jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Ingest a bag of phallic reproductive organs, good sir.
Crossroads: Law School vs Flying Career
- Thread starter Beech_Flyer
- Start date
Ingest a bag of phallic reproductive organs, good sir.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
Med schools may be "considering" a few non-science majors with stellar GPAs, high MCAT scores, and health care work experience. However, the vast majority of applicants are still science majors.
FYI, my wife majored in genetics with a 3.74 GPA, scored in the 60th percentile in the MCAT and was a licensed EMT during college.
Nope, paid a lot of lawyers and lived with one for five years........paying them was easier!
And no it wasn't @jtrain609
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
It all boils down to getting hot chicks. What job will enable you the best opportunities to get the hotties? Thats you're answer.
Rock star, obviously.
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
Figuratively speaking, colleges should be shot for offering this kinda garbage to young kids who don't know what they want to do for a career. Nothing screams waste 40-120k+ at an expensive public university/college only to have a degree that is absolutely worthless in getting any decent job.
Sad thing is universities DO collect data that records: student undergrad programs, what job offers came into students, and calculate the percentages. Unfortunately for pretty much every young kid and their parents, the universities don't publish this information. The #1 choice for an 18 yr old college freshman is "undeclared." After all, not many 18 yr olds know what they want to do the rest of their life. THIS is where universities take advantage of kids and give them options like philosophy or basket weaving and then once the university collects its full fee from loans/tuition (loans mostly from US government), they don't gave a rats behind about the kid anymore once he's 22 sitting unemployed with a philosophy degree. Now they are busy sucking in the next 18 year old kid who doesn't know what he wants to do. And the system repeats over and over. Student debt now is one trillion with a T and growing.
MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
I went back in the thread just to "like" this post.
I had an instructor/friend back some time ago. Fantastic pilot, great instructor and definitely on a good track to an airline career. We sat down one day and he told me he decided to give it up. His wife was pregnant and he had a heart-to-heart self-talk with himself, the subject of which was, "do I want to be a pilot or do I want to be a Dad."
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
FIFY.
Few jobs pay top dollar for you to work 40 hours a week. If you want a job that pays well in the modern American economy, you will be worked.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
I distinctly remember one morning flying out of DFW in some horrible weather. The frequency was a madhouse with the airliners all trying to find smooth air, and us little guys trying to pick our way through some nasty storms. I was getting tossed around like a ragdoll despite being belted in a five point harness.
All of a sudden, the radio got real quiet for a minute and someone transmitted over the radio "God I wish I worked in a cubicle." At that moment I completely agreed with that nameless pilot.
This is a awesome hobby, an OK job, and a horrible career.
I'm one of those guys. Despite all of the above, I still love this job and couldn't imagine doing anything else.
MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
Of course you will be worked. And "career" means a commitment that goes beyond clock-punching. And yes, there are always compromises. And that means we have choices.
But one does not have to be a "Big Law" attorney in order to have a comfortable standard of living and connection with ones family. In my friend's case, he knew that the airlines would take him away from home, especially in his children's formative years. That was not something he was willing to give up (and back then new airline hires were doing a bit better relatively than today's Ramen wages with the regionals).
Cav
Former Maddog Whisperer
The university's responsibility is to educate in the field of study that the STUDENT chooses. It's not the university's bound duty to find that student a job. Not their mission. You're free to enter whatever track you wish at your own peril.
Not every school is created equal. Students graduating from top 25 universities with high GPA's in liberal arts will have plenty of job opportunities in fields that have nothing to do with their field of study. If you were to look at the incoming classes of top law schools and say first year analysts at Wall Street investment banks you notice a huge variety in majors and a much smaller variety of university names on the same diplomas. It's not as black and white as you make it seem.
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
As someone who also studied philosophy in college, I disagree. If you can think, you can do most anything, you just have to learn whatever job it is that you choose to pursue. Personally, I've been a database analyst, project manager, etc. (prior to my aviation career), and I made damn good money before I decided to torpedo my life and become a regional airline pilot. Fields of study that teach critical thinking, and foster a systematic approach to thought in general are valuable, though undervalued by those who just say, "Hah, philosophy! What are you going to do with that?!?!"
By all means, if you want to be a physicist, study physics. If you want to be an engineer, study engineering. But if you are just majoring in biology because you like animals, I would recommend something that is a little more well-rounded. Most people do not work in their field of study, so why not get an education rather than vocation training?
This is a very dead horse though. Most people just don't know what philosophy is. They took a Phil 101 class in college, hated it, and never looked back. @jtrain609 may disagree with me, but I wouldn't trade my education for anything.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...lege-grads-have-a-job-related-to-their-major/
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Philosophy is a worthless area of study, as evidenced by the two of us.
It also produces some of the highest LSAT scores of any major.
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
The subject wasn't continuing education which is what law school, med school, etc, are. I don't know when you went through college/university, for me it was 2002-2006 and even when the economy was fine, I knew *many* LSA/liberal majors who were 22 and now had no prospects of a job with what they majored in. I'm curious why you don't think colleges have any vested interest in getting people employed? IMO, it is, and I have seen mine make the effort to try and get students internships or employment. It is worth mentioning that despite my UMich - Ann Arbor engineering degree, the only two job interviews I received were from on-campus interviews. Not a single thing heard back from numerous job applications. The problem also is the government has a vested interest in getting students employed. Most student loans have government backing and they eventually want their money back. They way it's going now, students will be defaulting and will not pay back their entire due. The government in the end will take the hit and loss. There are many things needed to fix the student debt bubble.
Frankly, that's a sad statistic. What it means is that only 27% of them are actually doing something useful with their own degree as it relates to it. The rest of the 73% are not, which begs the question, why did they waste their time with that in the first place? Colleges/Universities have tenured professors and programs that need student bodies to fill. They don't care how. You say you became a database analyst after a philosophy degree? How, exactly, did you land that job? You surely must have had some background in computers and database management? It's rare for someone to just land a database analyst job and "make damn good money doing it" unless they have the background, knowledge, and experience to use their skills. If I'm hiring a database analyst, just a simple philosophy degree wouldn't cut it. I would need to see more specific background/training for the potential job applicant as it relates to database work.
If I was a college adviser, I'd encourage people to consider 4-year professional degrees - if they have the academic smarts ---- engineering, nursing, etc. These are 4 yr programs that don't require any additional schooling to land a job with, and one can land a very decent job right away at 22.
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
If you KNOW you are pursuing higher education, then yes, the undergrad isn't as important in terms of what you want to pursue. You could enter law school with a phil degree, or religious studies, or poli science, among many others. I'm talking about guys like my college roommate who 'only' got a 4-yr poli sci degree and did not do a masters or pursue law school. At 22, he couldn't any job with that degree. He eventually got a computer-related job but only because he was a computer geek/genius from his own time. How many other countless people are like him who graduate and at 22 find that what they just graduated with gives them no job whatsoever to start paying back that 30k-120k+ loan.
Dugie8
Well-Known Member
I quit my flying job and took an office job with the state, little bit of flying but mostly working in the office. Can't do it, no matter the schedule, holidays, etc. Pay was good (71K+) and good state bennies/retirement. Still just can't chain myself to a desk/cubicle for the next 25+ years.
My wife did the Associates degree thing for Radiology, she is just now finishing her Bachelor's. She works 32 hours a week, has all the holidays off and all weekends off. Every now and then she works from 10am to 9pm for a week but mostly 630 to 300. Has a pension plan plus an investment plan for retirement and has medical benefits that border on being absurd (read that as being awesome) even after the Obama care fiasco. She still makes more than me and it would take me a good 5-7 years at any major, on FO pay, to pass her.
My wife did the Associates degree thing for Radiology, she is just now finishing her Bachelor's. She works 32 hours a week, has all the holidays off and all weekends off. Every now and then she works from 10am to 9pm for a week but mostly 630 to 300. Has a pension plan plus an investment plan for retirement and has medical benefits that border on being absurd (read that as being awesome) even after the Obama care fiasco. She still makes more than me and it would take me a good 5-7 years at any major, on FO pay, to pass her.
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
I studied on my own and learned SQL, SQL server and VB Script. That was good enough to get the job. I intentionally studied logic when I was majoring in philosophy because if you understand logic you understand computer programming. (And I've always been a computer need.)
At any rate, if you can think, you can learn most any job. I would hire a well rounded educated person over a narrowly educated person any day.
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