Has anyone ever had the feeling that college is pointless? You see, I was raised with essentially nothing(300 dollar family computer, the rest of the time I spent outside doing things.) Meaning I have no desire for money. And my ideal job is as a writer, which in general there is one(1) class for, Creative Writing. Which lasts for about one semester. After which there is nothing.

So I have One semester of a class I somewhat want to take, which may or may not be pointless ( http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/a ... -pointless ) and after that I have nothing to do but get a degree that I will probably never use. And on top of that, the fact that I have no use for a big income(give me a 500 dollar computer in addition to the few things I already have(Ice skates, rollerblades, skis, climbing shoes), and I'm golden. So what on earth is the point of getting a "Formal Education"?

But that's pretty personal, and fairly limited to people like me. What about learning in general? Allow me to make a comparison; in the last year, I took a Psychology class. It was an intro course, I admit, but over the course of the Semester, I learned roughly the amount I could learn in 3 days with a few books. Seriously. For one of my classes, I passed by completing 4 essays and learning half the course...in the last 2 days of the semester. Sure, I didn't get an A, but if i had put one more day into it, I WOULD have.

Then again, my head is roughly 30% larger than the average human's. And those amazingly reliable IQ tests on the internets tell me that I have an IQ of 145. Because I trust them SO much. But even assuming that someone is 50% less intelligent than I, it would STILL take them only about a week to learn an entire semester's worth of coursework. And it would require no classes, and it would be FREE. Not to mention the money they could make working during the extra 10-15 weeks that they're NOT completing their classes.

So, to compare, you could either

A: spend 20 grand a year to learn something or,
B: learn it yourself, work for 15 weeks, and make at least 5000 dollars, assuming a minimum wage job.


Of course, I'd be the first to admit that some things are much harder to learn outside a class; languages, for example, are very tough. But what about Rosetta Stone? People say that it's a wonderful language program, and it's certainly as good or better than the first year or so of language classes, at a fraction of the price. And a language is a complete restructuring of everything you thought you knew, quite likely one of the hardest things you could learn.


It seems to me that College is just a massive excuse to do practically nothing while pretending to learn while actually spending most of your time drinking, partying, and hanging out with friends. There are exceptions, of course. But they are the minority.

If you've been to college, what do you think of college? Or if you didn't go to college, why? Or if you haven't gone to college yet, what do you think about the whole idea?

College is NOT a waste. If you think it is: you're doing it wrong.

You should be experimenting with drugs and having sex.

Also, you aren't taking very challenging courses to begin with...

What Griffin said.

Ignore prerequisites and take the higher level courses. If you're as good at doing work on your own as you say you are, you'll do well. The reason college exists is that just handing the average person a computer with internet access does not tend to produce astoundingly well educated people.

If you're going to a school that simply won't let you take stuff without prereqs, or if the school's high level classes are shit, you should transfer the hell out.

I have. I took a 3000 level class(usually for gifted sophomores or normal juniors) and I got an A+ in it. I also took sophomore classes and had no problems other than them being incredibly boring. So far I haven't found the faintest thing that I have any interest in using in the future.

Also, drugs and sex? Seriously? I troll SS forums for fun, what do you expect from me?

When I want to have fun, i play games or, or, WRITE. Or something. Or I go ice skating or Rollerblading or I watch a movie. None of these things are exactly things that require a college environment.

3rd year course... I'm talking about graduate courses. If you're at a college with no graduate programs, transfer to a place that has doctoral students and take courses with them. That sort of class puts a lot more emphasis on individual learning and you only get a lot out of it if you put a lot in.

Ohhh...that's a good idea. Sweet, thanks a lot for the tip! Finally, something actually useful. Most of the stuff out there is crap

You're not getting it. College is a chance to do new and great things. You have a chance to re-invent yourself. It's like being able to travel back in time and do all the things you wish you could have during your years of high school.

Most importantly, learn to EXPERIMENT. It's a chance to figure out who you really are. I'm not saying get high on coke and go fuck your dormmate, but do things you usually wouldn't do. Instead of troll forums and play video games all night, get some friends and party/go to a restaurant/go to a bar.

If you had shitty social skills during high school, do things right this time by using your intelligence to score some poontang.

I hear employers put a lot of emphasis on college degrees, and now that a lot more people are getting them it's a lot more important to have a degree if you want to get a job due to the competition. I however am not even up to that yet so I guess my opinion on the matter is void.

Nonetheless, careers in medicine definitely require you to get a degree. You can learn at home all you want, but unless you get a tertiary education you're not getting a job, let alone being allowed to legally practice.

i do have no experience about college at all.. But according to my brother.. He has a Master's degree in Computer Engineering or something similar.. but he tells me his job has NOTHING AT ALL to do with computer engineering... thats just what i know..

This thick kid I used to go to school with , he left school at 16 with about 4 gcse's, got a job in the local council (civil servant), got a mortgage, worked his way up in the job. Now is finance director on twice the amount I am on, he has many many years paid on his mortgage, and bought his house back when prices was half of what they are now.

I went to university, got a degree, left to start a career that required a degree, couldn't get a mortgage until had university debts paid off, subsequently paid much more for house 10 years down the line from him, and started work much later than him in life. I bet he has a solid pension. I left uni and everyone had degree's but all employers wanted was experience.

If I could do it again no fucking way I'd go university again, id just get on a career ladder @16/18 and get into progressing inside a company. However uni was the best laugh of my life... well thats the comfort I give myself when I drive past his fucking nice house grrr

IQ tests need to be taken 3 or more times to be accurate otherwise everyone's all cocky... This is actually true.

Anyways, College doesn't have value to everyone. You don't need it to succeed in life, but statistics (VERY good ones) show you'll have a much higher standard of life and less stress throughout the rest of your life. But if you don't feel it's worth it and honestly don't know the difference between rosette stone and a real teacher, then feel free to unsucceed like 90% of America

Them's fightin' words.

What If I define "Success" differently than you do? What if I don't need a massive income and lots of material gain to stroke my ego, just to be happy, hmm?