Don't people get it? IB is "gone" and so is the money

[Polo08816]

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Polo, I don’t really understand why you are comparing your chosen field to banking. You have made your (preliminary) career decision and you should be happy and confident with that. It sounds like you are spending too much of your time trying to justify your choices. There are 135 million people in the U.S. workforce and I would say most have not spent ANY time justifying how their career is better than banking. I have not spent a moment thinking about that and I could have followed the majority of my Wharton MBA class into banking.

It all started here at post #9 where gellino said…

The salaries of the last few years may be gone for a while, but for someone graduating from college this year or next, the money is still going to **better than any other options **besides rock star, actor or professional athlete. The problem is now that there are less spots, the competition to attain one will even be greater.

My point is that saying it is better than ANY and ALL options is false. And I used myself as an example of why it is false. Since his quote implies that in all individual cases except rock stars, actors, or professional athletes the money in ibanking is better than any other options, it would be appropriate to use even a special individual case to invalidate this statement.
A few individuals wanted to take that and escalate it into a field vs. field debate.

I think it is excellent that you have thought through a plan for your life. I am also a planner and it has served me well. Just remember to reevaluate your plan to make sure that it makes sense as your life changes (and as a recruiter I can tell you that getting all those degrees would imply you are a professional student and/or indesicive – both of which are not good).

What’s your definition of a “professional student”?
As I understand it, if you can justify a need for that additional degree, then it acquiring that additional degree does not deem you a professional student.
As I have said before and will say again, the degrees that I mentioned were

1. PharmD
2. MS in an Engineering discipline
3. JD
   And since I believe you didn’t read the post where I provided an explanation for why each and everyone is required, I have quoted it for your convenience…

First, there’s no point on discussing the PharmD because for all intents and purposes the decision has already been made on that.</p>

<p>Second, in the National Guard O4-O6 slots tend to open up for the Engineer and Signal branches but they also tend to be specialized assignments. They would require degrees that are relevant to that branch such as MS MechE or CivilE for Engineer and ElectricalE for Signal. If I branch Armor this August, then there’s enough slots across the state for O4-O-6 in the future that I would probably either choose MS MechE (which is something that I have always been interested in) or ChemE (because it’s one of the more closely related engineering disciplines to pharmacy - manufacturing). So essentially this MS Engineering degree is a promotion tool to give you more chances to go from O5 to O6 (from Lt. Col. to Col.)</p>

<p>Third, the JD (+PharmD) would allow you to specialize in regulatory affairs in the pharmaceutical industry or patent law (and that additional engineering degree can’t possibly hurt in this field).

I do not seek any degree that does not help me further my goals. As you can see, each and every one that I have mentioned is useful and isn’t due to indecisiveness.
The reasons for the additional degrees.

1. MS in an Engineering discpline (MechE or ElectricalE)
   Assignment and promotion to an O-6 (Colonel) slot in the Corps of Engineers or Signal branches requires a relevant degree since the assignment tends to be specialized.
2. JD allows you to take your PharmD and be able to practice patent law or specialize in regulatory affairs in the pharmaceutical industry.</p>