College is overrated in the sense that going in and getting out of college with any major will not automatically get you a job and that it is not a place where you can change your mind over and over about what you want to do once you get out. You're also not going to college to come out with every single thing you learned memorized and internalized, but to be able to recall that material faster than if you were to one day try to learn all that material yourself cold turkey. These are some misconceptions that need to be fixed for people that are going into college. One of the purposes of going to college is for the name brand and obviously, the degree. While it's sometimes unfair, the pedigree of the school often gets weighed into the hiring process, and many places have Bachelor's degrees as a minimum requirement for employment. With so many people in the job market with Bachelor's degrees, you need one to keep yourself level with the competition (this depends on the field), but the possession of one does not set you apart from your competition. What college really helps you with (this depends on the college), is giving you an area where you can connect with people and build professional relationships, which is unfortunately what many people in college fail at doing. In my opinion, some things college students can and should do to better their job prospects, in addition to keeping up their grades are: 1. Attend job fairs and graduate school/research seminars, meet the representatives of the companies and organizations there, and keep in touch with them if possible. Sometimes companies will even conduct interviews right in the university, so it's not good to lose out on an opportunity. 2. Take advantage of counseling that the school provides. The counselors have access to a lot of information, some that you don't have, so they're a great way to keep yourself updated on current opportunities. 3. Join one or two professional fraternities/clubs, and become not just a regular member, but a member of the staff. Get involved in important events, and get to know important people. 4. Apply to jobs before graduation. If your goal is to be hired right out of college, don't wait, because it can take months to be contacted by employers. In the meantime, you'll be sitting on your ass doing nothing, and if you get rejected, potential employers will be asking why you did nothing for months. 5. Make good friends (the ones that have a future ahead of them), since some can help you land a job or give you insider information. For example, my coworker was able to get his job by being referred by his friend, so he was able to bypass the normal hiring process. In addition to that, watching others being focused on school and activities can help you focus on those things yourself. The best man or woman often will not win in the hiring process, but the most connected one usually does. To quote the cliche, college is what YOU make out of it. College is a tool to weed out the unmotivated, and being proactive and smart about what you do is how you make your college years helpful to you as a job prospect.
LOL and this is one of my points. If you know all you want to go to college for the experience the just hang out near the social scene of one or perhaps take a class or two just so you can have a valid excuse to be there and have the status of student. The only catch is if you wanted to join a Greek organization, you probably need a certain amount of credit hours, at least at some schools. Is that gaming the system? Perhaps, but you're already doing that by being there full time when you know all you wanted to do is party, go to the basketball and football games, meet girls, etc... Why put yourself in a major financial hole while doing that?
Paying for college isn't a problem if you did generally good in high school. Also you gotta be smart with your money very smart, don't go to UT if you didn't get scholarships UH is much cheaper I commute and I have no problem paying tuition at all. People put debts on themselves go to Lone Star if you gotta save some extra cash!
"You go to and finish school to show that you can LEARN." According to the system. Didn't you show you can learn by graduating high school? Granted, not all of those are created equal (I was lucky enough to go to a very good one) and they did have a way of rubber stamping you to the next grade level but it should be clear how useful a person is based on their resume AND references. And I've learned a whole lot about the world in the last four years, both from my own research and others teaching/showing me outside college. This is my whole point because it's possible to learn and even be taught by others without college. But it's the Catch-22 we're currently locked in. You don't necessarily need college to be qualified/competent but you need college to be qualified and looked upon as competent. I do agree with the thought from earlier that it's a form of screening but you can still miss out on someone really good for a job by being stereotypical and robotic in considering applicants.
I think it is in some regards. Don't get me wrong, an education is ABSOLUTELY crucial in any regard to be aware, to have a skillset, to be able to contribute. I could see a college degree providing stability and a tract that has been culturally accepted based on arbitrary degrees to show expertise(many times you end up learning all you need on the job) but this is some way to categorize, organize the top or so forth. That said, for an entrepreneur i could see it being hindering in our current system. I don't get how they get off raising the fees every year and making it hard to pursue and get an education. This loan bubble will be a problem in my opinion. And your taught in such a guarded structure that at times keeps you from innovating, experimenting, failing that are all crucial components to creating new things and being an entrepreneur. So it depends on what you want to do really, but in this day an age it is very accessible to self educate in ways you couldn't before
I always tell every person I meet that in order to get ahead in life, you don't necessarily have to go to college, however, it is a bit harder to get ahead of others who do have a degree. One advantage of college is all the networking opportunities. If you meet the right people, you'll definitely have an advantage over many other students who don't. Those who don't go to college might not have as many networking opportunities which might hurt them, however, if you work your ass off, you can still get somewhere in life and even make more money than a college grad. Some degrees are useless, others are not so useless. Obviously a degree in Engineering is valuable while a degree in Mexican American Studies might not have much use. Honestly, some times individuals have a hard time grasping that they actually need to hustle to get a job. A piece of paper does not give you the privilege to simply land a job from the sky. Those who have gotten ahead are the people that work their ass off and some times do the dirty work. Whether you have a degree or not, it doesn't always matter, however, I do feel college does give you certain advantages and opportunities (you just have to meet the right people).
I can go with that notion as well. If I could get the college experience for less than $10,000 I'd do it ten times out of ten.
Somewhat unrelated: does anyone think it's time for colleges/universities at the highest level to become semi-pro? I'm not sure if this is possible and would affect the non-profit status but the term "student-athlete" is a joke and the highest level and many players have ZERO interest in being a student.
"the term "student-athlete" is a joke at the highest level and many players have ZERO interest in being a student." That's what I meant to say.
