What an Ivy League Phd thinks of us

[april004]

There have been threads on this issue in the past but this exchange reveals yet another wrinkle. I find it interesting that your PhD friend is so understanding and supportive, as are people like Anne Mulchahy--CEO of Xerox, but friends slugging through community college and your obviously uninformed HR manager are not. Here's an exchange I posted previously with regard to this issue:


Now, what I DIDN'T post previously is what Bob is doing today. Bob worked for a large health care provider in their marketing dept until he decided to go into business for himself. That business failed. Then he got a job selling inventory software. That business ultimately failed. He now has a job auditing light fixtures in large warehouses for a company that proposes to replace them and share in the electricity savings. While this may end up being a fine job, it doesn't sound like one you would be aiming for with an impressive, expensive graduate degree--and certainly doesn't make me wish I had followed his path.

So, without any undue disrespect to people like Bob, I think it's important to consider the source. Most people only have a handful of jobs in their career--so the only opinions you really need to worry about are those of the people that stand between you and a job you want. You're still young, but the older you get, the less your education will impact your future employment and the more your presence and experience will count anyway.

[SIZE="4"]P.S. BTW...I think maybe that PhD friend of yours likes you[/SIZE]

Very perceptive. I think so too! I do wonder...what would this Phd want with lil ol me? Granted I am 3 yrs older than him, so I guess I'm not that little. Lol. He is cute and looks sortof like a 30 yr old Harry Potter. I guess a part of me is still a little intimidated by the fact a phd might like me, even though he doesn't care a bit about my educational background. In Well, I guess if he feels it's ok for an Ivy Leaguer to fraternize with a soon to be Excelsior College Grad....I shouldn't care either!

[rickyjo]

"An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before."

I love it, that is a fabulous quote ... and so Mark Twain!

Usually my low income no degree buddies think that testing/FEMA combination which is going to allow me to get a degree with only a few thousand bucks is a great idea and I have a few converts already I think. I hope. I have some gifted friends who came from the wrong background and need a degree, who under differant circumstances would be doctors or lawyers.

[ShoaibS15]

That's great!

Well, I sent you a PM, April, please get back to me soon.

[april004]

An update on the Ivy league phd...

His response to me when I finished - just think of it as a congrats to all of us who finished or are finishing!

non frog to me
show details Oct 13


I can't stop thinking about how great it is that you finished your classes/tests!


You are going to graduate very very soon! Think about it....You finished your degree!
Lots of hard work, dedication, self-motivation, and good-old-fashioned intelligence has paid off.


You deserve it SO much!


I hope it's starting to sink in. You are awesome!

and....

non frog to me
show details Nov 14


I really am so proud of you! It's a huge accomplishment, especially
the way you did it....on your own, by deciding to do it and putting
your mind to it. That is harder than the momentum method like
me....just following a path without any hurdles. You should be really
proud of yourself! . You deserve it

[SophanPhin82]

For the life of me, I just can't understand the elitist attitude against distance learning in general. The fact is, nearly all of the credits I've accumulated so far, are from traditional brick and mortar institutions. I've only recently started taking online courses and CLEP/DSST's and from my experience, this is a far more effective way for me to learn in that it forces me to over-study. I can tell you I've retained far more of my study materials learning online than I ever did in an actual classroom.

A lot of the dismissive remarks and attitudes I've encountered are from people who've never had any experience with distance learning and seem to think all distance schools are diploma mills. It's unfortunate but it really just stems from their own ignorance. I've got friends who boast advanced degrees from top-tier universities who've really embraced distance learning. I think any learning medium that allows people with circumstances that make it difficult if not nearly impossible to earn degrees at a traditional B&M should be embraced.

[alleycat]

For the life of me, I just can't understand the elitist attitude against distance learning in general. The fact is, nearly all of the credits I've accumulated so far, are from traditional brick and mortar institutions. I've only recently started taking online courses and CLEP/DSST's and from my experience, this is a far more effective way for me to learn in that it forces me to over-study. I can tell you I've retained far more of my study materials learning online than I ever did in an actual classroom.

A lot of the dismissive remarks and attitudes I've encountered are from people who've never had any experience with distance learning and seem to think all distance schools are diploma mills. It's unfortunate but it really just stems from their own ignorance. I've got friends who boast advanced degrees from top-tier universities who've really embraced distance learning. I think any learning medium that allows people with circumstances that make it difficult if not nearly impossible to earn degrees at a traditional B&M should be embraced.

I am with you SophanPhin82. To allow the impossible to be possible for anyone who has the drive to succeed and try. It is scarey for narrow minded thinkers to actually have to think differently.

[15%Luck]

haha...When I opened up this thread I was fully expecting to read a lot of derogatory commentary from the PhD towards us. So, I guess this is a pleasant surprise :p

Almost all of my "friends" who are in college look down on me and openly make fun of this method.

I am not respected for the way I'm getting my degree.

Most of the time when people ask me where I'm going to school and I explain to them, I'm asked a lot of incriminating questions and then viewed rather narrowly. You go through that about 100 times and it starts to wear on you.

I've received so much heat on this over the past year that several times I've felt like saying "screw it!" and enrolling myself at a local CC.

I think the truth is people feel insecure about us. They don't like that our method makes their method seem more than a little inefficient and the way they combat that feeling is to try to put us down.

At this point I'm using this method almost as much to spite my brick and mortar friends as to save time and money. I like to add it all up and dwell on the fact that when they're starting their sophomore and junior years, I'll have my BS degree hangin' on the wall and be waving goodbye to them as I head off to either get an MBA or go to Law school. hilarious We can't let them get us down. Stick with it!!

Thanks for the encouragement!

P.S.
This forum is the bomb guys! For those of us that get knocked this is somewhere we can come and actually get some encouragement instead of condescension.

[Ruddigore]

haha...When I opened up this thread I was fully expecting to read a lot of derogatory commentary from the PhD towards us. So, I guess this is a pleasant surprise :p

Almost all of my "friends" who are in college look down on me and openly make fun of this method.

I am not respected for the way I'm getting my degree.

Most of the time when people ask me where I'm going to school and I explain to them, I'm asked a lot of incriminating questions and then viewed rather narrowly. You go through that about 100 times and it starts to wear on you.

Yep, I know the feeling. I'm 19, so most of my friends are looking at colleges, finishing their freshmen year, or finishing their sophomore year. Folk at church ask me what I'm doing, I kindly explain, and they (generally) answer kindly. The "Then I'll be going to Grad school" part always helps too.

Recently, someone I know asked a close friend of mine why he hadn't opted to use CLEPs. His answer was motivation. He said that he wasn't sure he could do college that way. The first person replied, "That's not college" -- while looking at me more than him. Thanks for the encouragement there! I think this person is still sore that I can get 30 credits for the GRE, which is somehow "wrong," let alone that I already have more credits than this person who started on college a year before me. In fact, I realized last night that I've already earned more credit than all of my college age friends.

Those students two or three years older than me have had to remain home for multiple semesters on account of money or health issues. All of you know something that could help them, but they are determined that they are not smart enough to study a college class on their own, which vexes me greatly.

But enough of that! Time to read some Astronomy.

Post 700

[Scholar Interrupted]

I've received so much heat on this over the past year that several times I've felt like saying "screw it!" and enrolling myself at a local CC.

Don't do it!

The further I get into this process, and the more I read about education in general, the more convinced I am that community colleges are, to a large extent, a waste of space. Virtually every credit one can earn through a CC can be earned through CLEP. And, in my opinion at least, if you can't independently attain the level of knowledge required to pass a CLEP, then you're either in the wrong major or you're not college material at all.

There are exceptions. For example, I earned my college algebra credit 20 years ago at a CC. As a bookish, innumerate type, I'm not sure I could have adequately prepared for the equivalent CLEP on my own. I would have needed a tutor probably, and going to CC on a grant and scholarship was more efficient than paying out-of-pocket for a tutor (money I didn't have back then).

But that was just one credit out of 30LL I earned the old-fashioned way, decades before finding out I didn't need to go through all that. And imagine if I could have gotten a grant to just pay for the algebra tutor, and let the taxpayers keep the rest of the thousands they gave me. (Probably would have learned more algebra, too.)

I think the money thrown at community colleges is grossly disproportionate to their actual utility. They're great for vocational training -- something our society seems to unfairly belittle -- but for those who eventually want to hold a BA or BS and are capable of earning one in 6 years or less, B&M school is an extremely expensive and inefficient way to go about earning LL credits.

<Takes deep breath, steps down from soapbox.>

But that's just my $.02.

[SophanPhin82]

Kelly,

I guess I'll have to mount a vigorous defense of not only my own community college experience but the CC system in general. I think my community college classes actually served me better than the courses I took at the local uni. Not only were classes smaller and professors generally more available, but I think the exposure to a diverse student body in terms of age, cultural backgrounds and abilities did me a world of good. Sure there were the lackadaisical, wet-behind-the-ears kids fresh out of high school that just weren't prepared for higher ed but there were also the older career-changers, parents and driven young self-starters looking to save money and transfer. For me, I learned intangibles like work ethic, time management, etc. from my fellow students so in a sense, learned as much from them as I did from actual course instruction. At the university I transferred to following my CC stint the culture of slacking and partying was far more prevalent.

Online learning isn't for everyone unfortunately and for those better-suited for a B&M class, I think a CC is a great, affordable way to earn credits. Most of the people in my evening classes had either transferred to 4-year's or were in the process of doing so - an associate's was a terminal degree for only a few and most of those students were in the nursing, radiology or other vocational program. Don't get me wrong, I'm obviously an advocate for accelerated, distance programs but there's something to be said for having an actual B&M college experience where you can socialize with fellow students and have shared experience.