College degrees are overrated

[Swan]

They're only overrated if you make them out to be.

Even if I don't get the job I want straight away, or even at all, I actually thoroughly enjoy my engineering degree. At my university we have practical projects that we have to provide solutions for ourselves, i.e. we actually apply what we learn and ofttimes it is really awesome to see what people can come up with.

I'm also actually applying a fair bit of what I know in real life, and I apply an engineering problem solving mindset to general personal projects and the like. Instead of "I wish I had this" it is now "how can I make this?", "do I know how?", "if not, what do I need to learn?".

I actually do want to go in to engineering research, which has an average higher pay in its first year than general tradesmanship, but I won't be devastated if I don't get in to it at first. Comes down to whether or not you REALLY want to do something, and whether or not you're willing to climb the ladder to get there.

Edit: As an aside, the Australian government's HECS / HELP program is actually really good. Our university fees are actually paid for until such a time as we have an income and can pay it back gradually through tax. There is no interest on these loans either, so you can pay it back as quickly or as slowly as you want. As long as you're willing to learn, in Australia there's no reason why a motivated individual can't go to university.

 

[Trin]

I don't think it's overrated. I would suggest choosing wisely for your career path.

 

[70i]

College is by no means the only way for someone to be successful or earn a large income. But what is required to be success is hard work. Colleges force their students to work and get educated. While if someone attempts to learn on their own they're more likely to not be as motivated and dedicated to their work. One could probably learn just as well or even better on their own than at a college. There's not much you can't learn with the internet, but it comes down to being self-motivated.

All college degrees are not equal. A major based in math or science will almost surely put oneself in a better position when they graduate compared to a humanity major.

Colleges are definitely a business. If your worried about the price of college go to a community or public college, and don't dorm if you don't have to. My 3.0 GPA at community college was nothing special, but I still got into the second best program for my major in the state.

My opinion, go to college if you can't dedicate a large portion of your time to something that will earn you enough money to live the lifestyle you want. If you can't (most people can't) go to college, but don't overpay. Public institutions are more often better and almost always cheaper than private ones. If you parents can't afford to pay the tuition apply for financial aid unless your parents make a whole lot of money you'll get at least some money towards school. I have friends whose parents don't make that much, and financial aid paid for these friends educations in full and actually got about $1000 back each semester they attended.

 

I'd agree that college degrees aren't at all needed to do most jobs. But these days, I'll take anything I can to put myself at the top of the list.

Being unemployed with bills to pay and no employer interested is way more stressful than going to uni for a few years.

Consider this: You are a venture capitalist and two entrepreneurs come to you for help. Who would you rather take: a Harvard graduate who graduated with a 5.0 and went on to attain a PhD in whatever from MIT, or somebody who instead spent their college years trading gold online? (Or trading anything else).

My main point here is that sure, trading skills might be more useful than skills a degree may give you, but if you have no money, your trading skills are useless.

I don't think he was referring to Sythe or online trading lol..

 

[nodnarbusn]

I disagree. Trading doesn't teach you how to solve partial differential equations. Trading doesn't teach you how to solve dynamics programs. How to simulate airflow over a rigid structure.

Trading teaches you to well... trade.

Consider this: You are a venture capitalist and two entrepreneurs come to you for help. Who would you rather take: a Harvard graduate who graduated with a 5.0 and went on to attain a PhD in whatever from MIT, or somebody who instead spent their college years trading gold online? (Or trading anything else).

Consider the same situation, but you're looking to hire somebody.

A college degree from a reputable university is an emblem of competence; a reason for others to trust what you have to say. I personally don't want someone who hasn't studied mechanics and aerodynamics to design airplanes that I fly in. I'd rather have someone with 20 yrs experience and a degree manage my money than somebody with 25 yrs but no degree. (Here you might say that then they both have trade skills. Sure, but I wouldn't want somebody with no experience managing my money just as I wouldn't want someone with no degree, so I added 20 yrs bonus to both of them).

My main point here is that sure, trading skills might be more useful than skills a degree may give you, but if you have no money, your trading skills are useless.

He doesnt mean "trading" LMAO. He means a TRADE. IE: HVAC, Electrical, Carpentry ect ect..

 

[Loyal 2 da game]

Trade skills will beat any degree anyday

yeah i'm not so sure about that one. if you have a degree in law, i'd imagine the average lawyer will make more money than the average tradesmen.

 

[70i]

I disagree with your first point. I'm taking MIT as an example because that's the school I know most about. MIT actually loses money with each student that they admit. Tuition costs ~40k a year, but they end up paying ~80k a year per student. Why can they manage to do this? Because they have an endowment worth billions of dollars that generates a ton of money in interest, which is used to subsidize each student's tuition. Also, they are a nonprofit organization so they don't have shareholders or anybody who they need to make happy by turning a profit.

All schools are technically businesses even if they are non-profit. Just because a school is non-profit doesn't mean the owners can't make money from it. However, some schools are greedier than others. Reputable schools like MIT or ivy league schools are less likely to nickel and dime their students because like you said endowments. On the other hand, the school I go to, Rutgers will do everything in their power to get the most amount of money out of their students. Since Rutgers is a public institution there's a limit to the amount of tuition they can charge their students, but they have large campus fee, expensive meal plans, 40-85 parking tickets, expensive parking permits, among other things Rutgers will do to get money. Rutgers will also do anything to save money, like having to wait 2 weeks to speak to a guidance councilor. I wasn't even able to speak to anyone before I started my first semester, and as a result I resisted for a class I didn't need. Someone has to be making money off these things.

I'm not saying all institutions are like this. I bet MIT cares about their students more than turning a profit. Many schools however, are far more concerned with profits then they are about their students.

 

[nodnarbusn]

I thought he meant trading like stock trading, or trading as a business. (Like a merchant).

In which case my point is infinitely more valid. A college graduate will end up making much more money than a tradesman over the course of his lifetime - enough to pay for college several times over. Of course, not everybody can go to college, and we need plumbers and HVAC and people that do all of this too, so I'm not saying everybody should go to college. Saying that a trade skill is preferable, however, to a college degree is just not true. Note that I'm not saying degrees from ANY university are better than trade skills. I'm saying that degrees from certain reputable universities are.

You dont know what you are talking about, plain and simple. I'd say 65-75+ percent of college graduates make sub 100k salaries. I know quite a few people in the trades that make atleast that. You seem to think that all tradesmen are joe schmoe with a shovel or the god awful craigslist contractor and his workforce of illegals. Fact is at the upper end of most any trade you can make GOOD money, much better than you apparently thinking.That and the fact that most people end up with jobs not even relating to their degrees kinda nullifies any point you have made.

A trade is a skill that is worldwide. It transcends language barriers and is generally the same world wide anywhere. A trade is an actual SKILL ( not to say all degrees offer little to no real life skills but I will say MOST dont). I can up and leave town and find work in most any place in a matter of days and command good pay. A trade beats a degree in versatility in spades.

Im not against higher education by any means, Im just saying I work side by side with college educated men working in the trades making the same or less money than most who are not "formally" educated. There are ofcourse exceptions (primarily legal and medical) but most degrees are simply overrated. Dont buy the bullshit, you can still make a great living working with your hands.

All this said i plan on attending college again soon... for construction management to be a superintendent. Thats a big money job (100-500k+++++) and in the trades. Hell a degree isnt even necessary but will be a good way for a young man such as myself to get my foot in the door. Most supers are older so ill need all the help I can get, and so we reach the true function of a degree nowadays.. getting a foot in the door.

Tl;dr not all tradesmen are illegals digging ditches for $6 hourly under the table. You are obviously unaware of the earning potential.

 

[PureSkrillex]

You can't overgeneralize by devaluing all college degrees; some can be extremely useful and can actually be the deal breaker. However, I would agree that a college degree isn't necessary in some fields - where actual worth is put more on the individual's accomplishments. The field with the least amount of emphasis on degrees would be the tech field imo. If you can code well and have projects to show how beast you are, the degree won't matter at all (and you really don't even need one. I know of a couple people who work as developers and make ~100K and have only graduated high school).
That being said, with professional fields such as medicine and law, a college degree is necessary and is actually a good measurement tool when it comes to picking out candidates for the respective areas.