Is College Really Worth It?
fastcompany.com
Is College Really Worth It?
1–10 of 68 posts
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#2Not if you're smart and motivated it's not.
I went to High School with a guy named Chris. He dropped out of college to do programming work, and I stayed on, eventually going to grad school.
Now he's the founder of GitHub and I'm some no-name programmer working for a financial company nobody's ever heard of.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#3Not if you're smart and motivated it's not. I went to High School with a guy named Chris. He dropped out of college to do programming work, and I stayed on, eventually going to grad school. Now he's the founder of GitHub and I'm some no-name programmer working for a financial company nobody's ever heard of.
And Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both went to college and dropped out. So perhaps college does give some benefit, but the degree isn't necessary.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#4Not if you're smart and motivated it's not. I went to High School with a guy named Chris. He dropped out of college to do programming work, and I stayed on, eventually going to grad school. Now he's the founder of GitHub and I'm some no-name programmer working for a financial company nobody's ever heard of.
And Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both went to college and dropped out. So perhaps college does give some benefit, but the degree isn't necessary.
Sure, but how many people dropped out of college with aspirations to do something great and then failed?
More to the point, does college really have any particular impact on such matters? If Bill Gates had finished his degree, would he have still been as successful? If Don Knuth had dropped out, would he have still been as successful?
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#5I dropped out this year and feel awful about it, despite being way better off.
During that time, I've quadrupled sales in my ISV and have made a full-time living of it, and I now have no debt and decent savings. I'm no Mark Zuckerburg, but it's not a bad start.
But I still kinda feel like a loser without a degree, even if I don't think I'll need it. Especially since I paid so much for the first couple years. I applied to another school (public this time) to transfer, just in case I come to my senses.
I think there's credit bubble in education just like the one in housing. Lots of easily available, subsidized money for student loans, even if the rates aren't great. Plus it's a platitude that there's no sacrifice too big you (or your family) can make to get a college education. So even reasonable, well-meaning institutions have totally wacky prices, just as a reaction to market forces and a desire to stay "competitive" building fancy new stuff.
This sounds really crazy and tin-foil-hat-ish, but sometimes I think that there's kind of a "educational industrial complex" if you will that's benefiting from this weird (hopefully temporary) situation, and I feel icky supporting it just because I'm afraid someone will judge me wrong without the piece of paper some day. One of the reasons I quit my job after I quit school was because I hate that feeling of knowing you're being fucked over a little bit each day because you don't have the balls or resources to do anything about it. I feel like school is that kinda situation now, and it shouldn't be, because there's a ton of good things about college and I want to finish.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#6You could probably actually buy two Ferrari F430s once you take into account all of the student loan interest.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
And Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both went to college and dropped out. So perhaps college does give some benefit, but the degree isn't necessary.
Sure, but how many people dropped out of college with aspirations to do something great and then failed? More to the point, does college really have any particular impact on such matters? If Bill Gates had finished his degree, would he have still been as successful? If Don Knuth had dropped out, would he have still been as successful?
And how many people didn't go to college with aspirations of doing something great and failed?
I wasn't really trying to make a point past pointing out that the comment I was replying to didn't really say much.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#8The only value I have received from college is knowing that I don't need it to succeed. I dropped out and went back to finish in between startups. If you do go, enjoy your time there, drop in on interesting classes, and most importantly meet as many interesting people as possible.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#9College doesn't pass the smell test to me. During the housing boom everyone was saying, hey, easy money, housing is a sure thing. That just doesn't smell right, and sure enough, the system was being temporarily propped up. College is the same way. If everyone is taking out 80k to get shit faced for 5 years it just doesn't smell right. Like housing, the system is being propped up in large part due to low interest rate loans among other things. Certain professions that have government backed monopolies (medicine, law) might be alright. But just like your housing deed, most every other degree won't hardly be worth the paper it's written on.
Re: Is College Really Worth It?
#10I went to college, didn't take it as seriously as I should have (dotcom daytrading era) and joined the Army afterwards. I really would have gotten more out of college if I'd gone into the Army first. Saw a lot of young 18 year olds who did it right and are now in college... Grad school was a far better experience for me...