[Porsche-O-Phile]

A degree GENERALLY opens doors. A truly motivated person can go just as far (if not further) than their degreed counterparts without one, but this is typically not how it works. A corollary is that a degree does not guarantee anything - there are plenty of degree programs (and schools to peddle them) that are utterly worthless in preparing students for any sort of "real" career that won't require two or three supplemental jobs flipping burgers in order to not starve.

However in general I find that you get out of your degree programs what you put into them. Within certain constraints (like the current economy for example). Plenty of people out there with "good" degrees out there sitting around out of work going broke. It's not always that way, but ultimately I think the degree means far less than the individual person.

I do agree with sniper to a point too - there are TONS of schools out there that are just degree factories. If you can write a big enough check, you'll get the degree. No matter what. They'll make sure you get it. Schools don't actually fail anyone anymore (very few). I know several people at the undergrad and graduate levels that should have been booted after one semester but went on to get degrees. By contrast, I knew very skilled, talented and dedicated guys that had to quit because of money concerns. It's hardly a perfect system.

A degree these days tells me that so-and-so was able to write enough checks to get through the program and was willing to attend classes for four years. That's about it. I don't read much more into them. I'm much more concerned with "can they write", "can they spell correctly", "can they do math correctly without a calculator" and "do they understand basic concepts of logic". If so, they're teachable. If not, they're not and as such, they're basically not employable, typically.