Quote:
Originally Posted by lucifer_sam
It might sound like I'm being a dick, but I'll say it anyways...
If you don't know what you want to do with your life, get out of school while you still can. Wasting your and your parents' money in an effort to pursue a meaningless piece of paper is hardly a credit to yourself. It's fine not knowing what you want to do with your life, it's not fine wasting an education going in the wrong direction. By my estimate some 60% of the kids in college shouldn't be where they are, mostly because they have ulterior motives in attending.
Unlike some progressive European countries, Americans do not have the luxury of attending school for as long as they can stay productive -- the last thing you want to do is tack a $40,000+ school loan on top of the expenses you'll incur as an entry-level professional. The notion that a Bachelor's degree is essential in today's world is absurd and overkill, especially considering most people pursue careers far outside their field of study.
I'm sure it's a great experience for you if you're really enjoying what you're doing now, but unless there's some sort of prospective financial reward, college becomes a superfluous and hindering 4+ years in terms of your professional development. Until tuition becomes more affordable, college will always be a recreational reservation for the upper class and an enormous financial hole for everyone else. The key is understanding whether or not that hole is worth the prospective investment towards your life.
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A-fuc
king-men.
While I maintain that college is a great idea for those pursuing a career in the field they're studying, I agree that it's even more important to understand your career options in context with the real world and weigh that with your decision to devote time and money into something that's actually going to pay off.
I always hear about people going to school for artsy this and fartsy that, paying retarded amounts of money to do so... and ending up living in poverty because they somehow assumed that a degree is an automatic ticket to a better life, regardless of the market for their skill. While they can technically tell all their friends they have a degree in film or art or whatever else, most of the time, they're merely knowing all about what they want to know all about and it's not doing them any good.
Career planning is about long-term strategy. And it is most definitely monetary in nature. If you're not doing it for career purposes, then great... you just like doing it... but I don't want to pay your bills, nor should I. And if you don't mind working at McDonald's for your wage while you entertain this arbitrary knowledge in your head that will never get used, that's fine too. Just don't ask for my tax dollars to support your unemployment because you weren't smart enough to learn about something that actually pays.
(All "you's" in the above reply were meant generally)