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Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

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Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#201

Post by emodendroket »

mooreds wrote: post #156

I have some kids and college is about a decade away for them, so this is pretty timely. I remember reading a post in the 2000s about whether the internet (or, more precisely, some application built on the internet) would do the same thing to colleges as Craigslist did to the newspapers. Peel off the valuable bits and by doing so disaggregate and destroy/heavily damage the institution. Still waiting for this to happen…

I have a degree, but not in CS, and after seven years in the industry I still occasionally come across recruiters who treat me like I must have no idea what I'm doing, or interviewers acting like I must be a genius for solving easy problems. It's got to be worse if you have no degree at all. I'd tread carefully.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#202

Post by brownbat »

cm2012 wrote: post #7

I can't find the citation now but the biggest argument against college I've seen is that once you control for family income, life success is way more correlated to SAT scores/the college's you apply for than the ones you actually attend. This would imply that college success stats merely indicate that they are selective in who they choose to enroll. EDIT: Its not the one I'm looking for, but I found a good one. http:…

They have a really good discussion of this in the middle of the study, admitting it erodes predictive power.

They point out that much of your lifetime earnings are predicted by your parents' level of education.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#203

Post by marktangotango »

50 wrote: post #28
monoideism wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Look, I'm studying undergrad philosophy...Am I getting into debt? A fair bit.. Is it worth the trade off? I certainly think so. Will I say that five years after I graduate? Not sure but most likely. Spoiler. Been there, done that. Unless you're at an Ivy, if you're majoring in philosophy, you'll not think it was worth it in five years. My sin was Classics, but similar outcome. Assuming you're on HN because you're t…

Thank you for the input. It's interesting, and hey, it might be the case down the road. But my main philosophy behind my seemingly naive post is this: I don't mind what happens. I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter what is but how you think about what is that matters. Edit: I saw your edit, and again, thank you for your input. I would just like to note that I'll be graduating with ~12k in debt - I went to a comm…

You’re making choices for your future self that your future self probably won’t appreciate!

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#204

Post by 2sk21 »

seem_2211 wrote: post #117
soperj wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? Otago is what dreams are made of!

Haha, especially if you like burning couches! I went to Waikato.

Actually, thanks to Weka, I knew about Waikato University :-)

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#206

Post by JshWright »

seem_2211 wrote: post #141
jhoechtl wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you are portraing is your exploitation of your countries education system for your own benefit. The NZ tax payer invested in yours for your future ROI into NZ and you put this ROI in your sack.

And I'm not going to feel bad about it either!

It definitely changes the "is it worth it" math though, so it's not as relevant to the original article.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#207

Post by bobcostas55 »

seem_2211 wrote: post #12

I have a degree from a no-name university in New Zealand. I'd do it again for a few pragmatic reasons. 1: Lots of companies will reject you on sight without a degree. I don't think it's a good thing, but it is reality. 2: With a degree your ability to move overseas dramatically improves. I moved to America after graduating. I flat out couldn't have done that without a degree. Points based systems immigration systems…

>4: The cost isn't that bad, when you spread it out over a career. My degree & living costs cost about $60k NZD (~$40k USD). That's $1k USD / year, or $.50 per hour. Considering how my income has multiplied in the few years since I've graduated (SF wages help tremendously here), the actual cost is barely anything, even when you control for the opportunity cost of studying.

You also need to take into account the opportunity cost. You could have been working at the time, earning $XXk/year.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#208

Post by WomanCanCode »

College degree is only worth for high income positions like surgeon, medical degree, nursing and some engineering field (chemical?). It's just not useful for middle class income like teaching etc. But good luck in trying to get an interview without any kind of diploma. They will think something is wrong you.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#209

Post by achenatx »

seem_2211 wrote: post #85
john_moscow wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue averaging across all degrees is makes no sense. STEM degrees do pay off. Liberal arts degrees can pay if you want to boost a specific skill and have a solid plan for using it. E.g. getting an English degree to become a more persuasive speaker while promoting your otherwise sound and solidly executed startup. Aside from those 2 examples there are plenty of colleges with a business model of selling overpr…

Does STEM actually pay off, or does engineering/technology pay off? I've got a few friends who work in science, and it seems to be a pretty poorly paying field, with a real lack of job prospects, unless you secure a job at a government research department.

30 years ago, I was trying to decide what to study. I wanted to go to medical school and my parents said that I should study electrical engineering. The reason, if I decided not to go to medical school a biology BS degree was almost useless and it was just as easy to get into medical school with an engineering degree as a biology degree.

I ended up getting a microbiology degree and an EE, went to medical school (MD PhD) but dropped out. I was able to get a great job doing programming, so Im relatively sure they were right.

With my kids Im using the same approach.

With regards to grad school, my parents' philosophy was if you could not get grad school funded by an RA or TA, then you had no business going.

Re: Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

#210

Post by [deleted] »

bobcostas55 wrote: post #207
seem_2211 wrote: post #12

I have a degree from a no-name university in New Zealand. I'd do it again for a few pragmatic reasons. 1: Lots of companies will reject you on sight without a degree. I don't think it's a good thing, but it is reality. 2: With a degree your ability to move overseas dramatically improves. I moved to America after graduating. I flat out couldn't have done that without a degree. Points based systems immigration systems…

>4: The cost isn't that bad, when you spread it out over a career. My degree & living costs cost about $60k NZD (~$40k USD). That's $1k USD / year, or $.50 per hour. Considering how my income has multiplied in the few years since I've graduated (SF wages help tremendously here), the actual cost is barely anything, even when you control for the opportunity cost of studying. You also need to take into account the oppor…

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