I work in higher ed and I see so many people who do not belong. A lot of colleges keep making it easier and easier to get in while loading kids up with more and more debt. You have a 1.2 high school GPA and a 10 ACT score, no problem! Take these remedial courses for 2 years for no college credit and rack up $10,000 worth of debt before your eligible to actually take real coursework. Then spend another 5-6 years racking up more debt taking real coursework before you graduate and chances are a good percentage of you won't even graduate but you'll still owe tens of thousands of dollars for loans. College education is more about making money than actually educating students these days. Sad but true.
I'm not academically smart, yet I still got scholarships for other achievements. What's the point of this topic again?
thats why you try to send your kid to a good college. Not a school that accepts people with low GPAs and SATs
I regret my first degree almost completely. The only thing I got out of it was a ton of debt for a degree I didn't care about in a field I wasn't remotely interested in. I now have two degrees, which is basically the only cool thing I get to say involving the first one. I will forever wish that I had joined the military out of high school. Not that I think that college is overrated; far from it. But I do think that we put far too much emphasis on it immediately after high school. Some people know what they want and some people, like myself back then, have no friggin' clue. In this instance, going to college 'because your parents want you to' or 'because it's what everyone else is doing' is about the worst decision a young person can make. All in my humble opinion, of course.
Thats a good thought..not only for the reason you listed (not sure of what to major in at the age of 18) but for financial reasons as well - If someone doesen't want the debt of college, or don't want to work full time to put themselves through college, they could get a GI Bill to cover much of the expenses.
Unfortunately, the majority of colleges are not like this and the ones that are tend to be extremely selective. Good luck!
College SOLELY as a means to get a job - Get Degree->Get Job - yes. If the total job pool shrinks 20% and college admissions are UP 20%, there's gonna be some people getting very slighted. Having a degree and education does not CREATE an opening. It just helps you get CONSIDERED more for an opening. Or it helps you be resourceful enough to generate one. Yes you can't totally put a quantifiable measure on the importance of education, but I dont think it fair for the college institutions to see that then say "Well in THAT case ..."
And they'll pay off whatever loans you have, as well. I think it's up to $100K now. Sadly, there are many people who poo-poo the military as something for lower-class people who have no other options. Similar with trade schools. I have no idea how we got to this point. I wish I had someone like present-day me to talk to the college-student me back then.
college-student you wouldn't have listened i really like the gap year thing they do in Europe and elsewhere. Gives you a bit of a chance to figure what you want to do. I hope to encourage my kids to do that when they're older -- and I reeaaaallly hope the college admittance dept's lighten up so its not such a rat race to get in before they even enter the rat race while there...to qualify for the rat race when they get out.
It's not overrated, it's that people in college do the bare minimum, and then expect to get job offers right away when they have a 2.0 gpa from a tier 3 school while majoring in English.
Ah accidently submitted, was going to say a thing or two about those professional colleges, like Devry and Phoenix...
While this is a common response, in my case I don't think it was accurate. I was in the career services office countless times, taking those million-question tests that allegedly help to "narrow down" your interests. They didn't. I also talked to virtually all of my professors and my advisor and I couldn't seem to get anywhere. Not that it was their fault; I was just lost, man.
I believe there is a happy medium out there between "extremely selective" universities and ones that let everyone in. In Texas alone we have A&M and UT which are affordable public schools schools that you don't have to work your a$$ off to get into but they will still provide a solid education. And if you can afford to go out of state or pay for private schools, you will have tons of quality universities to choose from that are not "extremely selective". If you screwed around in high school or can't afford to go to a traditional university right off the bat, UT and A&M love to see community college students who have proven they can handle the work with a high GPA and so you can save money at HCC for 2 years and get a 3.8 and that will get you in practically anywhere you want to go
Truth. This was also something I wasn't aware of until later. Younger people ought to be really thankful of their resources today...like this very thread...to figure all of this out. Had I been aware of all of this years ago, I'd be in a much different place without all of the educational debt that I currently have.
But to get the solid education they provide without having to work your a$$ off, you would have to be academically smart or else their education wouldn't be so solid. Makes sense? So this brings to my point that if you're not cut out for college, don't do it. You can be "academically challenged" but still have the smarts to succeesd in other things. But most young people are told to go to college by parents and teachers because it is the right path.
Well, if you're not particularly intelligent and/or just don't want to work hard, then no, there is no point in trying. And this is a problem. Maybe I missed it, but are you going through this decision process right now?
This is so true. I have seen many classmates that seemed like they were just wasting their time in college while they could be making money elsewhere. Sure they may not make as much as a college grad, but being debt free would feel better than having so much debt and not sure of a good job offer after graduation.
