Should I go to college? An answer from a Berkeley professor.

[Jon L]

This is the best answer I've seen on the topic, and has a lot of applications outside of the school realm, too. The entire answer is worth reading, but here's the key point for me:

You can learn a lot in school, but some people can learn faster on their own. Let me repeat one of my favorite clichés: education is not filling a bucket; it is lighting a fire. So it depends. Quitting school can be risky, but for the right person, it is the right bet. For most people the right choice is staying in school. Their buckets can do with more regimented filling. But once the fire is lit, the student can learn much faster outside of school.
--Richard Muller, Prof Physics, UC Berkeley​

https://www.quora.com/What-are-Rich...wer/Richard-Muller-3?srid=uWju&share=40af9123

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Hassen]

TBH I think the choice would depend a lot on affordability of said college.

Personally I'd definitely have gone to college all over again, but I'd never choose to study business again. I'd much rather pick an unemployable major.
College was an alright experience and the diploma serves some kinda purpose sometimes, but what I learned in college? Well, everything outside of my major was absolutely eye-opening & downright awesome & relevant to this day, and everything in my major proved completely useless.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SquatchMan]

I'd much rather pick an unemployable major.

I have an unemployable major. Curious what you're specific reason is for picking one?

 

[Hassen]

I have an unemployable major. Curious what you're specific reason is for picking one?

For fun, really. Also I'd have found studying much more meaningful as I'm in fact the kind of person that if something doesn't interest me, I can't push myself to do it at all. I in fact passed all my classes rather easily but truthfully speaking I retained nothing as soon as I got done with the exams.
Idk what your experience has been but for me, having chosen a "practical" major as soon as I started my first internship before I even graduated I realized I wanted nothing to do with anything even remotely related to my major. Afterwards I have never once used my major at all—it does help still that I have a BA, but my major hasn't been relevant these years at all.
When I was a student I thought everything would be really linear: you choose a good, practical major early on to go into that career when you graduate; for the past three months I've entered two different industries that I never thought I'd touch, where I had no prior experience, and since I freelanced for fun I could afford to start with unpaid volunteering to pad my resume and build contacts in the industries etc., networking & getting experience all happened really naturally. Now when I send resumes to gigs in these two areas I know I'm competing on my hard skills so to speak instead of with my formal education, which oddly makes me much more confident about getting every opportunity I apply to. Had I wanted a full time job I could turn these freelancing hobbies into full time offers anytime. Back when I first graduated I always felt like a fraud since I couldn't in fact comfortably do work related to my major without further training, which I believe was also commonplace for fresh graduates.
Nobody I've come to know personally for the past two or three years has been able to guess my major. (And they can't agree what they believe my major to be either.) It appears everyone has a really linear way of thinking that they believe whatever you studied in college, you must do it as a career, live it and breathe it, have it as the only thing you're interested & knowledgeable in. But tbh except for highly specialized careers like doctors, lawyers, etc. I don't much find formal education really directly related to a career. College was a nice time for exploring various academic subjects & introspection as a new adult, didn't find it at all useful as career preparatory training.
All just my personal experience & thoughts though, your mileage may.. well, must vary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SquatchMan]

For fun, really. Also I'd have found studying much more meaningful as I'm in fact the kind of person that if something doesn't interest me, I can't push myself to do it at all. I in fact passed all my classes rather easily but truthfully speaking I retained nothing as soon as I got done with the exams.
Idk what your experience has been but for me, having chosen a "practical" major as soon as I started my first internship before I even graduated I realized I wanted nothing to do with anything even remotely related to my major. Afterwards I have never once used my major at all—it does help still that I have a BA, but my major hasn't been relevant these years at all.
When I was a student I thought everything would be really linear: you choose a good, practical major early on to go into that career when you graduate; for the past three months I've entered two different industries that I never thought I'd touch, where I had no prior experience, and since I freelanced for fun I could afford to start with unpaid volunteering to pad my resume and build contacts in the industries etc., networking & getting experience all happened really naturally. Now when I send resumes to gigs in these two areas I know I'm competing on my hard skills so to speak instead of with my formal education, which oddly makes me much more confident about getting every opportunity I apply to. Had I wanted a full time job I could turn these freelancing hobbies into full time offers anytime. Back when I first graduated I always felt like a fraud since I couldn't in fact comfortably do work related to my major without further training, which I believe was also commonplace for fresh graduates.
Nobody I've come to know personally for the past two or three years has been able to guess my major. (And they can't agree what they believe my major to be either.) It appears everyone has a really linear way of thinking that they believe whatever you studied in college, you must do it as a career, live it and breathe it, have it as the only thing you're interested & knowledgeable in. But tbh except for highly specialized careers like doctors, lawyers, etc. I don't much find formal education really directly related to a career. College was a nice time for exploring various academic subjects & introspection as a new adult, didn't find it at all useful as career preparatory training.
All just my personal experience & thoughts though, your mileage may.. well, must vary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting. I can definitely relate to everything you've said, except I dropped the 'practical' Accounting major after 1.5 years and switched to an unemployable one. I like how you explained the red part, too bad your average college student doesn't understand the concept until they feel it in person. Oh well.

 

[Olimac21]

I really like in countries like Germany where some options for Uni you work and study at the same time. I believe thats the best because you put theory into practice from day one.

Otherwise if you cannot do that I guess Uni would be good if what you are studying in really technical (engineering/medicine) otherwise can most of the times be a huge waste of time UNLESS Uni gives you the opportunity and space to:

1. Network with different people
2. Join in organizations where you want develop leadership/people skills
3. Places where reputation (the diploma) is a must to start working somewhere.

 

[Jurica22]

TBH it depends on what you're studying. In Croatia (this is high school mind you) we learn things that are so useless, I've lost all motivation for any further studies.
We have to know the names of geographic regions, rivers, most important cities of countries like Chile, Brasil, Mexico, Russia, China etc. while 99% of them don't even know our country exists. Everything is outdated, and nothing is applicable to the real world.

With that being said, atleast college is free in our country, and in most of the EU.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Olimac21]

TBH it depends on what you're studying. In Croatia (this is high school mind you) we learn things that are so useless, I've lost all motivation for any further studies.
We have to know the names of geographic regions, rivers, most important cities of countries like Chile, Brasil, Mexico, Russia, China etc. while 99% of them don't even know our country exists. Everything is outdated, and nothing is applicable to the real world.

With that being said, atleast college is free in our country, and in most of the EU.

Lol I am from Chile haha you are right is about either outdated or just generalize knowledge which you are not going to use in the future. And the thing about the price is a really good point, because if you study 3-4 years having a debt of more than 6 figures and no job prospects after that is a terrible investment/waste of time.

 

[mathnkrayon]

College education is an easy route to acquire proper living and be able to pay the bills. As long as you have the money to use for education.

It is time dependent, therefore you know exactly when will you get its benefits . As long as you pass all the required subjects.

Whereas, learning outside college will give you a fortune but it is an arduous task and is independent of time. You don't know when will you succeed.