4-year college degree?

[burrocrat]

do you have a 4-year college degree?

optional: school, major, year, additional education such as master's degree, student loans, etc.

 

[Lindoug]

I'll take the bait:

Bachelor's Degree
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Electronic Engineering, 1988
Parent's purchased home I lived in,
Student Loans, paid off in 10 years

Master's Degree
Naval Postgraduate School
Systems Engineering, 2003
Employer Paid.

 

[Frixxxx]

Park University
B.S., Computer Science - Major
Math - Minor
2007
Community College of the Air Force
A.S. Information Systems
1993 (All CLEP no classes)

Paid for by the United States Taxpayer (for my Air Force service) to which I am eternally grateful.

 

[burrocrat]

yes.

university of washington (seattle).
ba - architecture - design and planning.

additional education: oregon state university (corvallis). geography, civil envineering (did not complete training, parenting got in the way).

student loans kill my cash flow, still.

 

[Skorcher]

BS Economics; University of California Riverside
BS Accounting; California State University, San Bernardino
student loans paid off in 10 years

 

[k0nkuzh0n]

BS Electrical Engineering from University of Maine (2010)
Paid off 40k in students loans within 9 months of graduation after I decided against buying a BMW.

I was a 1-year SMART Scholarship recipient, so I got paid 25k (+tuition, books, and healthcare paid for) to go to school my senior year; Most of that money went towards paying off student loans from the first 3 years.

 

[Minnow]

Berry College
BA History/PolSci

No loans (got a free ride -- lucky or smart -- you decide).

 

[dougscott]

I thought we were trying to remain anonymous, so we could have multiple profiles? :cheesy: (I’m kidding!!!)

MBA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Troy, NY
BS, New School (NSSR) NY, NY

 

[tom1tom1]

BS: Forestry
Iowa State University-1977
Paid off loans in 5 yrs

 

[mcash]

AA Engineering Palm Beach JR. College 1980
BS Ocean Engineering Florida Atlantic University, 1982
MS Civil Engineering, 1986

Loans paid in full by 1988.

No regrets, served me well.

 

[konakathy]

No 4 year degree .
3 years of liberal arts classes at San Fernando Valley CC, Los Angeles

left home at 18, couldn't focus both on school and surviving.

I am proud of my degree in BS from Crazy School of Life. It has served me well. I am doing better than most of my friends
with 4 year degrees. And, I'm debt free living in Hawaii!

 

[Minnow]

I am proud of my degree in BS from Crazy School of Life.

As you should be... forgot that I had one of those, too. Good on you!!!

 

[clester]

B.S computer science 1982 that I never used!

1 year of M.Ed classes plus lots of physics, math and computer science classes since retiring

 

[alevin]

4 yr degree, plus advanced degree. Degree programs in two related but different aspects of natural resource management. soil, water, vegetation, animals, wild and domestic both. Don't forget substantial amount of advanced level statistics as well.

2 different western land grant universities. Finishing the second degree required a meaningful sized loan to finish (meaningful for a poor broke grad student), but not til the bitter end when personal savings and paid-work income sources went dry, the loan helped me relocate across the state to that first longterm fulltime job with benefits and a future after I got done with all required coursework, set up rental household and unload the U-Haul and get by til the first paycheck rolled in a month later.

Paid the loan back within the year, while writing essential piece of paper (thesis) nights and weekends, to complete degree requirements and survive review by professorial committee near the end of that year. Without the thesis getting approved, there'd have been no degree, and without the degree getting finished within that year, I'd have lost the job and the career would have taken a very different path than it has.

 

[PessOptimist]

No. CCAF AA degree in something about radio/television broadcasting (which has absolutely nothing to do with what I did or do) and an ancient AA in automotive technology which says I can fix your car if it's a '73 or older if I can find my toolbox.

Related subject-how many of you include your degrees in you company e-mail signature? If so why? Do you think this impresses people?

I received an e-mail just today from a person who identifies themselves as: IT Engineer, MC, MBA. Is that an EE in IT, Master Counselor and Business administrator? Is the first just a job title? Why no mention of the BA/BS? Whatever, this person has no clue and sent the e-mail to the wrong person in the wrong company.

PO

 

[alevin]

Can only speak for myself, and no, the letters do not go in my signature. The degrees got me in the door, and help me do my job. At the time, the second degree almost disqualified me from getting the entry-level job, they thought I would be overqualified. nowadays, it's rare that a person in my field(s) of expertise doesn't have one advanced degree, again, the job expectations these days virtually require training above the 4 year degree, but some can still come in the door without it and succeed up to a point with mentoring support and ojt and continued reading of new professional information pertinent to the job.

But one degree higher than my second degree, people with those letters do often put them behind their name in their signatures. those individuals also work at a higher level or in different branch of my agency, one where those particular letters actually can be more meaningful behind one's name. It's still a judgement call when the lower ranks see such a signature, how they react or what they privately think about it.

At my level and one level down, people will think you're overly proud of yourself if you put letters behind your name in your sig. It's what you do with that education in the post-academia job that matters to colleagues, not the degree itself. I tell newcomers with that 3d-level degree that it will not benefit them in their relationships with coworkers to stick it in their faces if they are going to work at my level or a couple rungs lower. It's ok if their colleagues know, or heard through the grapevine, but they don't need to hear about it or see reminders on a routine basis. When in doubt, leave it out. a good rule for many communications situations.

 

[Holden_Caufield]

BS Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2001
JD Georgetown University Law Center, 2008
$9,000 owed in student loans

 

[Cactus]

BSEE 1988 Florida Institute of Technology (Loans payed off in 7 years)
MSCS 1997 USU (paid in cash while working)

Ah no, don't put those letters in your email signature. That is just tacky and paints you as a novice beginner. It is actually looked down on in my organization as most of the offenders list certifications and not degrees. That comes across as an excuse for not having a degree, whether you have one or not.

 

[maui21ice]

I have a 4 year Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice which I received back in 2008 from a small Liberal Arts college called Lycoming College.

I will have all of my student loans paid off in a year and a half, but that's been after paying a heavy amount on them the last 11 years now even while I was attending the college. I feel it will be more of an accomplishment for me to pay them off then to earn the degree when the times comes...

 

[clester]

B.S computer science 1982 that I never used!

1 year of M.Ed classes plus lots of physics, math and computer science classes since retiring

Oh yeah, I had a full ride basketball scholarship from East Tennessee State. So, no loans but it was a full time job!