Higher Education

What college did you go to?

  • Ivy

    Votes: 7 12.7%

  • UC

    Votes: 21 38.2%

  • CalState

    Votes: 16 29.1%

  • Private big college

    Votes: 6 10.9%

  • Private small college

    Votes: 6 10.9%

  • Vocational school

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • Junior college then transfer

    Votes: 4 7.3%

  • Out of state college

    Votes: 5 9.1%

  • Non-US university

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Post grad doctorate

    Votes: 9 16.4%

  • Post grad masters

    Votes: 14 25.5%

  • No college

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Total voters
    55
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morekaos said:
But ironically, there's a huge shortage of applicants. One of my friends is a fire captain in the Southbay and says they can't find people to fill jobs.  He said Kids these days turn their nose up at the starting pay. Go figure, millenials.

Firehouses Raise Alarm Over Lack of Young Recruits

Number of volunteerfirefighters has fallen nearly 10% from 1984, while call volume has tripled

http://www.wsj.com/articles/firehouses-raise-alarm-over-lack-of-young-recruits-1487932206
Click to expand...
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-10000-apply-in-rebooted-lafd-hiring-20140728-story.html

B-S.

BTW, I highlighted the important word...
 
Yeah, if you don't mind gearing up, climbing a 2-story+ ladder, hooking the back of your knees on the top rung, suspending yourself upside down for a few minutes, righting yourself, and getting down, become a firefighter. The training is no cake walk. Not all will make it.

Also, from the looks of them, I think there's a pre-req that you have to be a Calvin Klein male model or something.
 
SoCal said:
Yeah, if you don't mind gearing up, climbing a 2-story+ ladder, hooking the back of your knees on the top rung, suspending yourself upside down for a few minutes, righting yourself, and getting down, become a firefighter. The training is no cake walk. Not all will make it.
Click to expand...

Very true, know someone in college that was extremely fit but still didn't make the cut, most won't make it
 
AW said:
SoCal said:
Yeah, if you don't mind gearing up, climbing a 2-story+ ladder, hooking the back of your knees on the top rung, suspending yourself upside down for a few minutes, righting yourself, and getting down, become a firefighter. The training is no cake walk. Not all will make it.
Click to expand...

Very true, know someone in college that was extremely fit but still didn't make the cut, most won't make it
Click to expand...

Yup. My friend's husband is a big, tough dude who dreamed of becoming a firefighter ever since he was a little boy. This particular exercise gave him an anxiety attack.
 
AW said:
SoCal said:
Yeah, if you don't mind gearing up, climbing a 2-story+ ladder, hooking the back of your knees on the top rung, suspending yourself upside down for a few minutes, righting yourself, and getting down, become a firefighter. The training is no cake walk. Not all will make it.
Click to expand...

Very true, know someone in college that was extremely fit but still didn't make the cut, most won't make it
Click to expand...

oh come on, it's not like training to be a Navy Seal. But yes I bet it is more difficult than becoming the police academy.
For that kind of pay it better be similar to Seal training - I bet you the Navy Seals don't get paid that much  ::)
 
Paris said:
AW said:
SoCal said:
Yeah, if you don't mind gearing up, climbing a 2-story+ ladder, hooking the back of your knees on the top rung, suspending yourself upside down for a few minutes, righting yourself, and getting down, become a firefighter. The training is no cake walk. Not all will make it.
Click to expand...

Very true, know someone in college that was extremely fit but still didn't make the cut, most won't make it
Click to expand...

oh come on, it's not like training to be a Navy Seal. But yes I bet it is more difficult than becoming the police academy.
For that kind of pay it better be similar to Seal training - I bet you the Navy Seals don't get paid that much  ::)
Click to expand...

Just like the Seals, it's not fitness and toughness, it's psychological.  Many people have problems with dark, smoke, cramped, & physical disorientation not to mention actually life threatening.  You need to stay calm and in control in these conditions, many won't make it.

I think we could massively improve the pool of the 13,000 candidates the LAFD got for 84 positions if we were more honest about their actual compensation.  While that seems good, I regularly got 300+ resumes for a single tech posting.  Although the application process was much easier.

I don't mind firefighters or police officers making good money, let's just be honest about their real compensation and benefits.  Then we will have more good people willing to do it.


 
Dresden215 said:
Wow, no wonder I see the firefighters with fun toys: $100k RV's, Sea-Doos, $80k trucks, etc. I need to tell my boys to forget that business degree and just be a firefighter.

Better yet, get a degree in education and become a TUSD superintendent and get nothing accomplished and still get paid well:

http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2015/school-districts/orange/tustin-unified/gregory-a-franklin/
Click to expand...
In LA, they scored a windfall with the new pension plan paying 90% of their retirement with the ability to retire pretty young.
 
Haven't looked back at this poll for a while, but it's interesting that the majority of the members here went to UC/CalState.

There's hope for my kids. :)
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Haven't looked back at this poll for a while, but it's interesting that the majority of the members here went to UC/CalState.

There's hope for my kids. :)
Click to expand...

From a simple ROI perspective, UC's and Cal States are some of the top in the nation.  State schools in general (including universities outside CA) have the highest ratios of starting salaries to 4-year tuition paid.  There simply isn't a huge salary advantage for having an elite private school on your resume, and the much higher tuition offsets any incremental advantage in salary you may obtain.  (Stanford is a notable exception due to the high number of starting tech salaries that come out of there.)  If getting into a strong alumni network is important, there are many state universities that have huge alumni networks.  Many of these networks are considered better than the Ivy's. 

If all you care about is the prestige of an Ivy League education, or making your Asian parents happy, then by all means pony up for an Ivy.  Just don't expect to come out ahead financially compared to peers that attended much less expensive schools, with the exception of perhaps a few industries like investment banking, tech, and engineering.
 
Oh please, tuition at the Cal States is just plain old cheap.

Yes,  cheap.  As in barely more for tuition today than this old man paid for a Public state school back back east decades ago.

UC tuition is cheap too.  The expense isn't the tuition, it's living in California. 

The UC system and Cal State system are frankly an unbelievably good deal.
 
Compleletly agree. It's about $6,500 per year at a CSU. Yes, there is more of an experience to live away from home, but if it's about saving money, then it's a great deal to commute.
 
Liar Loan said:
irvinehomeowner said:
Haven't looked back at this poll for a while, but it's interesting that the majority of the members here went to UC/CalState.

There's hope for my kids. :)
Click to expand...

From a simple ROI perspective, UC's and Cal States are some of the top in the nation.  State schools in general (including universities outside CA) have the highest ratios of starting salaries to 4-year tuition paid.  There simply isn't a huge salary advantage for having an elite private school on your resume, and the much higher tuition offsets any incremental advantage in salary you may obtain.  (Stanford is a notable exception due to the high number of starting tech salaries that come out of there.)  If getting into a strong alumni network is important, there are many state universities that have huge alumni networks.  Many of these networks are considered better than the Ivy's. 

If all you care about is the prestige of an Ivy League education, or making your Asian parents happy, then by all means pony up for an Ivy.  Just don't expect to come out ahead financially compared to peers that attended much less expensive schools, with the exception of perhaps a few industries like investment banking, tech, and engineering.
Click to expand...

Jack Ma applied to Harvard and was rejected 10 TIMES, according to article below. (Includes a video of Jack Ma's conversation at Davos in 2015.)
http://shanghaiist.com/2015/09/17/jack_ma_davos_interview.php


 
What kind of actual alumni network benefits have you all experienced? I went to UC Berkeley and have yet to close a deal or win a sale because of it! Just lots of depressing chat about our football team sucking..
 
http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/best-roi-colleges/

UC Berkeley boasts a higher 30-year ROI than any other public school that offers degrees in the liberal arts, as well as STEM disciplines -- most likely because the leading career paths for graduates are concentrated in high-paying fields like engineering, technology, and business administration. The three leading careers ? software engineer, senior software engineer, and mechanical engineer ? earn an average median salary of $96,878; however, the ROI for UC Berkeley grads is a little lower due to the $125,000 price-tag for a four-year degree (second highest among the top 10 schools on our list).
Cost: $125,000
30 Year Net ROI: $1,182,000
% Aid: 56%
Average Aid Amount: $15,272
30 Years ROI with Aid: $1,246,000

Take a look at this list for best ROI colleges. Several of the UC schools made the list including UC Berkeley. UCLA and UC Berkeley admission rate is now 17% which is pretty difficult to get into these days. The highest paying jobs right out of college are finance, computer science, and engineering. Many of the top ROI colleges you see on the list are either tech schools or universities with strong business and engineering programs.

 
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