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Message
re: Is a Four-Year Degree Worth It?
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:49 am to Flats
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:49 am to Flats
quote:
Then the prerequisite courses would be part of the curriculum or you could just let people flunk out. That used to be a vital part of our education process.
Yeah, they would serve the same role as the hard chemistry classes did at my school to weed out all the "I'm premed!" freshmen.
0
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:49 am to onmymedicalgrind
In fairness, it just sounds like I was right.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:49 am to onmymedicalgrind
quote:
Majority are 7-8 years, which besides the convenience of not having to apply for medical school separately, don't really save much time.
THAT was going to be my question
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:52 am to NC_Tigah
Depends on your skillset, what your major is, and where you're going to work after graduation. A liberal arts degree and working for a non-profit is not a good idea if you're trying to make a living and pay your student loans back.
From a pure money-making perspective, there's many jobs that don't require degrees that pay boatloads of money, you generally just have to trade quality of life. Long hours, physical labor, injuries, danger, etc.
From a pure money-making perspective, there's many jobs that don't require degrees that pay boatloads of money, you generally just have to trade quality of life. Long hours, physical labor, injuries, danger, etc.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:52 am to NC_Tigah
Engineering, nursing, and Pre-med(only if you actually finish med school). Everything else is worthless. It’s all a financial scam.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:52 am to SlowFlowPro
Schools don’t want to give up the revenue, IMO.
An entire course of study for a bachelors and MD was ~$180k just a few years ago at UMKC. And I think that includes room and board for years 1 and 2.
An entire course of study for a bachelors and MD was ~$180k just a few years ago at UMKC. And I think that includes room and board for years 1 and 2.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:54 am to ImJustaBoy
quote:
nursing
Not sold on the necessity of a BSN as a general rule.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:54 am to the808bass
quote:
Schools don’t want to give up the revenue, IMO.
I don't disagree that's why alternative options like the cert or apprenticeship won't be coming around anytime soon.
I used to openly say this at law school late into the process. 1 year of law school for the theory part + 2 years of apprenticeship would be so much better for the non-academics, and the academic-path students should be working with academics in the law for those 2 years
This post was edited on 2/4/26 at 9:55 am
Posted on 2/4/26 at 9:58 am to lshuge
quote:
Depends on the degree. Most degrees today are useless.
Depends on the degree
Depends on the school
Depends on your performance
Depends on your personal financial situation
Depends on your career choice and goals
Depends on the level of scholarships/grants available to you
Depends on opportunity costs
Depends on your plan and objectives for college life
Depends on your involvement and networking
Depends on quite a few considerations. The problem isn't college; the problem is college has become the default. This, coupled with "free" money and essentially riskless lending has led costs of a degree to spiral out of control. These significant costs should obviously be considered in the analysis of the value proposition. However, too few give their decision enough thought and just enroll in college and pay well-above six figures because that's what everyone else is doing.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:05 am to the808bass
quote:LSU offered a 6-yr accelerated route at one time. It was extremely competitive (e.g., ~8 students/yr statewide for LSU, IIRC). It was part of a general performance study involving a handful of medical programs (LSU, Miami, and a couple of others).
I’m a little surprised that schools like UMKC haven’t become more popular - 6-year bachelors/MD program.
Predictive algorithms were used comparing med school performance of the six year students with what would be anticipated of the same students had they undergone a "normal" path. The six-year students in each program generally underperformed those benchmarks. So the programs were eventually disbanded.
That may be part of the reason 6-year bachelors/MD program haven’t become more popular.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:06 am to the808bass
quote:
n fairness, it just sounds like I was right.
Hmm you're right. 6 years was specified. Damnit.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:08 am to the808bass
quote:
An entire course of study for a bachelors and MD was ~$180k just a few years ago at UMKC. And I think that includes room and board for years 1 and 2.
That's a fricking bargain.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:10 am to NC_Tigah
quote:
Predictive algorithms were used comparing med school performance of the six year students with what would be anticipated of the same students had they undergone a "normal" path. The six-year students in each program generally underperformed those benchmarks. So the programs were eventually disbanded.
I can tell you I was not ready to buckle down and study like a med student as an 18yo. So I guess this hinges on how "accelerated" these programs are.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:12 am to NC_Tigah
quote:
LSU offered a 6-yr accelerated route at one time. It was extremely competitive (e.g., ~8 students/yr statewide for LSU, IIRC). It was part of a general performance study involving a handful of medical programs (LSU, Miami, and a couple of others).
Wasn't this only at LSU-Shreveport? Did they stop doing that?
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:16 am to onmymedicalgrind
quote:
I can tell you I was not ready to buckle down and study like a med student as an 18yo.
Yeah, that doesn't seem specific to medicine so much as it applies to just about any field of study, especially one being entered as a very young adult. We could make people get an undergrad degree before they go to plumbing school and they'd probably have an easier time in plumbing school and they'd probably make better plumbers.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:26 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
This kind of correlates with my push for apprenticeships. Industry has really hurt themselves by segregating and stratifying what they consider entry-level and what they consider proper
I don't object to an apprenticeship model in theory. That's basically what medicine does. That's what a residency/internship is.
That's how medicine solves the problem of having graduates of four year med schools who are not yet qualified to actually practice medicine because the field is so broad now.
My point was that there's no reason to get a four year degree before you can even get in to medical school (or law school or most if not all professional schools). There might be a few college level classes that need to be taken before full admittance (for medicine it might be chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy, biology, physiology, etc.) but we're talking about maybe a year's worth of classes, not four.
All it does is drive up the amount of loans it takes and extend the amount of time it takes (which means forgoing the number of non-earning years doctors then have to make up) to get to the finish line.
And for what? It's not like the average college student comes out of college having learned anything about the core classes they had to take. Ask them. Ask them to compare and contrast the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, or to write a paragraph on any topic you choose, or to extract the theme of a poem, or to solve a quadratic equation. They can't do it.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:30 am to wackatimesthree
Most degrees should be cut in half. I have a bachelor’s and most of it was just a money maker for the institution with classes that I truly didn’t need. The price of education these days is not worth it.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:30 am to onmymedicalgrind
quote:Accelerated. ~100hrs in 2yrs. Curved grading in virtually all the science classes. Because of the curriculum recs, there wasn't schedule flexibility.
So I guess this hinges on how "accelerated" these programs are.
Which meant in some of the smaller classes like Bio, you might start with 30 in the class. But when classmates saw 8 six-year students in their ranks, they'd say "F - this," drop the class, and re-enroll the next semester. So you'd end up with 15 remaining, 8 of whom were in the 6-yr program, and an instructor still fully intending to limit the number of A's and B's awarded.
We still had a good time, though.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:31 am to Y.A. Tittle
quote:Yes.
Wasn't this only at LSU-Shreveport? Did they stop doing that?
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:35 am to lshuge
quote:
Depends on the degree. Most degrees today are useless.
This 100%. My 21 year old wanted to major in Philosophy and I told him I hope you are comfortable with living below the poverty line and I will not help out with one copper penny towards a Philosophy degree.
Well, he is one semester away from a dual degree in Computer Science/Cyber security. I think he made the right choice.
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