Alma Maters

[tangomonster]

I started at Bloomfield College in NJ (a small private school with a liberal curriculum and many interdisciplinary majors). I was commuting and not getting much of the "college experience" so after one semester I transferred to University of South Florida. Lived in the dorms but it still wasn't the college experience I hoped for (I had these romantic ideals of students sitting around talking about philosophy), so I came back to Bloomfield and did sophomore year there. Then transferred to Kean College (NJ state college, lived in the dorm one year, commuted senior year). Was able to finish on time even though I changed my major from nursing to psychology.

Realizing that job opportunities wouldn't be great with just a BS in psychology, I got a MS in Occupational Therapy from Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, intending to work in psychiatric OT upon graduation in 1978. Just my luck---the field of psychiatric OT dried up thereabouts due to new psychotropic meds and deinstitutionalization of psych patients!

While I didn't get the college experience I hoped for and met many smarter people who had never gone to college than those in college, at least I didn't graduate with any debt!

 

[sheboyganite]

University of Wisconsin-Madison BA English Lit, Masters in Library Science

Sheboyganite

 

[Zipper]

University of Western Ontario

Geography and Phys. Ed.

Honours Specialist Teaching Geography.

 

[Gworker]

Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS
Sociology / Criminal Justice

 

[Nords]

U.S. Naval Academy '82, B.S. chemistry with a lot of engineering there and at other Navy nuclear power schools.

Naval Postgraduate School '89, M.S. "Engineering Science", their degree for computer science with a weapons engineering specialty.

The thesis quenched my thirst for higher learning but the explosives research was a lot of fun...

 

[citrine]

I remember Douglass as the women's college of Rutgers, right? Are the two still separate?

One of my earliest "serious" flames was a Douglass student from New Brunswick. Still remember a lot of the details. A lot of the details.

Douglass had a fine academic reputation.
__________________
Rich
Tampa, FL


Rich:

Douglass is still a women's college, but it is now a part of Rutgers.
There is just something unforgettable about those Douglass girls!

citrine

 

[rapoole]

Oberlin College BA
University of Michigan JD and MPP (Master of Public Policy)
​

 

[clifp]

UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Santa Clara University. MBA

 

[PBAT]

University of Maryland College Park - about 2 years majoring in Sociology, then left for FT accounting work

went back PT a few years later to Univ of MD University College (caters to working adults, mostly evening and online classes) - Accounting - have been taking classes on & off since, mostly paid by employer. If my position is eliminated, as expected, in the near future, I will take a year off to finish my BS in accounting. Then I hope for a miracle to find another PT job with full benefits.

DH - bachelors and masters in Social Work - Tulane

 

[maddythebeagle]

University of Wisconsin-Madison BA English Lit, Masters in Library Science

Sheboyganite

Looks like the 3rd Badger in the thread. B.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering...UW-Madison

 

[TargaDave]

SUNY Albany: BS Chemistry
RPI: MS Materials Science

 

[Bigritchie]

For me I guess it would be the United States Marine Corps....major would be bashing heads I guess

I never went to college except to visit the soon to be wife, I knew I wanted to be self-employed and did not want to waste the money on school learning silly stuff I would never use. I never really understood the whole "make good grades so you can go to college and be someones slave one day"

That being said though, when I retire in a few weeks, I do want to take some classes on Astronomy, and may actually get a degree in it some day, as it is something I enjoy, and I am mature enough now to appreciate it.

 

[Helen]

1982 Central Michigan University - BS in Business Admin Major in MIS

At the time I wasn't very interested in the business classes, only the computer classes. Looking back the combination servered me well. The computer classes got me the high paying jobs and the business classes gave me a background to learn about investing.

 

[RLTW]

Clarkson University - BS:Chemical Eng
University of Missouri-Rolla - MS: Environmental Engineering

 

[Gotadimple]

BA, History, College of Education - University of Washington, Seattle

MBA, City University

 

[genghis]

BSEE - THE Purdue University
MBA - Seattle University

 

[Buckeye]

If one assumes most of the folks who responded to this thread are on the path to ER, does the thread confirm it doesn't really matter which college you graduate from?

I wanted to continue the sentence "...as long as you just get a degree?" but I don't know if I can say that (although I believe it based on what I see with family and friends and co-workers) based on the thread.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Indeed, the "millionaire next door" found that college educated people had several knocks against them when it comes to becoming financially independent. Chiefly a big bill to pay, 4-5 years out of the workforce, and having chummed with other people who like to spend money and live an expensive looking lifestyle.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/book-report-millionaire-next-door-14493.html

Most financially independent people started a business with little or no higher education, are married and dont get divorced, LBYM and dont try to keep up with the jones's.

 

[Bram]

I have a 3 yr diploma from a hospital school of nursing. Later went back to school for a BS in nursing from Ohio University.

 

[Buckeye]

CFB - so if you go to an "inexpensive" college and come out with virtually no debt (and, if available, invest what parents would have spent on "expensive" college) and LBYM, does a college degree supercharge your quest for ER? I think it does from what I have seen.

(I went to a relatively expensive private school because it was going to cost me the same amount whether I went "expensive" or "inexpensive." One of the few times being poor had some great benefits.)

 

[Bigritchie]

Indeed, the "millionaire next door" found that college educated people had several knocks against them when it comes to becoming financially independent. Chiefly a big bill to pay, 4-5 years out of the workforce, and having chummed with other people who like to spend money and live an expensive looking lifestyle.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/book-report-millionaire-next-door-14493.html

Most financially independent people started a business with little or no higher education, are married and dont get divorced, LBYM and dont try to keep up with the jones's.

Sounds just like me CFB!

 

[Getting short]

BA @ UC Berkeley in Physical Anthropology
MS @ University of Idaho in Forest Resources
PhD @ Oregon State University in Entomology

Although I've spent many years in school, I've always be a LBYM type of person.

 

[Webzter]

CFB - so if you go to an "inexpensive" college and come out with virtually no debt (and, if available, invest what parents would have spent on "expensive" college) and LBYM, does a college degree supercharge your quest for ER? I think it does from what I have seen.

There are many roads to Rome. Basically, from a purely economic perspective, you'd need to come out with no debt and then LBYM to offset the fact that you missed out on compounding investments for so long (obviously, a great approach would be to invest while in college and graduate with a low enough debt that you could more aggressively invest after).

The Automatic Millionare really drives the point home on page 48. Bach illustrates that if someone invested $3k/year from age 15-19, they'd have more money when they're 65 than someone that invested $3k/year from age 27-65.

If you feel that's extreme (not many of us had the foresight when we were 15) then consider that someone investing from age 19-26 would also come out ahead.

Obviously, where things can tip in the graduate's favor is if their degree earns them substantially more than not having one _and_ if they take advantage of it by investing a substantial amount more. From a purely economic standpoint, one shouldn't discount a 'good-enough' paying job rather than college or alternate roads. After all, it's not always the MBA grad that goes on to found the successful business...

I'm lucky in that I graduated with very little debt and, while I didn't see the light until later in life (27, which means I've missed at least one doubling period over others), I've been able to leverage my degree and LBYM to the point where my wife and I can now save 50% of our salary (hoping to average 70% by end of the year). Obviously, if I was making 'just' $19k a year, I'd be in a much tigher bind. However, by the same token, someone who made $19k and started investing at age 18 would beat the pants off me at this stage in life.

 

[jIMOh]

GMI class of 96 Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

that would be General Motors Institute, which renamed itself to Kettering University the semester after I graduated (which was the spring of 98).

Last time I was on campus as a student was 1996, but the degree says 1998. Senior year was best 4 years of my life.

I've now been married for 5 years... I'd rather be a senior. LOL.

 

[jdmorton]

Interesting Thread...

Been away on vacation to the Outer Banks, NC, so I've not been logged on for over a week now. Anyway...

Penn State, BS Environmental Engineering, 1978

What I found interesting, back in 1974 when I was investigating colleges, was the few that offered some sort of undergraduate environmental engineering program (most offered graduate level only). Back then, I found only three east of the Mississippi River offereing undergrad programs - Clarkson College (upstate NY), Florida Institute of Technology, and Penn State. Even 'Dear Old State' did not know what to do with us Env E majors. We were in both the College of Engineering and College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. We had to take a number of graduate level courses in Earth and Mineral Sciences - much to the chagrin of the non-science grads in that program . We wreaked many a grade curve for them .