4 ms·
I recently stopped going to college (a few months ago). I've been thinking about the decision for around two years now and it was the best decision I've ever ma
by espitia 12y ago
I recently stopped going to college (a few months ago). I've been thinking about the decision for around two years now and it was the best decision I've ever made. I have never been as productive and generally happy as I have after leaving classes.
What I agree most with the article is that college is not the correct decision for those who already know what they want to do or have a specific goal in mind. Attending classes for me felt like a waste of time simply because they did not push me towards my goal. It felt like I was lying to myself every day by going to class just to let society know that "I am going to college, I am doing the right thing". Once I completely (and I mean 1000%) stop giving a s#!t about what anyone else thought or said (including my family), I found myself to be happier, more confident, more motivated, more everything.
Now, everyone still tries to convince me that I should go back. That I never know what the future holds. Honestly, most of my friends who go their degree have jobs that require little of what they actually learned. Not only are they getting paid borderline a minimum wage but they are being routined to death. I'd say 80% are not happy in their day to day which is crazy. I really feel like if things were to get bad, I am perfectly employable without a degree. My projects and experience have taught me 1000x more than I ever learned in a classroom. Actually, I can say that 90%+ of what I know is through my own reading, my own project, my own initiative, my own everything.
My conclusion on the whole debate of college is that if you know what you want, go out there and get it. Just like there is a cost opportunity of not going to college, there is also cost opportunity to GOING. Think about it deeply and do as your intuition dictates.
Notes:
- I was majoring in business (marketing). I believe, at least in my case, this and many of the liberal arts majors are best learned by doing. If you really have a passion for it, grab some books and practice it. Whatever it may be. As for other studies like medicine, biology etc (the sciences) I've seen it is best to go and study it. My brother is doing medicine and I really don't see how it would be possible for him to not go to college and be able to do brain surgery.
- I love this phrase from the article and to me it is an issue I feel strongly about. Times have changed, we should too.
"The idea of college education is deeply ingrained in our culture. People seem to go down the college route almost impulsively and the correctness of this path is, for most, unquestionable."
People who have accepted the fact that I dropped out, that see why the decision for me was correct, that are proud of the work and value I am producing, will still try to convince me to go back. I don't blame anyone for this, I think we were all brought up since babies to believe that college is the way to go. I just feel we need to question this belief a lot more.
- Great article!
- wernercd 12y agoIt depends... I know that most of what I learn in cooledge is "worthless" - but the paper itself holds some value. I got an AA in CIS and immediately took the first job within range (I live in farmland, so programming jobs aren't exactly normal within range). The paper got my foot in the door, but now I have provable experience and solid, real references. I'm still going to school, slowly working towards my BA. I have experience, so why am I getting my BA? Because there are opportunities I've been passed over simply due to AA vs BA/MBA/etc. The key is to actually think about things and balance what you want and the cost of college. For too many the only goal is paper, without a thought to how that translates into green. Thus you end up with a 100k piece of paper with someone working at McDonalds or Star Bucks. I'm using accredited classes, at an affordable accredited school - affordable is the important part. I will have my BA with no debt to show and years of experience in the field I've chosen.
- espitia 12y agoI agree. It really depends. As I mentioned, I feel if you have a goal or vision for what you want, then you can really make the decision. Sounds like you've got your goals set and if college is a part of that, great, that's what I consider success. As Earl Nightingale said, "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal".
- afontaine 12y agoThanks for sharing this here. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my situation. I started programming in freshman year (2006) of high school and fell in love with it. I've been coding since, but also started getting excited about startups. A year after graduating from high school, I started one with a couple of friends from college. It's the best decision I've made.. I have learned so much in a few years. I am convinced I wouldn't have learned as much by focusing in school. I've been in school for about 4 years now getting a CS degree. I started taking less classes per semester last year because I was doing bad in them. I had a lack of interest and also spent a lot more time involved in the startup. That hasn't changed. I have 5 classes left to graduate, but my GPA needs to go up by a lot in order to do so. There is a lot of pressure from my parents to finish school since I'm almost done, but I'm really struggling to do well in my classes since I'm just not into them. It really feels like I'm wasting my time.. getting stressed about my grades.. and I'm not sure what to do. The obvious solution is to keep going and finish... but it's a constant battle every week to convince myself that this is the best path and to keep going.