Should I go to college?

[Kak]

Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.

 

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[JAJT]

College and University's only real value comes from the point of view of being an employee (or building a job around yourself).

You NEED college/uni for things like:

- Accountant
- Lawyer
- Doctor
- Engineer
- Etc...

You COULD go the entrepreneurial route with these - start your own law firm, doctor's practice, etc... but these are "jobs" tied heavily and directly to your time. It's much better to hire these people as an entrepreneur than to BE one.

Degrees and diplomas are formal proof you provide other people. Entrepreneurs usually aren't too concerned with proving knowledge to anyone in a formal way. They use their actions, not pieces of paper, to prove that.

And any "business" or "entrepreneur" class is a total waste of time as well, because you can usually get a better education out of a small stack of books.

And that whole "fall back on it" thing? Yeah, after you get your first full time job (anywhere) everyone will stop caring about where you went to school and what for as long as you aren't trying to be a Doctor, for example. So your diploma is worthless in less time than it took you to get it.

 

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[Tom.V]

If you want to be an entrepreneur, make your own decisions.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Xenforo has a cool plugin that lists similar threads to posters before they post a new one ... I look forward to deploying that mod so we can once and for all rid ourselves of the old "Do I go to college?" thread.

BTW, my thoughts on this topic echo Kak's ... if you need someone else to decide what's best for you, you should probably go.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

He believes that the only purpose why colleges are here are for degrees and jobs. So, he dropped out and learned on his own. Now he teaches others how to create websites and program code.
So I took note of his video and said "ain't that the damn truth!" Literally. I wouldn't like the idea of going back to school another four years, after graduation, to learn something that I could've learned on my own and I would've saved myself from $80k+ student loans.

the most succinct way of putting it I have heard in a long time....

you have it in 1.

you want a collage education? go to youtube, learn there, go to the MIT open course work. where you can get it for free.

pick one of a dozen good online courses, taught buy guys who are doing NEW stuff all the time.

use that 80K you would have incurred for student loans and put that towards building a business.

we will be watching for your progress thread.

Z

 

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[Vigilante]

Yes. Er....no. Yes. Shit. I can't decide.

 

[DeletedUser2]

Yes

hahaha
I think KAK needs another employee
Z

 

[Rethagos]

Do it.

Sorry, i couldn't help myself

 

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[Vigilante]

OP hasn't been here since April. Great bump, Jason!

 

[Twista]

Yes, what did you decide? And why? And are the parents cool with it? (Assuming its a NO).

I saw this video on Youtube from this guy named Bucky. He was talking about how he dropped out of college and why. He dropped out of college because he wanted to learn how to build websites and learn code. In college, Bucky found in an old book with five names of different people listed towards the front of the book. He said that these people have been learning the same stuff over and over, year after year. And the people around him where taking the same exact exams and doing the same assignments. He did not like this idea of teaching, he wanted to be different and creative. He believes that the only purpose why colleges are here are for degrees and jobs. So, he dropped out and learned on his own. Now he teaches others how to create websites and program code.

So I took note of his video and said "ain't that the damn truth!" Literally. I wouldn't like the idea of going back to school another four years, after graduation, to learn something that I could've learned on my own and I would've saved myself from $80k+ student loans. As far as parents, I have not talked to them about that yet. When time comes, I'll tell them. I still have two years left.

And to Kak, I'm dead serious. Hell no! I do not want to be employed again under some corporate businessman trying to work me like a slave for little pay, dammit! I am a follower of your work, though. I'm not doing much as of now (still researching about the Fastlane and entrepreneurship.) I'm reading posts on here, still reading the book(again), and watching educational videos on Youtube.

 

[tafy]

Not yet

Next semester

I will be

I'll be able

When I pay off my car

I'll be able

Lots of will statements, I hope you will but why cant you do something now?

 

[Twista]

Since most of my business will be online, should I go to college for web design and development? My parents want me to go and I still have another year left of deciding.

 

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[Darius]

No. Spend that "another year left of deciding" on using Google and learning web development & design. <- If you're trying to focus on business

Yes. Go to college, learn, and enjoy being around young people like yourself. <- If you want to satisfy your parents and have a decent - good time doing so.

 

[Twista]

Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.

Oh hell no! lol

 

[FDJustin]

That plugin does sound great, MJ.


But yeah... Sometimes going to college is a good idea, like when the skills are particularly difficult to pick up. Most of web development and design you can really learn on your own with some disciplined self study, using w3c, a quality book on HTML5 will get you most of the way through the mechanical part.
Reading "letting go of the words" will give you quite a bit of food for thought on website design, focused mostly on usability and a good customer experience.
I haven't gotten anywhere near finishing this yet, but "Design of every day things" seems to be about learning how to convey intention through your designs and making things fairly failproof. It's too academic, but if the reviews are right, should give you a good mindset on designing things.


I assume that's the core of website design. There's no doubt many useful peripheral skills, like colour theory maybe. If you look at the design curriculum, you'll get a good idea on what they would be teaching you and you can use that as a starting point.

If your online business is something like retail, you probably won't need to go much further. There's plenty of pre-existing shopping carts and templates you can use and adapt. Otherwise you'll have to learn quite a bit of programming if you can't acquire someone who has that skill.


I almost erased all that to just say "Figure out what you actually need to do your 'online business stuff'. It might be a hell of a lot closer than you think."

 

[Kak]

Yes

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So what was the plan? Go or not go? Year off?

Yes, what did you decide? And why? And are the parents cool with it? (Assuming its a NO).

 

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[Twista]

Lots of will statements, I hope you will but why cant you do something now?

Hope isn't in the equation. It's a definite. I don't want to start now, because I have no product/plan right now. I'm just researching and learning from others now.

 

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[Phones]

You can get college education and start a business on the side, if that business takes off then drop out and make sure it's successful. No need to choose one or the other.

There's no free ride, I'm getting drained from "studying" to mid-term exams, I set the day to study and I get 1-hour max study from it. It really depends on what you're learning... I took Accounting class with out any effort, why? Because I needed it, it will be useful. Now lets talk about Calculus and other advanced math where half of the coursebook will only be used in PhD research stuff.

Long story short, only try to do both if you think you will keep motivated (for both), and if you aren't taking a shitload of loans for it... (Here is 1k€ year)

 

[Madhu]

I went to college (or university as we call it in the UK) to study web design (amongst other media technologies). I found that the mature students who had first spent a few years working in the industry got way more out of it then I did for the following reasons.

1. College courses tend to be out of date. So we wasted time learning technologies that we were never going to use in real life. The mature students knew which technologies they were going to use, so they could apply the theory they learnt to those languages.

2. A lot of college courses encourage you to produce work that is involves thinking outside the box. In theory, this sound great, but in practice it means you’ll end up with a portfolio full of innovative things that are too edgy to appeal to potential clients/employers. The mature students had a much better idea of what employers were looking for, so they could tailor their portfolio to match. In many cases, their portfolio consisted of project that their former companies later used as client work.

I finished with a first class degree, but found it hard to get hired. After completing my degree, I had to start from scratch and learn everything that my course skipped over.

Hence, I’d recommend spending sometime in an agency first, as you’ll then be able to focus on your university learning on things that will actually be an asset to you. If you spend long enough at agency, you’ll probably find that they have some big problem which they keep on putting off because they don’t have time to solve it. For example, a lot of agencies build sites in a very inefficient manner, but they are too busy with client work to change. If you find out these problems, then you can use your university time to find solutions. This would give you a leg up in employment or starting your own business.

I’ve seen a lot of comments in this thread saying that a college education isn’t needed because you can learn it all online.
University does bring some advantages. The biggest is networking. A good college will have connections with key industry players. Plus you can form relationships with other students, which might prove fruitful later on. In both cases, the university won’t push these opportunities: It’s down to you to make the effort.

Other benefits including developing time management skills and working to deadlines.

Personally, if I had a year to decide, I’d spend that year going to agency and/or trying to find my own clients and working as a freelancer. Within 3 months, you’ll have a much better idea of how much value college can bring.


EDIT: I just noticed: Although the replies on this thread are from today, it was started in 2013, so you've probably already decided. Whoops!

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

The answer is actually VERY simple, I learnt this a while back. Alot of people complicate answers to this question but the ONLY reason you should go college is if you know EXACTLY what you want to do. For example if you say "well something in IT" not good enough you must be EXACTLY sure, this is a good example "I want to work in networking" this is good. Also you must think about your circumstances do you need college to achieve your goals? If not then don't go, if you do then go. It's really as simple as that, try not to overthink it.

To be honest in your situation I think it doesn't make sense to go to college because they will teach you stuff that is completely unrelated to what you need to learn. I think its better just to bust your a$$ off this year learning to code, I think you will get way more out of it if you teach your self, because you are learning a valuable skill. The ability to teach your self and not have others guide you is crucial in this field, that's what college does it guides you, coding is something you need to learn your self you can't have someone holding your hand, something I learnt.

 

[Kak]

Oh hell no! lol

I say this with not an ounce of sarcasm. You really should if you make a habit of not deciding for yourself.

 

[Twista]

Now since you guys mentioned it, I'm really sorry for posting this stupid question up. And sorry MJ for putting up another "Do I go to college?" thread on your site.

 

[Damian2015]

Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.

i must say i love the sarcasm and the honesty in your answer, but then again going to college does have its perks, you either learn that you do want to go in the direction you are headed or you learn that the *hit you are studying is useless and you could have learned al that by yourself.

 

[tafy]

The answer is: Only you can decide.

 

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[Twista]

The answer is: Only you can decide.

I already have my answer. I wish I can delete this useless thread

 

[Damian2015]

ungrateful person you hahahaha we helped a lot LOL

 

[Twista]

ungrateful person you hahahaha we helped a lot LOL

And I thank each and every one of you guys!

 

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[Damian2015]

lol i was joking xD and you are welcome! question did you make up your mind? i think you can use that time you would spend in college so much better learning on your own, plus i bet not one college would ban you from a lecture if you decided to attend one even if you are not a student there

 

[tafy]

So what was the plan? Go or not go? Year off?