Well, my time in the Army is quickly drawing to a close and I'm forced to face the fact that my B.A. in History isn't going to do me much good. I'm considering going back to my Alma Mater (University of Utah) and getting another Bachelor's that will help lead into a Graduate degree of some kind. My question is: has anyone else done this before? Did you have to take all the pre-reqs again? What other options did you look into first? Anything else to consider?
I have some ideas and will be talking to schools, but wanted some input from the outside as it's never good to plan in a vacuum and there are folks on here with a lot of experience. I have a year until I'm out, but am putting in the paperwork to start the process very soon and need to have a presentable plan for my commander.
Thanks in advance.
I don't know, specifically, but I will say that having just two bachelors hasn't helped me much, so if you're near the same field, don't stop at the second. If it's a totally different field, that answer would differ.
What about getting a Masters in a different field?
Typical consultant answer: "It depends".
-Depends on the career field. A BA will get you into law, medicine, MBA, etc... but you may have to additionally get some necessary courses... but not likely a whole other degree.
-For a more technical degree, you'd likely need to complete the courses necessary for a BS, but at most schools your completed class work (even if completed elsewhere) is "good" for a number of years and if you're within that, it would count towards the BS.
-Good luck and thanks for your service!
Thanks for the input. A little more detail: I'm kicking around two main ideas -- engineering and business. I know, totally different fields, but I have experience in one (management) and passion in the other (engineering). I also have to consider that I need to continue to support wife, kid and dog during the whole process.
For business, yeah, I could probably go straight for the Master's, but for engineering, I'd surely have to go back and get a lot more undergrad work before I could move into a Master's program.
I know there are companies out there that recruit straight from the military Officer Corps and pay them to go to school after their commitment is up, etc., but I don't want to count on that.
I hate it when engineers get MBAs but it pays really really well.
tuna55 wrote:
I hate it when engineers get MBAs but it pays really really well.
The most successful business people I know tend to have hard science backgrounds... in general it seems to give them a leg up over the competition.
But it's a lot more common to find a BA/MBA person with a bunch of engineers working for them than the other way around....
The bloom is off the MBA rose. If you go to Harvard or Duke, that is worth something, but companies are done overpaying for run of the mill MBAs from State U's nights and weekend program. Probably the best business degrees to get you a decent job straight out of school are accounting or finance. Marketing, et al get you about as much as a history degree these days.
Frankly, I am not sure the Harvard or Duke degrees mean much either, but they seem to get you in the rich white boys club.
Call the school you want to go to.
More than likely, some of the credits will "expire" as classes change, but most of the core credits will just carry over.
For sure, you will have to take a bunch of new core classes that were not core to History. Or that the core classes are not high enough for the new class (example- basic physics vs. physics for engineers- not quite the same, and would probably require a re-take).
My take on an MBA (no, I don't have one) was always that it'll be really useful if you have some sort of bachelor in a 'useful' 
field. Say, an engineer with an MBA or somethin'.
My concern with another bachelors degree would be if the period of time has lapsed so you'd have to redo all the crap classes. Now, if you can avoid that then it is a good way to change fields and then continue on to some sort of grad program.
Having my BSME now, I loathe the idea of going back to a school where my general education credits wouldn't transfer. Now, if they would honor those and that reduced the program back to 2-ish years, then that would be easier to swallow.
Go engineering if you have a passion for it.
There's only about 5-10 schools that are worth having an MBA from - looking at a career/payback perspective (harvard, stanford, princeton, northwestern, yale...). If you just want to pay the bills - accounting is a pretty secure way to go. While there's no shortage of folks putting in their time now to work for some "golden" retirement my advice is to screw all that and follow your passion. If it's design, cool, go get an art degree, if it's engineering, great. Do that. I think what would be a tragedy is to trade off what you're passionate about for a career path you're ambivalent about. It gets harder to undo that as time goes by.
I have a B.S. and am currently working toward an associates degree which will lead to a second B.S., by the fall of next year.
The reason for me is a job. My first B.S. I got a while ago limited my options of post grad work, the one I am working on now is what I need to work where I want to work. That simple. If you need something you don't have to work somewhere you want to be, you need to get it.
However if I were you I would talk to some grad schools about accepting your bachelors. The hot thing a few years ago for doctor wanna-bee's was to get a non traditional undergrad to set your self apart from the mass of applicants. Plenty of docs with history, political science etc. undergrad degrees. Also, many schools take your "life experience" into account when applying, putting you ahead of the kid fresh out of school with the right degree.
I think you should try to convince the school to let you in their grad program you want to be in. This may require taking a few pre-req classes first, but there usually are not that many (take them over summer or something?)
If you want to go back, I had to re-take the ACT as my scores were too old to use, also the SAT has since changed. I re-took the ACT and blew the test out of the water, something about college education doing high school work. Everything else was straight forward application BS.
Good luck
I'd say it would depend more on the field you plan on working and where. If going for engineering, then yeah second bachelors. Just because you'll probably end up close to one anyway just knocking out the engineering prerequisites. And bone up on math. If going for business, then shoot straight for the MBA. Less prerequisites and probably quicker. Besides that's what you probably want anyway. If going that route. Thought about getting either a second BA or MBA myself. In my field the MBA would do the most good. But what really matters in my field is other training and certification. But I work for the government and it's not really about what the degree is in but whether you have one or not. With my BA (in Management) and military experience (retired army), getting (more) leadership training and certification from DAU would help the most in getting promoted as the next position would be a leadership position. Currently a Logistician for the army at a GS-13 worker level, 14 would put me in charge of something. Oh and some colleges accept DAU for substitute classes.
Wow, as an ex-DoD loggie myself, I'm used to seeing GS11/12 as Division Heads and GS13 as Dept Heads in DoD Logistics... I don't think I've ever seen a non-manager GS13 in the field!
I concur that an MBA would be more valuable for you.
Bill
This is all really good insight and certainly gives me a lot to consider. Like I said, I still have some time left, but this is certainly getting me pointed in the right direction. Because I've been in the military, the economic situation hasn't really affected me as much and I want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success -- not unemployment -- when I am able to take off the uniform.
tuna55 wrote:
I hate it when engineers get MBAs but it pays really really well.
Yeah.. I do too.. But my wallet likes it.
Pretty darn ironic... sort of like it would be with Madeline Murray O'Hare having a seminary degree and claiming her atheism made her a better Christian. ;-)
Dave...
I think before you decide on another degree, you should do a little soul searching.. Find out what you want to do, what makes you happy, what makes you get out of bed in the morning. Then try to fit those wants into a growth industry. When you find that job you want to do, then do a gap analysis and find out what it takes to get there....
Once that is done, then you'll know the direction. Getting degrees just for the sake of just doing it, or because it sounds lucrative is silly.
