How imperative is college REALLY?

Question

First off, I'm NOT saying that college isn't a great thing for most people. I would just love to hear other's opinions other than parents, teachers, and relatives. Is college really the only chance at a successful life these days? I'm only 18 and making almost as much as my mom with her degree in respiratory therapy. I just know that college is not for me. I despised every minute of school. Is there anyone else out there that can argue against it?

Answer 1

There are some ways to make a lot of money without going to college, so if your idea of "success" is making a lot of money, then you're all set.

Good colleges do a lot more than give you a job skill. They educate you about where we came from, where we are and where we might go. They introduce you to ideas and images that enrich your life. And they fit you for job where you can engage with very smart people on an even playing field.

You might be making quite a lot of money today, but I'm sure you are well aware that in the hospitality industry there is no job security. You could be unemployed tomorrow. And it is a burnout job. What may be easy to do at age 24 can be impossible to do at age 48. It would be instructive to check the histories of the top 25 people in your hotel chain and see how many of them didnt go to college.

College is not for everyone. And it may not be for you right now, but you better keep it in mind as a future option....

Good luck.

Answer 2

What seems like good wages at 18 may not seem so hot later. For most people, college is the path that leads to a career rather than a job. It's not the only way to get there, and not everybody needs a career rather than a job, but I suspect that's what people are thinking about when they insist you need college.

If you intend to support yourself and possibly others (a spouse, kids, or helping your mom after she retires) you may find that "job" level wages will cover basics but not much more. How are you going to buy a house, take a vacation, pay for fertility treatments, or get your kids braces? Maybe you aren't.

Whether those things matter, or will matter later, is something only you can decide.

What I'd advise any young person who has found his or her whole educational experience just awful is to identify a career in a growing field, preferably one that can't be outsourced, that suits them and has opportunities for advancement or even ownership. This may take professional career counseling and the odds are it will also involve training.

There's nothing wrong with having a trade. The people who cut my hair, fix my furnace, prepare and serve my anniversary's special dinner, firefight in my city, frame my art prints, service my car, clean my chimney, and remove wasp nests inside my walls perform services I want or need and charge enough that I'm sure they make a confortable living.

Hope this is some help. Remember that it's not just wages now, but future earnings and job security to consider as well.

Answer 3

Saying you make "well above the minimum wage" or that you make "as much as someone with a degree in respiratory therapy" is not a ringing endorsement for skipping college. As one other answer indicated, college gives you much more than earning power. It gives you an education, which, if you take it seriously, can improve you as a person. And it gives you four very fun and challenging years where you learn more about yourself than you will just plodding along the way you are now.

Answer 4

I am 25 years old, I did not finish High School (I did get my GED though) and did not go to college. I make well above minimum wage, I make more than my 30 year old sister does, who has gone to college a total of 6 years in her life and works for a large health insurance company. I work in the hotel busness, and worked my way up. I started here at 19 years old, at 20 years old I was promoted to Sales Manager, then 22 I started to help with management duties, and at 24 years old I managed te whole hotel. Now, if you want to be a teacher, or a lawyer or a doctor, you of couse have to go to college. Not all fields require college though, as I have proved. I also despised school, and never want to go back, let alone pay tens and thousands of dollars to go back.

Answer 5

College is not for everyone. I went and it taught me how to drink asinine amounts of alcohol. I got a dual degree. But in all honesty it didnt teach me any skills that were absolutely necessary to suceed in life or my profession. I guess my only argument for college is that it teaches you alot about yourself and what you are capable of. Otherwise it was nothing more than a $90,000 piece of paper. Granted, I certainly wouldnt have been offered the job opportunities that I currently have or have had. The problem is, youre 18 years old. You dont know what you are going to want or need in your future. But nobody ever does. I say if your comfortable with what you do and where you are in life take it with a grain of salt and proceed. In 4 years you might change your mind and decide to go to school then.