Do You Have a College Degree?

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Originally Posted by buttcheeks

well no, I couldn't hit the ground running with it. But I also couldn't fly up to Baltimore tonight and do what Josh does just on the fly. But I'm pretty sure I could do the same crap you did in school and get similar marks or better.

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Not really relevant. I mean honestly, I never got great writing grades in college, and frankly I never really learned fuck all about writing in school either. Everything I learned I taught myself, learned from experience, or picked up from people I was working with.

I happen to think the English program and the way it was taught at Rutgers was unusually poor though, so that might not be everyone's experience, but I just found the whole thing focused on formula and shit better left forgotten while the things I've found useful went neglected. It was a major turn-off and it's one of the reasons I never really pursued writing until after I graduated.

It's also why I gravitated toward Philosophy. RU has a Philosophy program that outstrips the Ivy League, and there are a lot of great teachers and interesting classes and I really got absorbed in it. I probably learned more about writing in those classes than any English class I took.

good post, but why did you quote me?

Because you implied that doing well in school was somehow related to being able to pick up the trade.

I mean most people who complete English or Journo majors don't even end up working in the field. The degree doesn't mean you can hack it.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Because you implied that doing well in school was somehow related to being able to pick up the trade.

I mean most people who complete English or Journo majors don't even end up working in the field. The degree doesn't mean you can hack it.

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I thought I implied that it should be more like that for Engineering, as that is part of the meaning of the word, "engineering."

Or anything else science or math related. If you majored in either of those, wouldn't you actually like to do some science or math when you are done?


I'm not sure, but I think that this topic is hard to discuss because the different schools at each college are so very different. I mean, if eng was like English or Journo, no one would go into it. Everyone in Eng goes into it because they want to learn how to create something. No one does it so they can learn some really fucking hard math and then go manage a Books A Million.

the mindset of the English major just seems so alien to me. I can't imagine wanting to learn just to learn something, and then when you graduate you've had your feel of English and then don't do anything else with it. I plan on being an Engineer until the day I die. I'm going to do it for a living and I'm going to continue learning and teaching myself about it well past school. The idea of getting a sheet of paper and then going to do something that has nothing to do with it just sounds insane.

I'm on your side, Biff! No degree here!

If we were talking vocational certificates and CC degrees in here I'd have like 7.

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Originally Posted by buttcheeks

the mindset of the English major just seems so alien to me.

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I got to spend some time with them when I minored in English. I learned that their major is the new basket weaving, and the mindset of an English major is alien to everyone.

One of my best friends is an English grad student. The best I can tell is they pile lots of writing and reading assignments on you, you curse the world, then you graduate and get a job that has little to do with what you were doing.

Why bother with that? Why not get a job and read literature when you get home and read old text books on it?

B.A. in Computer Science at NYU. No, that's not a typo.

Currently going for my MS in Comp Sci at Digipen.

The bulk of the work for an English degree boils down to a few things: taking in a massive amount of reading, breaking it down, analyzing it, structuring a theory, supporting your theory and then presenting it both logically and elegantly. At least it was for me. I structured the classes I took for my program to be more based research and writing based rather than "Hey, let's jerk off and talk about Melville." Because there is an element of that.