imatlas
Saucy White Boy
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Google is hard!
Surprisingly, Ivy League graduates do not dominate the top fifty Fortune 500 Companies. When measuring CEO undergraduate education, the University of Texas system has just as much representation as Harvard: a total of 3 CEOs. What does this mean for students? An elite career doesn�t always stem from an elite education.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1227055,00.html#ixzz1TWjvba1P
UT System student population: 190,000
Harvard student population: 7,100 undergrads and 14,000 postgrads
Students, who were frequently high-achievers in HS, graduate with a BS in a subject of the humanities and have no real job prospects available. The reality is that they are now less employable than their low-achieving high school classmates that have spent four years working full time.
This is really what I was responding too, and I'd like to think that I've cast at least some doubt on your proposition that a graduate with a BS in the humanities is less employable than a high school graduate with 4 years of work experience. If not, ask yourself which of these two would have an easier job getting an entry level job at a software company: a college graduate with a BA in french literature, or an experienced, licensed mechanic. Here's a hint: it's not the mechanic.
My response is that the mechanic's job could very well pay more. I agree that ****** office jobs frequently require a degree. I don't think the humanities BS would be able to get a job as anything more than a receptionist, call center person, or MAYBE a commission-based sales role at this software company unless they had an enormous amount of hobbyist software experience. I will grant you that one can certainly move up the totem poll once they get their foot in. My take, however, is that most college graduates expect the world to be handed to them immediately upon receiving their degree, and my original example is that the humanities BS would see these receptionist and call-center offers, decide they are not good enough, and then enroll in grad school. This has to be at least half of the law school population.
IMO, If your goal is to be gainfully employed, you are likely better off doing a two-year program to be an ambulance driver, an apprenticeship to be a plumber, a course to be a power line installer, etc than a 4 year degree in humanities at a state school. I think the college educated portion of our society really underrates this.
So, the mechanic's job pays more, today. Big deal - after four years and a certificate, a mechanic is already close to his maximum lifetime earning potential. After a BA in French Literature, the entry level job at Google doing software localization might pay a bit less than the mechanic's job, but not much. It's also the starting point of a much higher overall earning potential - 3 to 5 years from now that person could easily be in a management position earning more than the SF baseline. It's easy for me to understand how a student of French Literature would sell her skills to a company like Google (translation, writing, working on team projects, etc), it's much harder for me to understand how the mechanic lands any job other than 'mechanic.' What can a mechanic do that would put him into that income bracket? Possibly, starting his own business, but even then it would have to be quite a successful shop for him to net $250K.
As you say, if your goal is pure employability tomorrow, don't bother getting a humanities BA. If, on the other hand, your goal is to lay the groundwork for future advancement, it's difficult to see how the high school diploma or AA degree come close, ceteris parabis (ie leave Harvard out of the mix for once).
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