What have you guys done with your degrees?

[irnbru]

From the position of someone fortunate to already be working, it's a strong tick in the box. It's not something that comes up in normal conversation often but when it does, it's usually goes something like:

-Do you have a degree?
+Yes, I just finished this year.
-Oh, what did you study?
+Psychology.
-Oh, I've always been interested in that. I studied x, etc

US college in New York, military partnerships, distance learning for three years while working all carry a little bit of glamour in the UK. I also tell people who ask the truth is that I did it because it's better to have a degree than not, distance-learning meant I could fit the exams around work and the funny thing about psychology is that people who don't know much about the social sciences think a bachelor's degree means you can read minds and whatnot.

The liberal arts system is different to the British system, so I usually relate the major to US movies "you know when the kids say they've been in college for two years but haven't chosen their major yet, the liberal arts system is a 120 credits, with about half for general education - humanities, science and so on, with just over 30 credits being the concentration which makes up the major."

Meeting colleagues from the US, it's a straightforward liberal arts college. The funny thing is, some of them already know about Excelsior, which is great.

Apart from adding to a good write up at work and the potential to be streamed to what a lot of people consider the better jobs, I'm glad to have done it and it's something for my mum to hang on the wall.

Meanwhile, it's opened up access to masters programmes at universities back in the UK so I'm starting international relations in September. Distance learning, of course.

Graduating isn't some kind of golden ticket but it's helped more than not doing it at all.