Furn_Darkside
First Post
d12 said:
Another part, that I have found many colleges lacking, is the learning critical thinking skills.
What a shame it is becoming a missing aspect in many higher education schools.
FD
[OT] How many of you never went to college?
- Thread starter Paul_Klein
- Start date
Another part, that I have found many colleges lacking, is the learning critical thinking skills.
What a shame it is becoming a missing aspect in many higher education schools.
FD
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
I agree with a lot of the other posters here - to get a job with good money, outside an "artistic" field, you need a degree, even if it's just an associate's degree. So many jobs now require at least a BA, BS, and a lot require Master's or even PhDs.
If you don't think college is for you, and you're not particularly lucky or well-connected, you may end up working retail or in the food service industry. I'm sure there are other options too.
One suggestion, if you're young (18-24 or so), check out the armed forces. They'll test you to see where your skills lie, and if you go for it they'll train you, pay you, and give you a direction in life. The service isn't for everyone though, but it couldn't hurt to check it out. Many former armed forces servicepeople find good jobs after their term is up.
I almost joined the Air Force right out of high school, but balked at the last second and went to college. Every now and then I feel a pang that I didn't take the opportunity.
If you don't think college is for you, and you're not particularly lucky or well-connected, you may end up working retail or in the food service industry. I'm sure there are other options too.
One suggestion, if you're young (18-24 or so), check out the armed forces. They'll test you to see where your skills lie, and if you go for it they'll train you, pay you, and give you a direction in life. The service isn't for everyone though, but it couldn't hurt to check it out. Many former armed forces servicepeople find good jobs after their term is up.
I almost joined the Air Force right out of high school, but balked at the last second and went to college. Every now and then I feel a pang that I didn't take the opportunity.
As most people say, college isn't for everyone. I have a degree and luckly found a job before the big time hiring freezes all the companies were doing, being in the technology field and all.
Some interesting facts, first of all, Bill Gates has NO degree. He was going to college when he started Microsoft. So, can you make money without a degree, yeah.
Second, that with the influx of people getting higher learning degrees, the amount of people doing manual labor and construction job stuff is going down. Supply and demand... people will need to do those jobs, so in order to make that possible, we (as a society) will have to make it economically feisble for people to do it. Remember, people will NEED roads fixed, cars worked on, etc, even in a bad economy like we have. Sometimes having a job that is secure is better than the ones that pay alot and they get rid of you in a moments notice. That is what is happening where I work, threaten to lay people off if they don't put in extra time and stuff.
Third, on the pro side of college CNN did a story that more women are getting degrees and less men are. That whole reversal thing, it is something to think about as wel, they are saying that more women will have higher education than their SO's. But my friends say that college is a good place to meet women.... Don't know myself, met mine after college....
In the end, basically do what makes you happy. That is the most important thing, life is WAY TO SHORT. GRAB ON AND ENJOY IT.
Some interesting facts, first of all, Bill Gates has NO degree. He was going to college when he started Microsoft. So, can you make money without a degree, yeah.
Second, that with the influx of people getting higher learning degrees, the amount of people doing manual labor and construction job stuff is going down. Supply and demand... people will need to do those jobs, so in order to make that possible, we (as a society) will have to make it economically feisble for people to do it. Remember, people will NEED roads fixed, cars worked on, etc, even in a bad economy like we have. Sometimes having a job that is secure is better than the ones that pay alot and they get rid of you in a moments notice. That is what is happening where I work, threaten to lay people off if they don't put in extra time and stuff.
Third, on the pro side of college CNN did a story that more women are getting degrees and less men are. That whole reversal thing, it is something to think about as wel, they are saying that more women will have higher education than their SO's. But my friends say that college is a good place to meet women.... Don't know myself, met mine after college....
In the end, basically do what makes you happy. That is the most important thing, life is WAY TO SHORT. GRAB ON AND ENJOY IT.
shouit said:
Also, he is in the top 1% of intellectual people, and the average Joe isn't going to be Bill Gates and essentially invent a whole era of thinking(the PC). However, if you are tech oriented don't forget about going to a technical school. Most people hate jumping through the hoops a state/private University makes you, but enjoy the more focused curriculum of a tech school or a school that is more focused on what you want.
Two of my roommates did that, they came to school and became a dropout after a year. Worked in a fabrication factory for another year and realized they wanted that magical ticket to a descent job. So they went to a local tech/art school called Full Sail and one is doing Game Design and the other is doing 3D animation and they are enjoying it. So, maybe traditional college isn't your cup of tea, but maybe some more focused collegesque program will be up your alley.
Gariig
i have a feeling this may not be too popular a sentiment, but i have to agree. i did my time in the service and i think it did me a lot of good.Scribe Ineti said:
i went to college right out of high school, which was probably a mistake. i didn't know what i was doing there or why i was there, other than it's the thing to do after high school. i dropped out after a year and a half.
i wandered around for another year and a half after that, and eventually joined the army. at that point i was unemployed, penniless, and nearly homeless. no one was hiring, but the army gave me a job and a home.
after the army, i used my GI Bill money to go back to school, at a different college. completed an Associates' degree and decided to take a break from school to go back to work. got lucky and landed a sweet (and highly-overpaid) job as a web developer in Silicon Valley.
after a year and a half, the company i worked for went belly-up in the dotcom crash and i was laid off. i didn't have the right kind of degree or work experience (or luck) to find another job in that industry, so i moved back home to where my family is and eventually decided to go back to school (for the third time, to yet another college).
i'm now studying to be a math teacher, and i really think that's something i can be happy doing for the rest of my life. (at least, it should definitely be more stable a job than the web industry...)
other than that one lucky break i got, every job i've had has paid me more for how much work i could do with my hands or my back, not what my mind was capable of. i really want to get back to using my head again -- i think i'm better suited for that kind of work.
Chun-tzu
First Post
It sounds to me like the larger issue is the question of what you're going to do with your life (career-wise, at the least). I'm a graduate student, but I still find academic work boring and tedious and an all-around pain in the @$$ more often than not. But for me, I know that getting my degree is a critical part of what I want to do. Maybe that's the critical piece that is missing for you.
If this is the case, perhaps the BEST thing you can do is talk to a career counselor about your options. Take a career interests/personality test to get a better idea of what fields are better suited to you. There are a few of these online, if you can't talk to a career counselor.
If your college has a counseling department, I strongly recommend you contact them for an appointment. In many cases, if you are wrestling with uncertainty and confusion about the future, talking to a counselor can be the best thing you can do for yourself. A counselor can give you clear and objective feedback based on YOUR best interests, but more importantly, counseling might uncover or treat other factors that may be blocking you from completing your degree. The only thing you can get from people on this board is advice, but counseling can offer you far more.
A degree is not going to make you happy, but it CAN change your life. There IS a world of potential out there for you, with or without a degree (but a degree offers many more options).
If this is the case, perhaps the BEST thing you can do is talk to a career counselor about your options. Take a career interests/personality test to get a better idea of what fields are better suited to you. There are a few of these online, if you can't talk to a career counselor.
If your college has a counseling department, I strongly recommend you contact them for an appointment. In many cases, if you are wrestling with uncertainty and confusion about the future, talking to a counselor can be the best thing you can do for yourself. A counselor can give you clear and objective feedback based on YOUR best interests, but more importantly, counseling might uncover or treat other factors that may be blocking you from completing your degree. The only thing you can get from people on this board is advice, but counseling can offer you far more.
A degree is not going to make you happy, but it CAN change your life. There IS a world of potential out there for you, with or without a degree (but a degree offers many more options).
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