Joy Said:

Are work experiance college degrees ethical?

We Answered:

There are not 2 sides. Life experience degrees outside of the U.S. are totally different. In England, for example, it is possible to earn a degree by examination- but you have to study like crazy to complete them.

In France, unless the degree is authorized by the department of education, it is useless. Often, schools outside of the US are authorized to operate, but not by the department or ministry. The French school you mention is linked to another school with questionable practices.

Note that their site says you need an evaluation to use the degree in the US. You may get an evaluation and find that the evaluation service considers this degree worthless. Please also note that this is not the Sorbonne, this is a school using a similar name (and yes, I read French). Education in France is well structured. I don't think this is even equivalent to a DUT/BTS (formations courtes). I am pretty sure this is not a Licence or Master. Although there is alternative education in France, you need to make sure the school is recognized by the government as a school.


The U.S. life experience degrees are not accredited and are illegal in some states.

Be careful, just because a school says it is authorized/accredited does not make it so.

If you read French, too:
http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid26/l-ens…

Otherwise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universit%C…

Delores Said:

Know anything about those websites that offer degrees based on life work experience?

We Answered:

All of the above.

Jessie Said:

Do I need to have experience or degrees to work for temp agencies?

We Answered:

It depends on what you to do. If you have solid computer experience using MS Office, they can usually put you into a clerical position making $10-$14 an hour. For positions higher up on the food chain (such as an analyst position) they would like to see some sort of degree.

Jeff Said:

Follow up: What has more "bang for the buck" -- educational experience & work experience combined or just work?

We Answered:

In general, I think a combination of both is most accepted but I think the degree is important to help you move up.

A lot of jobs require a degree in a relevant field + x amount of experience OR some insane amount of experience in that field with increasing responsibility.

I think demand is an important role as well. If there is a demand for people to do what you do, you'll find a job with or without a degree. If there's competition for those positions, they are going to go with the people with degrees + experience first, then experience, then degrees. My fiance is in the computer science field as a programmer. Everyone at his office has a completely irrelevant degree (but programming experience) except for him; there are even a few folk with no degree at all (but 10+ years experience). However, when he was hired, he was hired immediately whereas they screen everyone else that they hire. My friend (another programmer) was hired for his position because he had a degree in programming but he had absolutely NO experience as a programmer. There is a huge demand where we live for people that can program, so it's easy for them to find work.

I don't believe that work experience provides the same knowledge that education does because you'll only be exposed to situations specific to the field you're working in or information for the field that you're in. No two jobs are ever exactly the same, either. I do think work experience provides and improves the skills to apply knowledge appropriately as well as taking what you have learned in school to a new level of difficulty. I'm not sure why school is weighted so heavily now, but the reality is that it is.

I say this because my mother, who had no degree, works in human resources. After working for at least 8 years as a human resources generalist, she was finding it impossible to make more money. She is extremely skilled at what she does and has worked at a number of very important places. At her newer position, she was friends with her boss and asked why this was happening. The reason they gave her was that her lack of degree made it difficult for other employees to take her seriously, despite her experiences and the outcomes of the work she was doing. So, she finished out her degree online and immediately was recruited for several new positions making more money doing less than what she was doing.

There are too many factors to be able to give you a definite answer because every field is different. I hope I could shed some light on some of them to make them more understandable so you can consider them through the scope of what you do and what your field is like.

Vicki Said:

What is the average salary for people with Master degrees in Engineering but little work experience?

We Answered:

entry level engineering w/ a masters will get you about $55-$60k per year