Don't go to college (if you're in college, drop out)

[redrefugee]

Already have spent 11k+. And it wouldn't matter if I hadn't. You're still posting a lot of self-entitled whining. You are not owed a job even if you paid 100k. That isn't what is being sold. Grow up. You're posting an immature rant giving people bad advice just because you can't manage to get a job with your degree. Did you expect it to be handed to you on a silver platter?

This isn't bad advice. The economy could very well collapse again under the weight of these loans. I'm not unique.

I know how colleges make money. Can't get a job with your associates? Of course you can't! You have to have a bachelors. Can't find a job with a bachelors? Might as well get your masters. That's where the REAL jobs are. It's all a big waste of time and I've seen no evidence to the contrary.

Has anyone on this board who graduated after 2008 found a job that pays salary, utilizes their degree, and they didn't get it because they already knew people who worked there?

Me

 

[Philol]

Even if I don't get a job after uni, or if I do but it's a low paying job, I don't need to worry about paying back university fees until I hit £15 000 a year, and even then it's a 7% return of my, I think it's my monthly wage, until I pay of the debt.

 

[GoaThief]

My tuppence worth is this; everyone is right and wrong - what matters most is that you do what you feel is right and makes you happy. The OP is in a dark place right now and it's pretty shameful that he/she is not being offered more support... he/she is also speaking the truth as they know it, just as those who have a degree and went on to successful jobs are (but some are being needlessly inconsiderate, if not downright insulting).

People are far more precious and rewarding than meaningless bits of paper or numbers on screens, it's where I suggest focusing on especially in times of need.

 

[Trent Kama]

Spend less time on an internet forum, more time making connections with people in your industry. You aren't going to have any luck getting a job if no one knows who you are.

 

[Shivarage]

I'm defending the rich with all the fiber of my being? No, I'm just saying that it's stupid to be a conspiracy theorist. There's no reason to think it's a scam just because it benefits them. Benefit alone does not make a scam. It's just a simple fact. Pointing that out doesn't mean anything more to a logical person. Now if you're into jumping to stupid conclusions you might think that means I somehow support the rich, but no it just means that even if it benefits them I doubt there's some kind of malicious intention behind it.

Please put away your tinfoil hat before replying next time btw.

Didn't think you could answer my question...

 

[quysspe]

) for my bachelors of science degree in Business Administration.

Well there's your problem. Not that business majors are dumb or anything, just that you have to go for a career that's in demand. I make $65,000 a year with my degree because there aren't as many people willing to get an engineering degree. The demand outstrips the supply.

It really does suck to hear about the way your life has gone, and I hope that someday you can land a better job than the one you have, but I just feel like pointing out that it's not whether or not you wend to school, it's what you went for. Maybe someday you'll clear your loan debt and you can go back.

 

[FalloutJack]

I've been making minimum wage for the last three and a half ears working in a retail store. I only get about 20 hours a week. I owe $11,000 on my college loan (pretty low by most standards) for my bachelors of science degree in Business Administration. I've applied for dozens and dozens of jobs across two major cities over the last two years.

I recently applied to work at the local Pepsi warehouse which paid $13 an hour. At my workplace, I overheard someone mentioning that their friend got a job there. This friend never graduated high school. So yeah, don't bother going to school. Waste of your time and money. There's no defense of it. The only way I have the shit job I have now is because my dad worked there and complained to my old boss enough to hire me.

I'm going to say this only once: You're doing it wrong.

I say this because I don't owe anything and I never took a loan. And no, nobody paid FOR me either. I got me through college. So, that's a Bachelor's Degree and no debt to whatever you got. And now I know incredible amounts of neat and interesting information that you will never know if you drop out.

This is the part where you admit you just messed up. You can't take it out on other people and tell them education is not worth it. That is the exact meaning of backwards thinking. You simply failed. I will take no other answer as true.

 

[Xanthious]

The problem in the US is that we have put such a high value on 4 year liberal arts colleges while making things like 2 year community colleges and apprenticeships seem like they are for a lesser quality of people.

I know more than a few people in a situation similar to the OP. They racked up a truck load of debt put their 4 years in and afterwords are having a hell of a problem finding work in their field. Meanwhile I know more than a few people that went to school for something like nursing and put in their two years at our local community college and are now making really good money.

If guidance counselors were truly looking out for the best interests of their students they would start telling kids coming out of high school that in a good many cases the 4 year college is not nearly the path to a good job it used to be. In a lot of cases you will have a much easier time finding work after a two year nursing or accounting program.

The bottom line is that the work force is evolving and the old ways of putting in four years at a grossly overpriced 4 year college isn't as great as it used to be. Sure it still has it's uses and a good many people still use it as a springboard to a great career. However, just as many are/would be far better served in a more mundane post high school education.

 

[NoOne852]

I can't help but think the idea of college has been skewed here. Getting a degree isn't a "get into a job" card. It is proof that you recieved an education in a particular field. The type of degree and specialization effect how you look in an application. So for example, you got an associate degree in computer science, don't expect to get a job in a pharmacy.

I am enjoying my college experience so far and am learning what I want to learn.

 

[rob_simple]

So one person has a bad experience and we've all to pack it in?

I've dropped out of uni and it was largely a waste of time and money for me, but many of my friends have graduated and went on to get jobs within their intended sector. Others haven't and are working part-time jobs until something comes up.

Don't base your judgement of an entire system of education off your own experience alone.

Also, if you're getting passed over for people less qualified than you, have you maybe considered that you give a really bad interview? Maybe it's you that needs to improve.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Yo make LESS than those doing the same job? That's telling, why do you think you don't make the same as other new hires?

It's because I work for a business that's going downhill and doesn't care about its employees at all. It's a company-wide problem and I've seen complaints about it on the company's social networking utility (not from me) in discussion threads that get locked down. However, if employees are hired from another department and transferred to ours, their pay is calculated on the basis of what they sold when they had a commissioned job. Usually, they were crap salespeople to begin with (which is why they moved to the back), but they still end up making 25 cents more than me, even though I've been there longer than they have. There was also that "new hire" who immediately got paid 25 cents more than me, probably due to the two guys who transferred getting paid that. I can't discuss this openly at work or risk getting fired. I had to sign a paper saying that I would specifically not talk about this.

I like hearing all everyone's blind negative judgments about me. That's really helpful. One of the higher paid guys who "transferred" to the back literally smells of feces all the time. Customers complained about it. There are people we know who won't enter the store if he is working. The other two guys really like to fart a lot and laugh heartily about it. (Do you see where the standard is at?)

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I only did a year of college (last year) and stopped because I want to pay off my current school loans and I don't want to pay off any more. Haha I actually still didn't pick out a major but I'll definately go back to get one and to take some classes that really interest me. You know, so I can expand my learning and shit.

I'm not worried. I'm 19 years old and I'm not in a hurry. I know a lot of kids that rushed off to college right after high school but I'm not getting any help and I'm not interest in getting into more debt than I already have. North Americans live to be what, around 80 years old?
I've got time, I can wait.

 

[SilentCom]

College education isn't necesary to finding a job and pursuing one's passions, however it is very much relevant with many jobs requiring a higher education. It really comes down to what you want to do in your life and having some luck that the economy will be merciful on you. I graduated from college with a 4 year degree in world history about 6 months ago and still haven't found a job. I figure it is unlikely that I will find a job or career pertaining to my major and I could complain that college is a waste of time and money but frankly it is a good experience and I learned to broaden my mind and understanding.

I just need to broaden my scope of potential careers and continue learning and trying new things. I will more than likely have to get a minimum wage job at first just to have some income coming in and in the mean time look for something else as a potential career. Perhaps I will try to save some money and go through culinary school and learn to cook. I mean people have to eat don't they?

 

[burningdragoon]

Note: I recently quit for reasons I won't get into here. Anyway...

I graduated from in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree. I was hired somewhere with a salary and benefits in August 2010. That job was in a field related to my major.

There you go, statement that college is useless for everybody officially busted.

Is college the right decision for every person in every situation? No. Is college always a the wrong decision (which is what are saying)? Of course not, that's stupid.

 

[Aeonknight]

I'm of the same sentiment as the OP. College is a joke. That piece of paper means absolutely nothing.

Know how you get a job nowadays? Connections. If you know someone who knows someone, that's your meal ticket right there.

Know what my college experience consisted of? I was paying tuition so that my instructors could tell me to go look up tutorials on Youtube. No I'm not kidding.

 

[guidance]

Fuck that, I want to be an engineer, and I am going to become an engineer. It's really hard, and expensive, I am aware of this as I am already in it, but when your done school you get paid a shit ton starting off, even doing co-op (if you don't know what that is it's working at a job in your field sponsored by the school, so you do it for around 6 months - a year during the semester)you can guarantee 50 grand a year. So no I will not drop out of school, I will suffer through the work and expenses and achieve something in my life. Obviously this isn't for everyone, if you don't know what you want to be then there really isn't a reason to go to college, it will be a waste of money, but if you have a plan go for it.