Posted on 11/03/2016 10:50:18 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister
Companies that value degrees usually have programs for promising folks to help pay tuition. My Daughter went to college to become a nurse and her hospital is footing the bill for her Masters as long as she doesn't fail anything - she was in top 5% of her medical classes so she'll do great and probably become a PA within 2 years..
Well, that explains the screen name. :)
Yes, I dropped out of college and dropped into the Marine Corps................
No, but I crammed 4 years of college into 10......
Absolutely correct. Have a two degrees and one is not worth the paper on which it is written. Go to TECHNICAL school to study a SPECIFIC skill. You will do far better. Some really good fields in which to immerse yourself: Nursing (RN), Gunsmith, Auto mechanic school at that top-notch place in Wyoming, Pipe Fitter and Welding (all levels), Underwater welding, flight school to be a commercial pilot (or go via the military first), or, if you REALLY want to make money, learn to be an excellent helicopter pilot (again, via military preferably). PM me if you want more info.
I went to 1 year tech school to learn drafting immediately after graduating high school in California... I could not get out of that state fast enough, school started in Phoenix 10 days after graduation...
I Built a 33 year career around it, averaged a buck an hour raise every year until ‘09, been a little rough since then, but that had nothing to do with schooling choices.
No, therefore I know how to spell forego.
This may be my only gain.
I took a big gamble and went back to school in electronics.
I’ve been employed nearly constant for almost 30 years.
Take an honest look at the demands for your skill and interest.
Software Eng: Absolutely YES, get the BSCS
Any Engineering: Absolutely YES, and best school you can find.
Business: Waste of time if you stop at BA
IT: Probably not worth it but not a total throw away if combined with CS classes
Liberal Arts: Waste of time, money and effort.
Its all about supply and demand.
Right now, software engineers are in huge demand.
I’m a big fan of higher education. I have BS in math, BS in mech engineering and an MBA. I worked for and retired from a university. Being an employee allowed me access to tons of leadership and technical training
What do want to learn? I’m sure I could help you...
Well, I wanted to go to school at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
What?
Ohhhhhhh.....
Forgo........
My mistake.
Wasn’t really an option as my parents had completely consumed the Kool-Aid which says that without a college degree you’ll be “digging ditches”.
Dirty little secret: Ditch digging would have been a step-up at times from certain jobs I actually had!
I unfortunately went to college. I’ve been bouncing around dead end jobs for almost 20 years. I should have gone to a trade school.
If you need it to enter a chosen profession, consider whether it's cost-effective: i.e the time you take off from work + the money you spend is greater than the expected increase in future income.
If it's not needed or cost-effective, then going to college is just an expensive hobby.
[Dirty little secret: Ditch digging would have been a step-up at times from certain jobs I actually had!]
20 years of ditch digging for the right co. and you retire with a sweet pension and health plan.
While most schlubs like me in the corporate world struggle to deal with the daily corporate white collar BS and prob won’t retire until our late 60’s.
There are a lot of famous people who skipped or dropped out of college. We’ve all heard of the famous billionaires who did so yet succeeded. College isn’t for everyone. Although I went to college, my wife did not. Both our families were poor and couldn’t afford it. I worked my way through it. My wife (before we married) decided she wanted to work, and work she did. She interned part time at a company while still attending high school, and continued full time after high school. She worked hard, switched companies and worked her way up the ladder gaining skills. She eventually became a manager of a large data center and boss over many people responsible for west coast operations. Her salary rivaled my own, all without college. She would often tell me about idiots at her company who had college degrees, and how worthless they were, and we would laugh about it.
Like a couple of others have suggested ... unless you’re going for a STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) kind of degree, I wouldn’t waste your time ... especially if you’re doing well on the business side of things.
If you do go back to school, make sure you’re going for a degree mainly for “the love of the game” and not “because I have to” ... stuff like engineering is quite painful if your heart isn’t up to taking such a mental beating :-). You have to have some kind of sick, obsessive interest in the subject you’re pursuing.
Sorry to hear about your nervous breakdown. Anxiety can cripple anyone. Congrats on pressing forward ... I have a feel for what it takes to move on from such mental trauma! :-). While I never had a full blown breakdown, I suffered from a severe case of anxiety right around the time you went through your experience. Prior to that, I’d hear about these things and never thought anything like that could happen to me :-) ... boy did I learn :-) ... it happened pretty much out of the blue. The brain is amazing and mysterious to say the least :-).
Go to a city or county junior college some here in Dallas area connect to a state university to allow a 4 year degree. Most junior college have good professors who also work in the real world.
I recommend you read, “the Millionaire Next Door.” It should be required reading in high school. There are thousands of millionaires in the US. The authors studied them and interviewed a lot of them. Traits they had in common is most started a small business and didn’t go to school unless there was something specific they needed to know. Then, they just took those courses.
There are actually a whole lot of other traits, many of which would seem like common sense to me, but I know people who apparently don’t see them that way. Those people are universally poorer than they easily could be.
Good book. Oh, and I got a four year degree and had a good job most of my career. But that’s just it. How many times have you heard “get an education so you can get a good job?” College teaches you to work for somebody else.
Good luck. I’d like to know what you decide to do.
I went to college, and all I got was a bunch of student debt.
Unless you’re willing to invest the debt and time for a Masters or Phd, I don’t see the point. A BS is essentially a GED, and with a proven work history people aren’t going to wonder if you can handle basic work requirements (i.e. showing up on time, following directions, etc.).
Wattsamatta U
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