Did you end up making any use out of your college degree?

Nope

Not really. I got a B.S. in economics and never really used. I went in to computer stuff. It certainly did help for running a small business, but I only took one job in the field.

Good question, you need a lurve.

Degree = Bachelors Music Business & Production
Career = Interactive Marketing Analyst
Correlation = None

My degree was in math and education. Because my college math program wasn’t approved by the state to teach math, I had to take a test to show I was competent, so I guess the degree in itself wasn’t necessary, but it did help me pass the test. And of course the education part was absolutely needed to teach.

I’m graduating next month…i’m pretty sure my history degree will be part of the lining in my cardboard box to try and keep the heat in because unless I end up being a history professor it’s not exactly worth much.

Yup.

I have a BFA in Communication Design and I work in Graphic Design as a Creative Director.

When I finish my degrees in Social Science and Geography, yes. I’ll be teaching.

To the extent that any college degree is wanted for certain employment, yes. But as far as other areas of life, I use my degrees all the time. If an issue, thought or idea regarding gender, sex, sexuality and/or race happens to arise in my life, my schooling helps me to assess and reason through it. But, I didn’t go to college to find a career, I went to learn about the universe. I did go to a university, afterall.

Constantly.

First degree – no.
Second degree – yes.

Yes. My bachelor’s degree is in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience.

I am currently a graduate student in cognitive neuroscience.

It barely helps me find a job. I have even been turned down for being overqualified. I do use skills I learned from my degree and value the experience of college but sometimes I wonder if my financial debt is worth it. I think going into a trade school may have been a better idea. Sigh.

Increasing my ability to approach the issues I face in my daily living – you bet.

Well, I’m in school right now. I’m getting a degree in media production. If I am very lucky, I will have a cardboard box next to all of my media production friends!

In all seriousness, I hope to use my degree to go into film or video editing.

I am in @girlofscience‘s position. B.S. in biopsychology; now graduate student in behavioral neuroscience. In between, I worked on a psychiatric genetics project, and my degree was relevant* then, too.

*but nothing I couldn’t have taught myself or picked up on the job.

I met the Director of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and he was using his Emmy as a doorstop. My degree does the same thing for me.

Keeps the doors open.

Absolutely. I have always worked around books and libraries, and I’ve found over the years that I use just about everything I’ve ever learned, including high school algebra and biology, my halting French, Latin, and Italian, and my even more halting German—and of course my college major in English.

I don’t think you can always predict when you will use any knowledge that you acquire. That’s why it’s a good idea to be a lifelong learner.

Sort of. I have a BS in Human Development and Family Studies and I’m working as a nanny. I could have gotten a nannying job with zero degree, but my background and knowledge help me get paid decently and I think make me better at my job.

There’s not a whole lot you can do with an HDFS degree without additional degrees or certifications.

I go a degree in Art Education. It qualifies me to teach Art, and nothing else. I’m in the Navy now, training for an IT job, which is completely unrelated. A degree guarantees you Butt in the real world. You either need year of experience or a friend on the inside to get a job.
I also majored in videogames and pr0n, but that didn’t really help either…

My undergraduate degree was in Biology and since back then I was pre-med and applying to medical school, it was quite relevant, besides I loved it…I believe it helped me get into graduate school easily because it was a ‘hard, serious’ major (and it was a hard and serious major) and I had a lot of research experience…my masters was in Public Health (because of it I decided against med school) and my career now is in Public Health…but I think because I have a scientific background I bring something more to my work…eventually I’d like a PhD in Sociology and even then I think my BA in Biology will help…

I use 4 out of 6

Next month will be 17 years since I got my Master’s and I still love what I do. I feel very fortunate to have found my true vocation.

Surprisingly enough, it did, but not in the way I thought it would. What did I do most in college? Research and writing. What did I do most in my last job? Research and writing. What do I do now? Teach people how to do research.

I thought I might be a fiction writer or editor or something.

@JamesL, where are you studying social sciences? I was reading about it and it seems that it is only available in select universities. Is that right?

Absolutely – the best thing I got out of my college degree was the ability to solve strange problems in creative ways, and to do it well and quickly. I firmly believe that going through a conservatory program for theater production prepares you for just about anything the world has to throw at you later on – it’s sort of like going to school to learn to be MacGyver…

Plus, I did work as a full-time stage manager for four years, so I guess the degree helped with that too…

Sort of. I did not need it directly, since I studied Communication Theory and most people who finish that go into the media. And anyone can go into the media anyway without any degree. On the other hand, I needed some sort of degree in order to teach, and I used that one.

Yup, I use my MFA in Fine art and Digital Media to teach Fine Art and Digital Media. I also use the practical knowledge to get my personal work into art shows and work freelance opportunities in graphic arts.

@Master
I am at Long Beach St. right now working on my bachelors degree. Not too sure about that, you may know more about it than I do.

I graduated from Ohio State with a BA in Sociology and Criminology. I used my degree to be a mental health therapist for two years. I quit my job to travel for a year. When i finally settled down somewhere, i got a waitressing job for some quick money before finding a job in my field. Turns out I make two to three times waitressing than what I did as a therapist. Funny how these things go….

My degrees became unimportant the older I have become. All experience, formal or not, is really your real education to become the best person you can be. Usefulness is a business/Wall Street term that will lead you to a grim view of what the world offers.

I have a degree in French…and you’d suppose I’d be a French teacher by now, but the truth is, I’m an associate director for Orientation at a University. So on the surface, no, I didn’t technically get any use out of it, but when I run into French native students, I often converse with them quite fluently, and when I was utterly lost in Switzerland, I was able to get back to where I was supposed to be. It’s easy to overlook that so much of my education into what I am doing now (academic affairs and retention) was learned while an undergraduate at my campus jobs, and that’s okay. Do what you’re passionate about, and I did, and that made all the difference to me.

Did I use it? Now how I intended, but it is useful to me. And it was a stepping stone to my doctorate in education. Hope that helps.

I am fortunate it seems based on many responses so far because my degrees have been stepping-stones for my profession. On the one hand, as @voodoo noted, it is important to follow your passion, which I did. On the other hand, my degrees have been directly related to my work experience.

I know I could not have been a public school teacher without the teaching credential, a college instructor without the master’s degree, or a dean without the doctorate degree. There is one thing that is dependable about working in education; it is not so much about location, location, location as it is degree, degree, degree.

Even though it would be heard a heresy in the ivory towers, not everyone needs a college degree to follow his or her dreams or to make a fine living himself or herself; not everyone with a degree makes a fine living or follows his or her dreams.

I’m majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Art. If I don’t get a job doing something in the creative field, I think I might die. So I sure hope my college degree is worth something.

My oldest sister majored in some odd study she made up herself! It is the study of colored women and their history LOL. I don’t know why. That was a very useless course but she is the president of PNC bank now in community development making 80k a year. She networks a lot so I think it has to do with her connections, experience, and maybe even her looks that got her this job. She participates A LOT in community events.

My second oldest sister went to community college and dropped out lol. No degree. Started her own daycare with her husband (no college degree) but its successful and she’s doing well.

My third oldest sister majored in Spanish. She was a financial advisor and now is looking for an accounting job. She went back to school majoring in business for her master’s degree.

None did anything related to their degree! lol But there are a lot of jobs out there that require a bachelor’s degree or higher in a RELATED field. I’m going to graduate with business management soon but I really want to work in the HR field. I think it’s related enough.

I haven’t finished my degree and It has already saved my life. I used physics to get me out of a raging river that I fell in… swim for where you will be and not where you are. I’m alive so it worked.