To the high school students and college students...

[Kathandira]

Couldn't agree more.

Amazed me all the hipsters whining and bitching at the OWS movements that 'they have a degree' in some obscure bullshit and they aren't getting offered jobs starting on good money. Like really... And people continue to study obscure stuff with shit job prospects even though the economies are still bad.

I understand that it's important to study what you enjoy, but you also need to be practical.

My cousin was an apprentice welder 5 years ago and now he's working contracts in Canada in the oil fields earning more than a top surgeon/consultant does in the UK.

Truth, and the greatest part is often in the US if you would like to apprentice in a trade, you can get classes paid for you and certified.

My Experience with school:
I went to Vo-Tech for highschool and learned Computer Assisted Drafting. I always wanted to design bridges and houses and such. But after my senior year, i was too young and full of energy to hold down an office job. All i wanted to do was to skateboard. This was great until i hit 20yrs old. Then I just worked dead end retail jobs and then finally spent 7 years as a waiter. I started working at 17 for Home Depot doing floor plan mark ups for $12 an hour (in 1998 that was really good for that age) Then worked my way down the ladder till i was 27. Thats when i decided to go back to school.

Over the years i learned to love computers and tweaking them. So i decided to go to school for Computer Networking and Security at Anthem Institute (Used to be Chubb) Did a 1 year crash course and ended up with a 3.5 GPA. After i left school i got a job at $13 an hour working at Rutgers University. This was hourly and they ended up cutting all hour employees down to 19.5 hours a week. I couldn't afford my rent/bills on this, so i left and i entered my current job. I now work for a software company who hosts Web Applications for Clinical Trials conducted by Pharmaceutical Companies. I now make $45k a year and have job security and awesome benefits.


Moral of the story is, sometimes it takes a while to decide what you want to do with your life. Some people don't decide till later. I was looked at as someone who had the ability to be something but would prolly turn out to be nothing. I was just a late bloomer.

[Rimrot]

Yep that's the real issue. History and the humanities are a very popular choice for sports players, if for no other reason because they can play varsity, travel, party with the team, etc and still complete the degree. It's hard to find students that will double down with football + biochemistry, or baseball + engineering, just because there isn't enough time in the day to do that for most people without burning out.

Not to say that's the entire root of the problem, just my anecdotal experience of my brother's college varsity baseball team almost entirely consisting of History or "American Studies" majors.

There were very few athletes majoring in history when I was in college 20+ years ago. Also, many students who are planning on politics or law school or both will choose history as a double major or the primary. Oh, save the everyone goes poly sci for law school because that's bull.

At the BA level a degree like history if you aren't going to teach isn't all that useful, however, once you've gone on to get your masters or phd it can become relevant. The problem is the cost for advance degrees relative to earning potential makes it not worth going for the advance degree. The thing here that pisses me off is when someone elects to spend the money on an advance degree and then bitches and moans that they're in debt a 100k and can't afford the payments. That was a freaking choice, you can't tell me that a person seeking a phd doesn't know that it's expensive and that the earning potential in that field sucks.

[Sialanne]

Who'd have thought that going to college for useless things didn't pay afterward?

[Badpaladin]

So far I'm debt-free, thanks to a combination of living frugally, having gracious parents allowing me to live with them and working as much as possible when not in school. Likely going to have to take out a loan or two in the future, though.

If I can earn a master's and stay under 50k I'll be very happy, since the field I'm aiming for could have that paid off in less than a year. Getting a paid internship or at the very least a relatively trivial programming gig for part-time (full time during summer/winter) between now and then would be fantastic. There's already people I know that are 50k under and have barely started upper-division coursework. Aside from school costs, a lot of that money gets spent needlessly - new clothes, eating out all the time, etc - and I'm not very sympathetic when that's the case. Education is an investment, and an expensive one at that.

[Arlon]

Very few people ever come close to 100k, and no, you're not getting paid to go to school.

Getting scholarships that pay for the schooling itself isn't the same as getting money in your pocket for doing something.

Im not from US and this is not a scholarship. The goverment gives me money. And yes, i would be paying 100k if i was doing my physicians "degree" in US. To be frank, i find the idea of paying for education ridiculous regardless of the fee.

[Annapolis]

I think people should just have an idea of what they want to do when they go to college. It used to be a pretty nice place to inexpensively party and in the mean time earn a degree that will guarantee you more money later. As others have said that just isn't the case anymore. It still can be extremely financially beneficial, but that isn't as guaranteed as it used to be for everyone. It is way too expensive of a place to just party too. There are plenty of cheaper ways to party. Just treat it with the same thought you'd give to anything that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and partly decides your future.

[Frozenbeef]

I was deciding to go to uni or not like 1 and a 1/2 years ago....I live at home and get a free £3k grant every year which i use to repay my tuition fee in full so if i do placement next year i will gain +£15k, a degree, work experience and greater knowledge of my subject just by going to uni...the only negative is that it's -4 years of my life but it is a once on a life time experience so i went for it >.<

and no..I'm not a traditional student...i don't drink, my version of going out with friends is going to burger king for lunch and i actually enjoy going to class >.<

[brickerz]

Excellent advice all through this thread. I'm currently a professor and I see children every semester who have no business being at a University. They're not cerebral enough to go into a doctoral degree (really the only thing worthwhile these days), and they aren't going to benefit enough from a BA unless they go into chem/physics/mathematics/statistics. Even then, you'll need a master's degree to get a job that's "good" enough to really start earning what you put in. Academia is not for everyone, there are academics, we are unique people just like ice road truckers are unique, fisherman are unique, and all other variances of trade have their own quirks. Society just tends to put academics on a pedestal when in reality most of us are just very intelligent alcoholics who didn't want to mature past the age of 15.

[muto]

If you don't have an idea of what you want to major in, then go into a general studies program and get an associates, and then decide which area of study you found most interesting and go into that. I'm getting a general studies in science, so I can sample all the different fields of science, and then decide which science I want to go into. Chemistry and Geology both sound very appealing.

[brickerz]

If you don't have an idea of what you want to major in, then go into a general studies program and get an associates, and then decide which area of study you found most interesting and go into that. I'm getting a general studies in science, so I can sample all the different fields of science, and then decide which science I want to go into. Chemistry and Geology both sound very appealing.

This probably the worst advice. Going into Gen Studies will get you a hefty bill(a lot of colleges have reduced aid for gen studies/undeclared), a paper that means less than your diploma, and no usable skills. Take a year or two off, work somewhere, get a library card and start reading non-fiction. You'll make money and learn more than wasting time and money taking Gen Studies.

[Blueobelisk]

Lol OP of course "partying and fun" isn't what college is about, that's not how you utilize it, at least. That's why busting my ass and making like 5 posts per day in that finals thread about the hair tearing work I'm doing for my grades and why I have no social life because I'm either in class, at home studying, or in lab doing an internship all day.

[muto]

This probably the worst advice. Going into Gen Studies will get you a hefty bill(a lot of colleges have reduced aid for gen studies/undeclared), a paper that means less than your diploma, and no usable skills. Take a year or two off, work somewhere, get a library card and start reading non-fiction. You'll make money and learn more than wasting time and money taking Gen Studies.

Uh what? If I do well in my first two years I can earn scholarships to four year colleges, and I don't plan on wasting general study elective credits, as I plan on taking a lot of math classes up to physics. I'm also going to try and find a job working on campus, and do the work and study program.

[Revik]

This is one of those things that's going to different depending on your individual situation.

Practical degrees or trade schools are definitely things that are for the most part sound advice. Self teaching yourself things can also be the way to go now with a number of certificates that are available you don't necessarily need a full blown degree.

IMO if you are going for an impractical degree then you should have the intention of being the best of the best because only the very best can make it in such fields. If you do not have the drive or ambition to be the best then choose something practical that can earn you a comfortable living.

[Boricha]

I got full ride offers from 2 universities my senior year in high school, so I just chose the one I liked more and am enjoying every bit of it. Except calculus.

[crakerjack]

I'm disappointing... I have one issue... I can't find a degree that I can do well and not want to kill myself at the end of the day... I was hoping the article would help me like you said, but all it talks about is debt... not only does this not imply to half the things you said, it's just talking about people and their debts... nothing about what college I should go to... what major I should follow... Just people and their debts... You should really consider making things more clearer before stating false facts... I was honestly hoping to find a solution, but nope.

[Deleted]

I'm currently doing a Bsc Child Nursing degree. I picked nursing because I've always wanted to be one and child branch because I wanted to work with children. So I'll be happy with my eventual career. The majority of those who qualify get a job pretty quick and the others are usually wanting to work in specialist areas. My fees are paid for, £1000 a year given which doesn't need to be paid back plus a half student loan of 1700 a year for 3 years that I'll pay back once I start earning over £21k .

[PACOX]

College is good for STEM majors or those who are going to medical school. Too bad society teaches us that only "failures" go to community college and trade schools. A lot of people go college only to find out its not for them or they weren't ready and then can't even afford to drop out. Or they go to school to get degrees they can't make work for them.

A school will let you take whatever you want as long as they get paid. Sallie Mae wants her money whether you have a job or not.

[Slummish]

Art, literature and history are just as important to society as math and science, though the impact is much more subtle.

I have two undergrad degrees in the fine arts and a master's degree in philosophy. You don't need to explain their importance to me. However, I clearly needed to explain the importance of strong academics to the OP... which is what I was doing.

[MerinPally]

I'm a first year university student. I study Chemistry. This means I'm safe then.

[Deleted]

It must really suck having to pay that much money for college / uni fees. I couldnt imagine raising like $15k for a course. I get it free cause I live in Scotland, but damn... that amount of money could get me a decent car lol.