Peter Vogt, MonsterTrak's Career Coach, answers questions about choosing a major,
graduate school, continuing education and more.
Will a business degree get me a job? And if so, what types of business degrees should I
look into?
Answer:
No degree will get you a job all by itself. It will most certainly HELP you get a job; it just
won't GUARANTEE you a job.
If you're already in college -- or you soon will be -- this is a question you should to bring
to a career counselor at your school's career center. You've got a lot of exploring to do if
you want to make an informed decision. You need to see which majors are offered at
your school, learn more about what each of them entails, and get a better sense of the
types of jobs each of them might lead to.
Whatever major you ultimately choose, definitely supplement it with hands-on
experience - internships, co-ops, part-time jobs, volunteering. The No. 1 mistake college
students make is leaving school with little or, worse, no experience.
I am currently pursuing a BS in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix
Online. Will I be given the same opportunities with an online degree as with an on-
campus degree?
Answer:
The question you raise is an important one. Employers reactions will probably be mixed.
Some won't notice that you have an online degree, some will notice but won't care, and
some will view it negatively. It's the latter group that you need to be most concerned
about. Be prepared to defend your online degree and illustrate its strengths and what you
got out of it. Some employers simply don't understand what today's online learning is all
about.
Generally speaking, it seems employers are more likely to react positively (or at least
neutrally) to your having an online degree if you already have another degree from a
"regular," bricks-and-mortar institution. That is, if you've worked in the "real world" for a
while -- after having gone to college -- and you then decide to get an ADDITIONAL
degree via distance education, then that's okay in employers' eyes.
Some employers might be more worried about someone whose ONLY college experience
was/is online.
If I take five classes each quarter, I will graduate in the spring (along with hundreds of
other students). If I take three or four classes, I can graduate at the end of fall quarter.
Ignoring the obvious difference in terms of tuition, is it better to graduate with a pool of
other new grads or to go into the market at a time when most students are still in school?
Answer:
The time of year when you graduate isn't that big of a deal. College students and others
with an academic connection tend to place much more emphasis on the fall and spring
"seasons" than the business world does. No matter when you graduate, jobs will be
available and you'll be competing with others for those jobs.
While you could save yourself money by taking more classes each quarter, the risk is that
you'll take so many classes at once that you'll overextend yourself -- and perhaps do
worse in them (from a grade standpoint) than you would have otherwise.
Also, keep in mind that you should get some experience before you leave school - an
internship, a co-op, a job, or even volunteering. So you may want to take fewer classes in
order to build the real-world experience that is critical in today's job market.
I'm a college student in my second semester and I still can't decide what I want to major
in. My major is currently "undecided." I want to choose a major that I will enjoy years
later, and in which there will be job openings by the time I graduate.
Answer:
You aren't alone in not knowing what to major in. In fact, you're actually better off being
"undecided" for a while so that you can explore various majors and get a better sense of
what they're about (both academically and in terms of the career they might lead to). Here
are some steps you can take:
1) Talk to a counselor at your school's career center. Why? Because he/she can talk to
you about the various majors at your school and give you an initial sense of what they're
all about. He/she can help you explore majors you've already identified, and perhaps
suggest similar areas that you haven't considered.
2) Read about careers in the fields you're interested in. Any decent-sized bookstore (i.e.,
Barnes and Noble, Borders) has a "Careers" section where you can find all sorts of
career-related books.
3) Conduct informational interviews with people in the fields you're interested in - either
in person or via phone or email. If you're interested in child psych, for example, find a
child psychologist and ask him/her what an appropriate major might be.
What would be a good field for me to obtain my master's degree in? I don't want to go to
law school, but I do want to get my master's.
Answer:
Since graduate school is such a huge investment of your time, energy, and money, it's
critical for you to have an idea why you want to go in the first place. In the ideal case,
people attend grad school because they have a specific career or personal goal in mind
and they need at least a master's degree to pursue it.
It's impossible to say which field would be good for you because it all depends on your
definition of "good." Are you referring to earning potential, job possibilities, or a job that
is interesting and rewarding? You should decide that first.
Do some homework before you commit to graduate school. It's far better to ask these
tough questions now instead of halfway through the program or, worse, when you're
done.
I'm graduating with a degree in anthropology. However, I'm thinking about going back to
school to focus on hotel management. My concern is that I do not have a background in
business. Would a graduate school accept me into their business program with my major?
Should I take some business courses at a local college before I apply?
Answer:
Different graduate programs have different admissions requirements. You need to start
checking into specific graduate programs - for example, a program in hotel/motel
management or administration.
Ask your question of each of the graduate programs you are considering. Only they --
meaning the chair of each particular department at each particular school -- will be able
to tell you for certain whether your academic background and experience will be
sufficient to get you into their particular program.
Another possibility is to continue working in the field for a while to gain more
experience. You can still explore graduate school at the same time.
I've been attending a community college and trying to transfer to the state university.
However, they keep changing their transfer requirements. Now I have to finish my
general requirements as well as a couple other prerequisites. This will take me another
year, and there is no guarantee that they will accept my application. I've also looked at
schools like Devry, which seem to have an open admission policy. Do you have any
suggestions for a person wanting to get a degree at 40 years old?
Answer:
I don't have any specific school recommendations for you, but I do have some
suggestions:
1) Sometimes, the only reason requirements "change" at a particular school is just
because you have spoken to different people at the school, who have different
understandings of their schools' own policies! Is it possible that you're getting conflicting
messages from various admissions or transfer counselors?
2) No matter which four-year school you apply to, you probably won't have any
guarantee that it will accept your application. That's just the nature of the college
application process. That said, follow the suggestions given to you by transfer and/or
admissions counselors. Just be sure to get those suggestions IN WRITING so that, if
there is a dispute later on about what you were informed, you have documentation to
back up your side of the story.
3) I don't know much about Devry, but I can tell you that whatever school you are
considering, you MUST ask people outside the institution to give you information about
it. Don't rely solely on what the institution itself is telling you.
I'm looking at starting college within the next two years. I graduated high school back in
1999, and my final GPA was less than 3.0. I've never taken any kind of college classes,
so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.
I've heard that, typically, students with lower than a 3.0 GPA or who have been out of
high school for a while are generally overlooked by universities. I've been advised that
the best route is to start with community college. Any advice?
Answer:
While I don't know that you'd necessarily be overlooked by a university, it IS good idea
for you to explore attending a community college first, for several reasons:
1) It will let you "test the waters" of college-level academic work so you can see how you
do with it.
2) It will let you explore various major and career possibilities without feeling pressure to
immediately decide on one.
3) It's almost always significantly cheaper in terms of cost.
4) Community colleges are generally more accessible in terms of admission.
I will be graduating next year with an education degree. However, I've realized that I'm
not interested in teaching in a classroom, and I'm more interested in the corporate world.
If I want a job other than teaching, do I have to go back and get a different degree, or can
I work with what I have?
Answer:
You can do much more with your education degree than teach in a K-12 school district
classroom.
Do you enjoy the skill of teaching -- that is, do you get a kick out of teaching new things
to people? If so, you can consider putting that skill to use in a setting other than a
classroom. For example, many organizations have "trainers" on staff who teach
employees various tasks. In fact, there's a professional organization for this large field -
the American Society for Training and Development.
You can also use your education degree to work for nonprofit organizations, as well as
for-profit companies whose customers are teachers or children. You could even explore
working in some sort of "outreach" type of position -- for instance, planning educational
activities at zoos or museums.
In short, there are lots of possibilities without you having to go back for another degree.
Be sure to talk with your school's career counselor, who has most likely helped other
students in similar situations.
Find degree programs at MonsterLearning.com.
These questions were compiled from message boards at MonsterTrak.com.
Check out MonsterTrak for additional tips and job
listings.
Add to:
