School

[blankinput]

[CMYK]

Just realized I can graduate a semester early. One hand, amazing opportunity to do whatever I want for a few months and save my parents an obscene amount of money, on the other hand, friends, college, last semester ever....

[RycePooding]

You could try to get an internship or part time job in town. I had a friend who did that, graduated a semester early, but stuck around and hung out with us for that last semester, then walked at our graduation instead of in the winter. It was sweet, best of both worlds.

[Muzzle]

No idea what I want to do and I'm only a year away from college apps. I definitely do not want to go into college unsure of my goals.

I've been thinking about taking a gap year between hs and college, serving in Americorps or working abroad to figure myself out. I mainly like doing english and humanities stuff but most info I've been getting disregards those as paying career choices.

[INNIT]

[zayg]

when you're paying over $20k a year for college it quite literally is a job training center and you're foolish to think otherwise

[Muzzle]

[ramseames]

don't go to college until you know what you want to do. college/university for people who aren't independently wealthy is a way to pursue some type of career. doesn't matter what that career is, but you gotta have a fucking plan for whats going to happen once you've graduated.

taking a year or 2 or 3 and working and maybe traveling a bit is so much better than personally going into debt or spending mad parental $$$ to just take courses that sound interesting.

[INNIT]

"in the real world you need to be able to pay back 4 years at 20+k/year with what you're studying."

haha, that's some pretty condescending shit there dude. what is this real world you live in and how do i get a job with my BA?!?!?!

anyways, I completely get why people look at university as an investment. it's expensive and you'll need to pay off student debt one day. I don't really think anyone currently going to university doesn't understand this reality

when I picked materials engineering as my field of study I thought it would be a good mix of "interesting/inspiring" and "i'll get a job". but when I was sardined into a massive lecture hall full of 1000+ kids and forced to listen to some chinese dude read from a powerpoint in broken english I quickly realized that I was not in a place of learning but in a job training centre. all anyone cared about was their GPA and interest in the subject began and ended with "what do I need to know to get at least a B- on the exam". it got to the point where I never went to class because I was so unmotivated and further digressed into me just not giving a fuck at all and failing out. the 12k I paid in tuition for those 2 years of studies certainly seems more wasteful than the 24k+ i've spent on my arts degree.

[ramseames]

I'm not saying don't take a BA at all dude, i'm saying take something that will lead to some sort of concrete job opportunity. you can do whatever the fuck you want, just don't go to university because you're done highschool and that's what you're supposed to do.

[INNIT]

[ramseames]

you and anyone else can do what they want and more power to you for figuring out what that thing is, but don't give people shitty life advice that will put them 10s of thousands of dollars in the hole before they figure out what they want to do for the next 45 years.

[INNIT]

life advice: grow your hair long cop some TAPS and do your degree in gender studies. concrete jobs are for the old aristocracy

[uxjtsu]

Sometimes though, you don't know what you want to do until you try it.... I have a friend who wanted thought she wanted to do pharmacy. Took some pharmacy class, hated it, changed her mind and switched into nutrition. Now she a nutritionist.

So avoiding university until you "ponder about what you want to do" is a horrible idea.

Sometimes it's not all about the money, it's about life experience.

[jrisk]

you can get life experience in a bajillion different ways that will cost less though if you aren't sure. In addition to what everyone else has said, community college is a great option. Super cheap. I had three years there all but paid for through grants and scholarships.

[bels]

It's weird how straight the youths have gotten. It makes sense given the global picture right now but it doesn't seem like any of you are going to move to Paris to smoke cigarettes and dress in black or lose your mind in Goa any time soon.

Don't get it twisted, I have never been the type to do either of those things and don't necessarily recommend them. I did have friends who did that kind of thing though. It feels like the yute these days is very stressed about careers (aka money) and doesn't feel like it can take its eye of the ball.

Then again maybe my perspective is slanted because the kids I'm hearing from are all on a forum dedicated to consumption and know they're going to need the cash if they want to keep up their hobby.

[teck]

yea i kind of agree and i think there's a lot of "research" (aka market research) around the idea. Most millenials list "being rich" as a top priority, along with being happy/contributing to society. I think the economic turndown and the squeezing the middle class has really scared the crap out of young people (and even older people like me). You're either a billionaire dbag, or you're a walmart worker with a job that's fast disappearing. When condo prices START at 1.5 million, how can you not afford to start working right away and be rich?

I agree though, I was focused on trying to make money right away, when I should have focused on being a goofy kid for awhile. I think in my late twenties i tried more of the taking risks and just "living life" and I'm glad i did.

[RycePooding]

i'm living in a room under the stairs in an old ladies house, smoking cigarettes

drinking coffee and whiskey

writing my novel


HOW AM I DOING BELA?!

[nick]

What about student loans too - it's hard to live carelessly in life when you've got tens of thousands of dollars in debt looming above your head.

Pursuing a very career-orientated path has got me all the clothing and security in the world (especially with the economic crash, security has become this rare ideal), but none of that matters too much when your life is dull.

[maj]

This is why I'm glad with the British system, I don't start paying anything back till I'm on 21k a year and when I do it's means tested to the point where unless you're balling in business you're never paying it back before it gets written off. The message I got from my teachers was always go to uni, experience it and if you hate it quit after the first year it won't be that big of a loss. Understand it's different in the us from discussions and it seems horrid.

[agvs]

I think people who haven't experienced it really underestimate how much being in debt sucks. The average student loan debt (US only here) is like $30k. It's a black cloud hanging over your head. If you're lucky enough to have parents that can pay your way through college then good for you. Take advantage of it but don't waste their money. Learn something that will make you employable. That doesn't mean you have to be an engineering student. You want to be an English professor? Great. Do it. Just have a goal in mind. Those goals may change and that's fine as long as you have an idea for a career at the end of it and you're prepared to make the average salary of said goal career. "Life experience" should not be your primary goal in college unless you have money to burn wandering through academia.

[bels]

It's sad though because I like the idea of going to university just to get knowledge. It seems like a good thing for a society to create, people trying to learn about whatever, not purely motivated by trying to make a buck. The idea of going uni to make paper is about as sad as the idea of going just for the life experience in my mind, but I fully understand why almost everyone is forced to see it like that.

I like the idea of what I hear about the French system, where uni is free but really hard. So you can do a degree in whatever you want, but you have to really want to do it or they kick you out.

[teck]

Yea i don't agree that going to school should be just to get a job. When I left school I could really only name like 10 careers, and I thought I was going to definitely work in non-profit. 10 years later I'm in an awesome career I didn't even know existed in college. You also can't go backwards -- once you leave college that's it, now you'll never be an undergrad in that free way that is so conducive to personal (and yes professional) development.

I don't think you should be irresponsible with money, but i'm a big proponent that acquiring new experiences, skills, and being open to new possibilities and opportunities is a key element to "success" whatever that is. I also acknowledge that I am of a demographic that benefits from risk and is able to do so.

[bels]

Just wanna apologise to all the teens for the amount of adults in here having a sensible conversation with a lot of common ground. We're working round the clock to remove them so that you can go back to talking about how you're nervous about the new school year and how you're going to score a 100k a year job once you graduate

[agvs]

I apologize for nothing. The sooner you get real world sense knocked into you the better. none of these kids are going to listen to us anyway.

Just to be clear I'm not saying you shouldn't seek other knowledge in college or enjoy your experiences. By all means expand your horizons and take advantage of the environment you're in. For your own sake though think about how employable you're going to be at the end of it.

[nick]

When you hear about massive unemployment, economic downturns, the idea that not even a college degree gets you anywhere unless its one of a select few, can you really blame people for going to college for something that may increase their chances of being able to afford their own place and be able to raise kids in the future? Because you simply can't do that on $10/hour, which lots of kids are coming out of college making, while having at least $30,000 of debt on their heads. If wanting to avoid that trap and picking a major for monetary reasons makes this generation a bunch of dumb kids, then call me an idiot.

Plus, CS and Finance majors may be very vocal on the internet, but trust me - the majority of kids are not going to school for these. Many who do due to pressure end up failing out too.

[zayg]

If you "just want a job," then there are trades which are probably more lucrative than what the majority of college degrees will represent. Don't do something you don't feel strongly about. Going to school to fuck around is a terrible idea.

If you feel that strongly about going to school for illustration, you better be sure that you are already talented enough that you probably don't need to go to school at all if you are paying for it yourself. If you have parents $$$$$, then sure, go ahead. I go to school near RISD and feel really sorry for the fools who don't have parents with an 8 figure net worth. $250k for an art degree is a good way to absolutely ruin your life. The stress of debt will override any sort of enjoyment you get from your "dream job."

School is just too expensive in this country. I don't even have the option of cheap state schools where I live. State schools are the same as private schools after scholarships ($25-30k a year) and don't give out shit for scholarships.

[zayg]

people also need to remember there are other ways to pursue interesting fields other than college. Just because you sit in front of a computer pounding in banal code because you went to school for CS doesn't mean you have to use that $150k salary to buy a mcmansion and vacation to some Americanized resort in the Bahamas every month. Go live in a city and develop or participate in some cultural activities.

[nick]

, trades are a smart idea and are certainly recommended as well.

The 'banal code' code remark is a bit out there though. Programming is a skill too. Saying that type of thing is just as bad as the people who look down on skilled tradeworkers just because they use their hands. And it's certainly a competitive skill, one that college can you help you land a job in as an apprenticeship would for a trade (though an apprenticeship wont land you $$$ in debt).

Actually, I don't even code for a living. I would like to one day - that is something I enjoy PLUS pays the bills.

[starfox64]