This Friday I complete the coursework for my Masters in Public Administration that I’ve been working through since December of 2009. For the majority of this program I was working for Capella University and one of the benefits of being employed there was free education. Once I left, about a year ago, I had to pay for the remainder of my classes, which I began to do since it wasn’t worth it to just stop the program with only a handful of courses remaining.
The reason I went into the MPA program was my interest in the public sector and the generally ridiculous decisions which I believe are made by both staff and politicians alike. I honestly believed that I would be able to change the world and have it run differently if I was able to provide some direction. However, as I progressed I realized that there are probably thousands just like me who went in believing they could bring something good to the process and ended up bogged down by politics and pressure. Also, in the several years since I began, my career goals have changed significantly and while public service would be great for the soul, it would not feed the mouths I have to feed as well as continuing my work in IT/analytics.
Honestly the entire process seems worthless to me now. Have I wasted years of my life on yet another degree which I will never put to good practice?
How about you? Are you or are you planning to continue your education? Are you going to complete your GED or move into post-secondary work as an undergraduate, masters or PhD student? Why? Do you worry that as you work through your education the reasons you had for starting may change by the end? Are you worried about costs and benefit? Has the job market and world changed over the last decade to the point where continuing education just isn’t what it used to be? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and vote on the sidebar and comment on below as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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March 10th, 2013 at 8:41 am
I absolutely would have and regret never having going on in school. I’m pretty sure I would have a much different professional outcome had I done so. I started an MBA program years ago and realized that MBA was not the way to go, was interested in doing work in family counseling but by then kids came along and I was overcome with laziness and getting by.
Which I have strongly encouraged my kids to keep going after there undergraduate degree.. do it while they’re still young and motivated so before they old and bitter.
So far it’s working for them.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:06 am
If you had asked me that question from the time I graduated to just probably a year ago, I would have said absolutely no way. But, I also graduated at a ripe young age of 23 with a JD/MBA (doing those 2 at the same time). Now that I’ve been out of school for a bit and am over the trauma of law school, I’d consider it.
I’m not sure what, probably wouldn’t do a PhD, I’d likely get another masters in something.. maybe even an MPA would make the most sense given my lobbyist/government affairs roots. Did you like the curricula? (And by the way, I’m of the view that all education is good.)
But right now? I’m too busy with work to even consider trying to add something else to my plate.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:33 am
For me, personally, additional education in my current field of work would be a complete waste. I do not want to work at mid to large corporations, so I don’t really need any pieces of paper to check off boxes on job requirements for HR. I do pick up new development languages and new strategies for development. So there is some continuing ed there I guess.
Lately I’ve been looking at where I want to be in the future. And I’m pretty sure I do not want to be doing what I’m doing today. As such, I expect to be picking up some additional education over the next 5 years as I prepare for a career that I can do well into my 80′s. Probably something more related to my mechanical skills and less with my coding skills.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:55 am
I think continuing education is great, but the financial burden is too much. I was working for a company that provided tuition reimbursement but I would have to seek education in my current field: business. I would have rather broadened my knowledge with a MFA but that wasn’t a covered option and I wasn’t willing to go into more debt to get it.
It’s tricky. You started your education 5-6 years ago and so much has changed in that time. I understand your frustration.
March 10th, 2013 at 10:43 am
I have a master’s of public policy. While I know that the two jobs I’ve had since I got the degree I got in part because I had it, I have never used it. Where I work, in government, it is a valued degree. If I were to leave the state, it would be of greater value for me since here I compete with lots of other people with the same or similar degree.
I would never go back to school. I do need to take some classes in order to get an accreditation, but I keep hoping work will pay for it. I would never go back to school for another degree though. I worked full time and went to school almost full time for three years. It sucked. I thought maybe the sting would wear off after a few years, but almost 7 years out, I still think about how horrible it was. And I’m still paying for it, will be for the next 20 some years.
March 10th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Cagney,
I enjoy research and writing and that’s what the vast majority of the program entailed. While the output was fine, the learning was minimal for me as I have much higher expectations for what $30,000 should bring than what was provided. Unfortunately, based on my knowledge of the results of surveys other students returned for the program, I was an outlier in that opinion; however, they may have been influenced by their meaningless high grades (I will graduate with distinction [4.0] along with about 10% of the entire graduate student population at Capella).
After leaving my job at Capella, I heavily researched other online programs around the country and found that only two would take even one course of Capella’s in transfer. While a lot of that has to do with wanting to make as much money on a student, it was still disheartening. The best program I came across was NDSU’s Online MPA which has been ranked highly for MPA programs: http://distance.und.edu/degree/?id=publicadminMPA2
That all said, I am not sure why with a JD and a MBA you feel the need to go for an MPA. An MPA is VERY similar to an MBA except it has a public sector focus. All of the other pieces are there but includes some work to take the input of politicians and the general public as opposed to what the MBA preaches. In fact, I use this comparison in job interviews when someone asks what the MPA is and how I can leverage it at a different company.
Best of luck.
March 10th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
I have a MBA and I’m probably going back in the fall to get a master of accounting so I can sit for the CPA exam. I’m probably crazy but it will be useful.
March 10th, 2013 at 6:17 pm
If you lack a degree, doors will slam in your face. I am very bitter about this. I graduated at the top of my high school class of 750, taking every advanced math course that they offered. My parents did not feel the need for me to go to college and talked me out of it, even though they could afford it. They sent my sister to college to become a teacher (acceptable occupation for a female, according to them), because, “she couldn’t cook and sew”, and therefore would sadly not attract a provider to marry.
Fast forward: I have grossly underearned for my entire adult life; I do not contribute my share of income which is sorely needed in this day and age. This has affected me and my family for our entire life. One decent income no longer provides for even a minimal lifestyle.
I am consequently intellectually frustrated as well.
I discovered while my son was in his junior year in college (OF COURSE YOU SEND A SMART KID TO COLLEGE, Mom and Dad) that having TWO family members in school offers significant advantages financially, especially when the husband in sales has had a couple of iffy years. THUS, I was a 51-year-old freshman at the U of M for one year. It was wonderful. Had I known four years earlier that this was the case, I could have finally gotten my degree.
To continue towards a degree now would accumulate a completely unacceptable debt for a person of my age. So here I am, frustrated to have lost out on a professional life that I know I would have done well in.
You may feel the need to point out all of the billionaires who never went to college; I say this about that: When great professional success comes to people who didn’t go to college, this is such an UNUSUAL occurance that it BECOMES NEWS.
Finished venting. Gee, thanks, Bill. I didn’t need to come home to this topic after spending the day with good ol’ Mom!
March 10th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
I think continuing education is useful only if your skills will be in future demand which can be hard to predict. However, people always get old and usually get sick. My job is in the healthcare field and there’s no shortage of work. Pharmaceuticals is another field that’s not going away anytime soon.
I’m still kicking myself though for not going through the nursing route when I was in college. Ugh.
March 10th, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Pharma has actually shed quite a few jobs over the past decade or so due to all of the industry consolidation. It’s no longer the sure thing career-wise that it used to be. Yes, the industry will always exist in some form or another, but it is not going to need as many people as it once did. Other fields are the same way — there was a time when law school graduates worried about having to settle for something like being a public defender, and now, many would be glad to get even that.
As for me…I earned my graduate degree, a Masters of Professional Writing, a couple of years ago. I’ve managed to use bits and pieces of it; not every class was worthwhile, but some were very good. Plus, it seems to get recruiters’ attention and hiring managers have been impressed by it. My former employer helped pay for part of it, and one of my former managers there really encouraged me to pursue the degree.
That said, I think it’s really unfortunate that just having an advanced (or even an undergrad) degree seems to matter more than what you know. There are a lot of knowledgeable, skilled, and all-around qualified workers who get passed over for positions due to a lack of a degree.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:07 pm
Sandy,
I disagree that a second income is sorely needed but feel for you in how things worked out. However, I don’t fully understand why you needed your parents’ approval to attend?
March 10th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Congratulations on the additional education. I hope it finds a use.
I often struggle with how to make a difference in this world. A lot of things going on in government really piss me off. Unfortunately, the problems seem too big for one person to overcome. I know I am not the only person to feel this way.
So, what is a person to do?
March 10th, 2013 at 9:40 pm
I got my MBA in 2011 from Metro State. I think they have a good program and they’re part of MNSCU, so their credits are transferrable. Most of the teachers have pretty impressive credentials and do a good job of teaching the material in a way that you can bring into the real world. I didn’t find a lot of the classes too terribly difficult (well, except for Finance), but if you’ve worked a business type adult job for 5 years, watch the news, and can read for comprehension, you’ve won half the battle at MSU (Metro’s MBA program is geared for working adults looking to further their existing careers, which is why I didn’t go for an MPA or MMIS degree there). I accumulated only the debt created by deferring my existing loans from my Undergraduate degree (a mistake I wish I could correct, as I would be done paying off my largest loan a year ago) because my employer paid 75% of the tuition (I only took 1 class a semester and no summer school) and MSU was a hell of a lot cheaper than St. Mary’s or St. Thomas (didn’t even entertain Carlson School of Management as I nearly had a stroke when I saw their tuition rates).
Do I think it’s been helpful? I dunno yet, but probably. I’ve been promoted 4 times since I started (two of those promotions were after I graduated), but I’m fairly certain I don’t earn what I should be earning with this degree. Part of that is my fault, as I’m kind of afraid of leaving my employer of 13 years because I’m kind of chicken shit to give up seniority and all my PTO time (and I’m not much for job hopping). I took some Project Management courses at Metro and am thinking about signing up for North Hennepin’s Project Management certification program and looking at trying for a job with Healthcare informatics and implementation.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I learned a lot about business, advanced learning, teamwork, and a little about management in a relatively short amount of time (the class that taught me how to do pivot tables in Excel got me promoted twice). Also, I get mild bragging rights having my Master’s degree.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
I’ve found that in my field (healthcare), a degree isn’t necessary to get in the door, but your career trajectory will speed up dramatically if you have one, especially if you’re interested in management/analytic type careers. That’s the nice thing about healthcare, is that they’re very supportive of workers continuing their education and most degree paths can fall within the healthcare industry if you can sell it to your boss (assuming the employer doesn’t outsource a lot of their corporate departments).
March 10th, 2013 at 9:51 pm
Bill, it was a different time and I was under their thumb.
March 11th, 2013 at 6:15 am
Well hindsight is definitely 20/20 looking back. I looked into getting my MBA a few years ago when I was in my late 40′s. Compared to the salary I was currently making, I did not think I would be able to recoup the cost of the degree with any additional salary I would make over the next 15 years or so. Now that I am just on the other side of 50, I really wish I would have done things a little differently. I went to college in the 80′s, got a degree in Urban Planning and always planned to go to graduate school to become an architect. Well somehow, ‘life’ happened–got married, started a family and got a job doing IT stuff making a decent salary. I moved up the chain and am now working as an IT consultant. As I age however, the hours, stress and travel are really starting to take a toll on me.. Don’t get me wrong–I know there are lots of people who would love to have my job and I am very grateful for it! As I decided to look for something different, I have found that a degree in Urban Planning from the 80′s and experience on a mostly proprietary software program doesn’t transfer easily to a different position.. I have been taking some of the professional development classes at the U of M to have some new education on my resume. I still don’t think I will try for an advanced degree, but still may consider it.. For the price of a 2 day prof. development class, I actually may be able to take a semester class that would in the end translate to an advanced degree. Maybe this week as I am sitting in still another hotel room in the evening traveling for work, I will do some looking into it…I have some parent loans from my daughter’s college education–she graduated from St. Kate’s last May, but nothing too unmanageable so I could swing additional schooling if I choose. For me though, I feel like time is not on my side if I am going to get an advanced degree…
March 11th, 2013 at 9:53 am
I have my JD degree and graduated with Honors. I worked my way through undergraduate and through law school. I was married – and my husband worked two jobs. When I graduated, I lived modestly for the most part and paid my student loans off while my husband started his own business. None of this paid until I was in my 40s. It was a long road – and believe me – I was driving crappy cars and wasn’t buying the big fancy house despite a law degree with honors. Now – my husband – who has far less education than me but owns his own company- makes buckets more than I do and has a less deadline driven job which creates less stress. I wouldn’t trade my education now for anything (unless Obama decides to tax all us “rich” people dramatically so that it doesn’t pay to have two earners anymore – then I’d go back and take my time back which no one can repay me). That being said – 5 years out of law school – I would’ve given you a different answer. I’ve been interviewing young attorneys to hire – they can’t find jobs and they have TONS of debt. I laugh when teachers say they are unpaid. Have you looked at other fields these days? I don’t know how they’ll do it. They only way it pays is if you limit your debt. Additionally – my paralegal – who is brilliant and a rock star and smarter than many attorneys I know – has no education past high school. I pay her more than I pay the attorneys. I tell my kids they have to go to college to learn to think critically and just to mature more. I really think you need to own your own business though to actually make money, and that’s what I tell them to do. My daughter wants to be an orthopedic surgeon and I’m trying to talk her out of it. She can go into medical sales and if she puts 20% of her gross away starting at age 23 – she’ll be better off in the long run because I’ve ran the calculations. As a surgeon, she couldn’t start saving until she was almost 40 after residency, etc. She’s missing many years for her savings to double and giving up many good years of her life. With Obamacare, there’s too much uncertainty. It’s different for everyone – but you can’t get yourself into too much debt going to school – better to work while you’re going.
March 11th, 2013 at 10:54 am
Wait…what? You follow that with a whole bunch of financial mumbo-jumbo, but could it be that your daughter is expressing a desire to go into a career where she can use her talents to make an incredible amount of difference in a person’s life?
The pediatric orthopedic surgeon that put my little girl’s arm back together a couple of years ago is nothing short of a hero in my estimation. So much so that she’s inspired to maybe “fix children” when she grows up. You can be sure I won’t be sitting there trying to dissuade her based on financials.
There’s more to life than earning potential to some people.
March 11th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
I graduated from undergrad with a Pre-Med degree and decided not to go to medical school not because of the cost of medical school vs earning power, but because of the toll it can take on your work/life balance. I disagree with the bit about Obamacare’s toll on MD’s earning potential. Every specialty is different and the healthcare industry isn’t as recession-proof as it was once thought, but there will always be a need for skilled medical providers who’s earning potential is only limited by their own inertia or inability to grow with the times. Yes, medical school is expensive, but there are ways to go to school without mounting incredible debt (some states offer loan forgiveness if you work in an underserved area for a specific amount of time, the Navy has an excellent program for people interested in serving in the military, etc). IMO, we need more doctors who are in the career because they want to heal and serve, not to accumulate wealth.
March 17th, 2013 at 8:06 am
[...] week’s poll asked about whether people continued their education. The vast majority of respondents noted they had already done it with some saying they were [...]