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Elijah R
New Contributor
If you're going to do STEM, oil-career, doctor or lawyer then stay in school. I spent 2 years in college as fine arts, dropped out and started making 35k year doing part-time manual labor.
If you're not going to go to college, especially in Trinidad-Tobago, it's gonna be rough. Especially if you don't have any money to start with.
Highly appreciate this adviceGoing to college can get you on the fast track to a higher-paying job, which is a good way to get started if you are building some early stability in your life. You don't need to get a job ever if you go straight for working for yourself but it helps. There are courses and certifications at technical and community colleges that can be faster, cheaper, and more valuable than a 4-year degree, especially if you plan to start your own business right away.
That being said, if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, financial manager, accountant, or any of those highly-regulated professions... You will need to go to a university.
The important thing is to understand the financial impact of your choice. Know how much it will cost, know roughly what you can expect to earn afterwards, and have a plan (i.e. work for a law firm for 2 years then start your own firm, or study engineering, work as an engineer until you get your "stamp," then go to work for yourself charging hourly).
That rules out all of the "fluff" degrees, and means you need to be careful of student loans and attending pricey schools. Those things generally are not worth it.
And there are lots of cases where you don't need any formal certification to reach the top levels of success: just determination and experience. Especially if you become an entrepreneur. But you should have some savings before you do that, ideally.
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