So i have this dilemma, either i go university or not... i want to know if any of you guys went to a university and if you did was it really worth it? currently i am studying mechanical engineering and that would mean another ~4 years at uni and education is just not for me! I managed to push through secondary school and i'm just about passing at college (not saying that i'm dumb because i'm not but i just can't sit in a lesson as i will find a way to procrastinate if i dont like the work). i got some family members saying i should go uni and some saying that if education is not for me then i would enjoy more working or taking an apprenticeship. i want to know what the internet thinks about going to university.
If I could go back, I'd have picked up a bachelors in Computer Science and then owned the whole fucking internet. I studied International Business w/ Marketing & Finance (a generalised, and quite convoluted degree). The only good thing that came out of my degree was the Erasmus year I spent in the South of France - it was epic.
A lot of guys are gonna tell you it's a waste of time. Just keep in mind that 70% of people don't even have BAs. So most those people telling you it's a waste of time... will be the last people to tell you what they do for a living or how much they make. I'm gonna tell you the exact opposite. I've made too many posts on here about why I'm a strong advocate for college. When the right person finds the right school it can change their life like my uni changed mine. I rode in on half scholarship + 2 grants, had like $30k in loans to pay back and I would have paid that amount just for lifetime access to the biweekly job list our school mails out to alumni. If you saw the list I get, the types of jobs on the list compared to what you find online.... that list is worth a lot of money. They find some of the rarest, highest paying, best jobs in our state. Jobs that are impossible to find online. And that's just 1 of many things our school does for alumni. You can go back in 6 years after graduating like I did they treat you like you just graduated and do everything possible to get you hooked up with great employers. That's just 1 of hundreds of benefits I got from my school. And college isn't prison dude. If after the first year you get a horrible gnawing feeling that you're on the wrong path you can drop out. For me, I knew ahead of time I was finishing all 4 years. Other people just have to go and see. Many drop out. If that's what it comes to it is what it is.
Tbh I left my studies at the moment atleast for the period of one year.. I'm just focusing on IM at the moment want to learn as many skills as I can during this period which will help me in long term for my IM career.. like SEO, Web desigining, Python.. Ps: I completed my graduation this year
I have a MS in Biomedical engineering. I can personally tell you that the main thing you need to think about is what is going to make you happy in the end. Are you going to be content to work as a mechanical engineer? You know that is one of the most saturated engineering disciplines, so you are going to be competing against hundreds of thousands of other genius foreign exchange students. Granted you have the upper hand if you are natural born because they dont have to do the extra paperwork. Here is the best thing I was taught in College (University) that I found out my sophomore year from my Diff EQ teacher. When you go to college it is not to learn a bunch of junk out of a book or to have a check list of skills you now have (most employers will not care after your first job) it is to sculpt the way you think. In our case, engineers learn how to become problem solvers. Uni teaches you to think about a problem and find a way to solve it. I can not say that much else from College helped me, but I still feel like it was worth it just to help hone my brain into a problem solving tool.
Dropped out of Uni here (International Business Law). Uni wasn't for me and dropping out has probably been the best decision I've personally made. I'm a lot happier, I enjoy my work and I have complete freedom. However, not everyone is going to have these exact benefits. What do you plan to do if you decide to not attend Uni?
I think this has been the most important thing said thus far. You'll need to figure it out on your own. Personally I have mixed feelings about college. I am graduating in May with a business management degree at a large state university here in the US, so I will list my personal pros and cons I had with it. Pros: I got involved, networked, and met a ton of people. I grew personally and socially more than I ever thought I would. I had a blast with a lot of friends I made. I have 2 decent job offers as of now because of the school. Cons: I now have ~$30k in student loan debt. About 95% of what I learned (personally and business-wise) was outside of the classroom. I want to start my own business, so sometimes I feel that if I hadn't gone to school, I would have $30k less in debt and be 4 years ahead of where I am now. I don't know if this actually helps you at all, but this was my personal experience with it. Overall, I thought the pros outweighed the cons, but that will vary person to person.
sorry, i dont really read the lounge so i didnt think this would have been posted already. i bet that is what everyone else said as well xD If not uni i'm thinking of doing and apprenticeship. It's where you go a company and ask them to employ you but at the same time they send you to study. thank you everyone for your response, I also have this one question. If i decide to drop out after a year lets say and i have taken the student load, will i still need to pay it back? this might seem like a stupid because i think (Yes, you do).
Aren't you glad you went and had that option to drop out though. At least you can say it wasn't for you this way than sit back and wonder what may have been. I never finished uni, I got kicked out not dropped out... One day when I can afford it I'll probably go back. Even if it's when I'm 50 or 60.
if you can afford (in terms of abilties) to go to a nice university like.. cambridge,oxford,harvard,stanford...any major one in finland.. go for it. otherwise.. I'd be better using my time on entrepreneurial things... note I've never been to uni, but I would try to join one of the aboves if I had enough english skills (working on it).
College was the most exciting, carefree, laid back four years of my life. I wasn't in a frat. I didn't party (except for a few times from the confines of our dorm rooms). I didn't hook up with randoms (was in a relationship with the woman who is now my wife). What I did do was go on adventures. I took long walks around campus at night with friends. I got incredibly good at Call of Duty: Black Ops (one). I started building a successful business. I met a lot of professors and fellow students I still talk to to this day. I excelled and learned. I got an internship at an amazing out-of-the-box place and got to see $100 million in cash, like that scene in Breaking Bad. And when it was all said and done, I got a diploma and a line on my resume saying that I did it, and I did it well. I got so many small scholarships that I owed $0 when I got out. My wife actually got paid $5k a semester to attend college because she got so many scholarships. Rare for the US post-secondary educational system. Of course medical school (for her currently) is a completely different story. I try not to log into the student loan site, because when I do I'm greeted with this monstrosity: http://i.imgur.com/eR0b5zn.png. But college was incredible. I miss it every day. Sometimes I take a jog at work and go to the local college campus and just walk around. Just to get that feeling again.
If you aren't making a good living when you are 50 or 60 I would like to say that you have failed pretty hard. And there is no reason to go to college if you are making a good living, is it? Except for fucking girls, which you won't be doing in a college at the age of 50.
Your narrow-minded way of thinking skews your opinions on this matter. Where did you graduate from? "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." - Albert Einstein
