Does Your College Course Actually Help Siginificantly in Starting Your Career?

[jut703]

I've seen an awful lot of people who carve careers vastly different from what they've trained in. My mother for instance, graduated BS Math but can't even solve problems regarding surfaces of revolution particularly because she's spent almost all her life in Marketing/Sales.

I'm contemplating about this because the sole reason I chose the course I'm in right now is one of economic reasons - I wanna land a good job. It's not even my passion, and it's a miracle I'm surviving without a bit of love for what I'm studying.

Economic factors are also the reason why I didn't pursue courses I'm passionate with - particularly because careers in these fields are non-existent in the Philippines, and I really don't wanna work abroad.

So, a few questions for those who have experienced more in life:

Is your college course related to the career you've built?
Would you advise to simply follow what your heart desires instead of pursuing something that is highly regarded by others to help land a good job?
What starting salary should I expect?

I know this post sounds 'mukhang pera', but I am not a son of parents with successful family businesses. I have no trust fund/inheritance to speak of. I've lived a childhood highly exposed to rich people, knowing I can't have what they have. Such circumstances have inevitably drilled into my head that I have to be somehow do well in life.

[tidus1203]

It did helped somewhat, in the end IMHO college education is over rated. Street smarts and money smarts is the most useful tool...

[CVT]

What I do in work is related to what I studied in college. Although I should admit that I am only using less than 10% of it.

11.1K:transform:

[jimnyeatworld]

walang kwenta college dito, it will not help you land a good job.

if you do well in college, then prepare to be enslaved kasi yan ang gusto ng fortune companies, pag high grades ka, utusan ka

[francism171]

walang kwenta college dito, it will not help you land a good job.

if you do well in college, then prepare to be enslaved kasi yan ang gusto ng fortune companies, pag high grades ka, utusan ka

This is so not true. Actually one of the most important factors that will land you a good job is from WHERE you graduated. Kahit masakit tanggapin, this is the truth.

And also, if you work for a company, enslaved ka naman talaga. Kahit na manager ka na, hanggat di ikaw may ari ng company where you are working from, you will always just be an employee. =)

Anyway the point of having specific courses during college is to prepare you initially for what you want to be. (eg doctor, etc). You can choose other paths naman if you want, pero it's a big plus kung related yung course mo sa work mo.

[jut703]

well for the first, no. because a med student would take a decade at least to see real money coming in. in most cases they see wealth at the age of 40 or if your really really good as young as 35. even after becoming doctors, they still have to get money from their parents for specialization, tools of the trade, etc. BUT they do not have an age limit. so for some they tend to go GP first to get money then specialize if they think they need it.

it depends, if your passion does not include specialize studies in BS math, medical, law, etc then yes. but in your case, i think its a specialize course but i dont know anything about eng so i really cant say.

as they say aim for the stars so if you fall, you'll end up at the moon.

maybe our resident engineers can answer your question better.

Actually, ME and CoE aren't 'real' engineering courses, because we don't take the board. ME especially, since it doesn't even have engineering subjects (Operations Research is probably the nearest). CoE has real Eng'g subjects though, and in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) of UP, CoE is regarded higher than ECE, or so says a friend of mine in ECE also wishing to shift to CoE.

Anyway, yes it's quite unfair to compare a 4-year undergrad course to Med. Though IntarMed finishes in 7 years, a couple years shorter than if you took an undergrad then went to Med school. For a more apples-to-apples comparison, say both a Lit grad and a Management grad are looking for jobs. Is it safe to say that they have equal chances? In our campus, there are clearly distinctions as to the better courses. Mas mataas talaga tingin sa ibang course. I'm not so sure if it translates to the real world.

And yes, focus on studying something that you actually have a level of passion with, otherwise things will always be less interesting.

Anyway, my guess for start-up salaries range from 8k-14k (still taxable) for the regular, average, college graduate - middle class guy. In you're case you'd probably land a job that's higher paying than that. If you're good at what you're doing, it will pay off if you're in the right place.

I've heard of ME grads landing 80k as their starting. But these are rare cases of course. If I'm not mistaken, 15-30k is the average starting for ME grads. Or maybe this was just one of those sales talk shizz the Dean gave when we were enrolling. Nonetheless, I fear that I might land somewhere doing something I'm not good at because I don't even like my course intrinsically.

Nope! Hanggang 1st year 1st sem lang inabot ko kasi na recruit kaagad ako sa trabaho and walang kinalaman kinuha kung course sa work ko.

Would it be alright to ask what job you started in? I'm sort of thinking this is a rare case, because if college was not a necessity as in your circumstance, then why do people give it so much importance?

This is so not true. Actually one of the most important factors that will land you a good job is from WHERE you graduated. Kahit masakit tanggapin, this is the truth.

And also, if you work for a company, enslaved ka naman talaga. Kahit na manager ka na, hanggat di ikaw may ari ng company where you are working from, you will always just be an employee. =)

I agree more with this. I mean, UP, Ateneo and La Salle wouldn't be renowned if they didn't have an edge, right?

[[archie]]

in my case --- not even close.

IMO college degree will help you mature and not just specializing on the course but also have network of contacts, discipline, etc. its not all about the degree, ill bet if you just have a high school diploma, you cant even land a decent job.

* TS, go for what your passionate about and the money will follow. baka nga you can earn a lot from different industries but without self satisfaction.

just my two cents.

[dinJ]

Do what you love and money will follow.

[jut703]

So does it mean that even if I study in STi and take up literature or something, I'd be on par after graduation with someone studying medicine, career/finance-wise?

Alternatively, since you guys say that your careers aren't related to your course, would it be okay to stick with my unloved course and just pursue whatever career path my heart sets itself to afterwards?

[Jun aka Pekto]

I took up Mechanical Engineering in Mapua back in the early 80's. I didn't really want to. But, it was my parents pushing me to do so. A year into majoring, I decided I had had enough and went back to the US where I pursued what I really wanted to be which is a weather forecaster. A lot of the stuff I learned in Mapua helped such as writing bulletins and technical reports. Plus, all the math I learned beforehand enabled me to score very high in the college placement tests and skip the basic courses as a result.

[jut703]

IMO there is discrimination for the fact that it has the "elite" sense. it might not be a big deal for you but for some baka yan first choice nila but ended up with their second choice.

in the corporate world, there is also discrimination. from the line of industry... to the company vs company discrimination. but it does not mean that the ones that are discriminated against are not happy with their work. its just there kasi its the "elite" vs "pangmasa" thing.

Elite vs pangmasa implies that the elite are a select few. But in the case of ME, they usually start with almost 200 people in a batch. Other supposedly 'lesser' courses such as say, AB Humanities start with at most 50 people. And yet there isn't any exclusivity to it.

I took up Mechanical Engineering in Mapua back in the early 80's. I didn't really want to. But, it was my parents pushing me to do so. A year into majoring, I decided I had had enough and went back to the US where I pursued what I really wanted to be which is a weather forecaster. A lot of the stuff I learned in Mapua helped such as writing bulletins and technical reports. Plus, all the math I learned beforehand enabled me to score very high in the college placement tests and skip the basic courses as a result.

You're the kind of person I envy. I doubt I would actually have the courage to take the big leap and shift to CoE and follow my heart. I would never run out of questions to dissuade me. What if I wouldn't be better of in CoE? What if being in ME would actually help me find the career I want? What if I'm just exaggerating the difference if I shifted course? Every time I contemplate on processing my transfer, questions like these pop up and I never get to carry on. I always end up playing safe.

[[archie]]

Elite vs pangmasa implies that the elite are a select few. But in the case of ME, they usually start with almost 200 people in a batch. Other supposedly 'lesser' courses such as say, AB Humanities start with at most 50 people. And yet there isn't any exclusivity to it.

i think that course in particular (humanities) is not a course that most would like, thats why it gets the non-exclusivity to students. on the other hand, your course might be the one that most people want and yet only a few gets in. its not the number of available seats but the ratio of people that wants to get in vs the ones that actually gets in.

[uls]

Originally Posted by jut703
Elite vs pangmasa implies that the elite are a select few. But in the case of ME, they usually start with almost 200 people in a batch. Other supposedly 'lesser' courses such as say, AB Humanities start with at most 50 people. And yet there isn't any exclusivity to it.

widen your perspective dude

compare 200 people taking up ME in Ateneo and thousands of people taking up ordinary management courses in other colleges and universities throughout the country

[uls]

look at the big picture

what is the formal educational system anyway?

it's a factory

the raw materials are children

for +/- 15 years of our lives, we were shaped and formed by the system into finished products

manufactured to the specifications of government and industry

that ME course -- that's to manufacture people according to the specs of multinational companies

welcome to the machine

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw"]YouTube - Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall[/ame]

[jut703]

widen your perspective dude

compare 200 people taking up ME in Ateneo and thousands of people taking up ordinary management courses in other colleges and universities throughout the country

He was referring to in-school discrimination based on sheer number. I was only trying to present the possibility that it's not just the "masa"-ness of something that diminishes its status. I would reckon it would also involve the difficulty of getting in the course, staying in the course and the advantage the course gives over others.

Furthermore, yes formal education is a routine drill, if you wanna look at it that way. Personally though I would still rather study than just receive a lump sum inheritance (though both would be ideal ). I actually do want to learn things. And in fact it's probably this pursuit of knowledge, this wanting to get something more out of education than merely a few additional lines to my curriculum vitae, that causes me to wonder if I should just drop ME altogether. If I didn't care at all, then I'd just stick with ME because it works. But then again what if it's possible to pursue what I want after graduating. Konting tiyaga for a safer future that might enable me to do what I want and not be a sales/marketing director/manager/slave for some big firm.

[dr. d]

widen your perspective dude

compare 200 people taking up ME in Ateneo and thousands of people taking up ordinary management courses in other colleges and universities throughout the country

in my school, the in-school discrimination is based on grades and not on skin color, income tax, or accent.
there are many people out there who talk and speak very good. but... they don't deliver the goods.
the formal education system is an evolutionary product. and unless someone comes up with a really very good alternative, i'll stick with it right now.

[gongrhey]

To TS follow your passion, COE is one of the top degree in engineering. Its a good thing that you are willing to endure the math subjects in engineering; there are loads of them - from algebra, trigo, calculus to differential equations plus the design subjects. If it's really where your heart is go for it but as what others posted you may have to think about your dislike for working overseas. Most of my COE batchmates are overseas in the US, Singapore etc. I have the same thinking when I was still young but when the time comes for me to raise a family I have to join the bandwagon. BTW I'm an EE.

[uls]

jut703:

then why do people give it so much importance?

coz people size up other people by, among other things, educational attainment, and by what school people went to

"may pinag aralan yan"

"di nakatapos yan, hanggang high school (or elementary) lang yan"

"vocational lang yan"

"'bulok ang school na pinaggalingan nyan"

"Atenista yan"

and people also give it much importance coz of the higher paying jobs that come with it

but it takes way more than formal education to separate yourself from the rest

you don't become an Edgar Injap Sia (the Mang Inasal dude) by just finishing some college course

if that's the case, then anyone who went to college would be a billionaire

it takes other things not taught in school

[niwde11]

^^ yup part lang ng pag asenso ang pinagaralan at school na pinuntahan. nasayo pa rin yan.
imo, coming from a CoE graduate, sa pananalita mo i would suggest shift to Electrical Engg at pagbutihin mo. I am sure mararating mo ang pangarap.