Higher Education: Your Experiences, Your Questions

[JohnnyBoyUSMC]

The OGA hiring managers do not care what your BA or BS is in. Heck, I left AD in 2001 to take a USG job and didn't actually graduate with my degree until 2003. I've worked with people who had JD, MBA, and one of the sharpest analysts I ever worked with had a BA in Philosophy. They all could WRITE VERY WELL, were very organized, and conducted amazing research. Regarding languages, it is very common for OGAs to hire someone only to retrain them into a needed language. I know guys to were 2/2 in French, Spanish, and even Russian and all 3 were retrained into GWOT languages immediately after hiring.

Here is a dose of reality: all that cool shit you think you'll be doing working as an OGA civilian...it's only in the movies man. If you want to do really cool stuff that you cannot do because of military restrictions, become a contractor that supports OGAs. High risk, high pay, and very rewarding. Just remember...they are expendable: not as in their life is expendable but as it "thanks, the project is over and this contract is terminated. Have a nice day."

Quite accurate really. We had some OGA recruiters come out to Texas Tech earlier this year, and one of em put it best when he said "whatever degree you can think of that is offered here, there are at least several people back at the agency that have it".

To your second point, from what I've heard that's yes and no. Buddy of mine who was Marine infantry for four years before getting out worked for blackwater for the longest time (or whatever they call themselves now) until recently and did a few interesting protection gig's and such, but when wanting to move into something like kidnap victim recovery and other really high speed shit, he basically got told "unless you have a SOF background your not gonna be able to do those kinds of contracts". Sadly he's leaving the company due to the corporate mindset they board there is running things under now.

 

[Powder]

So the general idea that I am getting from this is that getting an associates or bachelors from an online school such as AMU while AD is not a bad idea but for something like a masters you are going to want to go to a B&M school. Example, general studies or a history degree from AMU and later get a masters from somewhere that has actual classrooms.

 

[CDG]

I just spent $600 on textbooks. $600 fucking dollars for books, all of which were either used, rentals, or e-textbooks. It would have been close to, or over, $1,000 had I had to buy all new books. Ridiculous. Thank god for the GI Bill or I would be stuck choosing between a marginal chance at a higher paying job while being saddled with thousands of dollars in student loans, or a lower paying job and fewer prospects, but no student loans. The "higher education" system in this country needs a serious evaluation.

 

[LimaOscarSierraTango]

I just spent $600 on textbooks. $600 fucking dollars for books, all of which were either used, rentals, or e-textbooks. It would have been close to, or over, $1,000 had I had to buy all new books. Ridiculous. Thank god for the GI Bill or I would be stuck choosing between a marginal chance at a higher paying job while being saddled with thousands of dollars in student loans, or a lower paying job and fewer prospects, but no student loans. The "higher education" system in this country needs a serious evaluation.

My boss was tripping out because he bought books for three of his kids that just started college and he paid $600 total. I told him to quit complaining because when I went to school $600 was average for one student's set up books for a semester. He blew me off, but at least he STFU about it.

Good luck brother! You'll be lucky to get $90 selling them back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. More money selling them to other students.

 

[AWP]

I just spent $600 on textbooks. $600 fucking dollars for books, all of which were either used, rentals, or e-textbooks. It would have been close to, or over, $1,000 had I had to buy all new books. Ridiculous. Thank god for the GI Bill or I would be stuck choosing between a marginal chance at a higher paying job while being saddled with thousands of dollars in student loans, or a lower paying job and fewer prospects, but no student loans. The "higher education" system in this country needs a serious evaluation.

$350 for two books this semester for me.

 

[CDG]

$350 for two books this semester for me.

Fuck. That's exactly what I'm talking about. $350 for two goddamn books? How is that legal? The thing is, it's not like a normal store where if shit's overpriced you just go to another one with better prices. Your options are pay the money or don't get an education.

 

[AWP]

Fuck. That's exactly what I'm talking about. $350 for two goddamn books? How is that legal? The thing is, it's not like a normal store where if shit's overpriced you just go to another one with better prices. Your options are pay the money or don't get an education.

And mine are IT classes...you can go to any physical or virtual bookstore and find books on Database Administration or Networking for a shit-ton less than 350 combined.

One thing to look for in your books: go through the "Thank you" or "These people helped proof read the book" pages and you stand a decent chance of finding your instructor or one from your school; your required texts weren't chosen at random.

 

[CDG]

One thing to look for in your books: go through the "Thank you" or "These people helped proof read the book" pages and you stand a decent chance of finding your instructor or one from your school; your required texts weren't chosen at random.

Yep. I am aware of this little arrangement. I understand colleges need money to operate. We have gone FAR past that though, into them being nothing more than a business that is only concerned about the profit line. The "education" I have received in my few semesters at school has been nowhere near worth the money "I" paid for it.

 

[AWP]

There's aren't enough Agree buttons on this board for your last post.

 

[x SF med]

If you pay me I can give you insight into the college textbook industry. and I hate to give this up without payment, but the used textbook market forces the price of new textbooks higher, creating a higheer pricepoint for their own parasitic product... the economic formula for what's happening is a bit complex, but all of the costs borne by the publisher need to be recovered sooner, where the life of the product is extended due to perceived obsoesence by the end user, the middle man, reuses the same product over and over, relying on the needs of the end user, and reaping the benefits of R&D/production/initial storage/revisions on the publisher... the hold period for the used book seller is short (max 2 months) the cost of product is cheap (less than 20% of the cost of the used selling price) and the retail is high (80% of the cost of a new book). Then throw in the commodity made of commodities (ink, labor, paper, intellectual property), Royalties (used book sellers do not compensate the authors in any way), and R&D... and you can see that the used textbook sellers are callously taking advantage of students and screwing authors. (BTW, the preceding scenarios added 40% to the cost of producing a textbook at the time I left that industry... increased costs of labor and materials only added 9.5%).

ok.... rant off... Yes, I was a Senior Financial Analyst for a Major College Texbook Publishers - for all phases of the publishing /production/sales life, and I started while I was still in College... I may have gotten friends and family textbooks for no cost while employed in that inustry, but then again I may not... I would hazard a guess that althoughg the companies i worked for have changed names/imprints and ownership, that 99% of the college students/grads on this board used at least 3 books I personally worked on at some point - not the editions I worked on, but the titles.

 

[SkrewzLoose]

I always hated classes that had an "updated" version every semester, forcing you to purchase new vice picking up a used book.

 

[x SF med]

I always hated classes that had an "updated" version every semester, forcing you to purchase new vice picking up a used book.

thank the used book sellers...

 

[Brill]

I wonder why they don't "e-reader" texts?

thank the used book sellers...

As well as the access to financial aid, both loans and VA benefits, which are driving education prices through the roof.

 

[AWP]

I wonder why they don't "e-reader" texts?

Some books do and I'd use them if I could.

 

[SkrewzLoose]

I was chatting with CDG about this on FB and recommended Amazondotcom. He said he was able to get his initial order cancelled and then save about $200 by renting through Amazon. Something others may want to look into as well.

 

[CDG]

I was chatting with CDG about this on FB and recommended Amazondotcom. He said he was able to get his initial order cancelled and then save about $200 by renting through Amazon. Something others may want to look into as well.

Yep. I created a booklist through the school's bookstore website so that I had all the correct ISBN numbers, then just searched the Amazon textbooks section for them. I was able to save so much by Amazon having rentals available. One particular book was only available as new from B&N (the school's bookstore) for over $100, and I found it for rent on Amazon for just over $30. I had never even thought to look into Amazon before, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was able to save.

For the record, I still think the textbook industry is a rip-off though. My initial rant stands!

 

[SkrewzLoose]

If I was an Officer and my wife was an NCO, I'd take full credit for the Amazon idea.

 

[x SF med]

I wonder why they don't "e-reader" texts?



As well as the access to financial aid, both loans and VA benefits, which are driving education prices through the roof.

we tried to get the e-book thing going on textbooks... in the late 90's... students hated it because books couldn't be shared easily, used book sellers hated it - no $$ for them.

 

[104TN]

half.com is your friend for textbooks.

 

[SpitfireV]

My CN textbooks were set to be about 95 for the set (textbook/workbook) but a mate was going over and got them for 15 bucks...for both. Your textbook market sounds out of control, I won't complain about mine anymore!