Is concentrating in business, STEM, and social sciences going to pay off?

College Majors
1

Hello everyone -

Let me first provide some quick background.

I graduated from a small regional state university previously with a B.S. degree with a major in criminal justice and minor in general business. My GPA was very high, and I graduated magna cum laude.

Shortly thereafter, I was hired into a degreed job in law enforcement. (probation officer) I later moved to a degreed position working in the jails on the night shift, where I currently work. This allowed me to attend college classes during the day. I also make enough money to have paid for all of my college classes fully out of pocket after the completion of my first B.S. degree.

As it stands currently, I am about to graduate with a second B.S. degree from the same state university with a major in political science and minors in human resources management & sociology. I am going to graduate magna cum laude again.

(As to why I am not going to grad school - it’s a long story. Suffice to say, it’s not going to happen. End of story on that.)

My plan after I graduate is to immediately go to a public community college and obtain an A.A.S. degree in information technology security. (This is a STEM degree, which, of course, is heavy in computer science courses) I have several previously acquired computer science courses along with other STEM courses that I acquired during my time in undergrad thus far. I need 11 more classes to complete the A.A.S. degree once my university coursework is transferred to the community college.

Basically, my plan is to have concentrations in the “big 3” undergrad fields of study (a term I coined for business, social science, and STEM). I will have degrees with concentrations in all three of these areas of study in 18 more months.

Obviously, it is too late to ask if this is a good plan, because it’s basically already done. But, now that I am approaching completion, I am wondering just how well this is going to pay off?

Will employers consider this educational background to be of interest? I have never met a college grad that had concentrations in all of these areas of study… and I am just wondering how this appears? Basically, I want to have options available to me. For those familiar with strain theory, basically I am frightened of becoming a “ritualist”. In other words, a person who gets stuck in life (i.e. at the same job/same career field) and never progresses further for decades or the remainder of their life.

So, I suppose my real question is, will having these degrees likely help prevent such a situation? Or is there still more I should do after this?

Thanks for any advice!

2

Honestly, I am inclined to tell you to stop going back to school. I think in uncertain economic times, the push to try to “recession-proof” yourself is strong, and there’s a desire to try to acquire as many skills as you can to make yourself immune to layoffs and unemployment. But there’s really nothing that can do that. And being a serial degree-earner CAN, in fact, reflect poorly on you. If I were reviewing the resume of someone who earned three degrees in rapid succession - including an AAS after two BS degrees - I’d be a bit baffled, and wonder what their endgame was. This is particularly true if the three degrees are in completely different areas. Rather than making you look well-trained and flexible, it makes you look unfocused and uncertain, unless you have an opportunity to explain how the fields coalesce.

After your bachelor’s, any subsequent degrees you get should be with an eye towards employment opportunities and your career - very specific ones, not just a general hope. For example, you’d only get a degree in computer science/ITS if you wanted to enter ITS as a field, and honestly, I can’t see an AAS helping you that much unless you wanted jobs that only require that. You’d be expected to get a master’s.

What helps you progress in your career, and your life, is not additional degrees. It’s experience. Many people change careers multiple times without ever getting more degrees; they use their experience to help them make lateral moves to where they want to be. If you don’t want to get “stuck” at the same place, you’ll make moves to make sure that doesn’t happen. But continuing to return to school to earn more unnecessary degrees is not the way to do that.

3

Can you summarize the story of why grad school isn’t going to happen? It may shed some light on your motives and indicate a better plan, down the road.

4

To Dunboyne - yes, certainly I can.

Basically, I am not a traditional student. I was a mediocre high school student (couldn’t care less about education), and I ended up being admitted to the University of Houston. I was incredibly irresponsible, couldn’t care less about college as well, and never should have ended up being where I was. Long story short, within two semesters after admission, I went from academic probation to college drop out. My academic record from that time is atrocious.

I spent the next 4 years working a dead end retail job doing not much of anything with my life. By age 24, I finally gained some much needed maturity, knew how to work towards a goal, and appreciated the value of education. By this point, however, my academic record was so trashed that I no (reputable) university would accept me. I ended up going to a community college and earning an A.A. degree. I was 26 years old at that point. Fortunately, I made straight A’s in community college, and ended up being accepted to the University of Houston-Downtown. (This is a sister school to the University of Houston… an entirely separate university with lower standards, but within the University of Houston “system”) I completed my B.S. degree, magna cum laude, at age 28.

I am 31 currently. Basically, my track record precludes me from any graduate program that would be worth any respect. The best graduate program I could hope for would be some master’s in criminal justice program at some B school or something equally as pathetic. (To put this in perspective, I was denied admission to graduate programs even at the University of Houston)

Anyway, I screwed up. I had an opportunity, and I blew it. I’m willing to accept that.

In my particular situation, I believe I come out ahead by getting a diverse undergrad education rather than going to a mediocre grad program. The second B.S. degree, honestly, is simply because criminal justice is such a weak/disrespected major. The political science B.S. is simply so I have a B.S. degree with at least a somewhat reputable major.

Anyway, here were the two realistic paths for continued education I was looking at after completing my first B.S. degree:

Path 1 final outcome:

B.S. - major in criminal justice with a minor in general business
M.S. - criminal justice (or related social science field) from the University of Houston-Downtown (or another equal or lesser school)

Path 2 final outcome:

B.S. major in criminal justice with a minor in general business
B.S. major in political science with minors in sociology and human resources management
A.A.S. degree in information technology security

That’s how it looks on paper. My thinking was that path 2 at least opens more doors due to it imparting knowledge, skills, and abilities that are simply more in demand. I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with my thinking here?

5

Thanks for sharing. It’s great that you’ve turned things around! Well, I can understand your thinking with getting that second B.S. It was the MS/MA versus another BS, from the same school, and I guess you didn’t like the prospect of getting trapped in the criminal justice field. @juillet suggested that it’s not the broadness of your training that will get you ahead, but rather a more focused path in conjunction with a good track record in a particular area (with solid references), which allows you to make smaller lateral moves. I agree with that. The other benefit of an MA/MS is that it shows commitment (to a field) and academic advancement. In hindsight, would an MS have been better? It’s hard to say. Time will tell. Lots of people have two bachelor’s degrees, so you weren’t wrong to pursue that.

As for the AAS degree, it’s not a bad idea to get exposure to tech fields, so I’m sure you would learn some valuable skills there. The question is whether you will be applying those skills anywhere in the near term, plus the cost/length of those 11 courses. It’s fine if you want to change career direction into tech, but correct me if I’m wrong, IT security is a field that changes almost monthly, so if you spend a few years in criminal justice or gov’t (polisci), will it even be possible for you to transition into tech without going back to school for retraining? Something to consider. On the other hand, if you feel that you’re lacking in basic tech/computer skills, I could understand your interest to shore up your skills. I’m just not sure whether taking many courses and spending a lot of time is a good idea. You may never work in tech, so perhaps it’s better to start accumulating experience/reputation in a job/field that you can see yourself in for a few years, then if you need IT skills, pursue a few courses or a certificate.

Employers would vary in how they see your resume. You’d probably be fine if you could get to an interview stage because your background/story goes a long way to explaining your job fears and desire for a broad education. Some employers would see a lack of focus. Crim justice and poli sci are not unrelated fields, though, so you will be ok going forward. For me, it would be a question of whether the tech degree is going to pay off, or whether you’d be better served with a more easily attained and less costly certificate in IT, if necessary at all.

Going forward, try to identify a field/job that you’d like to have maybe ten years down the road, and figure out how to get there. Maybe a grad program is still in the cards later on, to help you advance in a chosen field. Don’t forget that entry into a master’s program also depends a lot on job/intern experience, statement of purpose, recommendations. Your poor initial grades shouldn’t keep you from finding a decent program, providing you can identify and articulate a certain direction that you want to go. I will bet that you can get into a better program than you think, down the road, with more focus and experience. (It looks like you’ve done well with grades in your two degrees.)

What are your specific career goals? What was it about political science that you liked? Do you want to combine criminal justice with polisci somehow, or were those two degrees more of an employment hedge?

6

“What are your specific career goals? What was it about political science that you liked? Do you want to combine criminal justice with polisci somehow, or were those two degrees more of an employment hedge?”

My specific career goals are to stay in the public sector (government). I never see myself working in the private sector again at any point in my life. I like political science because it is directly applicable to my career in government. Also, I have an affinity for IT, business, and social sciences. I strongly believe that you should study subjects in which you have an affinity. I have zero affinity, for example, for music, so I would never even think of studying music. In fact, psychology recognizes that certain people have more of certain types of intelligence while others have less. For example, there is musical intelligence, existential intelligence, linguistic intelligence, etc. Each individual has different levels of of certain types of intelligence, which gives them an affinity to certain fields. It just turned out that these subjects were my strengths.

I’m hoping to find a job that will desire social science and STEM education in the same position. Such positions are not super common, but are definitely out there. For example, I am thinking FBI intelligence analyst/special agent/etc. Such positions could not care less about criminal justice education. (Let me reiterate that - could not care less) It is to the point that CJ majors with nothing else are basically immediately excluded from consideration simply due to being a CJ major. CJ is simply that much of a turn off to most federal agencies. (And, honestly, I agree with them… I wouldn’t consider a CJ major with a background in no other field either…)

Unlike most CJ majors, I was aware of that from day one when I declared CJ as a major, and I knew at that time I would need to obtain further education in STEM/business/etc to stand a chance of a job with the feds. The CJ major was basically so that I could obtain a CJ job at the city/county/state level… where they do care about a CJ degree (And it worked; I obtained such a job immediately after graduation)

The FBI, however, for jobs such as intelligence analyst, do want an education in political science/sociology/area studies/foreign language. On top of that, they are extremely interested in STEM education or accounting. Basically, many of their jobs incorporate social sciences and STEM in the same position. Therefore, if you don’t have this combination of education and/or extremely impressive experience, you don’t stand any chance at all.

So, ultimately I am hoping to apply this combination of education in extremely versatile positions in which such a combination is utilized and desired.

I have no desire to ever work a traditional IT job. (i.e. server administrator, help desk, webmaster, etc.) However, IT is one of the few fields in which an associate’s degree is a common entry level degree. So, I suppose as an added bonus, if it ever came to that (i.e. I had no jobs available other than IT), it could also serve that purpose. Though, again, I never see that happening.

7

Yes, the FBI likes to see other skills when you have a PS/CJ/psych background. An advanced degree is definitely one of the things they look for. I guess it’s a question of whether having the AAS degree in IT will give you enough of a competitive edge. Having a “critical” foreign language is a big plus, so look into that; I believe Spanish is considered critical. A solid work history helps, too, so try to accumulate a good track record/references. Best of luck.