Online Degrees and CLEP and DSST Exam Prep Discussion
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How has your degree improved your life? - kevinmane - 08-11-2015

Just a general talk about how your degree has improved your life either with work goals or anything outside of work.

Before I got my BA degree from TESC, I made $35k/year as a counter rep for the California Secretary of State's Office.

After I got my degree, 4 years later, I'm making $80k/year as a State Auditor along with perks/benefits adding up to more than $20k/year.
I was also able to take the CFE exam and get that designation (which helped up my compensation at work as well as increased promotional opportunity).
I was also able to take the CBEST and get my substitute teaching credential so I can substitute teach in public schools and make a lil extra $ on my random off-days.
It also has been accepted by all the grad schools I've applied to which include B&M public schools.

So far, the degree has paid for itself a million-fold and I'm so glad I did it.

I've reached the point in my career where it's near impossible to move up any higher until I get my Master's.
So that's my next feat for the next couple years.
Once I get that, I'll be able to apply and hopefully get a management spot.

How has your degree improved your situation at work or even outside of work? Smile


How has your degree improved your life? - tsimmns - 08-11-2015

That's a heck of a pay raise. Did the job you had offer it to do before completion? I'm hoping that getting a degree will bump my salary up that much. A BA degree I have never thought of, I just hope a BSBA gets me results. Congratulations on the degree and pay jump.


How has your degree improved your life? - cookderosa - 08-11-2015

Before I earned my AA and BA from TESC, I had an Associate degree in culinary arts that was foundational for my career. I was WELL into adult-hood and truthfully, I didn't need those degrees, but I wanted them bad. I always felt like a second class citizen at work (I worked at a college) and it was worse every year at graduation because all faculty had to line up and wear our hoods from when we went to college. Well, my hood was next to nothing- all of my peers had very flashy, very fancy hoods. Nothing like making a person feel like crap. Anyway, the way my degree improved my life is that it changed my PERSPECTIVE on life (mine, my children's and other's) because it was much easier than I expected it to be for starters, and it let me hold my head up (for what, I don't know- I'm the same person, but now I have a new line on my resume that I didn't have before). It really changed "me" a lot. Prompted my homeschooling book- this forum and that process. It was life-changing for me in several profound ways.


How has your degree improved your life? - kevinmane - 08-13-2015

Thanks tsimmns! And to answer your question, the job I had in 2011 is definitely not the one I have now. Once I got the degree, I was able to get the next job that was above the counter rep job. Since then I've been promoting every year. First to a tax collector to a entry-level auditor to then an Associate Auditor. There was always some negotiating involved that's a little complicated to explain, but I was able to get the max salary of the entry-level auditor job - so when I got promoted to the Associate level, I was already close to that particular job's max salary. So I kinda got lucky with those aspects, but I've been working hard to get promoted every year. The degree just basically opened the door for all these opportunities that I was able to get - still had to earn 'em and stuff. Smile But before the BA, I wasn't able to "check off" that "Bachelor's Degree box". Smile

Now I gotta work on the MA so I can check off that box so I can move up some more Smile

Also, $80k sounds pretty good, but it's pretty expensive here in California, so I'm not "balling" or anything. My wife still has to work full time so we can afford everything we have. I'm trying to get to the point where she only has to work part time so she can be home more for our future kid. But I can't do that without that MA. So it's "go-time" again. Smile


How has your degree improved your life? - dewisant - 09-11-2015

Getting my BA has made me think of different things to do when I retire than what I was planning to do otherwise. I was thinking about selling auto parts part-time and now I'm thinking about counseling, teaching, and the like. 1 Aug 2017 is right around the corner.


RE: How has your degree improved your life? - Life Long Learning - 11-18-2017

(08-11-2015, 08:13 PM)cookderosa Wrote: Before I earned my AA and BA from TESC, I had an Associate degree in culinary arts that was foundational for my career.  I was WELL into adult-hood and truthfully, I didn't need those degrees, but I wanted them bad.  I always felt like a second class citizen at work (I worked at a college) and it was worse every year at graduation because all faculty had to line up and wear our hoods from when we went to college.  Well, my hood was next to nothing- all of my peers had very flashy, very fancy hoods.  Nothing like making a person feel like crap.  Anyway, the way my degree improved my life is that it changed my PERSPECTIVE on life (mine, my children's and other's) because it was much easier than I expected it to be for starters, and it let me hold my head up (for what, I don't know- I'm the same person, but now I have a new line on my resume that I didn't have before).  It really changed "me" a lot.  Prompted my homeschooling book- this forum and that process. It was life-changing for me in several profound ways.

Hoods?  What does that mean?  Level of education by size?  Color?


RE: How has your degree improved your life? - bjcheung77 - 11-20-2017

Hmm BTW, this is a two-year-old thread. I think the "hood" in this thread is referring to the Hoodie! You know, a sweatshirt/jacket with a hoodie (google images for those cute little panda hoodie pictures, or some college/university store for their lineup, some are so expensive from each university!).


RE: How has your degree improved your life? - jsd - 11-21-2017

Hoodie doesn't even make sense in this context.

Being that she said hood and not hoodie, and she was speaking specifically about graduation at a college she worked at, I would assume she meant an academic hood: https://www.google.com/search?q=academic+hood&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDl8_S_s7XAhUFi1QKHYUoD7kQ_AUIEygC&biw=412&bih=604


RE: How has your degree improved your life? - RANSOMSOUL - 11-21-2017

Thought there was no question other than jsd's suggestion. However, it would be super entertaining if Jennifer posted that hoods meant something else:

Hoods (tough streets she grew up in)
Hoods (street gang known for never taking off their hoods - even when they swim!)
Hoods (Sorority: House Of Only Dedicated Students)

Please say I'm on to something Cookderosa!?! Smile


RE: How has your degree improved your life? - cookderosa - 11-21-2017

(11-18-2017, 01:03 AM)Life Long Learning Wrote:
(08-11-2015, 08:13 PM)cookderosa Wrote: Before I earned my AA and BA from TESC, I had an Associate degree in culinary arts that was foundational for my career.  I was WELL into adult-hood and truthfully, I didn't need those degrees, but I wanted them bad.  I always felt like a second class citizen at work (I worked at a college) and it was worse every year at graduation because all faculty had to line up and wear our hoods from when we went to college.  Well, my hood was next to nothing- all of my peers had very flashy, very fancy hoods.  Nothing like making a person feel like crap.  Anyway, the way my degree improved my life is that it changed my PERSPECTIVE on life (mine, my children's and other's) because it was much easier than I expected it to be for starters, and it let me hold my head up (for what, I don't know- I'm the same person, but now I have a new line on my resume that I didn't have before).  It really changed "me" a lot.  Prompted my homeschooling book- this forum and that process. It was life-changing for me in several profound ways.

Hoods?  What does that mean?  Level of education by size?  Color?

When you graduate, the back of your gown has (or doesn't have) a hood with a velvet color that represents (loosely) your major. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_regalia_in_the_United_States

When you only have an associate degree, which is all I had from 1990-2008, there is no hood- just a gown like what the regular students wear. As such, I had to walk at the end of the faculty, which were lined up by rank. Even though I had a lot of seniority (18 years by the time I left) I was at the end of the line. It was a way (is a way) for the colleges to honor and respect the doctorate holders, I am totally a fan of the tradition, but when you're at the back of the pack, it feels pretty crappy. And yes, attending was required.... so once a year, I was reminded how much education I didn't have. lol. I now work for a university that does not allow anyone other than full time faculty (I am not) to walk at graduation, but when my kids are up and out and I return to full time work, damn it, I won't be at the back of the pack Wink Ha ha.