Do you Need College?

Is a college degree important?

Yes	58.0%	[ 47 ]
No	27.2%	[ 22 ]
Indifferent	14.8%	[ 12 ]
Total Votes:			[ 81 ]

[Das Horse Face]

Azure Balmung

Trialist

You need college, and a good degree.

I was pre-law for a long time, and then I changed to philosophy and mathematics, then I finally decided to get multiple degrees until I could decide if I was going down the B.S in Chemistry/Mathematics (Essentially premed for Psychiatry) or Trial Law, or Food sciences, or Operations management/accounting.

I don't plan to finish my schooling in the United States if I have the power too. I'd like to study in Germany after I master the language, and possibly study German Engineering or German Medicine at the University of Munich.

The jobs are there if you don't go to college, but I would recommend at least everyone gets an associates or a certificate of achievement in something reputable. You can make a livable wage as a plumber or in a trade job, but I don't know how long those will hold up with Right to Work coming in everywhere.

Besides the whole debt thing, about going to college. Loans and such... what's the point of it? Getting all those degrees and what not really just looks like you want to be a student the rest of your life. How easy is it to get a job related to your degree and what not? Don't employers still want experience? That's pretty BS really and a horrible cycle.

Funny you should say that.

I have many references, solid work record, and have held quite a few jobs with computer technology, sales, political internships, and I have a pretty solid foundation of skills and certifications in MS office, Safe Serve, and a degree in Liberal Arts, with a good level of mathematics, and I'm progressing towards learning to understand German.

I'm more interested in pursuing what I love and want to do, then something that I am forced into because of loans and debt (Which I don't have, my school is paid for). I'm fortunate enough to have that luxury, and I will not take it for granted. Obviously it will be expensive, time-consuming, a strain, but I seriously don't know what I want to do with my life.

I know I will need the associates in science after culinary school, and I can get that in probably three semesters after I graduate at the rate I'm going. I'd like to understand accounting and business practices because it is likely I will inherit my father's business, and I may have to either liquidate it, or keep it running.

I might transfer out before then if I see a valid reason, if I don't, I'll continue going to school until I see something I want. As well as I will continue working in fields that help me in the future.

[AliKat1988]

Mei tsuki7

frozen_water

Mei tsuki7

As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.

I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?

Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.

I agree about degrees being necessary in some areas though I think one degree that is not as essential is more useful and good about getting people employed compared to those-accounting. They want people to have some college and will pay you more if you have a bachelors (or even better a bit of grad school to become a CPA). I am basing this off of the accounting majors I know and how quickly they have gotten employment at good pay-I know a 21 year old girl who landed a $50,000 salary job and my dad got a good job quickly after attaining a BBA in accounting as a second bachelors a couple years ago-he is in his fifties.

[Tranquil Surrogate]

Trialist

Azure Balmung

Trialist

You need college, and a good degree.

I was pre-law for a long time, and then I changed to philosophy and mathematics, then I finally decided to get multiple degrees until I could decide if I was going down the B.S in Chemistry/Mathematics (Essentially premed for Psychiatry) or Trial Law, or Food sciences, or Operations management/accounting.

I don't plan to finish my schooling in the United States if I have the power too. I'd like to study in Germany after I master the language, and possibly study German Engineering or German Medicine at the University of Munich.

The jobs are there if you don't go to college, but I would recommend at least everyone gets an associates or a certificate of achievement in something reputable. You can make a livable wage as a plumber or in a trade job, but I don't know how long those will hold up with Right to Work coming in everywhere.

Besides the whole debt thing, about going to college. Loans and such... what's the point of it? Getting all those degrees and what not really just looks like you want to be a student the rest of your life. How easy is it to get a job related to your degree and what not? Don't employers still want experience? That's pretty BS really and a horrible cycle.

Funny you should say that.

I have many references, solid work record, and have held quite a few jobs with computer technology, sales, political internships, and I have a pretty solid foundation of skills and certifications in MS office, Safe Serve, and a degree in Liberal Arts, with a good level of mathematics, and I'm progressing towards learning to understand German.

I'm more interested in pursuing what I love and want to do, then something that I am forced into because of loans and debt (Which I don't have, my school is paid for). I'm fortunate enough to have that luxury, and I will not take it for granted. Obviously it will be expensive, time-consuming, a strain, but I seriously don't know what I want to do with my life.

I know I will need the associates in science after culinary school, and I can get that in probably three semesters after I graduate at the rate I'm going. I'd like to understand accounting and business practices because it is likely I will inherit my father's business, and I may have to either liquidate it, or keep it running.

I might transfer out before then if I see a valid reason, if I don't, I'll continue going to school until I see something I want. As well as I will continue working in fields that help me in the future.

Oh, you had everything paid for.

Well that explains your optimism. Still it's good that you have some sense of personal ambition and aren't just going to spend your life basking in the success of your parents.

[village midget]

frozen_water

What do you gain from college?

a) Opportunities. The better the job you get the more leisure time you have. The more leisure time you have the more you can meaningfully achieve for yourself and not some faceless boss. College degree = instant potential for higher quality of life. No college degree = potentially years of hard menial work to get to that stage.

b) Friends of equal intelligence, interests and ambition. Motivation and inspiration.

c) Self awareness and a far more highly developed ability to engage with and assimilate new information for the rest of your life.

d) Choice. Tertiary education is a platform for sampling a variety of topics and activities most people cannot access without being fabulously wealthy and not having to spend the majority of their time working for a living.

[village midget]

Mei tsuki7

frozen_water

Mei tsuki7

As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.

I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?

Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.

I have a BAhons in fine art. In my experience it has been far from useless. I was exposed to technical processes I had no concept of before studying. I found that I wanted to be a different type of artist altogether to the one I imagined I was. I was afforded the space to explore my process and ideas. I learned volumes about the art-historical cannon and I am now able to contextualise myself in the field on Contemporary art and theorise my own work. Whilst studying I built a network with other artists and galleries useful to my future career. Purely because of my education I am able to relate to other artists on a professional level and have the confidence to operate commercially in the art world. Your portfolio is important I agree, and the quality of my post- art school portfolio is vastly elevated above my amateur pre-college portfolio. The pay is erratic I grant you, but you can live on it and you can enjoy the luxury of being paid to do what you love.

Even without being an artist my art degree would have been invaluable, no other course of study comes close to broadening your understanding or fuelling your curiosity about humanity in the same way. It's almost an AAA pass to every level and type of society on Earth.

[Hepzeba]

Liberal Education used to be about helping us solve our crisis of being. Now it seems to create rather than solve it.

At this moment in time, learning a TRADE is a much better idea, unless you can enter into a traditional profession: Law, Medicine or The Church. Law and Medicine are going to require big bucks to make happen. Do you have that kind of backing? Seminary might be more attainable, especially if you are willing to be a Parish Cleric. Some churches will pay for your education. To join an order like the Society of Jesus requires you to get your first four years on your own dime. The Jesuits will pick it up from there. If you like to teach and want to work with either top students or poor students in the missions, the Jesuit Order channels men into these positions. But in all of these you need intellectual talent and a lifelong interest in learning, learning, learning.

Law and Medicine are very demanding careers wherein you will work diligently and these will be your entire life. They pay very well. The Church does not pay well but the benefits of security are outstanding, but in this, too, you will also be required to work more than 50 hours per week.

As a Tradesman it is possible to make a good living wage and work 40 hours per week with vacations.

We do not know what the future holds, but at present it looks good for people who know a trade.

EDIT

[Nonesuch Solo]

If you don't want to go to college, please don't. You make group work hell for the rest of us.

[Hawanja]

Go to college. If you don't, what will end up happening is the guy next to you at the office, who does the exact same job you do, will be ten years younger and paid twice as much. He will get promoted and you won't.

Trust me on this one.

[125th]

To answer the main question at hand: Do you need College / A Degree?

From what I've seen during my time in the military I've seen some individuals jump through loop-holes to attain a job that pays out over 100,000 a year without a degree. Granted it was a Dod Civilian job,and he's been in afghanistan for 5 years, he's making a living.

In my opinion, it depends on what your personal goals are, and where you want to go in life. Once you have that figured out at some point, you attain what is needed for that career choice. If you're devious, you'd find loop-holes to achieve that goal such as that veteran whom used the military as a way to get his job opportunity without college.

[FlySammyJ]

Nonesuch Solo

If you don't want to go to college, please don't. You make group work hell for the rest of us.

This. Not to mention the grade inflation from frustrated professors trying to get even 80% of the a**-draggers from public school through class. I went to public school and my mom is a public schoolteacher, so I can say that. There is no challenge in the public school system in many US states, and the mental material handed over to college professors has rarely been stretched, much less exercised. Yet every kid expects a college diploma because that's what they were always told to get, and professors are discouraged from failing kids because a high graduation rate looks good to new recruits.

I hold a degree, and I'm one of the few graduates from my class who actually has a job in their field a few years later. I wouldn't discourage anyone who likes to learn from going to college. But if you would be happier in a trade, those jobs are currently in higher demand and have a better job security.

[Natendo Dubstep]

Due to the economy the way it is now,
and with the baby boomer generation going into nursing homes there's a high demand currently for hospice workers, nurses etc..
However it's expected that these numbers will go down as the baby boomers die off.
I'd highly recommend not going into the health field at this time if you want to secure your future.
The entertainment industry is ever growing, so getting into video editing, video game design, video field production, advertising, that's where it's at right now.

[Marcus Aurelius Augustus]

College is unique to the individual.

I know I am not Bill Gates, Donald Trump, or Steven Hawking. I do not have some supernatural human skill that will make my position in life more advantageous.

Going to college is the only option for me to make social mobility happen.

I can choose to be lazy and not attend college, work full hours every week and live in a meager apartment miserable.

Or, I can go to college, finish college with a degree, then find a job making double, arguably triple that shitty amount where I work under harsh labor and heavy hours, for less hours and much easier labor.

[Hepzeba]

Hawanja

Go to college. If you don't, what will end up happening is the guy next to you at the office, who does the exact same job you do, will be ten years younger and paid twice as much. He will get promoted and you won't.

Trust me on this one.

Those days are behind us now.

[Air Beast]

Spider21913

frozen_water

Mei tsuki7

As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.

I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?

I got a Degree in game Design and was told in a speech made by the CEO of Ubisoft "I don't care if you went to school for 10 days or 10 years I want to see what you can do" so it's not always about the education, at least in the design field. It's all about your portfolio.

we have similar goals. Please elaborate 0u0

[Spider21913]

Air Beast

Spider21913

frozen_water

Mei tsuki7

As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.

I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?

I got a Degree in game Design and was told in a speech made by the CEO of Ubisoft "I don't care if you went to school for 10 days or 10 years I want to see what you can do" so it's not always about the education, at least in the design field. It's all about your portfolio.

we have similar goals. Please elaborate 0u0

What I mean is that school was only good for me because it gave me the tools and software i needed for game design. Things i couldn't have gotten legally if i hadn't gone to school lol. Like a copy of the Unreal game engine. Using these tools i have built a really decent portfolio, but having the degree really does nothing for me at all in the design world.