It may be replicable - like David said, what was missing was the exposure. And this level of exposure could be enough to bypass the chicken and egg problem of network effects.
Your stamp of approval, even tentative, might help recruitment marketplaces that focus on expertise instead of credentials, in one form or another. You could even try to crowdsource finding them.
I remember running headlong into a similar requirement at Cornell. I wasn't particularly enjoying my college experience in my second semester of sophomore year, so I figured I could take heavier course loads, finish the requirements a year early, and move on with my life. The adviser informed me that this was not possible. Not only did Cornell have a similar on-campus-semesters requirement to NU, they also required you to meet an arbitrary credits threshold 4 semesters prior to your graduation (i.e., by the end of freshman year if you wanted to graduate a year early). Basically, I couldn't graduate early even if I completed all of the requirements just because I hadn't thought of the idea early enough. I sucked it up and stayed and it all worked out fine for me in the end (other than the extra money and wasted time incurred), but it's pretty obvious to me that "gotcha!" requirements like that weren't written to benefit the students.
So, this seems to demonstrate that, at least in a specific case, an effective relationship network can be used to overcome the problem of higher ed's insistence on enforcing its signaling regime.
Hey, I hate higher education, but I'm not crazy--I paid over 130k for that piece of paper 😂
I am, however, skipping graduation because they want me to pay over $100 for my gown (because of course they do). I'm not interested in giving them a dime more.
Nice. By the way, I don't think you hate higher education, as evidenced by your learning. You hate higher schooling. Big difference. Congratulations, by the way. I skipped the ceremony for both my undergrad degree and my Ph.D.
That's a great distinction. I love learning, and it's probably because of that that I hate the higher education *system.*
I learned so much less in college than in high school. Well, not technically--you "learn" a lot in college. But it's mostly useless academic garbage that you forget after the final.
I wish it were easier to pursue things that actually interest you without all the fluff. All the fluff does is stop you from getting educated in topics that are exciting and practical. I'm guessing you may feel similarly given the fact you got a PhD.
Thanks. I actually got lucky. I learned a great deal from almost all of my PhD courses. I was at UCLA during its heyday when you had really interesting faculty who didn't think you needed an equation to express yourself. (I was a math major and so it wasn't fear of math that made me skeptical about math in economics.) The most math-oriented professor I had was Jack Hirshleifer, who could say it with both math and words. It is true, though, that the year in which I learned the most economics was the year I took off after graduating as an undergrad and working my way through over 10 years of the Journal of Law and Economics. My first year at UCLA, though, was a very close second because I got to study under Armen Alchian, Sam Peltzman, and Jack Hirshleifer.
Hadn't heard his name, but just checked. Holy crap! I do remember that during some of the campus troubles in 1970, a bomb was found outside the door of the Econ Department. The administration did not deal well with it. I came along 2 years later.
Like a penguin popping early out of an egg, I graduated from high school and started college when I was 13, by figuring out the bureaucratic rules to take and pass the CHSPE, the CA high-school proficiency exam.
Went to college for a couple of years in computer electronics, and then went back to high school, for the girls, sports, and activities, of course. Legally, they couldn't keep you out if you were under 18, even if you'd already graduated.
Spent a couple of years volunteering. Thirty more starting and selling businesses and non-profits, for example, an ISP, a 675 student K-8 Charter school, a small security guard company, etc.. Worked another full-time technical or technical management job most of that time, built development and operations organizations from scratch, managed an eCommerce platform for some of the worlds largest fashion brands (Polo.com, Timberland.com, and the like). Currently a VP leading an infrastructure and application team ensuring literally trillions of dollars of weekly transactions continue to flow 24/7.
Never graduated from college. My family moved, I mostly attended while too young to drive myself, never quite worked out to finish, despite my associates level of credits from four different colleges. Got caught up in working in technology and starting my own businesses and family (4 kids, almost all adults now, married 25 years). Earned a few technical certificates over the years, but no degree. I've published four novels and several short stories, though.
Now I'm in my late forties, wondering if it's worth spending the time to finish a degree and get an MBA, amortized over my remaining working time. I've managed tens of millions in budget, worked for and consulted for multiple fortune 50 companies, read tens of thousands of books, but without that piece of paper, I don't meet the minimum HR requirements to submit for most job postings.
As a result, my job path a couple of times has been as a consultant on a temp-to-hire basis, where I can prove my value and then get hired to manage the group I was consulting for. But applying for a more senior management job cold, even in technology, without those pieces of paper? Forget it.
It may be replicable - like David said, what was missing was the exposure. And this level of exposure could be enough to bypass the chicken and egg problem of network effects.
Your stamp of approval, even tentative, might help recruitment marketplaces that focus on expertise instead of credentials, in one form or another. You could even try to crowdsource finding them.
I remember running headlong into a similar requirement at Cornell. I wasn't particularly enjoying my college experience in my second semester of sophomore year, so I figured I could take heavier course loads, finish the requirements a year early, and move on with my life. The adviser informed me that this was not possible. Not only did Cornell have a similar on-campus-semesters requirement to NU, they also required you to meet an arbitrary credits threshold 4 semesters prior to your graduation (i.e., by the end of freshman year if you wanted to graduate a year early). Basically, I couldn't graduate early even if I completed all of the requirements just because I hadn't thought of the idea early enough. I sucked it up and stayed and it all worked out fine for me in the end (other than the extra money and wasted time incurred), but it's pretty obvious to me that "gotcha!" requirements like that weren't written to benefit the students.
So, this seems to demonstrate that, at least in a specific case, an effective relationship network can be used to overcome the problem of higher ed's insistence on enforcing its signaling regime.
Great story, Bryan! I'm wondering: will he get the degree?
Hey, I hate higher education, but I'm not crazy--I paid over 130k for that piece of paper 😂
I am, however, skipping graduation because they want me to pay over $100 for my gown (because of course they do). I'm not interested in giving them a dime more.
Nice. By the way, I don't think you hate higher education, as evidenced by your learning. You hate higher schooling. Big difference. Congratulations, by the way. I skipped the ceremony for both my undergrad degree and my Ph.D.
That's a great distinction. I love learning, and it's probably because of that that I hate the higher education *system.*
I learned so much less in college than in high school. Well, not technically--you "learn" a lot in college. But it's mostly useless academic garbage that you forget after the final.
I wish it were easier to pursue things that actually interest you without all the fluff. All the fluff does is stop you from getting educated in topics that are exciting and practical. I'm guessing you may feel similarly given the fact you got a PhD.
Thanks. I actually got lucky. I learned a great deal from almost all of my PhD courses. I was at UCLA during its heyday when you had really interesting faculty who didn't think you needed an equation to express yourself. (I was a math major and so it wasn't fear of math that made me skeptical about math in economics.) The most math-oriented professor I had was Jack Hirshleifer, who could say it with both math and words. It is true, though, that the year in which I learned the most economics was the year I took off after graduating as an undergrad and working my way through over 10 years of the Journal of Law and Economics. My first year at UCLA, though, was a very close second because I got to study under Armen Alchian, Sam Peltzman, and Jack Hirshleifer.
Ah darn, that means you went to UCLA before the days of Matthew Harris and missed his great tutelage (hehehe)
Hadn't heard his name, but just checked. Holy crap! I do remember that during some of the campus troubles in 1970, a bomb was found outside the door of the Econ Department. The administration did not deal well with it. I came along 2 years later.
Like a penguin popping early out of an egg, I graduated from high school and started college when I was 13, by figuring out the bureaucratic rules to take and pass the CHSPE, the CA high-school proficiency exam.
Went to college for a couple of years in computer electronics, and then went back to high school, for the girls, sports, and activities, of course. Legally, they couldn't keep you out if you were under 18, even if you'd already graduated.
Spent a couple of years volunteering. Thirty more starting and selling businesses and non-profits, for example, an ISP, a 675 student K-8 Charter school, a small security guard company, etc.. Worked another full-time technical or technical management job most of that time, built development and operations organizations from scratch, managed an eCommerce platform for some of the worlds largest fashion brands (Polo.com, Timberland.com, and the like). Currently a VP leading an infrastructure and application team ensuring literally trillions of dollars of weekly transactions continue to flow 24/7.
Never graduated from college. My family moved, I mostly attended while too young to drive myself, never quite worked out to finish, despite my associates level of credits from four different colleges. Got caught up in working in technology and starting my own businesses and family (4 kids, almost all adults now, married 25 years). Earned a few technical certificates over the years, but no degree. I've published four novels and several short stories, though.
Now I'm in my late forties, wondering if it's worth spending the time to finish a degree and get an MBA, amortized over my remaining working time. I've managed tens of millions in budget, worked for and consulted for multiple fortune 50 companies, read tens of thousands of books, but without that piece of paper, I don't meet the minimum HR requirements to submit for most job postings.
As a result, my job path a couple of times has been as a consultant on a temp-to-hire basis, where I can prove my value and then get hired to manage the group I was consulting for. But applying for a more senior management job cold, even in technology, without those pieces of paper? Forget it.
Great story, Bryan! I'm wondering: will he get the degree?
Wonderful turn of events!
This is a case in point for Arnold’s proposal for alt education.