What did you learn in college?

[SmittyMcdougal]

Quick question to the college goers, what did you learn and what did it teach you?

no: this isn't about what you studied, this is about what you learned while in college, what was tangible and what did it teach you to do in life.

 

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[AgainstAllOdds]

Quick question to the college goers, what did you learn and what did it teach you?

no: this isn't about what you studied, this is about what you learned while in college, what was tangible and what did it teach you to do in life.

I went to Indiana University. The Kelley School of Business. It's currently ranked #4, so not representative of a median business school. Here's what I learned:

• Entrepreneurship -- How to mitigate risk in any startup venture. Not how to be successful. How to minimize failure. No school will ever teach you how to be successful, they'll just teach you how to improve your odds
• Accounting principles -- great for touching up the quantitative side of your business
• Finance principles -- all the basics for getting a finance job
• International business -- all the trade terms, how to deal with purchasing, sourcing, etc.
• Operations/Supply Chain -- How large businesses function, what they look for, track, etc.
• Business Law -- an understanding of how to incorporate, how to avoid lawsuit, what I kind of can and can't do.
• Excel (the complex stuff) -- this is huge for financial forecasting and quantifying risk/reward.

Those are the most beneficial things I learned off the top of my head.

Here's the biggest bullshit/waste of time:

• Marketing -- you're better off starting a small business and learning to drive traffic
• Management -- all bullshit theory for something that should be experience based
• "Career" classes -- pretty crap unless you're going into corporate
• ELECTIVES -- some were fun, but the fact that they're required is ridiculous

But the most value was in workshops. It is extremely competitive to get into them. But if you do, you'll learn a ton. The two best workshops were:

• Wealth Creation Workshop -- fifteen of us studied on weekends under individuals worth millions up to a couple billion; no bullshit; just real entrepreneurs sharing their time. I was in this one, but unfortunately never apply for the investment banking one ...
• Investment Banking (Trading or Wealth Management) -- perfect for getting into banking. You learn finance from Goldman Sachs professionals, etc. You get fast tracked to making six figures; it's the perfect fallback for entrepreneurship, or an amazing way to build investment capital

However, note: I went on a full-ride. I can't tell you if my satisfaction level would be the same if I paid for the experience. However, I will note that it was worth the time.

My intent was never to go to college. It was to skip college and do my own thing. But when I received scholarships, it only made sense to go and work on my projects on the side.

And in the end: I'd probably go even if I had to pay.



** AND HERE'S A HACK FOR YOU WHEN CONSIDERING SCHOOLS ** :
Whenever you're considering a school, search for the specific major, and "salary statistics". All the top schools will share stats. The crap majors/schools will not. You'll be able to look at these stats and get a good idea of how the world values that education. Money isn't everything. But education is an investment. So treat it as one.

 

[Bytesunfish]

I went to a university and studied Mechanical and Electrical engineering. I learned all about the physical and electrical world around me. It was a pretty great education, although most of the real learning came when I was doing club projects. We made autonomous drones, created test beds to be used in microgravity simulations and designed and raced miniature formula 1 race cars. I learned more on those projects and from chasing knowledge to complete my personal projects than I ever did in class. I feel like my degree is as useful as toilet paper, but the education I got while I was there is valuable.

With that being said, only about 10-20% of every class has any real applicability. So much of it is just academic exercises/bull puckey. I saw no value in my general ed classes, although some of them were interesting.

 

[NetBorn]

I went to a university and studied Mechanical and Electrical engineering. I learned all about the physical and electrical world around me. It was a pretty great education, although most of the real learning came when I was doing club projects. We made autonomous drones, created test beds to be used in microgravity simulations and designed and raced miniature formula 1 race cars. I learned more on those projects and from chasing knowledge to complete my personal projects than I ever did in class. I feel like my degree is as useful as toilet paper, but the education I got while I was there is valuable.

With that being said, only about 10-20% of every class has any real applicability. So much of it is just academic exercises/bull puckey. I saw no value in my general ed classes, although some of them were interesting.

So still nothing ? It is common theme with people with tech education ... "Hey it was great, we were eating some material, it looked very serious, we played with tools .. it was valuable, but no we didn't learn much and my diploma is not valuable ..." . There was psychological study about this, when the nightmare is over you tend to lie to yourself and the world ... I was in what was considered best high school, best university ... I left and I'm thankful, still seeing people saying "yeah but we were taught math we learn things that they don't teach you anywhere else, but I can't tell you what it is ... " ... Yeah, but guess what, I was there too, I know you know peanuts and if you claim you know a thing you are just plain stupid.

 

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[JokerCrazyBeatz]

The people i know say college education is trash and it's something you could learn on your own . But they did go for the money from the school loans lol . I never went , I never been motivated to succeed at school . But I DO know that all the info needed to be successful in business is on the Internet and/or books

 

[theag]

Nothing useful.

 

[Tapp001]

I learned alot in school, but it was mostly ancilliary to my classes and more to do with life. That being said, my slowlane job is a direct result of my education. I wouldn't have it if I didn't have my Masters. I agree you can learn most of what you need to outside of school.

That being said, don't limit yourself to business education, and take some time for some general arts learning as well. Thank goodness you can do it quickly and easily via the internet.

Start with Extra History, School of Life, and Crash Course on YouTube. 10 minute videos and very entertaining and informative. Throw one on in between business podcasts while doing the dishes.

 

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[GuestUserX09]

I learned alot in school, but it was mostly ancillary to my classes and more to do with life.

Yeah. What classes?

 

[Tapp001]

Yeah. What classes?

Economics, Statistics, Enivonmental Stuff, some other International Studies Stuff, Policy Analysis, Government, Judicial Administration, and a selection of Law (constitutional, administrative, international, and equality).

 

[GuestUserX09]

@Tapp001 - I meant "what classes" with sarcasm. In the sense that I didn't go to or think much of my classes. Yeah, for me it was all introspection, partying and the like.

 

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[Tapp001]

@Tapp001 - I meant "what classes" with sarcasm. In the sense that I didn't go to or think much of my classes. Yeah, for me it was all introspection, partying and the like.

@Square1Hype Sorry. still some residual brainwashing I guess My real class was learning to work and motivate myself without a parent, and later on being independent. though I wasn't working for myself, I had to hustle to learn to stay in the city I wanted to live.

Classes in general were good for learning how to absorb information quickly and write relatively well. Not that you need to school to learn those things.

 

[Sanj Modha]

I'm not gonna lie. I learnt about women.

 

[Fox]

About 5% of what I learned in University was in class. Mainly speaking and presentation skills.

The other 95% was through extra activities:

University Clubs
Was the trips officer for two main University clubs. One had about 50 members and the other over 100. Learned marketing, people skills, planning, team work, direct sales (hey girls why don't you go on a surfing trip this weekend?), and lots more. A University club is like a small business, some had budgets of mid 5 figures. Met a lot of mentors also and had some great exposure to more mature people at a young age. I remember some great advice I was given late nights on some trips that were worth a whole semester of lectures.


Student Officer
I helped show first years around campus every semester and also foreign students. Tonnes of value out of this, had a huge international network every semester by the second week. I probably had 60% international friends in University. Exposure to lots of different cultures and ways of thinking.


Student Businesses
I bought and sold cars for my first three years on Campus. I could sell 2 or 3 a semester at 50-100% profit. That was a lot of fun and I never lost money on a car. I remember I was busy one week and I had my dad met the buyer, he lost money on the deal and I was pissed cause it was my first negative deal out of nearly 20 cars ha. I still remember the figures.

I also started a fruit, vegetable, and essential delivery box business in my last year. Buy organic fruit and vegetables, add in some milk, bread and eggs and deliver it to a list of houses at 100% profit. It was small time and never really took off. I got stuck with unsexy vegetables from my supplier (giving a 19 girl a turnip and parsnip to cook for the week haha) and eventually it failed.


Hustling Lecture Notes
I didn't go to a lot of lectures but I had a great scheme end of year. I would go to every maths lecture, which is the subject everyone would struggle with, and take perfect notes. I am a straight A maths student and can really break it down for others to learn how to do it. The last week of semester I would photocopy my notes and approach students who were great in another subject but really struggled at maths. I would ask if we could swap notes for a few minutes and then go and photocopy all of that subjects semesters. In one day I would have perfect notes for every subject. I have great "flash" memory so I could learn a whole semester for a subject in 12 hours and go in and get an A or B. Some times I would have been at maybe one lecture for that subject and Id score in the top tier. I would spend all semester running clubs, my business, meeting new people and going on surfing or kayaking trips.


Girls and Partying
I was fond of inviting plenty of foreigner girls on club trips. Sometimes you could get the ratios 70% girls 30% guys. I also sold a little weed on the side. Plenty of good learning experiences in both of these.

 

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[Chris Wilk]

I learned that I need to do what I want and not doing what other people want me to do.

I studied something I hated because of this, and led me to nowhere.

 

[The-J]

My alcohol tolerance.

I don't regret going, I took a bunch of classes that I liked, with professors that I liked.

My marketing classes were useful, mainly because they weren't about memorizing concepts but instead based around case analysis after the fact.

My finance classes were, for the most part, useless. However, I did learn important concepts such as time value of money and how to make financial decisions knowing only the potential cash flows.

Statistics classes were probably the most useful classes I took.

Psychology classes were interesting, but I don't know anyone who would say psychology isn't interesting. Everyone wants to learn more about how they work.

I gained a work ethic in university because it was actually pretty difficult for me (unlike high school, which I breezed through). So, unlike some geniuses, I had to work pretty hard to get A's. But, unlike most students, I was actually willing to put in work to get good grades.

I'm in debt, though, which sucks.

Verdict: I don't regret it overall but I probably would have achieved my goals faster without going

 

[JAJT]

My biggest lesson was after graduation: everything I learned in college is unrealistically idealized by teachers who clearly have never done what they are teaching.

My only take-away from 3 years of business administration was meeting my wife.

 

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[#nowhere]

Learned to get in massive amount of knowledge into my brain in short time frame. That's it.

(And distinction between practical knowledge and so called "science")

 

[sWALK90]

How to drink, networking skills, how to throw partys/events, how to get girls..

 

[NetBorn]

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I learned a lot in my tech education. I majored in Electrical Engineering and I learned how to program, how operating systems and device drivers work, how computer chips work, how to design and build electronic devices and how many other aspects of our technical world work. I also majored in Philosophy, where I learned how to apply logic, how to debate and, most importantly, how to think critically -- skills that helped me navigate the business world and allowed me to quickly move up the management chain at a couple of the most prominent tech companies in the world.

One of those companies paid for me to go back to school to get my MBA. In business school, I learned about macroeconomics, finance, operations/logistics, supply chain management, negotiating and other tactical business applications. When I left the corporate world, I was able to use my business education to start a very successful business -- which hinged on many of the concepts I learned in business school -- and now I'm onto my next business.

My current business is all about improving technical education, so my technical education was immensely important to this business, as it provided me the problem I'm trying to solve...

Not convinced.
Also the things you mention are taught in good high schools - we were designing circuits, playing with micro-controllers ... you sound like a guy claiming the army taught him a lot - yes that it is. If you want to believe that buble how it was all great and that makes you feel fulfilled OK, but don't make up things about chips helping you make grow in the career. Also I had philosophy classes, my girlfriend in university was graduating that, too ... What you were sold is confidence, illusion, placebo and it works ... but if you are at some point wise - you will look beyond that.

 

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[NetBorn]

I think you're confused. I wasn't trying to convince you of anything. I was stating my personal experiences and their relevance to my life.

If you don't share those experiences, no problem. But, trying to argue with my experiences makes no sense.



Cool...take your high school tech education and go try to get engineering job offers from Google and Microsoft, get a couple engineering patents and start a tech product company -- if you're successful, THEN we can talk about how much you learned in high school. Until then, it's probably safe to say I learned a bit more getting my engineering degree...



Given the logical fallacies in your post, I think it's safe to say that you probably didn't get as much out of your philosophy classes as you should have.



Wow, your insecurities run deep, don't they? I'm not a therapist, but based on many of the posts I've read from you, I suspect you are seriously trying to overcompensate for something...

Sure, those are strong arguments, and you're not defending yourself by attacking me ?
Here is an argument : What do you think made you successful ? The tech knowledge or the clear vision what you actually want ? The philosophy courses or the will to act and perceive it, because you know why you want it ... Are you slightly getting what I mean ?

And about my high school education, officially half of the tech companies here are run or owned by graduates of my high school, so don't talk to me about job offers - we had a lot of doors open before even stepping into university.

 

[rc08234]

How to cheat and pladgerize, and how to talk my way out of it when I got caught pladerizing

 

[Vigilante]

In my short stint in college, I

• drank beer
• killed a bunch of fruit flies in a petri dish
• worked my a$$ off at Best Buy
• fell deeply in love
• learned about the elasticity of pricing in the supply chain
• discovered I could live as a minimalist if I ever needed to
• successfully stopped the impulse to kill my roommate (a skill that has proven valuable over the years)

and then
dropped out at the request of the dean of the college.

All in all, it was a hell of a semester.

 

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[mtn_baldy]

The people i know say college education is trash and it's something you could learn on your own . But they did go for the money from the school loans lol . I never went , I never been motivated to succeed at school . But I DO know that all the info needed to be successful in business is on the Internet and/or books

I would agree to an extent, and I used to think this was absolutely the case until I just finished my first year in University.

So far what I've learned:

Learning to manage deadlines.
Forcing yourself to do something you have no interest in doing.
A second language

But definitely, the most important thing in college:
Managing money and expenses when most of your time is spent not making money. I've been living like a F*cking bum since I started college. 15 hour work weeks force me to hustle my a$$ off in my spare time to make ends meet, AND also have time to study.

Also, committing to something difficult for 4+ years is not something that everyone can do, which builds character. And at the end of it, you have a fallback, or at least something to make money off of while you continue entrepreneurial ventures.

Id say no regrets so far.

 

[SSimz]

I took computer science and networking in college.

Biggest take away from college was learning how to be an efficient problem solver

 

[JordanS]

Honestly? Nothing.

I went for 2.5 years, then left to be self employed.

90% of my classes were things I already taught myself outside of school(intro comp sci/math), and the other 10% were general bs things I didn't pay attention to. I commuted to school so just went and came home. It felt the same as high school to me. I also still had my high school mindset of not really caring, just doing the minimum amount of work to get by. I would barely do homework or study. Instead I was "procrastinating" by working on my own businesses/learning my own things. Really, the only reason I even went was pressures from family/friends. If I didn't keep up the appearance it would look like I was some bum living in their parents house. In reality I was bootstrapping my own businesses, and making more money in a few months than all of the judgmental people make in a year. For now it is a success but if things ever go wrong that college degree could have been worth it.

With that being said, I think college is worth it for most people. Learn some things, network, get a decent job. I do wish I could have followed that path like a "normal" person, but some of us just aren't wired that way.

 

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[InnovateDesign]

I learned how to pass with good grades without really learning the material.

 

[Jamie T]

I learned that spending your senior year on an independent research project isn't the best use of your time.

What was the independent research project?

-A massive business plan without much execution.

I got an A

 

[TonyStark]

That it wasn't worth my time.

 

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[blackbrich]

In actual school:
Learned a lot in civil engineering that I currently do not use due to never finding a job in my field.

From a lab position at the school:
How to read academic papers.
How to spot BS in academic studies.
How to set up an experiment.
How to think scientifically.
About Korean BBQ.
Learned that biology is interesting when you don't turn it into a rote memorization exercise.

 

[rbhf001]

I have a degree in Engineering and Management in Tourism Industry...I don't work in tourism, but I do apply most of the thinks that i've learned. Like marketing, management, autocad, webdesign, first aid...etc.