College is a HUGE waste of time and money.

Drop LSD and school at the same time

i don't support institutions or cults and it has led me down a path of enlightenment i probably would have never seen had i done the opposite.

Start your own business and you'll realize the whole business world is ran by lazy psychopaths and sociopaths, none of that truly matters in the grand scheme of things. The truth of the matter is, it's who you know and how to manipulate people which will grant you success (You can deny it all you want). You can have all the education you ever dreamed of, but if you can't understand that concept, you won't succeed anywhere and will just end up being abused by your employer. This is why you have so many of these drops outs who are doing great. Once you know the game, the world is wide open for you. All this bureaucratic stuff is completely irrelevant afterwards.

College is where they program you and make you ready to be part of the enslaving system.

True, but then you get out, work a real job and learn how things really work, get experience. Then that little piece of paper walks you to the front of the line every time - I do. Everything I was taught was stupid and obsolete in my field of work at the time I learned it.

Ive worked at 9 company's that have gone bankrupt....

Good luck everyone...

Did you get your CS degree or did you just study from home for the exams? Can you recommend a website or 2 for information on this and/or the schooling for this?

Thanks!

My husband and I are in our mid 50s. Out of our friends, the wealthiest are the doctors, an electrician, and a plumber. One of them worked in sales and started an oil field services company and has done extremely well. My husband has an MBA and manages his family's farm. One of our sons is a lawyer, the other son is a farmer - he works with my husband- and our daughter is getting ready to go to beauty school. Our lawyer son does well because he has a company. Out of our kid's friends, the ones who went straight to work from high school have earned and continue to earn the most money.

We have seen that a college education is not necessary to have a good living. College is 4 or more years of bullshit courses and parties. Some of course like medicine require studying. Doctors graduating today though will never have the life style that our friends have enjoyed because of the health care plans.

Wow, what kind of engineering did you do? Sounds discouraging not using your engineering degree since I had planned on going back for engineering.

I also heard having a master's or PHD can cause issues as the employer doesn't want to have to pay a higher amt for the advanced degree.

Total bullshit. If you can't get a job as an MD, thank god nobody has you as a doctor because something is seriously wrong with you.

Maybe that's because on reflection you know that level of investment elsewhere would have served you far better.

Personally I consider the education business to be similar to the pharmaceutical business:

It helps many but is a let-down for most.

I personally, never found getting a job difficult without a college education - what I did find difficult was working my way up from the OK paying but dead end job as time went on. The degree pays off, if you stick with it. They already know you have the education - they just want to see that you can apply it - then once you prove that, more doors open as the degree as a stepping stone. That's been my observations over the years, anyway - others got out of the field I was in, but I was considered to have "limited" potential, in spite of being intelligent and able to pretty much do anyone's job around me in a pinch just from being intuitive, flexible, observant, etc. Guess I should have gone to college, too, tried for a while while working, but then my health went downhill and I couldn't do either after a while so no big waste of anything in the end.

I got an AAS (2 yr degree) in Electronic Engineering Technology and a one year certificate in mid range computers. Both from a community college. Got my start in IT with a temporary service and was hired on full time by one of the companies they sent me out to.

Then I started studying for Comptias A+. I used Transcender and other exam based programs for that. Then I started working on an MCSE in the old Windows NT4.0. Using Transcender and I think Boson and a lot of books. There's a lot of free stuff on the Internet. Just search for it.

Do a search for networking forums. (sorry but it's been a number of year's. just can't remember the names) Anyway, there are complete networking classes out there that are computer based. It's expensive but as good if not better than a classroom. I would say better because you can go back and review at any time. You'll find it all with a search engine.....

for instance, search on 'free Network+' questions and take it from there. You'll eventually find the complete courses. Keep in mind there's a lot of competition for those jobs.

Architecture? What the hell?

You aren't going to be making any bucks with an architecture degree either. Maybe 1 out 1000 archictecture degrees actually become architects.

I am assuming the OP thinks there is money in music as well?

Just b/c school doesn't appeal to you and YOU are living in a shit economy doesn't mean there is nothing there.

I think you are doing the smarter thing. But don't write college off completely. Down the road you may realize you don't have to be above average to be a scientist or lawyer or work in medicine. And you might find you have a real desire to read the classics in greek and latin, or study economics or become an archeologist.

For now, learn at work.be open to learning any skill someone will teach you on the job. And read a good newspaper every day-reven the stories you don't really understand. It sinks in. You'll get curious enough to google what you need to know. And in four years you'll be better educated than the kids sitting in dreary dumbed down colleges hungover and arrogant.

And you will have all that federal financial aid, Pell Grants and interest free loans they wasted in their dumb youth.

College is still a good deal--for kids who get free rides to good colleges, people with tuition reimbursement at jobs they love and people who genuinely love to learn.

Its idiocy to walk into the nearest college with a credit card unless you are bored, rich and it happens to be a great school.

I think you are on your way to a good life. Just never think formal education is beneath you or above you. The day may come when its just what you want and need.

The field of Science is booming in today's age OP, but no average Joe college skipper is going to get a job in that field. Thus, college is something to think about if this is the field a person is interested in.

I'm glad you figured out the scam being perpetrated by BIG EDUCATION before you enslaved yourself with a $100K in student loans that you'll never pay off.

I loved college.

It's not about the job or money you may or may not make with the degree - it's about becoming a well-rounded individual. Yeah, sometimes that includes yoga or bowling - but it's also about dipping into the classics, etc., and being able to converse with those in Bill Gates' neighbourhood as well as the janitor. It's about the connections and lifelong friends you make.

It's also something I can't put my finger on; you may dis it, but anyone who is honest with themselves feel something is missing in life until they get that degree.

I know a lot of people who went back later in life, they just felt something wasn't complete in their lives.

hmm let's see

you go to a place where you are given work in the guise of 'learning'. It's not unlike a part-time job, one that will consume most of your time, energy and money. Hmmm, just wait a sec -- MONEY?? Yep, that's right - you have to pay to work.

Sounds like one hell of a plan!

here's your burger with a booger on it. Go on 'n eat it. You're welcome!

While college is a huge waste of time and money, with the exception of the medical professions, it is still irrelevant how you feel about it.


The fact is that people with degrees earn more money than those without. My company wont even consider hiring a person without a degree.


The fact that you can prove that you can toe the line for a few years and complete written tasks to a set standard means something to hiring companies.

My daughter is going to get a Bachelors degree online at Univ of MD University College.

THIS IS NOT A SCAM! IT'S PART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SYSTEM AND THAT'S WHAT HER DEGREE WILL SHOW!

TOTAL COST FOR FOUR, YES, FOUR YEARS? $20,000.00

THAT'S IT!

And she is working part time at her favorite music store as well.

PEOPLE WHO TAKE OUT LOANS AND PAY $140,000 for four years are INSANE!

If you or mommy and daddy have that kind of money laying around go ahead and drink and frat it up and go for four years.

But for the 95% of us that need loans to pay for college, THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES OUT THERE!! GO FIND THEM!

COLLEGE IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! DOING IT THE WRONG WAY IS!

college a place to park a few percentage points worth of unemployment.

want money ? go military with something medical specialty as an MOS.
anything besides combat medic , who the wants to bust out their back lugging fat fucks around for 10 dollars an hour ? I wouldn't do it twenty years ago and won't do it now.

^^^^^^^
I have no degree, and my best year was $500k. This year will be 250k.

If there is something specific you want to do, you might want to go to college, however, right out of high school, well, thats a waste of time.

I waited until I was 24 before I started. I worked various jobs and finally figured out I wanted to do something in the computer field.

Now, be careful here, because most people think that you have to have a degree specific to the discipline you want to work in. This is not true!

I finally went to a local community college and got an associates degree in "Digital Computer Repair".

But, I never repaired systems, at least my official title for any job that I had did not indicated that I was a computer repair person. I graduated in 1988. Here is my career:

1. Documenter - I wrote user documentation for a company's software. (2 years)

2. Test Engineer - Test software, make sure it works like the documentation and specifications says it should. (3 years)

3. Test Engineering Systems Administrator - Configuring and loading machines and the network to which they are attached. (3 years)

4. Company Systems Administrator - Configuring and loading and setting policy on the entire network, servers, workstations, etc. (1 year)

(Company sales and marketing really messed up and the company went down the drain.)

5. Started my own ISP. Ran it for 2 years while still on unemployment. Sold it. Paid off my house and land and bought a car with the money. (2 years)

6. Now work for a public school corp. I am the Systems Administrator and Security go to guy for the sixth largest school corporation in the state. We've got 7,000 systems and just over 100 servers. I'm pulling down $75k. ...and I've designed most of the infrastructure overlay. I've been here 15 years. (16 years) (Started at $38k now making $75k)

Its about being smart, driven and enjoying what you do. If that is the case, you'll do fine. College? Ha! Being "Well Educated" is an excuse to get more pay without doing more work. College is a scam. People that go to college are trying to perpetrate the scam/slave cycle. College is just another way to continue the habit of the getting propaganda shoved in your brain that started in high school.

I send a thank you to all the teachers in all my schools that taught me the basics. ...and the librarians.

Learn to READ well.
Learn to do BASIC MATH well.
Learn how some things WORK.
Learn to DO SOMETHING.

Learn the difference between "knowing" and "understanding". Understand some stuff.

These are the keys to a successful career. Don't give tons of money to expensive colleges. You are perpetuating the fraud. Its dishonest. Its an ego trip. Believe me, I know.

I live within 5 miles of one of the top 5 engineering schoosl in the country. When guys come out of there, they think the world is owned by them. In my first job, I pissed them off over and over by understanding more, doing more and working faster and cleanup up their mistakes. I graduated from a tech college that cost $2000 a year. They graduated from the "institute" that cost $30,000 a year. They were dumb cows because they didn't
understand. They knew but they didn't understand. They were useless.

They spent $120k on an education. I spent $7k. Now, who's smarter? Most of the ones I know are making half what I'm making. Was I lucky? No. I'm good and I'm willing to do the hard work.

If you think you can go to college and then just coast the rest of your life, you have another thing or two to learn. Best get out of high school and learn to work hard. Let the cows be milked by the milkers.

I hate worrying about money and all this bullshit.

Is everyone still living in the '50's thinking a med degree is worth a lot of $?!!

Most doctors I know are struggling with high overhead costs and insurance premiums - they lease everything they have - cars, furniture, and even plants in their over mortgaged homes. sheesh.

I went to college - finance - came out with a 75K/yr. job - not bad for a 21 yr. old.

Now, years later, I own my own biz - I won't tell you what I make, but I sure in hell don't lease anything. I buy it cash - cars and house.

College is a waste if you are going to major in art history or anthropology, etc.. , but the 'hard' sciences and finance and acctg are still worth the time and the $.

My friend's kid just graduated this past summer from UCSB with a degree in Electrical Engineering - she is now working for a Silicon Valley firm - starting salary - $135K.

Just sayin'