College. Reactions?

I loved going to university. How useful it will be, we'll see.

 

I think it's primarily for networking. Are we talking college or university here? I know they're considered different things in the US.

I believe in the value of university beyond undergraduate education, when you have the ability to do research and apply for grants and shit. But bachelors degrees are pretty much just the postmodern equivalent of high school diplomas these days

 

I never finished high school.
And I only regret not finishing high school; my life has been pretty damn awesome, and I would have gone a completely different direction had I gone to university.

Now that I'm older and wanting to settle down and get some security for old age, I'm taking the exams I need to get a high school diploma and then I'll go to university part time. I figure I can do a 3 year course in that time while working full time, because I'm awesome and smart.

I think higher education can definitely be a good thing, disregarding the career options it makes available to you. But only if you pick a field of study you really want to learn about. And I don't know how it is in uni/college, but in high school I sure had a lot of really boring, uninspiring teachers. A good teacher makes all the difference.

 

ha, what did you do at Cherry Point?

 

I personally found college to be mostly a waste of my time. Thinking back though, I probably did not go to the right school and did not major in the right field. I found graduate school to be a lot more interesting, and had a very good experience there. I found my doctoral work to be tons of fun, mostly because I got to write about something that truly interested me.

All of my best friends, wherever they are now, are the people that I met in college. It goes way beyond the education. The life experiences I had there have truly shaped me as a person (for better or for worse).

College is not for everyone though.

 

Public Intoxication, Politics, Protest, and Pussy - can't beat it :2thumbsup:


Hotwater

 

Politics? How so?

 

I also found college really enjoyable. Graduate school is just as engaging, if not more, because you can pursue a true interest. I really don't think that it brainwashes you, but that is just my own experience. I've always been skeptical of authority and of what they tell you. I don't buy it, and that never changed in college. In fact, it really taught me to push the envelope.

Anyhow, in the USA there isn't much of a difference between college and university. University is simply a larger college, as far as I've experienced.

 

A person can spend a decade or more of the young adult life on tit-for-tat exchanges on forums trying to win talking points about how screwed up the world is. After all that time, things are the same as they ever were. That time could have been spent earning a degree, starting a business, raising a family, making friends.

A waste is spending decades complaining about things and doing nothing. Moreover, throwing one's life away by doing nothing because anything that could be accomplished in life might be encouraged by society and therefore should be rejected because it's supposedly a part of an evil institution.

It doesn't get any easier for hardcore rejectionists as time goes on. Financial and moral support from parents dwindles as they age and die. A person with no children or friends has no one to help as he or she ages. Little financial stability is available to protect oneself. One's own health eventually becomes frail. Whatever financial and social support was around earlier in life goes by the wayside, leaving an empty shell of an existence.

All of us are here because of our parents, most of whom went to school and worked in spite of the problems of society that they may have seen. They toiled to raise a family. They did all of this instead of lazily rejecting nearly every facet of life based on a defeatist, nihilistic ideological view of society.

 

i think that the meaning behind this image has to do with how the author felt about college. he obviously thought of college as not-living. doesn't appreciate it or isn't right for it or isn't ready for it, because he obviously takes it for granted. for me the choice to go to college is not some sacrifice or obligation. i do it because ireally want to do it.

 

undergraduate college was easily the best four years of my life. not so much the classes; those were alright but it was really everything else about the college life that was just a complete blast. grad school wasn't nearly so fun, but the classes were genuinely interesting (for the most part) and the whole working-multiple-jobs-while-going-to-school-full-time thing was something that i'm glad to have experienced at some point in my life, just to help put things into perspective. plus, i'd probably still be working a job that makes me miserable if i hadn't gotten the education and made the connections that i did in grad school. paying back the loans does suck, especially since i decided to go with the fulfilling career path instead of the high paying career path, but i don't for an instant regret any of my college.

 

what did you start in, and what did you switch to?


I started in engineering and switched to architecture. Which apparently is generally rarely if ever done. I got into engineering for logical reasons, but i think architecture is a much more fitting path for me.

 

i'm not sure exactly what switch you mean, since i didn't specifically reference a switch. i started college as an undeclared, and did that for two full years until i had completed all my core courses. at that point, based on what classes i had found most interesting, i declared a psychology major/philosophy minor. i do kind of wish i had done philosophy major/psychology minor, as i enjoyed philosophy more and was better at it, but it seemed less likely to lead to any actual jobs at the time. anyway, i did graduate with the major/minor that i had declared. i just didn't use it. the miserable job i had referred to was my experience in restaurant management in the few years following my bachelor's degree. i had already decided against a career in psychology by the time i graduated; i was just so far along in my studies that i figured i might as well just go ahead and get the degree anyway. and it's not like i had an alternative major in mind at the time.

so after a few years of pretty much hating life, i decided to go back to school in a field that i actually enjoyed. i was originally just planning on getting a second bachelor's degree, but then i realized that i could get a master's in the same amount of time for about the same price, so i went ahead and got my master's in sport and recreation management. so now i get to help people lead happy, healthy lives, which i love. but unfortunately it's a field that doesn't really pay shit.

if your question refers to my high paying versus fulfilling career path comment, there wasn't really a high paying path that i started with (although i suppose psychologists can make a pretty penny). it's just that mine is one of the lowest paying careers you can go to school for. there are exceptions, but you really have to be at the top of the game to make real good money at it.

 

College is great for certain things, like finishing a long term goal systematically and the critical thinking skills are honed if you even halfway get into it.

I'd recommend it to anyone but here's the thing.. unless you are passionate about being something like an engineer, nurse, doctor, lawyer don't expect the schooling to grant you entryway into some secure life. And for those professions the degree is just an entryway at best, it has to be something you're passionate about almost like a calling if you want to be happy and successful. Regardless of school. I worked on cars and went to school from 18-27. Been to 3 community colleges and 2 state universities. My job doesn't require that education but it helped my life. I don't think it's for everyone but I don't regret my experiences even based on cost.

Work hard at what you love doing, the money will come.

 

It is so important to go to college.. I was comparing the work I did a year ago.. To the work I'm doing now.. Such an improvement.. They taught me things that I wouldn't of been able to look up on my own.. But going to college is about the people u meet too.. Networking is really important. And teachers will hook u up with jobs.. I used to think I could learn all that shit on my own.. But never happened..lol. Instead I just worked two minimum wage paying jobs.. And no where to advance.. Then I said.. Fuck this shit.. Go back to school.. lol even though its super expensive its gonna pay off.. Crap.. I could keep going on.. But I'm feeling hungover right now.. And feel like puking.. But if I do.. It'll ruin jagerbombs for me forever.. lol

Update: pukefree tonight yay.. Still feeling sick tho..