31–40 of 68 posts
I don't think many people take this kind of mercenary view of college outside of the Bush family, and maybe it's a more realistic view, but that's the perspective that seems to be in play when the question is whether it's "worth it."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you are extremely unlikely to learn linear algebra and matrix theory "on the job" Why? All of the information is available in books and on Wikipedia. Nowadays you can learn nearly anything for free with just an internet connection and some dedication. The biggest potential impediment is be a self-defeating attitude that prevents you from trying. On the other hand, don't expect learning "on the job" to mean that you…
> Nowadays you can learn nearly anything for free with just an internet connection and some dedication It's no different from the situation before the internet, since books are cheap (compared to your time) and usually are still a better source of information on such structured subjects anyway. In fact, when I was in college, I mostly read textbooks anyway instead of attending lectures (it's easier for me to learn th…
I've learned a decent amount of mathematical stuff on my own without traditional books, and I'm pretty sure this will become more and more common over time. I'm a member of the earliest generation (b. 1985) for which this was really possible, and I just fell into it by accident, but in the coming decades I expect we'll see a lot more people who are almost entirely self-educated through the internet. I'm sure it'll still be a relatively uncommon phenomenon, but at least the people who learn best in this way now have access to the information and tools they need.
Talking about "college" as a mere experience, drained of its knowledge value, reduces its significance to being a social club of sorts. You make friends, you signify some kind of status to potential superiors, and so on. I don't think many people take this kind of mercenary view of college outside of the Bush family, and maybe it's a more realistic view, but that's the perspective that seems to be in play when the qu…
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think this is why the vast majority of people go to college.
It's going to sound condescending but I'll say it anyway: if you enjoy hanging out on HN (and you do since you are reading this), then you'll enjoy attending college because it's the only place on earth where everyone is college-level smart. Obvious of course, but kind of true. Everywhere else (except maybe at Google), you have to deal with the uneducated masses :-)
It dawned on me at my last cube farm that some companies really are like high school, while others are like college.
It's going to sound condescending but I'll say it anyway: if you enjoy hanging out on HN (and you do since you are reading this), then you'll enjoy attending college because it's the only place on earth where everyone is college-level smart. Obvious of course, but kind of true. Everywhere else (except maybe at Google), you have to deal with the uneducated masses :-)
Not true - there's plenty of places where most of the people you'll meet are quite intelligent, and not everyone in college are college-level smart. If you go to Harvard, sure, it's all fairly smart people. The average state school? Not so much.
As for places with lots of smart people, it's very worth it to go get coffee at the Ritz Carlton sometimes. It's $10 for a pot of coffee that'll serve 2-3 people, so it's only like $5 to go if you go with a friend or the girlfriend, and it's good coffee. There'll be smart people there from out of town, often having a quick bite to eat alone while reading a newspaper. Contrary to popular belief, wealthy people tend to be very friendly and approachable if you're polite, complimentary, and interested in striking up a chat - I've met a fair few intelligent people while having coffee at a nice hotel or ex-pat bar or other place like that.
If you're willing to try to charm a little bit too, you can probably talk your way into the business class/first class lounges with decent success when you're flying, and people inside tend to be a smart, a bit bored, and quite receptive to having a conversation.
There's lots of places to meet smart people. University is good for some smart people, but not all. I enjoyed some of the business and technical classes I took, but absolutely went nuts with the "general requirements" and the rote busywork it entailed.
So there's lots of places to meet smart people besides university. And seriously, I'd recommend anyone who isn't comfortable in "wealthy places" to go have a pot of coffee at the Ritz Carlton. It's $10, cheaper than a mid-end restaurant lunch. Strike up a conversation with someone. Might change your life, but at the very least you get more comfortable in the environment.
It's going to sound condescending but I'll say it anyway: if you enjoy hanging out on HN (and you do since you are reading this), then you'll enjoy attending college because it's the only place on earth where everyone is college-level smart. Obvious of course, but kind of true. Everywhere else (except maybe at Google), you have to deal with the uneducated masses :-)
You really think Google is the only company with uniformly well-educated employees? Microsoft, Goldman, McKinsey, etc - there are plenty of companies out there where you'll smart and educated colleagues.
Not 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.
In defense of the average guy, not everyone can go out and do great things, otherwise those things wouldn't be considered great anymore.
I incredibly, firmly disagree with this. The average person actualizes maybe - maybe 3% of their potential. It's possible for almost anyone to reach high level domain mastery in at least 2-3 fields in their lifetime, and make a at least a couple profound contributions in those fields. There's some hard tradeoffs involved, but it's something that almost anyone is capable of if they want it.
It's going to sound condescending but I'll say it anyway: if you enjoy hanging out on HN (and you do since you are reading this), then you'll enjoy attending college because it's the only place on earth where everyone is college-level smart. Obvious of course, but kind of true. Everywhere else (except maybe at Google), you have to deal with the uneducated masses :-)
> ... because it's the only place on earth where everyone is college-level smart. Not true - there's plenty of places where most of the people you'll meet are quite intelligent, and not everyone in college are college-level smart. If you go to Harvard, sure, it's all fairly smart people. The average state school? Not so much. As for places with lots of smart people, it's very worth it to go get coffee at the Ritz Car…
College 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…
Straight (no banks -- direct lending) department of education loans are 6.8% and 7.9% for the most common loans.
I'll pay over $95,000 in interest over 10 years on department of education student loans. I don't own a car or a house. I have no credit card debt. I came out of undergrad with $0 in debt.