Your View On College

[John_Taylor]

Hi there,

What's your view on the importance or unimportance of college education?
Does the lack of a degree make it very difficult or impossible for success? Or do you think it doesn't really matter?
What do you think?

Did you personally:
1)Decide to skip it college
2) Decide to Drop out after being bored to death
3) Decide to continued and magna or "summa *** lauded" the whole thing

And how are you doing now?

Hope you don't mind me asking

 

[Vincent]

What about the "C's make degrees, and I'm doing way better then any of my friends who didn't bother going to college" option?

 

[RedPill]

What about the "C's make degrees, and I'm doing way better then any of my friends who didn't bother going to college" option?

If this were an option, it'd be the one I'd vote for. It's way closer to my experience than any of the other options.

 

[John_Taylor]

can't add it now...hehe. Okay, so be it

 

[oakraiderz2]

How about the..."im still in college and feel like im wasting my time but its something i feel like i have to do" option...?

 

[John_Taylor]

lol......"other" hows that?
And why, I'm curious too on why you think so.

 

[IsiMan84]

Yea I'm going to have to go with "Other" too. It appears the only choices are either 'straight-A student' or 'dropout'. My grades weren't absolutely spectacular, but decent and good enough to find a good job if I desire to do so.

And yes I would say college definitely opens up more opportunities for success, especially in a day and age when bachelor degrees are the minimum requirement for most professional careers. People can use Bill Gates as an example of a college dropout who succeeded, but he's only one guy. You can certainly name more people who went to college and got ahead in life than those who didn't go.

 

[Tomatoes]

Now this is a very american question(not very thought out for a US-UK website) ........So im not completely sure how i should answer.

A. I think what you mean is what we call "Univercity" in the UK.

B. American degrees are twice as easy as UK degrees (Thats a fact by the way)

C. There is alot more than just first honors or fail......


To be honest I skipped school alot at secondary education but had a good time....Failed my GCSE's (Final year of secondary school exams Aged: 16)

I then did a GNVQ in Business studies and got a distiction. This is once again GCSE level.

I then went on to do my A-levels in Economics Business Studies and IT. This is before uni but not complusive education. 2 year corse normally done between the ages of 16-18 (17-19 in my case)

I then decided to not bother going to uni to get a degree (as yet)

If i did go i would go to work but also go to have alot of fun as thats what uni is really about.

However i now find myself running a mobile phone store earning well and gaining work experiance. I make more money than all my friends. So for my age deem myself as "successful".

I may decide to go to uni when im about 25 as a muture student. I am 21 and look 16-17 so i would still blend in. But would have real life experiance to use.

 

[MrS]

Where's the I don't go to college yet but I'm in the army and will go after?
And no fries?

 

[IsiMan84]

B. American degrees are twice as easy as UK degrees (Thats a fact by the way)

I would love to see the 'factual' information for that one. If not for the "real fact" that 53 of the top 100 universities in the country are in the U.S. Cambridge and Oxford are the only schools from UK in the top 20.

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.htm

Back on the subject, it appears you have made a living for yourself without a full university education. This is not bad for yourself at all. Things such as business, sales, social work, etc. can most likely be learned through regular human-human interaction or through attending high school (secondary school). But it is also the case that there is certain work you would not be able to do well without a some type of higher education, i.e. engineering, medicine, law, etc. No particular individual possesses the necessary tools or equipment to work in these fields without the proper knowledge.

So imagine you go back to school when you are 25 and get your degree. If you still wish to return to your cell phone business, you can without a problem. But now you also have the opportunity for other jobs, depending on your degree. If it was engineering then you could be one of the people involved with designing the actual cell phone and then sell it in your own business. At least that's the way I see it.

 

[sstype]

My view on college:

Any liberal arts degree: worthless

Business degrees: What most people go for. Your job opportunity and pay scale depends mostly on what school you graduate from. For a Harvard Business student, its a great investment. Otherwise its a surefire way to land you a comfortable 50,000 dollar/year desk job at IBM.

Sports Nutrition degree: Good investment

Biomedical, Engineering: Great investment in the long run. This is where the money is at but you also need 2-4 years of graduate school. Guaranteed high income for most graduates. ex: doctors, pharmacists, dentists...

Law: All depends on what type of law you get into. A good to great investment for most.

 

[GSXR1181]

I've been in college for 5 years, and it feels like I got 5 more left. But I look at both of my friends who didn't go to college, and see the reasons why it's worth going. One can't keep a job because he keeps getting laid off, basically because he is expendable due to the fact he can get only crap jobs that you get with just a high school degree. My other friend does concrete. He don't get paid to bad, but he works all day in the 100 degree heat, and freezing weather depending on the year. Plus if it rains or anything, he don't get paid due to no work. And if there is no jobs, then he struggles with his truck payment. I for myself, I've had a steady job for over three years, and make damn good money. I have all kinds of toys, and I've never had to pay payments on anything except my jet ski which I paid off in a year. And I work in a office where it's 70 degrees year around doing what I enjoy doing.

If I have any advice for anyone on here who is just starting, get your basics, and start a co-op in the field you want. Most colleges make you have so many co-op hours anyway, at least around here. Make sure it's a field your interested in, take the recommended classes, and get your degree. After that, go back and get something in business management, or financial. Because management is where the money is, and if you go ahead a prepare yourself for it, that is where you want to be.

 

[diplomatic_lies]

One of my friends did liberal arts. I always made fun of him. Now he's an editor of a city newspaper who earns more than me. I stopped making fun of him.

Personally, I think the value of college depends on you. For my, college was a great place to meet friends, learn new things, and just experience everything before the seriousness of adult years. Oh, and girls

 

[IsiMan84]

Yea, a liberal arts degree isn't a complete waste if you get it in the right fields. Our school has way too many sociology majors. We can't have that many social workers running around. Something like psychology wouldn't be bad but not everybody can be psychologists or psychiatrists either. I minored in foreign language but I have no idea what most people in the major would do with it besides translate or teach the language back to people. The only strictly liberal arts (not science) fields I see that looks like you really really need to be effective in your job would be journalism and maybe English. Looking at the list it appears to be mostly the sciences that have the most merit though.

 

[American_Psycho]

The value of college depends on what you want to do with your life. If you want to be an entrenpreneur or an investor, it's not necessary (but it can be very helpful if you're in the right program).

I don't buy these people who say that college is actually detrimental to you, or it turns you into a robot. College will not "turn you into" anything you don't want to be. You are a conscious person with the ability to make decisions.

On the other hand, if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or anything like that then college is obviously a necessity.

 

[DrMetallica]

University has been a very important asset not only to me in a professional way, but also in a personal development way. I have made such great contacts and friends, and my live has been enriched through the experience. I believe it has not only been solely university, but moving away to a city where I knew no one that helped me mature. I definitely suggest getting away from the 'rents after you turn 18.

 

[dannowillbookem]

these options suck.

 

[Reloaded]

College sucks.