I didn't get into grad school

Bergamot

:( On the upside: 1. I don't have to move 1000 miles away from my girlfriend for a year, within 6 months 2. I don't have any student loans, and now i won't have to take out any 3. I saved a whole bunch of money on buying everyone in town a drink :D

Kosmo

But knowledge is power! But on the bright side, you already are smart, you don't need education, you can self educate yourself on things that interest you, this way, you save alot of boring hours sitting in classes that you don't five a flying poop.

Bergamot

Yeah, I'm actually not as sad about it as I thought I would be. It was a really nice program though.

Kosmo

So what program was it? If you don't mind me asking.

Bergamot

Masters in Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon

Kosmo

Cool I wish I could even apply for University like that :|

Minisweeper

I dunno whether this will cheer you up or annoy you but i got accepted everywhere i applied for my Computer Science degree BUT i'm seriously considering not going. Mainly cause i think there must be more productive things to do with 4 years of my life than get myself into £30k of debt. Anyone UK based looking for a trainee? :P

leason

I don't know what it is like in the UK, but in the US a degree is very important. (I presume you are talking about a college degree, not a masters Minisweeper) I always advise people, regardless of how smart or talented you are with computers, to get a degree. While you are in your twenties you can probably find work pretty easily without a degree, but as you get older your competition for jobs will get more and more educated, making it very difficult or impossible to beat them out for a position. Bottom line is, if a choice comes to an HR person between two candidates of similar talent and experience, the one with the most education will probably get the job.

Kosmo

I always encourage people to study, it's never a bad thing, there will be a time in your life when you have wife, kids, loans, car and you HAVE to work so that you can pay for everything, and then it's not possible to study anymore. So do it now. I'm going back to school this year, after few years of work, and I'm anxious to get there, learn new stuff, hang out with new people, making connections, being in the bleeding edge of a technology of the time. It's all just much fun. So if you have a chance, go for it.

giginger

I don't have a degree because I failed my A-Levels. I have however ended up with a pretty good job that has nice career prospects. I'm, currently, earning more than my friends who went to Uni and have no debts because of Uni.
I am however going to do a degree now. Not because I feel I need one to progress but to prove to myself that I can do it.

Minisweeper

All the courses i applied for were masters courses where possible. Whether i'd stay for the masters year is for me to decide 2 years down the line but it's better in the long run to apply for it now than have to apply for it half way through your degree. I'm not saying a degree wouldnt be useful; I'm sure it would come in handy, but so would 5 years (for the full masters SW course) experience in a real job (with training, naturally). And even with the probability of improved career prospects, £30k of debt isnt something to be shrugged off lightly.

DigitaLink

I'd probably make a crappy HR person, because I value real world experience over a piece of paper. I have my piece of paper (in broadcasting, not a computer-related field) because it was something I wanted to do for me, but I could have COMPLETELY gotten into radio without it. I just wouldn't have been as well rounded in broadcasting and wouldn't have had the opportunities I had as a result of college. And I would have probably been making less than half what I do now AND have left the field years ago because of it. The piece of paper is good, certainly, but what you learn in class often either doesn't apply in the real world, or doesn't prepare you in the LEAST for what you'll face in realityville. Fresh college grad vs. 10 year veteran to me is a no-brainer. It's a case of flash vs. substance. Flash is nice, but substance will win me over every time.

leason

In principle I totally agree with you guys, real world experience is way better than just a peice of paper. My point is just that as you get older the number of people you will be competing against for jobs who have degrees will get higher and higher. If you don't get one then eventually you will come up against someone who has a degree and equal work experience. The vast majority of the time, unless you have a friend on the inside (the best thing to have, imho), then you will probably lose out to this other person. Examples: I have a friend who is older than me. He is a network admin guru - I've never met anyone better. He has his MCSE and a few other things, but no degree. He has been rejected and even replaced from good positions he was technically qualified for because of that. We both agreed it was total BS, but it happened and that is life. Another friend of mine never got his degree. He went out and got a job and made lots of money doing computer stuff for a bank. But, about six years later he was let go and replaced with someone else. Then he was screwed, because his competition for jobs were guys a year out of college and really cutting edge. It took him a while to get another job, and it did not pay as much when he finally did. Like I said though, I can only speak from my experience in the US. Do a search on Monster.com sometime though, and see how many jobs that pay over $40k in the computer industry don't specify a four year degree as a requirement.

Bergamot

Well in 2 months I'll have a degree in Applied Math/Computer science, with minors in business and speech. I'm not terribly worried about my job prospects; it just would have been a really cool thing to do.

ADM

Yeah I'm currently completely a double degree in Communications and Education. My hope is to become a computer teacher but it'd also make me qualified to get most computer related jobs. I've also got a Diploma in Multimedia as well. Hopefully when I finish in over 3 years I'll be able to get a job :p

Bergamot

Oh god, my school has a multimedia major (ok actually a mulitmedia concentration of the art major, but in practice the same thing). The program is 5-7 years outdated (including a semester and a half of Director, 8 weeks of Dreamweaver, and about five minutes worth of CSS). The graduates that I know of are having a really hard time getting a job.

AmbitiousLemon

Why did you apply to only one school? Thats a bit unusal. Usually folks apply to a bunch.

You can always apply again next year. A year or two of industry experience would help set you apart from the crowd.

Bergamot

There were only about a dozen schools in the nation with a HCI program at all, and most of them are either crappy knockoffs or run by the psychology department.