How tragic it is that so many people are trapped in hopeless situations because of the education industrial complex. This has recently been shown to be painfully evident in a recent article in Forbes magazine titled The Great College Hoax.
College is just not for everyone. This is not some elitist statement in any regard. It’s a matter of economics or finding the means to obtain your ends. With a little determination, many smart and talented people would be much happier if they would forgo the college racket and start making their way in the workplace.
If you are thinking about college I suggest that you first ask yourself if the degree you’re wanting to pursue is even needed to do what makes you happy. Are you willing to pay the various costs of tuition (interest, mental, physical etc.)? When I went to college I learned that the hardest part was not the stress that came from within the classroom but the enormous stress that came from outside the classroom.
My fiancee and I were lucky enough to pick an in-state public college that was well-known and relatively cheap. We didn’t simply pick a school just because it was popular, had good marketing and we definitely didn’t pick a school because we were sports fans. How on earth does a good football team make a good education?!?! A degree is a degree and it really doesn’t matter where it’s from (especially if it’s from a public school!) Don’t learn this the hard way. Just pick a school that’s known and one that you know you can graduate from!
We were also both lucky to be able work full-time for kind and tolerant employers and to live within our means. We both finished degrees that we made sure were highly sought after in our respective fields. We avoided degrees that wouldn’t merely be a stepping stone to more post-graduate work. We went into fields that were practical and could lead into multiple fields or have multiple uses (Architecture/Engineering/Logistics/Technology).
If you’re thinking about college take care to make sure that you need that degree and that you can actually get it at reasonable cost. In short, make sure that the degree is going to work for you-not you working for it for the rest of your life.