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19 Years old: Considering dropping out. Must read for young people

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Carny

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You should focus on where you are headed, not where you are coming from.

You only talked about what you are quitting, but didn't mention what you are starting. What is your plan if you quit school?

Honestly the scenario you laid out that you don't like sounds pretty good to me. It may not be fastlane, but retired in your late 30's is pretty appealing. (Especially for me since I just turned 35 on Sunday, lol)

You said that all your classes are a waste of time. One of my biggest regrets is screwing off in college and not taking advantage of the incredible opportunity it provides. There is plenty of useful stuff to be learned and you will probably never have this opportunity again.

And if you think you don't have time to start a business because you're taking a few classes and working part time you need to realize you will probably never have more time to start something than you do now, considering you are living any sort of productive life. Some day a girl will catch your eye. You'll spend all your free time with her. One thing leads to another and you're planning a wedding. Now you're working full time to make the house payment, mowing the yard every week, calling the electric company because they screwed up your bill, and remodeling the kitchen. A couple years later your painting a nursery. Next thing you know you've got one in diapers, another on the way and you always take your phone to the bathroom because that's the only quiet time you can find to just read about "the fastlane", much less find the time to start some new venture.
 
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Mark396

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It's the summer time, you have had a 2-3 month vacation from school I'm assuming. What have you done in your time off that is productive in reaching your entrepreneurial goals? If you've done little to nothing, how can you expect yourself to do something if you drop out? It may sound harsh but, this is the same exact situation I'm in. I'v got 1 year left of HS and if I can't accomplish / be productive in my free time how can I expect myself to accomplish something if I skip college?
 

liquidglass

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Well a lot of people have weighed in on the subject and I'll be happy to throw my two cents in, keep the opinions coming and you'll have a whole dollar soon!

Let me preface my post with this. If you see other posts I've made you'll see where I devalue getting a college degree so please don't think I'm entirely pro-college. Degrees are worthless, experience is priceless.

I did the college thing, 4 years undergrad, MBA, and decided to skip law school because of the lack of jobs first and foremost, while also realizing it would be a waste of time if I wanted to become truly wealthy.

I wasted a lot of time in college and now wish I had put that free time to use. Yes working three jobs and attending classes left little free time but I could have used it much more productively than I did.

However, running my own business now I could pay for 3 years of law school with no problem (doesn't mean I will ;) ). I couldn't have reached this point without important things I learned in college however.

I majored in Trust and Wealth Management with a pre-law focus. Here are some things I learned throughout college although I didn't realize it until later.

1) There is no substitute (except door to door sales) for the social interaction and advancements made socially and personality. To be fastlane you need to become socially adept, you'll have to learn it the hard way or the fun way: college.

2) My degree (just a piece of paper imo) allowed me to meet very intelligent people through networking, very intelligent business people that is. I would often go to businesses I admired and get an interview with the owner to ask him the burning questions my professors often couldn't answer. Under the guise it was for my class. These introductions were often made for me through, you guessed it, the same professors. (Some professors have been very successful and simply desire to teach where as others are unable to be successful and only wish to propagate the education system)

3) Looking back at my writing throughout the years the advancement in my literary and speaking skills is simply amazing. I wouldn't have advanced so far without going through the rigorous classes (at least not in such a short time). Because in the real world unless you have a mentor no one is going to tell you when something you wrote or a presentation you made sucked, you'll just lose money and their respect.

4) I employee people up to 25 years older than myself, they accept direction from me because of the nice piece of paper on my wall. I really don't see it as a big deal to have the degree, anyone can do it if they really want to, but slow-laners (your employees) think very highly of it and it can come in handy with them or when networking with other business people.

5) Without my MBA I would have been lost when creating a business plan to present to an investor to gain funds I needed for a separate branch of my business. (Read "Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude" there's a whole chapter on OPM: Other People's Money)

Just my perspective, but I'll tell you this, without the knowledge and experience I gained in college I wouldn't be where I am today.
 

Skys

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What are you planning to do when you are financial independed at 26? What does it mean for you to be financial independed? How much money does financial independed mean? Why do you want to be financial independed?

your description of what will happen between now and your 30-40 is based on fantasy, not reality. I have a hard time figuring out what I will have for dinner tonight. Most people don't know what they will be doing in 5 years from now. People dream, and make small steps to get those dreams into reality. You basicly say you know what will happen 10-20 years from now when you follow this path.

Also, you say most people are avarage, and you don't want to be avarage. Interesting enough, dropping out is more avarage then being extraordinary. Also, you are talking about how avarage they are, how they do not follow their dreams, and they follow others. Who are you to judge? You are 19, one year in college and you don't like it. What do you do? You quit. Quiting becomes a habit.

You made a commitment for 4 years to stay in school to get your degree. I learned the hard way the importance of keeping your commitmens, especially to yourself. So my personal opinion would be that you should finish that degree.

How are you going to surround yourself with real entrepreneurs? By having no money, doing nothing and making friends with other broke teenagers on the fastlane forum?

I think you are searching for a justification to quit college. You already made up your mind and you are searching for someone that sells you on the idea that you are totally right. I am sure you will find it. I hope you look around in other shops too.
 

1PercentStreet

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Uh why don't you read the rest of my post. I said there's a vision. By direction I meant direction given to you.

If you look at context, correcting the other members post shifting from deadlines to direction, my post is crystal clear. You should read.

h3A77D09F
 
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Laverdure

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I'm 22 years old and I left college at 20 also and all I can say it'S the best move I ever did ...

I had a part time job of 25 hours a week while working on my "new business" and after a tough year I started making money online and then
1 year later I made over 7 figures revenu in my first year alone...

The only tips I can give you ...

stop doubting yourself if you really know what you want

don't pressure yourself with the fact that you need to be rich at 26 otherwise you might take some action oriented on that and that might not be the good one.

find a mentor in the kind of business you are willing to start. (that's really important, you will become successful a lot faster)

work your a$$ off, no more parties no more chilling, get to work and when you are tired or bored keep working until you get where you want to be.

Don't be a pussy and take massive action.

Stop thinking what if...

Use the 30/30/30 rules which is ... read 30 minutes a day about business book, watch 30 minutes a day of video about mindset - business and listen to audio to improve your mindset for 30 minutes a day.

when times will be hard take a step back and laugh at it and tell yourself you are not a baby and you are going to beat the shit out of it.

there you go ... now tell your parents you are done with school it's the first real step :)
 

1PercentStreet

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I think another you thing you forgot to realize is that you're 19. Have you had a chance to experience the real world yet?
I'm 19 but I've been doing this around 7 years now. There is SO much I need to learn still about business and general adult life.

If you know you can at least learn a few things, enjoy college. Go party, go enjoy life while scaling up your business.
Quit college once you make a decent amount per month. Be it $5k/m or $10k/m, but there is no reason you cannot do both at the same time.
 

AmyQ

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Everyone has different levels of commitment, different abilities of getting things done, etc. Someone who has low self-motivation may find it difficult to get things done without a deadline. In entrepreneurship and startups, there is no deadline. Everything is entirely self-motivated. In college, deadlines are everywhere. So a highly self motivated individual may find success in entrepreneurship, while a non self motivated individual may find more success in college.

Not to brag or anything, but I find myself highly self-motivated. I taught myself to play more than 4 different musical instruments and read books daily. I find interest in every single subject there is including politics, history, language, math, science, sports, music, and more. In college, I find myself extremely demotivated because the professors aren't teaching me in a productive manner. I can usually teach myself the same subject they are teaching me in less time. I wouldn't have to go to class, and I would still be able to pass the tests and make the dean's list for every semester. I find my time extremely valuable, and I often get frustrated just walking to class to take a test, because that 5-minute walk to class could have been used to read a chapter in a personal development book.

First of all, I agree with you that being self motivated is necessary for an entrepreneur. It is necessary, but not sufficient. Discipline is also necessary. Where I disagree with you is about startups not having deadlines. I have endless deadlines which include:

1. Sending out marketing campaigns
2. Recurring billing
3. Payroll
4. Business licenses
5. Tax documents/forms/payments
6. On and on and on

These are not all tasks that I am personally responsible for completing, but these are all deadlines that I or my husband must ensure are met.

While being self motivated to do things like read or learn instruments with your free time is great (I really mean that, most people do far less with their free time), those are things that I consider to be enjoyable. So much about a startup involves the grind of details and minutia. It involves doing a lot of boring, difficult and tedious tasks, at least until you have mastered processes and the marketplace well enough to pay and manage others to complete those some of those tasks for you.

College can help people develop discipline and learn how to function within a bureaucracy, which is important since all of our businesses function within the bureaucracies of our governments. College can also help people to develop analytical and practical skills. I am the first to admit that my education involved a lot of wasted time and money. I am also the first to admit that taking statistics has helped me analyze numbers and that taking accounting classes has helped me manage the finances of a business. If I had a time machine, I would use it to take more classes in statistics, finance, analytics and accounting. I wouldn't use it to drop out.

If you want to drop out because you are annoyed or because you don't like college, you likely have a lot to learn by staying. If you want to drop out because you are already able to monetize your time at a rate that makes college irrational, by all means, drop out tomorrow.
 
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Kencan98

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I dropped out of high school when I was 16 and it was the smartest decision I ever made.

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do at that point in my life but I knew that I was going to spend my life selling things. That's all I loved in the business world. I also knew that in sales results are the only thing that matter. Degrees don't mean anything if you can prove you have a solid track record of being a million dollar producer year in and year out.

I took a few classes back in the early 2000's just because I was interested or needed to know the topic they were teaching. Things like creative writing, public speaking, etc. now with ITunesU, Mixergy, mentors, and places like this, I'd never do that now.

I do wish I experienced corporate America for at least a few months though. I had a few small jobs when I was younger but most were very small businesses.

One last thing- if people in your company are taking direction from you because of a paper on your wall then Id seriously worry about the results you are producing. If you are doing big things they should be listening to you because of that. I listen to people like MJ, Dan Kennedy, Andrew Warner and others because of the results they produce not the papers on their wall.
 

Tony I

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Hey Guys,

This is gonna be a long post, but hopefully it can help other young people out like myself. These are solely my opinions.

I came to a realization tonight. I started to seriously question my current life path for the first time. I am currently enrolled at a business school, and finished my first year. It mostly consisted of memorizing pointless knowledge from gen eds that provide zero real world value. I did have a business course that required a start up idea, but the grade was based on a 100 page business plan. Fail.

My goal is to become financially free by 26 years old. I want to retire my family. and my worst fear is living an average life.

Tonight, I asked myself these questions; Will college help me become financially free by 26? Will help accumulate wealth at a young age?

The "back up plan" I had in my head when I enrolled in college was; get a 6 figure job, invest in real estate, get rich. The following shows why this is not a good path to depend on.
(hope and time)
So I began to think about what would happen if I follow this plan;

Sophomore year- I take the rest of my gen eds, try to work on my ventures on weekends, after studying. There is little time with my school workload, part time job on weekends. (Accumulating debt, Wasting time)

Junior Year-
Start taking classes related to my major (finance.) This year is when students at my school get an internship. Even less time to work on my independent projects. (Accumulating more debt, wasting more time)

Senior Year-Finish up classes. Do 2nd internship. Have job offer by the time I graduate. Little time to work on project because of job search. (More debt, more time)

21 years old; I graduate with around 30K of debt. I get a finance job, pays me around $60K.

22-24 years old; Pay off student loans. Huge liability considering payments will be around 5-600 a month. Get my own apartment. Leaves about a 1500 a month to save each year if I'm lucky. With that, I buy a three family, live in one rent out the others. Real estate is the way to go, right!?

***Some people say to work on your venture part time, while you work a full time job. This makes sense, but only with a job that doesn't require college. Why? Because if you make 60K a year but it takes 4 years of schooling and 30K of debt w. interest, is it worth it? What was the point of going to school and accruing debt if you are a committed entrepreneur looking to build wealth early in life? Why not take horrible entry level jobs "like MJ did", skip college, and self educate yourself?

25-27 years old: Move up in company- 6 figure paycheck. Making big bucks now! Taxes take a 3rd of the income. Save up enough to buy 2nd investment property. Best case scenario is it nets a G, 2Gs of passive income. Job takes up more free time, because of higher position. (dependent on job, real estate market)

27-30 years old: Say I buy a few more properties. I have a good cash flow now per month. Let's say 4, 5 Grand. (These numbers are completely hypothetical, just to prove a point..) I'm working at a six figure job which I hate. No free time.

30-40 years old: Buy a few more properties, retire in late 30s off real estate investments. (again, best case scenario.)


So I'm 40, retired, and have a six figure passive income. You settle down, get a wife, have children. You buy a brand new Mercedes, half a million dollar home. (best case scenario, based on HOPE like MJ says) Life is good, right?

I don't want this. I think every young person on here has to ask themselves the question I asked tonight: What are your goals and dreams, and is the current path you're on gonna get you there?

So with a month left until my sophomore year starts, I am seriously contemplating dropping out. I know everyone will be surprised, but I don't care what anyone thinks. Most people are average, and lead an average life. They will comment on anyone who follows their own independent path, because they were too scared to do it themselves.

If I decide to drop out, I will surround myself around real entrepreneurs, and read as many books as I can. I will take the self education route, and try to form a successful business. If I fail, I fail. At least I followed my ultimate goal. This is what MJ calls "the redline", utter commitment to your ultimate goal.

Here's the good thing; You can always return to school. But you can never erase four years of your life that you will mostly waste, and years of debt that you will accrue. its not only the debt, it is the time- the most precious resource in the world.

Bottom line- I believe that if you are committed to being young and wealthy, (I suppose most people on this forum are) college does more harm than good.
 
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Mike39

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Not only does the life you described suck, what usually happens in reality sucks even worse:
21 years old: I graduate with around 60K of debt. I try to find a finance job that pays me around $60K but can't so I end up working an hourly job at 30k/yr before taxes.

22-24 years old; Pay off some student loans. Huge liability considering payments will be around 5-600 a month. Find 2 roommates and rent our own apartment. Leaves about a nothing for savings.

25-27 years old: Move up in company- Store manager $45,000 figure paycheck. Making big bucks now! Taxes take a 3rd of the income. Buy a house I cannot afford, lease new BMW to impress friends. Job takes up more free time, because of higher position, I start to get pretty fat.

27-30 years old: Buy a rental property with a loan. I have a $100 cash flow now per month. (These numbers are completely hypothetical, just to prove a point..) I'm working at a $45,000 job which I hate. No free time.

30-40 years old: Laid off, can' pay for my own home, lease, or rental property. Bankrupt. Begin job search and after a year, lands $80,000 year job, back in the game (again, best case scenario.) Get's married and has 2 kids.

40-50 years old: Trying to pay off your house, rental properties, finally got rid of your BMW you couldn't afford for a used Prius. Expenses are tight but you want to retire soon. Eventually buy 1 more rental property.

50-60: Real estate market crashes, company your working for closes, you make it out alive with 100k to "retire" on.

62: Get on social security (fat freaking chance it will even exist by then) and live conservatively in your retirement, maybe move to the countryside and raise chickens.


Or if you want to look at another slow-lane outcome:
21 years old; I graduate with around 30K of debt. I get a finance job, pays me around $60K. Save all your money, live frugally.


22-24 years old; Pay off student loans. Huge liability considering payments will be around 5-600 a month. Get my own apartment. Leaves about a 1500 a month to save each year if I'm lucky. With that, I buy a three family, live in one rent out the others. Real estate is the way to go, right!? Save all your money, live frugally.


25-27 years old: Move up in company- 6 figure paycheck. Making big bucks now! Taxes take a 3rd of the income. Save up enough to buy 2nd investment property. Best case scenario is it nets a G, 2Gs of passive income. Job takes up more free time, because of higher position. Save all your money, live frugally. (dependent on job, real estate market)

27-30 years old: Say I buy a few more properties. I have a good cash flow now per month. Let's say 4, 5 Grand. (These numbers are completely hypothetical, just to prove a point..) I'm working at a six figure job which I hate. No free time. Save all your money, live frugally.

30-40 years old: Buy a few more properties, continue to work your but off at your stressful job and buy 1-3 more rental properties, things are looking good! (P.S. Slowlaners don't retire in late 30's) Save all your money, live frugally.

40-50: Buy even more properties, still working at stressful job, some stocks you invested in exploded and you made a half million bucks on them. You can practically smell an easy retirement.

51: Stressful job and unhealthy habits give you a heart attack a year before your planned retirement. Dead.
With reality back in check, I agree with you that I don't want that life. EVER.

Drop out if you want to, see what happens once you have a fire lit under your a$$. You can always return to school and live the boring, menial life of a lab rat if you want to!

Go do it!
 

InLikeFlint

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If I decide to drop out, I will surround myself around real entrepreneurs, and read as many books as I can

This is where I think you go wrong. You can surround yourself with entrepreneurs and read books while you still go to college. Your reason for dropping out shouldn't be to read, it should be to take action. You won't become successful if you don't start trying businesses, and you will get stuck in the cycle of believing that reading more books will make you wealthy.
 

wealthyliving

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I totally see where you are coming from. I too am 19 years old and going into my second year of college. I have come at a crossroad similar to yours: to drop out of college or to not drop out of college. I chose the former. I have not submitted my withdrawal forms yet, because I still need to get information regarding financial aid and other opportunities. I don't want to withdraw without being fully aware of the consequences both financially and professionally.

After reading this thread, I have seen a lot of people discouraging the "drop out" decision: people are talking about "safety nets" and "commitments". To these people, I totally agree with them also. That college is a safety net and it is a way to prove how committed you can be. However, I feel firm in my decision to drop out of college, because of my own values and because I know myself the best. Everyone is different. Everyone approaches professional work and educational learning in different ways. Everyone has different levels of commitment, different abilities of getting things done, etc. Someone who has low self-motivation may find it difficult to get things done without a deadline. In entrepreneurship and startups, there is no deadline. Everything is entirely self-motivated. In college, deadlines are everywhere. So a highly self motivated individual may find success in entrepreneurship, while a non self motivated individual may find more success in college.

Not to brag or anything, but I find myself highly self-motivated. I taught myself to play more than 4 different musical instruments and read books daily. I find interest in every single subject there is including politics, history, language, math, science, sports, music, and more. In college, I find myself extremely demotivated because the professors aren't teaching me in a productive manner. I can usually teach myself the same subject they are teaching me in less time. I wouldn't have to go to class, and I would still be able to pass the tests and make the dean's list for every semester. I find my time extremely valuable, and I often get frustrated just walking to class to take a test, because that 5-minute walk to class could have been used to read a chapter in a personal development book.

My point is, everyone is different. College may be for some people, and college may not be for some people. It all depends on the person and what he or she believes is the right thing to do. For me, I can't imagine wasting another year in college learning about something that I can easily teach myself in less time for free. Other people might be able to find more success in college due to its ability to motivate people.

In the debate of college vs. drop out, I also think it's essential to evaluate both decisions. (Hint: Average weighted decision matrix! ;)) We can also evaluate both choices in terms of risk and rewards. For me, the rewards for self-education and entrepreneurial startups far outweigh the rewards of college education and professional jobs. And for the risks, I am entirely willing to risk a good job and income for free time. You can never get time back. So I plan on using it to its greatest potential with my personal characteristics.

Other people may see it otherwise.
 

dknise

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21 years old; I graduate with around 30K of debt. I get a finance job, pays me around $60K.

I've been watching my news feed for a year now as people start graduating college (I'm 23) and they publicize their job hunt. The get a job that pays me $60k is the expectation most have, and they either settle for make $35k a year a some subservient desk job or I kid you not... become a bartender or waiter.

I kid you not, wanna find a young kid with a finance degree from a university? Go eat dinner at P.F. Changs and you'll be waited on by one haha.
 

Mrs. BRKb

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If this is more than a temporary case of school/life anxiety, and you actually might make a change in direction, try to identify and separate out your facts, opinions, and assumptions. That should help you have the clearest logic possible as you make your decision.

Good luck.
 
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jon.a

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I don't understand why people keep taking 4 years to earn their degrees. I got my business degree in 18 months. But, I cheated, I CLEP'ed out almost all my core courses and overloaded working straight through.
 

Tony I

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It's the summer time, you have had a 2-3 month vacation from school I'm assuming. What have you done in your time off that is productive in reaching your entrepreneurial goals?

This summer I got into self publishing/writing. I have build a pretty decent stream of passive income ($1500 a mo). I also have been working on a start up idea, and attending meet-up groups, start up conventions.

Use it as a safety blanket. 30Gs and 4 years wasted of my young adult life when I have little expenses is an extremely expensive safety blanket.


This is where I think you go wrong. You can surround yourself with entrepreneurs and read books while you still go to college. Your reason for dropping out shouldn't be to read, it should be to take action. You won't become successful if you don't start trying businesses, and you will get stuck in the cycle of believing that reading more books will make you wealthy.

I 100% agree with you. Knowledge without execution is useless. I have already took action on my own publishing business, and am also working on a start up. I am saying from my point of view, the negatives of college (debt, wasted time) outweigh the benefits.


I've been watching my news feed for a year now as people start graduating college (I'm 23) and they publicize their job hunt. The get a job that pays me $60k is the expectation most have, and they either settle for make $35k a year a some subservient desk job or I kid you not... become a bartender or waiter.

I agree that the job market sucks. My school does have a very good job placement rate, and the average salary coming out of my school is around 50-60K. Over 60 companies come to the school to recruit us on campus. That is how I came up with this figure.
 

arcola

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The question underlying this you have to ask yourself is;

can I do this better than college? Can I measurably learn the important things faster and better than I can in college?

can you read more books faster? Can you network faster, can you learn high level skills faster?
 

DennisD

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You build a $1500/month passive income in 3-4 months?
Keep up on that.
Just DON'T stop that path... if you can do this EVERY 3-4 months... 4500-6000/month within a YEAR.
54K-72K/year passive income

216K-288K/year passive income in the same 4 years it would take to finish college.
If you're telling the truth about self-publishing just keep doing that and you're set.
 

wealthyliving

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Exactly. And by attending college, you lose 4 prime years of time along with thousands of dollars of debt. Most colleges these days make you memorize definitions that you forget a week after the exam. And I'm at one of the top ranked business colleges in the country by the way.

Funny related story; I met the only billionaire in my state the other day. I told him what school I go to and he goes; "That's a good business school. I didn't go to college." Then he pulled off in his Rolls Royce.

Haha! Sounds like an MJ DeMarco in the making... xD

I truly agree with you. You will lose 4 years in college and become thousands of dollars in debt if you don't plan on using your degree for something. But that means, in order to make dropping out of college justifiable in terms of wasting time, you need to make your time out of college even more productive than if you were in college. In other words, to justify the act of dropping out of college, you have to do more extraordinary things than if you were in college.

Hope this makes sense. xP

-Grace
 

FastLearner

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Very insightful post.

All these points confirm the beliefs I've had about formal education since High School. You get a degree to show you're great at being an employee.. What a boring life.
 

Operation_OPM

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Dropout with 500-1000 customers!
Dropout with a solid market identified and catered to!
Dropout with control over a profitable venture!
Dropout with NO debt and excess money in the bank!

Do not dropout and THEN do the awesome stuff!
Get your shit together right now...BEFORE you dropout!
Accelerate the process and move on, do not get stuck in slowlane collegiate methods, hit the gas and graduate in less than 12 months with a BA/BS if its so easy!!

PS. Never let individuals with college degree's tell you not to go to college, I see that crap all the time and its horrendously disingenuous.
 
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chrisbiz4444

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Hey,

I just came across your post and I can relate to this completely . I am a young guy myself and I found myself in the same predicament. I see many of my old classmates attending collage with no idea what they even want in life. I guess it has kinda become the status quo. I truly feel bad for the people that follow the pack like this. They are going to be stuck with loads of debt just to have the privilege of building someone else's dream.

I took some collage courses at a local community collage called CCRI with thoughts of getting a degree as a back-up. But I did not learn anything that I could not have taught myself online in 1/4 the time. It takes 4 years to get a degree and most classes drag on forever. Time is the most important thing we have. I would much rather use that time to build a start-up and learn through self education and experience while making income for my efforts and progress! The only down-side to this method is society is still stuck on comparing a collage degree to intelligence. You will really have to prove yourself but that's the beauty of it all. I believe in due time a collage degree will not be worth much. Everyone is attending and the student loan bubble can only get so big before people start to wake-up.

However there is huge benefit to collage that so many people overlook completely, and that's networking. Attending collage can put you around many like minded individuals. Many successful business's were started in dorm rooms. But there are still many other ways to network and find like minded people. That's why we are here right lol !

Your into E-books huh? That's a market I always wanted to get into. I love the idea of passive income. Unfortunately im not a very good writer as you can probably tell lol. I have been swing trade stocks and its been pretty profitable. But im really looking to create another source of income.

Hope to hear back from you soon man,

Best regards,
C.L
 
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Capital

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Good luck if you do dropout. Also, you are assuming a lot will happen, without doing much.
 

cdutoit

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My opinion: Don't!!!

Seriously. Don't.

Use it as a safety blanket. Obviously the fastlane is the way to go, but be realistic on the odds of success. I'm sure you can do it and you sound dedicated to it, but why not have the safety blanket below you. Wouldn't it be wonderful to start building your business now, finish school and if the business fails, no biggie, you can always get a temporary job and then build another business. Plus, should you ever decide to build a business that requires financing, your education will help you secure the financing.

Look, I know where you're at. The book, the fastlane...its all very motivational and inspiring...as it should be...and one could even question whether you should START a new degree, but please finish it if you've gotten this far. You'll always be able to fall back on this for the rest of your life, and removing that pressure actually allows you have more options to pursue your own fastlane.

My opinion only. Yours and other people mileage may vary.
 
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LibertyForMe

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I found that school was good in helping me learn how to network and speak. I also thought that I wanted to be a youth pastor for the first year or two; until I found out how much I loved business. Since you already know you love business, I say go for it.

The key is to spend time networking and meeting with business people who will help you grow intellectually. I followed the path you described; except NO ONE gets 60k out of school. I 100% guarantee that the highest offer you might get is like 45k. Now I am married, at my job from 7am-6pm, and the decision to fly is much harder and costlier. I am conflicted about my job; I feel like I am being a traitor to my creativity and passion and intelligence by staying - yet I am too scared to leave because my side projects haven't really developed yet.

If you are going to do it, do it. Just my perspective.
 
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ChickenHawk

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This summer I got into self publishing/writing. I have build a pretty decent stream of passive income ($1500 a mo).

Not to hijack this thread, it would be interesting to learn more about this. There are some other great threads about self-publishing on the forum ("Hello from Denver" in particular), or if your approach is different, maybe you could start another thread to highlight your approach. (Yes, I know that $1,500 a month isn't a fastlane amount of money, but it's definitely a start.) Just a thought!

Related to the original poster's question, I agree that taking on a bunch of debt for college isn't a good idea. But if you decide to go, there are ways to go to college without racking up that kind of debt. You can go to a community college first, and/or you can work while you're in school. Heck, you could build a fastlane business on the side. Is college worth it? Eh, that's subject for hot debate, and I certainly don't know the answer. I'm not sure your salary expectations are in-line with what the market pays though. Sadly, I don't think college graduates necessarily make as much as they used to.
 
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LibertyForMe

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I agree that the job market sucks. My school does have a very good job placement rate, and the average salary coming out of my school is around 50-60K. Over 60 companies come to the school to recruit us on campus. That is how I came up with this figure.

Wow. That is great, lots better than my university!
 

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