degree.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

I'm amid JD, and I think I'll be getting my masters (LLM) in Intellectual Property Law at the same time. I have to decide for certain by December.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

MA in American Studies and Religious Studies from the University of Minnesota, began Fall 1979, graduated Fall 1989 - those papers took a while!

[tarie.livejournal.com]

BA in Communications Journalism Electronic Media (Radio/TV broadasting), Theatre Minor

MA in Theatre/Costume Design.

Am considering either going back to school for PhD in Theatre History or getting my teaching certification.

[crowley.livejournal.com]

BA in Political Science with a minor in Japanese. Will go for my masters, probably in criminal justice or something like that since I'm going into law enforcement, in a couple of years and hopefully my employer will pay for it. :)

[cedarlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Bachelor of Music in Music Ed., emphasis in percussion (Lawrence University, Appleton, WI)

Master of Library and Information Science, specialty in public library services to children and young adults (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA)

[pnh.livejournal.com]

As often happens with surveys of this sort, your poll is missing a slot for those among your readers who never completed high school.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

My BSc is in genetics; my PhD, while the actual piece of paper says "genetics" [ because the work was done in a non-accredited institution and I received the formal qualification from my undergrad university ] was in bioinformatics.

[tiellan.livejournal.com]

I graduated from high school and my parents offered to pay for my college education, so long as I lived by their rules, in their house (or on campus). I tried this for two years (at two different colleges) then quit because I didn't know what I wanted to do and didn't to live with my parents anymore. So I moved out and got a real job ... and still didn't know what I wanted to do! (Smart, eh?) I've been kicking myself for the last ten years for not taking full advantage of their generosity when I had the chance.

The thing is, I "knew" then what I know now -- I just didn't believe it. Everybody told me that no matter what kind of experience I had, less-experienced people with college degrees would always get the job instead of me. When I finally figured out what I wanted to do, someone took a chance on me and gave me my first job in publishing. When I decided it was time to move on, nobody else would hire me. It didn't matter that I already had five years of experience in the field -- nobody cared about that, they just wanted to know if I had my degree.

I tried going to school part time while I was working full time, but at the rate I was going, I'd be 80 before I finished my degree. But now, we can finally afford for me to go to school full time, so I'm working on a couple things, ASL and English Lit. with the idea that I may teach deaf students English (ESL), Lit, or grammar. I'm also thinking about applying to a graduate program after I've got my BS.