The Mc.D. Degree
We’ve all heard of the useless bachelor’s degrees:
And the good college degrees:
I’ve heard many “can’t find a job” or “I wasted my time on a useless degree” complaints over the years from graduates. It used to be the usual suspects, drama, English literature, philosophy, and etc. majors. Now I’m hearing the same complaints from graduates in the Biosciences. They seem to think they are entitled to employment without proving themselves. Former workmates of mine proved they aren’t up to the task but still think they deserve some sort of preferential treatment. My advice was to go to a state that has a known biotech hub or a region that has a biotech cluster. There they will have many more chances to land a job that they will be comfortable in. Hey, if you’re single and in your 20’s take a chance. Nope, some would rather give up, with a sizable college loan, and work the same minimum wage job they were at before they started college!
This whining brings up something valuable; your college degree is only as good as you want to be. This includes the so-called useless degrees. Here is an example:
I took Human Genetics with Dr. Hocutt at MCC and was shocked that he was a Lit major, at Harvard! How did he end up with a Ph.D. in Biology? His explanation was a family friend commented that she remembered him as a little boy collecting frogs. This struck him profoundly, an epiphany, he realized that was his calling, the biological sciences was where he should be. His experience having fun collecting amphibians as a child would shape the course of his life. I had a similar experience while working at a cozy job at Hewlett-Packard’s Corvallis facility. When the onsite outsource companies are outsourced to Taiwan, you know it’s time to leave. I was offered an entry-level job in Boise, without a pay cut, making California wages. You would think I was set for life. No, I knew it was time to leave, take the 10-month cash payoff and take control of my 401K, HP and Agilent stock. Looking at available jobs in California I kept seeing zoologist, biologist, or any life science degree for the biotech market. This changed everything. In a high school career survey biologist was the number 1 choice for me to pursue. Living in California a career in electronics with only an A.S. degree was a wiser choice at the time. A degree in the life sciences and a career change was now the goal.
What this means to me is there are no useless degrees from good colleges. Those who whine and moan will never get anywhere, they have to realize their true calling like Dr. Hocutt, find a different job market, or take a chance and go back to college and start a new career path like I chose to do.
The most talented painter in the world will never end up in a gallery if they don’t bother to pick up a paintbrush. Otherwise they’ll be working at Mickey D’s.
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