Need Advice: Second Bachelors or Masters?

[ibook30]

The capitalist in me...

First of all- congrats! You sound like you're on a great path! Keep it up.

Getting a bachelors or masters - big choice. I'd think about what you want out of life, and the best path to that goal. Vague advice that doesn't make things simpler- I know! Well, here's some practical advice: make sure you can love what you do or at least make enough money to do what you love. Bachelors or Masters, it's gonna set you up to work in one line of business or another depending on what you explore (computer science or maybe... philosophy).

And if it comes down to making enough money, go into finance. Do some CS work that focuses on MYSQL databases (or better) that are useful to people who manage money. In spite of the crap economy I am shocked how much these people make! Ride their coattails while you do what you love! Of course, the earning potential might not last forever, but nothing does. I got some degrees in things I love. I'm now making a living outside of that, but it's been satisfying. I earn enough to explore the things I love.

G'luck! I bet there is a good life ahead of you!

 

[mousouchop]

Niagara is a known university in the Northeast, especially in NY. It's a good college. It's a relatively small Catholic university. The OP doesn't need another degree from a more known school just to say he/she has a degree from a school people heard about.

Indeed Niagara is pretty well known... But I wouldn't recommend their CIS degree! haha. Speaking with the chair of the department the other day, she stated that they have to find a balance between the Managerial side of CIS and the more Science/Tech side-- and that usually it is Management-biased because the more technical courses like math and more complex languages like C++ usually "crush" people out of the major... Guh. Wish I had know that 2 years ago when I decided to stay and finish my degree there!

 

[63dot]

Indeed Niagara is pretty well known... But I wouldn't recommend their CIS degree! haha. Speaking with the chair of the department the other day, she stated that they have to find a balance between the Managerial side of CIS and the more Science/Tech side-- and that usually it is Management-biased because the more technical courses like math and more complex languages like C++ usually "crush" people out of the major... Guh. Wish I had know that 2 years ago when I decided to stay and finish my degree there!

So we established two more facts to this:

1) Niagara is a good school. So let's leave it at that.

2) To retain students, especially in a state which has more schools than any, they took out some math and C++

My conclusion:

Learn that math on your own, maybe at a junior college where you can find more than enough of those courses to keep you busy for some time. Also take a couple of C++ classes to get you started, and trust me they won't be a pushover, and then teach yourself more from there after that.

It really doesn't sound like you need a second bachelor's or a master's. It's the hard skills you seek that you want which you sound like you don't believe you have.

You have the degree. Check.

Now build on your knowledge, skills, and abilities to where you feel strong enough to be competitive in the work force. If that means getting enough to enter the work force, then fine. If you want to be a little bit better, then that's good. If you want to become truly proficient to the point you can be an individual consultant or be fully prepared for any master's in CS, then take that path. (Realize that it's a bigger jump from college to grad school than it was from high school to college. Two years of grad school, in hours studied in your own research outside of class, can amount to the effort four years of undergrad work, but only crammed into 3 or 4 semesters. One unit of grad school could take as much commitment as three units in undergrad.)

You seem to have the will, now you just need to be patient enough to give yourself the time to strengthen your math skills and programming skills in certain languages.

 

[mousouchop]

Thank you 63dot. Haha. Your responses both on this thread and in your PM have been very concise and have really helped to sum up the situation and solution.

I think my next step will be pricing non-matriculated courses at local Junior Colleges and SUNY colleges to find the best price for some supplemental courses.

Thanks again.

 

[rhsgolfer33]

get a bachelors from a school that has a name someone will actually recognize. Then think about grad school

Honestly, no one really cares all that much where your bachelors degree comes from, all that matters is that you have one and you work hard while earning it. I've been accepted at some of the top accounting programs in the country and currently go to a school that very few people outside of southern California have ever heard of. Motivation and credentials matter far more to most graduate schools and employers than whether your degree says UCLA or Small Liberal Arts College No One Knows About (as long as the program is at least regionally accredited). Graduate schools are a different story in a lot of disciplines; for MBAs, JDs, and PhDs you generally are better of it you go to the best and most prestigious program you get into (I don't know about computer science, but I'd certainly go to the best program I could, provided I felt that the loan debt would be worth it).

I think my next step will be pricing non-matriculated courses at local Junior Colleges and SUNY colleges to find the best price for some supplemental courses.

Great idea, doing the master's eventually is the right move, IMO.

 

[63dot]

Honestly, no one really cares all that much where your bachelors degree comes from, all that matters is that you have one and you work hard while earning it. I've been accepted at some of the top accounting programs in the country and currently go to a school that very few people outside of southern California have ever heard of. Motivation and credentials matter far more to most graduate schools and employers than whether your degree says UCLA or Small Liberal Arts College No One Knows About (as long as the program is at least regionally accredited). Graduate schools are a different story in a lot of disciplines; for MBAs, JDs, and PhDs you generally are better of it you go to the best and most prestigious program you get into (I don't know about computer science, but I'd certainly go to the best program I could, provided I felt that the loan debt would be worth it).

I totally agree that for undergrad, if it's regionally accredited and you have skills, that's the key point, and if you are willing to work hard in your career. For MBA and JD programs, where the highest paying jobs are for New York City consulting firms in the investing sector and can start in the hundreds of thousands a year which includes those bonuses and commissions, go to that Ivy League school. There are more Ivy League JDs and MBAs than there are seats for "masters of the universe" on Wall Street or Chicago.

But from what I have seen from PhDs/doctors, every school I have seen has a mixed lot of PhDs/MDs/PharmDs from good schools, OK schools, and downright unknown schools. When I had to consult the best surgeon I could find at Stanford University and the area of Palo Alto, one was from Mexico and trained there and the other was Canadian and trained there.

One was the current chief of surgery at Stanford and the other was the one of the most renowned plastic surgeons in California. They were northern California's best and brightest because of their track record, not their schools which I have never heard of. I had originally thought that if you were that good in the medical/biological sciences, you had to have gone to Harvard, Oxford, or Cambridge, but that's not always the case.

 

[rhsgolfer33]

But from what I have seen from PhDs/doctors, every school I have seen has a mixed lot of PhDs/MDs/PharmDs from good schools, OK schools, and downright unknown schools. When I had to consult the best surgeon I could find at Stanford University and the area of Palo Alto, one was from Mexico and trained there and the other was Canadian and trained there.

One was the current chief of surgery at Stanford and the other was the one of the most renowned plastic surgeons in California. They were northern California's best and brightest because of their track record, not their schools which I have never heard of. I had originally thought that if you were that good in the medical/biological sciences, you had to have gone to Harvard, Oxford, or Cambridge, but that's not always the case.

Definitely agree with you. Gaining recognition after earning a Ph.D. is really what matters in developing a career, however, it can be a lot easier to get your foot in the door as a professor at a top research university if you attended another top research university in your field to earn your Ph.D. From there it is definitely all about your research; if you have stellar research but your Ph.D. isn't from a top program, you'll still be very highly sought after. As for medical doctors, I don't care much what school you attended, as long as you've got a great track record in your field.

 

[63dot]

Definitely agree with you. Gaining recognition after earning a Ph.D. is really what matters in developing a career, however, it can be a lot easier to get your foot in the door as a professor at a top research university if you attended another top research university in your field to earn your Ph.D. From there it is definitely all about your research; if you have stellar research but your Ph.D. isn't from a top program, you'll still be very highly sought after. As for medical doctors, I don't care much what school you attended, as long as you've got a great track record in your field.

Since we were talking cancer, reputation and track record is literally everything and a patient is betting their life on it.

However, one comedian once made a joke and said, "There are only three important people in your life: your doctor, your priest, and your accountant, and the first two don't count for anything at the end of your life".

Besides having family doctors we trust with our lives, we have had to consult different lawyers and they had vastly different backgrounds but all gave the same information on insurance claims, loans, etc. They have been pretty much interchangeable, yet useful for the most part.

I have had five dentists and they all got the job done, and my smile was only going to be as good as it was going to be...ie) nobody is going to make you look like a movie star.

But back to the accountant joke:

As for accountants, even though I am not in the highest income bracket, I hire the accountant all the rich people go to who was this accountant in town. She charges $250 an hour and I get billed for 1/2 hour even though she said using Peachtree she does our taxes in 10 minutes.

When my original accountant died he was the one to go to. Then everyone went to his partner, an EA who learned from him. When she died, people went to her partner, a JD who is my current accountant. They all had different backgrounds, but they stemmed from the apprenticeships that started with a stellar accountant. Word gets around town very quickly and individuals pretty much avoid H&R Block and the Big Four if they know what is good for them. I don't mind spending an extra 100% percent more if I know I am getting the best accountant (using their personal 20+ years learned from 50+ years knowledge from the three person firm) and they get me the best tax return and know how to properly keep up with the moving target of deductions, credits, and California tax law.

 

[wolfenstein2890]

From a Fellow WNYer

Ironically OP, I'm doing the exact opposite of you. I'm a freshman at SUNY Buffalo (hereafter referred to as UB) and am planning to transfer over to NU next year. I switched into computer science from pre-med mid-year (long story), and this semester have taken two courses that aren't gen-ed requirements (of which UB is brutal about... WAY too many):

MTH 141 (Calculus I for Engineers) <-- Teacher is Certifiably Insane, but good; TA bad

CSE 115 (Intro to Computer Science for Majors I) <-- AKA Let's learn Java, but good TA

The thing about UB that is annoying is that you have 3 hour long lectures per week (taught by Professor, anywhere from 60-500 students depending on class), and then 1 hour long recitation, which is ******** for "we stick you in you in a room and you learn from a TA (teaching assistant), who may or may not speak English (I'm not kidding)"

Computer science courses are filled with people who think they know everything alot, but, again, it's a smaller program...

Course listings can be found here: http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/academicprograms/coms_degrees.shtml

If you want any more info, please feel free to post/PM me, as I am interested about your experiences as well.

PS, We joke about Visual Basic in our classes, as, well... Yea.