Changing Majors?

[Gen. Volkov]

I work at a four diamond hotel during the summers, there's a lot that goes into Hotel Management.

I'm sure there is, but do you really need to spend $20,000 a year for 4 years to learn it? Somehow, I doubt it.

[Holby]

That's what we called coming to lab drunk. (Which I did... on more than a few occasions.)

You little rebel, you.

[Juska]

Probably not, but when your reputation and profitability relies upon sound management and outstanding customer service your going to hire someone with a $80,000 piece of paper that says they aren't going to screw up too badly before you hired someone without one.

Besides, getting a liberal arts degree imparts more upon you than a certain skill set, it should hopefully broaden your knowledge base as well and maybe culture you a bit. I'm sorry, but when a client is spending $150,000 to have their wedding reception in my ballroom I'm going to make sure the people that are dealing directly with them are smart enough to have a degree.

At the hotel I work at they have what they call 'Leaders in Service' and basically they take an employee who has potential and have him spend time in every different faucet of the hotel during over a period of at least two years in order to make sure they are prepared for the management level, so yes you can do it without a degree, but from a business standpoint you want the most qualified employees.

[Gen. Volkov]

You little rebel, you.

I try.

Probably not, but when your reputation and profitability relies upon sound management and outstanding customer service your going to hire someone with a $80,000 piece of paper that says they aren't going to screw up too badly before you hired someone without one.

Just because they have a piece of paper doesn't mean they won't screw up. In fact, someone with experience in a hotel but no college education would be a much better pick than someone with a college education and no experience.

Besides, getting a liberal arts degree imparts more upon you than a certain skill set, it should hopefully broaden your knowledge base as well and maybe culture you a bit. I'm sorry, but when a client is spending $150,000 to have their wedding reception in my ballroom I'm going to make sure the people that are dealing directly with them are smart enough to have a degree.

If you are in "Hospitality Management", I've a feeling that you aren't going to be taking the most challenging of classes outside your major. Philosophy is probably right out. A liberal arts degree in that sort of field is likely only marginally better than a high school education.

At the hotel I work at they have what they call 'Leaders in Service' and basically they take an employee who has potential and have him spend time in every different faucet of the hotel during over a period of at least two years in order to make sure they are prepared for the management level, so yes you can do it without a degree, but from a business standpoint you want the most qualified employees.

I'd say someone in that category of employee is probably more qualified than any college grad could be. He's got 2 extra years of work experience.

[Juska]

What's the point lol, your such an elitist academic.

[Shadow]

I'm with Juska on this one. A major like Hospitality Management is inherently more like a college degree than a university degree anyway - there is going to be a large hands-on experience component involved, because there simply isn't that much theory to be learned. So while you say experience is more useful, I am willing to bet that they get it through the degree anyway, while at the same time having the opportunity to broaden their horizons through other classes.

If it is something you really want to do, then it is a perfectly legitimate and useful subject of study. I am not saying that it isn't a lot easier than a hard sciences degree, just that it is not necessarily less useful to the person taking it.

[Gen. Volkov]

What's the point lol, your such an elitist academic.

Dude, I work at Wal-Mart. I'm hardly elitist. I just think if you are going to go to a university, you should pick a subject that you can't learn in a technical or trade school, and can't be learned in any sort of on the job training.

Besides, you and I both know that science and engineering degrees are inherently more difficult than liberal arts degrees. There is a reason the average GPA for a science or engineering student is about a point lower than the GPA of a liberal arts major. I'm not being elitist, it's a fact.

I'm with Juska on this one. A major like Hospitality Management is inherently more like a college degree than a university degree anyway - there is going to be a large hands-on experience component involved, because there simply isn't that much theory to be learned.

You are missing something important Shadow. To you, college and university are two different things. To Americans, college and university are the same thing. What we are talking about is majors like Hospitality Management at major universities. What you call "college", we call a technical school. So we aren't talking about a school where you'd necessarily get lots of hands-on experience.

So while you say experience is more useful, I am willing to bet that they get it through the degree anyway, while at the same time having the opportunity to broaden their horizons through other classes.

I'm willing to be that they don't, but I could be wrong.

[windhound]

Gotta agree with Volky

The point of going to university is to get a job (among other things, but it is the _main_ point)
There are some jobs that require a heavy amount of background knowledge about how stuff in your field works.  A digital signals engineer must know about fourier series, laplace transforms, signal degradation, etc.  These usually require three semesters of Calculus to understand what the heck is going on.  Knowledge must be built up.

Hospitality Management?  I'm sorry...  to me that implies being able to work well with other people, a good demeanor, and some organizational skills. 
Nothing that couldn't be trained on the job.  No experience vs. a college degree?  Sure, the degree wins.  Degree vs. 2 years experience?  Myself, I'd rather have the guy with on-the-job experience - all else equal.

[Shadow]

I'm sure there is a fair bit of both accounting and situation specific legal training involved in that degree as well. Not the sort of thing you want people to learn first by trial and error, yea?

[Genevieve]

I'm sure there is a fair bit of both accounting and situation specific legal training involved in that degree as well. Not the sort of thing you want people to learn first by trial and error, yea?

There's probably evening classes or something for that. Not worth a whole university degree.