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Do You Really Have to Go to College?

thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com

1–10 of 53 posts

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#2
I think this really only applies to coding and other skill-type jobs. This wouldn't work for finance, law, and other lucrative fields -- yet.

I'd like to see some case studies on someone who walks into Wall Street without a degree. That'd be interesting.

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#3
post #2

I think this really only applies to coding and other skill-type jobs. This wouldn't work for finance, law, and other lucrative fields -- yet. I'd like to see some case studies on someone who walks into Wall Street without a degree. That'd be interesting.

In some states it is still possible to sit for the bar without attending law school. But who would hire you, when there's a glut of credentialed attorneys with no job?

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#6
post #2

I think this really only applies to coding and other skill-type jobs. This wouldn't work for finance, law, and other lucrative fields -- yet. I'd like to see some case studies on someone who walks into Wall Street without a degree. That'd be interesting.

Medical equipment salesman to E.F. Hutton training program to jail. Then:

> With no experience, no college education, virtually no connections, and with the same casual outfit he had been wearing on the day he was taken into custody, Gardner gained a position in Dean Witter Reynolds’ stock brokerage training program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gardner

~~~~

"Mr. Wall Street" Sideny Weinberg began as a janitor's assistant at Goldman Sachs and rose to CEO. He completed only Junior High school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Weinberg

~~~~

There are countless other case studies I'm sure, which are all pleasing to read, but the only common threads you'll find are luck and meeting the right people at the right time. In spite of the two people's good intellect/skills, if the parameters were different in either of the above stories, things may have turned out very differently.

At the very least, its hard to become CEO of Goldman Sachs from being a janitor if Goldman Sachs doesn't exist.

Most self-made men, in short, have a lot of fortunate scaffolding when they get to the construction site where they are made.

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#7

Also, if you have any interest in relocating to other countries, a degree is in most cases a requirement.

Incorrect. This only applies to professionally acquired visas. To get what you want out of visa systems, as with any other system, it pays to consider some of the viable alternatives: subsidised skills areas (exceptions to professional work visa requirements), family and relationship based visas, investment visas, retirement visas, tourism visas where you are not working just receiving offshore income. Persistence is king.

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#8

Also, if you have any interest in relocating to other countries, a degree is in most cases a requirement.

This. Especially if you're a citizen of a country other than the US and hope to have the career mobility to work in one of the American hotbeds. It will severely limit your career for a very long time if you don't, especially if your work history is difficult to prove.

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#9

Also, if you have any interest in relocating to other countries, a degree is in most cases a requirement.

This. Especially if you're a citizen of a country other than the US and hope to have the career mobility to work in one of the American hotbeds. It will severely limit your career for a very long time if you don't, especially if your work history is difficult to prove.

Utter rubbish, in my experience: I've done it with no degree, and ~7 years out of the western workforce.

The US was OK but I much prefer Asia and Europe (for quality of life, languages, art, history and conversation).

Re: Do You Really Have to Go to College?

#10
post #5

What is with all of the anti-college articles that the New York Times publishes? Almost every time I see one come up it's inevitably a NYT article.

No doubt the scions of many middle and upper-middle class NYT readers are having a hard time seeing the ROI on their liberal arts educations. It's sad how many people I know who finished college, moved back home, and ended up with the same waitressing job they had in high school. And misery loves company.
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