How Can I Finance a Second Bachelor's Degree?

[daveyinaz]

People live in different realities.

Couldn't have said it better myself...the only difference between you and I is that I like to call my reality the real world...but hey, no hard feelings...good luck with your reality. :)

 

[H2Bro]

Couldn't have said it better myself...the only difference between you and I is that I like to call my reality the real world...but hey, no hard feelings...good luck with your reality. :)

Everyone calls their reality the real world. That's the meaning of the word "reality". The salient obstacles and structures of action we individually face constitute our personal realities; the immediacy and apparent objectivity of these facts lead us to conclude they must be externally real and independent of ourselves - the real world.

a bit too philosophical, but it goes to show that depending on what kind of pools of competition you enter a second bachelors may either help or hinder, but regardless is usually making up for lost time/taking three steps forward and two steps back.

 

[daveyinaz]

Everyone calls their reality the real world. That's the meaning of the word "reality". The salient obstacles and structures of action we individually face constitute our personal realities; the immediacy and apparent objectivity of these facts lead us to conclude they must be externally real and independent of ourselves - the real world.

a bit too philosophical, but it goes to show that depending on what kind of pools of competition you enter a second bachelors may either help or hinder, but regardless is usually making up for lost time/taking three steps forward and two steps back.

I agree with you up to a point...I would technically call "personal reality" either perception or interpretation of the real world and it's occurrences...but on the other hand, it was also supposed to be a humorous remark aimed at ending the exchange between twofish and I as to not further instigate a flame war or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

 

[twofish-quant]

The salient obstacles and structures of action we individually face constitute our personal realities; the immediacy and apparent objectivity of these facts lead us to conclude they must be externally real and independent of ourselves - the real world.

You get into deep philosophical issues when you talk about "social reality" which is different from "physical reality." For example, the speed of light happens to be the same for everyone, and gravity works the same. So if you stand on a tall building and jump expecting to fly, it's not going to happen. In physics, there is one shared reality. This makes things easy. You drop an apple, you see what happens, and you can assume that the rules of apple dropping apply whether you are on Time Square or on Alpha Centauri. You can assume that if you drop an apple, then the next time you drop an apple, it will behave in more or less the same way. You can isolate the force of gravity from other forces.

For things in marketing, it's very different. Whether a second bachelors will help or hurt depends on your particular situation, and people just live in different versions of "social reality." Also you get into deep issues of causality. In physics there is a relatively simple causality model. I drop an apple. It falls. I drop an another apple. It also falls.

People aren't that simple. I tell someone a joke. They laugh. I tell them exactly the same joke five seconds later, and it's not as funny because they've heard it before.

Just as an example of how "social reality" works differently in different places, and how things can blow up. Someone gives a speech and asks "any questions." Among astrophysicists, if you start asking aggressive questions challenging the speech, it's considered a sign of respect, and asking an aggressive question is considered a positive thing since it increases your social standing.

Among business managers, publicly asking aggressive questions challenging the speech is considered a sign of disrespect, and can get you into a lot of trouble, since people will consider you rude and stupid for asking those questions.

You have different social realities (and things get really messy when you have business managers who are astrophysicists, since it's not often clear what the rules are).

Depending on what kind of pools of competition you enter a second bachelors may either help or hinder, but regardless is usually making up for lost time/taking three steps forward and two steps back.

Sure and one way of dealing with "social truth" is to drop apples in as many different situations as you can and see what happens. If it turns out that if drop an apple in the wrong way and at the wrong time, it could turn into a armed hand grenade, then this is useful information.

So if I've dropped an apple and it's blown up in my face, this could be useful information for you.

 

[MathMarvel]

I'm currently working on my second bachelor's degree. I got my first one in theoretical math and decided that I didn't want to go into that field. I entered the workforce only to find myself working 60 hours a week in a gun factory and decided that I should probably go back to school. Right now I'm working on a B.S. in chemical physics and am probably going to go to grad school when the time comes.

I've been able to finance this year using scholarships, savings from my old job, and the maximum allowable $12,500 offered in government loans. If you have decent credit you should be able to get loans from a private lender if you are really serious about getting back into school. I would also check into the scholarships that the schools you are looking at offer. I was surprised to find out that I may qualify for a scholarship here that will basically cover all of my school related expenses.

I'm guessing you're about as fed up with math as I was, but depending on your background you might be able to go to grad school in another somewhat related field like computer science, physics, or statistics. That might be your best option if it is available to you.

 

[Nano-Passion]

There sure is a different! I'm confused as to why you felt this needed to be said.

To try to make sense of it, I'll say that it seems that the OP assumes that engineering is unrelated to applied mathematics...which I don't believe is necessarily true but to each his own. It's just as well since the career/education path he is claiming to want to take is generally in the same vein so the comparison between the two degrees is not so vast.

IMHO, I think the OP should just do what feels right. If you want to get a second degree, definitely don't let fear [from employers, elitists, etc] stop you from doing it. If you don't want a second degree, don't get it...continue to do whatever it is you were going to do in the first place.

But just to add more personal experience information stuff. No you cannot get governmental financial aid such as Pell grants if you already have 1 bachelors. Although you can get federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans while pursuing a second undergrad degree.
ALSO read university policies before attempting your second undergraduate degree, it might be the case that if a university confers a degree upon you like a bachelor's of science, then you might not be able to get a second one. The loop-hole is to try to obtain a bachelor's of arts.

So as soon as you get 1 bachelors then you won't be supported for a second? Because I was thinking about getting at least a bachelors in Physics and in Mathematics. And I was also thinking about trying out a Mathematical Neuroscience degree.. Man I'm in a mess, too many interests isn't a good thing at times.

 

[cdotter]

I'm currently working on my second bachelor's degree. I got my first one in theoretical math and decided that I didn't want to go into that field. I entered the workforce only to find myself working 60 hours a week in a gun factory and decided that I should probably go back to school. Right now I'm working on a B.S. in chemical physics and am probably going to go to grad school when the time comes.

I've been able to finance this year using scholarships, savings from my old job, and the maximum allowable $12,500 offered in government loans. If you have decent credit you should be able to get loans from a private lender if you are really serious about getting back into school. I would also check into the scholarships that the schools you are looking at offer. I was surprised to find out that I may qualify for a scholarship here that will basically cover all of my school related expenses.

I'm guessing you're about as fed up with math as I was, but depending on your background you might be able to go to grad school in another somewhat related field like computer science, physics, or statistics. That might be your best option if it is available to you.

Yeah, I figured that second bachelors students would be totally ineligible for any scholarships. That's good to hear.

I'm still thinking about going (read: trying to go) directly to grad school. Either way, I have some time to figure it out because I'm going to take time off to work. Thank you for the information.

 

[cdotter]

So as soon as you get 1 bachelors then you won't be supported for a second? Because I was thinking about getting at least a bachelors in Physics and in Mathematics. And I was also thinking about trying out a Mathematical Neuroscience degree.. Man I'm in a mess, too many interests isn't a good thing at times.

You're still eligible for federal loans, like the Stafford loans. The Stafford loans have a hard-cap lifetime limit of ~$60k. From what I've found, if you take out $60k in loans for your first bachelors and completely pay them off, you still can't get another Stafford loan for your second bachelors. Maybe the school's financial aid office can "cook the books," I don't know.

 

[USN2ENG]

Just to tag along onto the this post... I did a Psychology degree the first go around and am now in a second bachelors for Industrial Engineering. I am finishing up my first year and have taken: Phys1/2, Calc2/3, DiffEq, C++, and a couple Intro Engineering courses. The department has offered the possibility of letting me into the masters for the MSIE (Human factors focus), but I don't think that is where I want to take this degree (So far process engineering and optimization, and even supply chain/inventory modeling, really appeal to me). However when I asked what happens if Human factors is not what I want to do, he said that while they discourage against non engineering backgrounds pursuing the other concentrations, once in he couldn't stop me from switching. That seemed kind of strange to me so I decided to continue taking a few more IE courses, and possibly finish the bachelors.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. Does this seem like a sketchy path? What are some good roads from here. Just finish the BSIE, or...?

After this semester I will have 2 years left to finish the BS, and one year is covered under the GI Bill.

Thanks!

 

[cdotter]

The situation in Europe is different to the US.

I could see you doing an MSc in Engineering/Science in the UK and then going on to do a PhD in something "hot" that uses applied maths (i.e., anything - nanotechnology, bioinformatics, you name it...)

The "graduate school" and "no research experience" problems don't occur in the UK because (i) we don't have graduate school (ii) we don't expect research experience of BSc students - a tough "final year" project that *may* include original research is the nearest equivalent...

Isn't graduate education in the UK typically unfunded and therefore expensive?