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Actual uncle here with an addendum: Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. This may not apply to many HN readers,

Actual uncle here with an addendum: Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. This may not apply to many HN readers, but a lot of young people show up at college quite aimless, and this is not a great way to spend valuable tuition. You don't need to have your life course charted out, but you will likely be at a disadvantage if you aren't intensely curious about some things and eager to learn more about them when you start buying credits. I agree that community college is worth considering, but it's unlikely that community college will give you much direction you aren't developing yourself. The advice I give is a modification of the 'luck surface area' analogy: the more exposure you get to people who are engaged in professional disciplines, the greater the chance you will encounter traits and circumstances that interest and/or inspire you and open figurative and literal doors to your future.

ajsnigrutin 4y ago
> Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. I live in a country where college is paid by the taxpers, and college students get a bunch of advantages (student work, food coupons, cheap stuff, access to student resources, gyms etc.). We have a bunch of students who have to decide on what to study at age 18, and a bunch of them are just "i'm bad at math, what doesn't have a lot of math?" and totally disregard other factors (mostly, employment opportunities), so after ~5 years, they get their masters in ancient greek and philosphy and then complain that there are no jobs for "educated young people". On one hand, they knew that there were no jobs in that field when they filled out the application forms, on the other hand, the taxpayers paid for 5 years of a useless college, then they learned something that has zero added value in their eventual workplace, and then they still complain. TLDR: "interested in learning" sure, but with consideration of "are there jobs in that field?"
- subpixel 4y ago
  agreed, that's why my practical advice is less about college prep and more about meeting a lot of people who do a lot of different things for a living and letting those observations inform your direction and plans. fwiw my nieces ignored my advice and are liberal arts majors at private colleges in the US but at least they have close to full-ride scholarships.
- nradov 4y ago
  This is essentially the "elite overproduction" hypothesis. We have artificially priced some forms of education below the market rate. Graduates with useless degrees have poor career prospects, leading to social instability. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction
- conductr 4y ago
  This is what Americans are afraid of in terms of universal education or whatever it’s called. I think it probably still has some net positive effects on society as a whole, even if that person has a useless degree they are educated and that foundation remains through their life regardless of whatever job they end up in. In the US, we have such a disparity of education. It’s likely fueling some of our other problems. Just like income inequality, healthcare, etc.
- ChrisLomont 4y ago
  >I live in a country where college is paid by the taxpers, May I ask which country? Whenever I look at education stats for a taxpayer college funded system versus the US, there are tradeoffs made, such as less of the population getting college degrees through stricter (taxpayer desired) requirements. I'm curious if your country has a solution that's better on some Pareto frontier of education funding methods.
  - ajsnigrutin 4y ago
    Slovenia
discardedrefuse 4y ago
> Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. It sucks that kids have to choose a major right out of high school now (if not before). I have an AA in undecided. When I went to community college (90's) I took art, computer programming, music production, and scuba diving. It was awesome. And it made deciding on a major for my BA much easier.
- 7speter 4y ago
  Its more a of a culture thats forced on kids out of high school really. People don’t have to go to college immediately after high school, but its… a norm, isn’t it? It would be much better if that changed…
conductr 4y ago
There’s a ton of core curriculum stuff to work on though. So you have some time to figure it out if you’re knocking out the core AND realize you need to decide on something in a year or 2. Use that time wisely to explore. And talk to other peoples a couple steps ahead of you. If you think you know find out what, if any, the “weed out” classes are. I thought I wanted to be a dentist but organic chemistry kicked my ass (ok, took more effort than I cared to give it at the time). It was a wake up that if I didn’t have the grit to get through that, I probably was setting myself up for failure.

ajsnigrutin 4y ago

> Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. I live in a country where college is paid by the taxpers, and college students get a bunch of advantages (student work, food coupons, cheap stuff, access to student resources, gyms etc.). We have a bunch of students who have to decide on what to study at age 18, and a bunch of them are just "i'm bad at math, what doesn't have a lot of math?" and totally disregard other factors (mostly, employment opportunities), so after ~5 years, they get their masters in ancient greek and philosphy and then complain that there are no jobs for "educated young people". On one hand, they knew that there were no jobs in that field when they filled out the application forms, on the other hand, the taxpayers paid for 5 years of a useless college, then they learned something that has zero added value in their eventual workplace, and then they still complain. TLDR: "interested in learning" sure, but with consideration of "are there jobs in that field?"

subpixel 4y ago
agreed, that's why my practical advice is less about college prep and more about meeting a lot of people who do a lot of different things for a living and letting those observations inform your direction and plans. fwiw my nieces ignored my advice and are liberal arts majors at private colleges in the US but at least they have close to full-ride scholarships.
nradov 4y ago
This is essentially the "elite overproduction" hypothesis. We have artificially priced some forms of education below the market rate. Graduates with useless degrees have poor career prospects, leading to social instability. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction
conductr 4y ago
This is what Americans are afraid of in terms of universal education or whatever it’s called. I think it probably still has some net positive effects on society as a whole, even if that person has a useless degree they are educated and that foundation remains through their life regardless of whatever job they end up in. In the US, we have such a disparity of education. It’s likely fueling some of our other problems. Just like income inequality, healthcare, etc.
ChrisLomont 4y ago
>I live in a country where college is paid by the taxpers, May I ask which country? Whenever I look at education stats for a taxpayer college funded system versus the US, there are tradeoffs made, such as less of the population getting college degrees through stricter (taxpayer desired) requirements. I'm curious if your country has a solution that's better on some Pareto frontier of education funding methods.
- ajsnigrutin 4y ago
  Slovenia

discardedrefuse 4y ago

> Don't go to college before you have a sense of what you are interested in learning. It sucks that kids have to choose a major right out of high school now (if not before). I have an AA in undecided. When I went to community college (90's) I took art, computer programming, music production, and scuba diving. It was awesome. And it made deciding on a major for my BA much easier.

7speter 4y ago
Its more a of a culture thats forced on kids out of high school really. People don’t have to go to college immediately after high school, but its… a norm, isn’t it? It would be much better if that changed…

conductr 4y ago

There’s a ton of core curriculum stuff to work on though. So you have some time to figure it out if you’re knocking out the core AND realize you need to decide on something in a year or 2. Use that time wisely to explore. And talk to other peoples a couple steps ahead of you. If you think you know find out what, if any, the “weed out” classes are. I thought I wanted to be a dentist but organic chemistry kicked my ass (ok, took more effort than I cared to give it at the time). It was a wake up that if I didn’t have the grit to get through that, I probably was setting myself up for failure.