3 ms·

Given that a large part of most degrees is pretty irrelevant to the student's future career 3 years seems plenty. If you're going to be an academic you can just

by ollysb 13y ago

Given that a large part of most degrees is pretty irrelevant to the student's future career 3 years seems plenty. If you're going to be an academic you can just do a masters or get on with your PHD.

dfc 13y ago
I am always amazed with HN's fascination with college degrees. What is the large part of most degrees that is pretty irrelevant to a student's future career? {The downvote is a great example of this fascination. Merely asking a question was troublesome enough for someone that instead of responding to the question they clicked the down arrow. My question was polite and genuine, at least that was my intention. What is so threatening/offensive about my question?}
- sharkweek 13y ago
  Anecdotally, I'm a polisci major who got lost on the way to law school and ended up in marketing. Another of my friends was an English major; planned to go into teaching but found himself in med school a few years later. It's always a pretty wide variety, but I feel a large number of people end up heading another direction at some point, if not right after college.
  - dfc 13y ago
    Neither of your examples are degrees that were pursued in order to get a job in the student's eventual career; so I do not see how they are relevant. If "a large number of people end up heading another direction at some point, if not right after college" it seems that general education would be more important than career specific education. (I too was a PSC major and ended up doing my 1L year before wandering elsewhere)
    - rohamg 13y ago
      General education is absolutely more important than career-specific education. The education that happens outside the classroom is even more important: and general education contributes to this by mixing together folks from different majors and walks of life. Personal story: I went to high school in France. When it came for me to decide between colleges, I had the choice between a 3 year degree at Cambridge and a 4 year degree at Stanford. The Cambridge program was for "Natural Sciences", Stanford didn't ask me to select a major until 3 years in. I chose Stanford, took a wide variety of classes far outside anything i had been exposed to previously, and ended up with a degree in Economics -- in addition to a BS and an MS in Biology during which I had the opportunity to pursue many courses in CS, statistics, data analysis, etc. It was also fun, so much so that I ended up staying 5 years instead of 4. Today I work in tech. Had I chosen Cambridge my perspective (and my life!) would be very different.

by ollysb 13y ago

Given that a large part of most degrees is pretty irrelevant to the student's future career 3 years seems plenty. If you're going to be an academic you can just do a masters or get on with your PHD.

dfc 13y ago

I am always amazed with HN's fascination with college degrees. What is the large part of most degrees that is pretty irrelevant to a student's future career? {The downvote is a great example of this fascination. Merely asking a question was troublesome enough for someone that instead of responding to the question they clicked the down arrow. My question was polite and genuine, at least that was my intention. What is so threatening/offensive about my question?}

sharkweek 13y ago
Anecdotally, I'm a polisci major who got lost on the way to law school and ended up in marketing. Another of my friends was an English major; planned to go into teaching but found himself in med school a few years later. It's always a pretty wide variety, but I feel a large number of people end up heading another direction at some point, if not right after college.
- dfc 13y ago
  Neither of your examples are degrees that were pursued in order to get a job in the student's eventual career; so I do not see how they are relevant. If "a large number of people end up heading another direction at some point, if not right after college" it seems that general education would be more important than career specific education. (I too was a PSC major and ended up doing my 1L year before wandering elsewhere)
  - rohamg 13y ago
    General education is absolutely more important than career-specific education. The education that happens outside the classroom is even more important: and general education contributes to this by mixing together folks from different majors and walks of life. Personal story: I went to high school in France. When it came for me to decide between colleges, I had the choice between a 3 year degree at Cambridge and a 4 year degree at Stanford. The Cambridge program was for "Natural Sciences", Stanford didn't ask me to select a major until 3 years in. I chose Stanford, took a wide variety of classes far outside anything i had been exposed to previously, and ended up with a degree in Economics -- in addition to a BS and an MS in Biology during which I had the opportunity to pursue many courses in CS, statistics, data analysis, etc. It was also fun, so much so that I ended up staying 5 years instead of 4. Today I work in tech. Had I chosen Cambridge my perspective (and my life!) would be very different.