<p>An applications essay reader is not a prestigious job – there is a lot of turnover in these positions and new graduates are often hired. Many times the readers would have never been admitted to the school they are now working for. </p>
<p>It sounds like your friend is qualified for this position on the basis of her professional experience. However, I agree that it would be unusual for this job to not require a college degree.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree that the majority of “famous, no college degree” people are business owners. But a great deal of business owners in general don’t have college degrees. When I met my husband, he had is own business. He started it at 19 and 33 years later it is still going strong. Because (now “we”) are small business owners, we tend to network with other business owners also. I can honestly tell you at least 75% of these people do not have degrees. Now with that said, I think in today’s world degrees are really important or I would not be on this site would I? But I will tell you the majority of these owners do have many things in common. They are driven, they are NEVER satisfied with anything…always striving for better products & better methods, and hate the IRS…haha. But seriously…they all tried working for someone at some point in their lives and hated doing that. They are not followers and like to write the rules. Being a free thinker in college is usually rewarded, but not in entry level classes. If any of these people ever went to college, they got easily frustrated and usually dropped out.</p>
<p>And don’t for a minute think these people don’t live great lives, they do and I feel we do. We don’t do work we don’t want to do, we can pay our bills, and have learned to save in good times to survive the bad. We, and most of the other SBO are play hard, work hard people. Beautiful day…blow work off and go to the lake…NO GUILT…we bust our butts on average of 6 days a week. Our boat is named “Job Site,” because when a customer calls me and I’m on the lake and say, “I’m on a job site, can I call you when I am in front of a computer?” That way I am telling the truth, and I always call back. </p>
<p>So you don’t have to have a college degree (I do, but husband who got all this started is truly the business genius does not) to be successful and it is not as rare as people think. Ask your baker, you dry cleaner, your landscaper, you plumber. Now with that said of our four older boys, two have degrees, two don’t. The ones that don’t…are you guessed it, part of the business. They are just like Dad.</p>
<p>I agree with emeraldkity. The lady probably has a lot more experience gauging college essays than the average person with a degree.</p>
<p>Speaking of Merilee Jones… she’s back: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/education/08jones.html?em[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/education/08jones.html?em</a></p>
<p>Apparently, her work matters more than the fact that she was a fraud.</p>
<p>(To some people, anyway.)</p>
<p>And you can always ask the Pope for marriage advice.</p>
<p>Here I thought I was successful in my career. I guess I’m not since I don’t have a degree. What was I thinking?</p>
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The title of the thread is "This is really bothering me…what to do? " Did you forget that?</p>
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<p>A degree is not important for every career, but it is important for some. Such as a career giving people advice about going to get a degree.</p>
<p>"The title of the thread is “This is really bothering me…what to do? " Did you forget that?”</p>
<p>Wow, sorry about my error in how I worded the title. No need to be nasty! </p>
<p>I guess by posting on these threads I do open myself up to criticism, but…wow, Mathmom.</p>
<p>That’s not criticism, elizabethh. It’s just a fact that in the thread title, you asked what to do. No big deal, but you did say it.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think you asked a legitimate question. When you described the situation, I immediately thought of the same ethical issue you did. Not that I’d be torn about what to do about it; I’d probably just keep my thoughts to myself. But your desire to discuss it is not at all unreasonable.</p>
<p>I think, mathmom just tried to point that out. Out of all the posters, she is not the one that I would describe that adjective.</p>