Comment I've been unemployed for a year (Score 3, Interesting) 1251
I felt like I should share my story here.
I got my degree in interdisciplinary studies (Mathematics and IT) and have a fair GPA (I had chronic health issues through college) and have now submitted my 234th application+resume for jobs going from traders joe's to small it companies to IT healthcare to government jobs requiring clearance. Unfortunately most retail/wage jobs are not available due to the shrinking economy and you can only get them if you know people. Where I live you can only get a entry level job by getting security clearance. Problem: I've applied and the fact that I was hospitalized for a mental disorder twice precludes me from that. I am not unable to work and have maintained the problems stemming from a, admittedly severe, case of Type I bipolar disorder and PTSD unusually well. The auditors, despite letters from my all my doctors saying that I was fit for work and capable of handling state secrets didn't want to risk it. At this point I make an odd buck singing as I'm an operatic tenor (full-lyric/spinto) and will probably be able to reenter school under a scholarship for music (tenors who can be heard above a full orchestra and actually have a nice voice are rare). I'm also strongly considering going to cosmetology school as I've got an interest in make-up artistry and hair styling and it's a skill you can take anywhere. Until I get to the point, where I can foster my other talents, I'm applying for disability and SSI.
In the time I've spent now stuck in the house alone in the basement, I've found out that most of what I thought I knew from my college courses was actually watered down shit. I've essentially begun to reteach myself what I thought I knew through old math books that I've gathered from grad students that gave them to a book exchange program. Without projects in programming to work on I can notice my skills eroding and I'm not sure I'd be able to jump right into a job requiring that atm. I would contribute to some open source projects but the bar for the one's I'd like to work on (generally computer algebra systems and numerical computing) is so so high. I would go to grad school only I lack the courses (real analysis mainly) as my college did not provide any of the upper level coursework (at least not seriously [our numerical analysis was done by someone with their MA in math education and she had never touched matlab till two months prior and was technophobic, a complete joke]) necessary for that. I've learned that my degree is essentially worthless in almost every regard.
I was essentially forced to choose this particular school by my parents, who choose it because it's in biking distance and because the school has billboards (I shit you not) advertising that they get students jobs. They boast a 97% employment rate. They also host career fairs and have services for resume counseling and do hound you to use them. However, most of the fairs center around the schools most successful areas: nursing and accounting. They were once an all women 2-year school about a decade and some years ago, so this come as no surprise. They are also lead by a president who has amazing capabilities in manipulating figures. It took me a long while to realize that our ratings were mostly manufactured and overstated.
Now, however, after looking around at my graduating peers and listening to their stories, I realize that my school was not the only offender. In fact, there are a number of schools just like mine that have become, as one slashdotter here put it, 'degree manufactures'. They essentially live by manufacturing mediocre graduates, and taking their savings in the process, and consequentially flooding the workforce and devaluing degrees of talented people. I am at odds to decide though which category I fall in here. My degree is worthless in consideration of the fact that it failed to help me get a job and I learned little of my actual knowledge in the classes taken in pursuit of it. However I am (and I say this with the utmost confidence) more capable in what it prescribes then anyone I can think of in my class. Though since what I have gained knowledge-wise was gathered not in the pursuit of the degree (as it was not required) and according to the mindset of employers knowledge gathered out of work experience, school, and certification is worthless, I will consider myself here a devaluing worthless graduate.
As a post-script I will list here the only things college taught me: Writing, Philosophy, Literary Analysis, Debate, Comparative Religious Thinking
I got my degree in interdisciplinary studies (Mathematics and IT) and have a fair GPA (I had chronic health issues through college) and have now submitted my 234th application+resume for jobs going from traders joe's to small it companies to IT healthcare to government jobs requiring clearance. Unfortunately most retail/wage jobs are not available due to the shrinking economy and you can only get them if you know people. Where I live you can only get a entry level job by getting security clearance. Problem: I've applied and the fact that I was hospitalized for a mental disorder twice precludes me from that. I am not unable to work and have maintained the problems stemming from a, admittedly severe, case of Type I bipolar disorder and PTSD unusually well. The auditors, despite letters from my all my doctors saying that I was fit for work and capable of handling state secrets didn't want to risk it. At this point I make an odd buck singing as I'm an operatic tenor (full-lyric/spinto) and will probably be able to reenter school under a scholarship for music (tenors who can be heard above a full orchestra and actually have a nice voice are rare). I'm also strongly considering going to cosmetology school as I've got an interest in make-up artistry and hair styling and it's a skill you can take anywhere. Until I get to the point, where I can foster my other talents, I'm applying for disability and SSI.
In the time I've spent now stuck in the house alone in the basement, I've found out that most of what I thought I knew from my college courses was actually watered down shit. I've essentially begun to reteach myself what I thought I knew through old math books that I've gathered from grad students that gave them to a book exchange program. Without projects in programming to work on I can notice my skills eroding and I'm not sure I'd be able to jump right into a job requiring that atm. I would contribute to some open source projects but the bar for the one's I'd like to work on (generally computer algebra systems and numerical computing) is so so high. I would go to grad school only I lack the courses (real analysis mainly) as my college did not provide any of the upper level coursework (at least not seriously [our numerical analysis was done by someone with their MA in math education and she had never touched matlab till two months prior and was technophobic, a complete joke]) necessary for that. I've learned that my degree is essentially worthless in almost every regard.
I was essentially forced to choose this particular school by my parents, who choose it because it's in biking distance and because the school has billboards (I shit you not) advertising that they get students jobs. They boast a 97% employment rate. They also host career fairs and have services for resume counseling and do hound you to use them. However, most of the fairs center around the schools most successful areas: nursing and accounting. They were once an all women 2-year school about a decade and some years ago, so this come as no surprise. They are also lead by a president who has amazing capabilities in manipulating figures. It took me a long while to realize that our ratings were mostly manufactured and overstated.
Now, however, after looking around at my graduating peers and listening to their stories, I realize that my school was not the only offender. In fact, there are a number of schools just like mine that have become, as one slashdotter here put it, 'degree manufactures'. They essentially live by manufacturing mediocre graduates, and taking their savings in the process, and consequentially flooding the workforce and devaluing degrees of talented people. I am at odds to decide though which category I fall in here. My degree is worthless in consideration of the fact that it failed to help me get a job and I learned little of my actual knowledge in the classes taken in pursuit of it. However I am (and I say this with the utmost confidence) more capable in what it prescribes then anyone I can think of in my class. Though since what I have gained knowledge-wise was gathered not in the pursuit of the degree (as it was not required) and according to the mindset of employers knowledge gathered out of work experience, school, and certification is worthless, I will consider myself here a devaluing worthless graduate.
As a post-script I will list here the only things college taught me: Writing, Philosophy, Literary Analysis, Debate, Comparative Religious Thinking
