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.
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
- 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.