<![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @radiodramotional: aaaaaand: redemption of my academic career.

daberkman

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @flack: The program at Columbia is dusty. While not everyone wants an MBA and go through the hell of finance classes, many b-schools are starting focus on crisis PR and reputation management, including Stern. Either of these degrees are useless for the average publicist, but most people in communications do more than the average flack.

radiodramotional

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> Do you need a graduate degree in PR to work for Ronn Torrosiann? Or just a cunt?

famousauthor

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @richardmarxhatesmyhair: I need an editor. And a day off.

richardmarxhatesmyhair

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @flack: Where did you go to school and what schools are so consider "crappy" that would cause one to need an advanced degree in P freaking R? Either you got it, or you don't. Those who don't are never rise above Account Execs.

richardmarxhatesmyhair

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> As someone who has worked at the "more reputable firms", kids with Masters degrees start out at the exact same level and pay as kids who just graduated undergrad. In fact, having a Masters degree only really serves to help with networking and maybe securing an interview. Past that point, it's all about fit for the firm and the position. No one cares about degrees, unless you're hyper-qualified (i.e., you graduated from Harvard's MBA or Kennedy School, Georgetown's SFS, Hopkins' SAIS, etc.).

If you want a degree that will give you some leverage when you're getting hired at a PR firm, get an MBA.

flack

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> There is, however, one exception. If you went to a really crappy undergrad school and have you're heart set on working for a big agency immediately after graduation, you'll probably need a Masters to get an interview.

flack

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> I actually have a standing policy of voting against any candidate with a Masters in PR unless they're ridiculously impressive otherwise. The only thing a Master's degree in PR shows is that you don't have a grasp of concepts like return on investment and opportunity cost. If you don't have the smarts to get accepted into a respectable MBA, MPH, or MPP program, don't bother.

And while NYU is pretty bad, the worst is that awful "Masters in Strategic Communications" program at Columbia's continuing education program. The horror stories I've heard...

flack

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> Grad degrees in PR are worthless in the immediate future; you start off on the same pay scale as someone who just graduated from undergrad. It's the internship experience that to some extent, guarantees at least an entry level job. If you were slow to pick-up on that fact of life while you're in undergrad, graduate school is a semi-feasible solution. The kids in those programs tend to get lined up with internships pretty easily, and after belatedly paying their initial dues, they can at least find something.

Sonadelite

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> I had a rather abbreviated stint in PR working for a woman named Barby. Fast forward to my attempting to get an ad placement for a Smell Set Point Weight Loss Cookbook or some such nonsense. Finally reaching the man whom I forwarded this to, he screamed: "YOU HAVE BEEN TYING UP MY FAX MACHINE WHILE THE BERLIN WALL IS FALLING!" I was fired shortly afterwards.

storybynori

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @Seeräuber Jenny: Wow, nice!
Now I can be grumpy today in two languages.
:-)

MyCubeHas3Sides

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> To do PR, you need to know how to write and speak well, and if you can't do that, grad school isn't going to help you. It's also the kind of thing you learn on the job, to a large extent. There really isn't any way PR graduate degree like this could be useful.

What could they possibly offer? Advanced Techniques in Getting Irritated Reporters to Open Your Email?

FitnessMadeSimple

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @miss_msry:

It's the new "Art History" degree.

miss_msry

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @Hamilton Nolan:

That pretty much applies to all professions.

Except for surgeons. I don't give a shit if someone cutting on me can talk good bs.

miss_msry

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> I mean, do you sit around and listen to lectures from professors who teach you how to obfuscate, spin, misdirect, and generally just bullshit?

Some other laugh-worthy vocational certificate, ahem, I mean, college degrees: Human Resources, supply-chain management, and, my favorite, packaging.

And yes, a BA in packaging is exactly what it sounds like.

PickleTitsTurner

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @richardmarxhatesmyhair: Have to say, my parents only paid for it because there's a journalism degree in there somewhere as well.

hellodarling!

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> Any degree in PR is worthless. Actually... PR in general is pretty worthless.

-says the girl with a BA in public relations, now an admin assistant in finance.

hellodarling!

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @richardmarxhatesmyhair: kind of parents..

richardmarxhatesmyhair

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @MyCubeHas3Sides:

Same idea, in French:

Métro, boulot, dodo

[french.about.com]

and

Le train-train quotidien.

Misery is international.

Seeräuber Jenny

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> I worked in PR and wouldn't hire anyone with a Public Relations degree on their resume. One woman I worked with with said degree was very proud of the fact ("I majored in PR - I know how to handle xyz.") until a drunken partner asked her what kid of parents would waste their money on a PR degree. She cried and it was the highlight of the year. Also, she couldn't write for shit.

richardmarxhatesmyhair

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> You finally get a chance to study the nuances of words like this and this?

Unless your employer is paying for this, clearly a waste of time.

Seeräuber Jenny

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> Birth, school, work, death.

That's about it.

MyCubeHas3Sides

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @Hamilton Nolan: ah, i've wasted my academic career.

daberkman

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @daberkman: In PR, unlike some other professions, it's actually true that even the reputable firms don't give a fuck about a grad degree. They just want smart people who are good talkers. Many grad students are smart but nerdy, which gets you nowhere in PR.

Hamilton Nolan

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> i think that a graduate degre in PR is what the departments formerly known as j-schools will be offering in the future

majors include upskirt photos

if_i_only_had_a_heart

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> WWR[sic]TD?

fiveinchtaint

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @Hamilton Nolan: I don't doubt that the program itself is of very little practical use but do you really think it plays no role in differentiating applicants for employment? At least at the more reputable firms?

daberkman

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> The PR person for that course should be fired.

Steverino

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @Hamilton Nolan: Then the answer is "there is no point".

TheHonJudgeSmails

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> @TheHonJudgeSmails: No, actually they usually get the grad degree and then can't find an employer, because PR firms know that degree is worthless.

Hamilton Nolan

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> Um, is the point to have more loans?

daberkman

]]> <![CDATA[The Value Of A Good Education]]> One would presume that anyone pursuing a graduate degree in "Public Relations" is being sent by his/her employer. The answer is then simple:

The point of a graduate PR degree is that your employer agreed to pay for it, because with the tax write-offs, it's much cheaper than giving you any sort of a raise.

TheHonJudgeSmails

]]>