Posted on 11/03/2016 10:50:18 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister
I’ve often thought .. and actually said .. that the only way I would want to go to college is if I was independently and extremely wealthy (like having won the lottery). The only things that I would really like to study are those things that you really cannot make a living at: astronomy, marine and/or land archaeology, concert tuba player, and things like that.
I agree!
She found something you LIKES TO DO. THAT’S the key.
Jobs are just a way to pay for your LIFE. If your job becomes your life and identity, you’ll never be happy.
There is no distinct, pat answer.
I went to about 1.5 semesters of college but in high school, I got all A’s and B’s and never had to study, so I had no idea how to study. None. I could not abide it.
If you go to college and learn how to be a lawyer, for example, and it does not drive you insane, you can be a lawyer for the rest of your working life. From being a lawyer, you can find yourself enmeshed with various business interests and acquire interest in those interests through the use of your skill.
I believe that most people who go to college acquire friends and acquaintances with whom various interesting pursuits often occur later in life. Call it “delayed networking”.
Of course this is true wrt how college was 30 and 40 years ago. Today, it’s mostly a Marxist education enclave. And a costly one at that.
Ultimately, if you apply what you learn in college to your ultimate career, it is probably very beneficial. The issue is that 2/3rds (guess) of people do not know what their careers will be. So they can’t or don’t become credentialed in what they ultimately pursue.
My nephew is one very smart, very driven “kid”. He knows as sure as the sun rises that he wants to be in business. He interned at JPM as a stock analyst and is going to Wharton. For him, I have zero doubt that the contacts he is making today will serve him well in the future. If he was studying frontiers in cis-transexual basketweaving, I doubt I’d have the same opinion.
I think for those who have that "gene" in them, yes, not having a college degree can work. If you're going to be employed by corporate America, you really need to have a desirable degree as in chemistry, engineering, data services.
I went to university after going the entrepreneurial route for more than five years. I would not have picked the field that I did had I gone to university straight out of high school. The degree and the experience before the degree - *together*, made all the difference in my subsequent career.
I have had an interesting career so far with a lot of my time being spent abroad (abroad would not have happened without the degree). It allowed me to build my network and resume through my own accomplishments but would have never been hired in the first place without the degree. I decided to do a MBA which I’m doing at the moment. I fully expect for it to change my career path again in a great way.
A degree tells potential employers that you were able to be admitted, persevere, and finish something lasting around 4 years. From a personal persepctive, it gives you time to reflect on what you want to do with what you are learning and to come to some ahah moments plus technical knowledge (if that’s the route you go and I recommend the sciences or engineering to anyone). IMHO it’s worthless to go for a different degree as it just shows admission and perseverance - you don’t really get anything else out of it that you couldn’t through other avenues. People go that route for non-technical degrees because, in part, certain parts of private industry and especially government demand it as a precondition of employment.
Go for it! But make sure you go for what you want to do in life not just to go...
When you go into enginerring and the hard sciences, the amount of worthless crap brainwashing you have to take, is very minimal.
Went to Knox college. Hard knox that is. Then went to trade school for refrigeration and did alright for myself. Would be rich if I hadn’t run in to a certain woman.
I technically did not finish, but got more than enough training and freelance work that no one gave a damn.
They were cool with a some college and a good resume and portfolio.
Also left with a tiny amount of debt that was paid off very fast.
Went to the school of hard knocks. At 25, I was a single mother with 2 small children. No job skills, not much experience. Bluffed my way into a office manager job. Read all I could about bookkeeping. Took a few night classes. My employer, an accountant, taught me everything I needed to know. Worked until arthritis of the hands prevented from doing a job I loved. Left my employer after 19 years making four times my starting wage.
My oldest went to school for real estate. Housing market crashed and he became a black jack dealer. Makes enough money to get by and he loves it. Middle child went to work right after high school as CNC operator. Taught himself how to program machines. Worked his way up to shift supervisor. Makes tons of money and he loves it. Youngest is in last year of school. She will graduate with double major in nursing and social work. She still doesn’t know what she wants to do in life. Already talking about going back to school.
The moral is, find your passion. If a degree will help you, then by all means pursue your education. If not, maybe reconsider.
I would agree that college is needed for doctors and lawyers, and some engineers (although I know quite a few self-taught engineers, too).
But for most things, college is pretty-much a waste. Learn how to read and write and the whole world opens for you - you can learn darn-near anything from a library.
Once you have CEO or President or Sole Prop after your name, you really don’t need more initials unless you plan on going to work for someone (You will run into a roadblock in HR managers not wanting to hire self-employed backgrounds - so dumb down your resume to dept mgr or something lower level if that’s the case to get in the door). 5 years of running a growing, profitable business is equivalent to a Masters in BA. Hired degreed professionals can fill in knowledge gaps (marketing, CPA, clerical) and good ones are worth every penny. Ask other business owners who they use locally. Online courses are avail from many universities, some of which cater to military; I know someone who completed a BA and then a MBA online within 4 years (military spouse scholarship program self-paced). Believe in yourself, explore your options, and have fun!
Hard to answer that without knowing you but I never had the opportunity to go to college so it wasn’t even on my radar. Had 14 W-2 forms one year. The old union, “work you 19 days and lay you off so I don’t get benefits” routine. Never gave up...Found a job with the government and worked 15 years. Great benefits and it worked out for me.
I am disabled from a nasty disease and have been for 15 years. I get a pension and social security. I live in Florida so I wake up in paradise every day. Don’t believe a college degree would have made any difference.
I know many people who have degrees they don’t use. Paid big time money from Ivy League Schools and are working at Wally world or other retail outlets.
Best of luck in your endeavours.
It’s great to be able to avoid the majority of that. Plus if you go to a science/engineering only university in any non-core courses the professors will more or less teach to their audience, and avoid the liberal mushy touchy feely garbage.
I got my bachelorette degree from Altered State ;-)
I dropped out of music ed after 3 semesters. Stress, complicated by not really being able to afford it. I realized I’d rather work than study. Took me a little while to find my niche. I started learning pc stuff on a Commodore 64. Thought my spouse was really being frivolous when he bought it - but it led to a job with a company that had their first computer - an Apple IIe. From there, I just kept building on it and now provide level 1 tech support for a state agency. If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t just go to tech school, as my dad recommended.
I did not attend college. I went into the Navy for four years and came out with some technical knowledge. I leveraged that to get a few factory jobs, then moved my way into an Application Engineer position with a top industrial automation tech company. From there I moved into sales, then sales management at a $2 billion company. Now I’m a Marketing Leader at a top-of-the-heap tech company leading $4 billion of their total $50 billion portfolio.
College is not for everyone, oversold, and unnecessary. Unless you’re doing things like designing airplanes or doing surgery, I think most people can do fine without it.
...unfortunately, our culture doesn’t think the same as me.
Ruh Roh. The real story got bleachbitted on hilldabama’s server with a cloth. ;-)
At age 10 I became a 4th generation WATCHMAKER.
Took a couple of business courses in Junior College, went into NAVY. Navy had me repairing Precision Instruments.
Now I’m 2 weeks from age 82, am working 6 days a week, but limited by kids at 50 hours a week. Love the trade and it is FUN for me.
My advice to anyone. Be very good at what you do and do something that you really enjoy and are proud of.
One of the best men I ever knew was a “MERE” house painter. Went to work at age 16 and NEVER retired. Great pride in his work, great husband and father, and respected by all.
That’s what I call success.
I left tested out of High School in 10th grade and went to college.
Dropped out of college after deciding I no longer wanted to be a cop.
Have owned several businesses since then and sold.
Worked for several companies and had a great time but, I’d rather be in charge and don’t feel like working for anyone ever again.
Starting new business.
College? For what?
Over 80% of grads will not complete their working career in their major.
English, Math and traveling to other cultures are all I ever needed.
That, and a very extreme desire to constantly learn.
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