Poll: Is College/University Worth It?

[Dirty Hipsters]

Answer is, it depends.

What kind of career do you actually want. You don't have to know specifically right now, but you really need to think about whether your future career path with probably involve needing a higher education. There are plenty of jobs where you can make good money without any college. A friend of mine barely finished high school, never went to college, and started working instead for a company that lays hardwood floors. Now he makes about $52,000 a year, and plans on starting his own business in the same vein.

You also have to figure out if you can actually finish college. There's tons of people who start college, then drop out when it gets hard and never go back. Then they're stuck with college loans without the college education that comes with it.

Finally, you need to figure out whether it's worth it to you to go to a really expensive college. People with high student loan debt after school are usually the people who went to out of state schools, or who couldn't get scholarships. Figure out if you can get any scholarships beforehand, and if you can't try going to a community college first, and then transferring to a University later so save money. Most employers don't really care where you went to school for college unless it's one of the big well known schools, so it's not worth paying too much unless you're going to a really well known school (or unless there's few schools that provide the specialty you want).

 

[Plinglebob]

Answer is, it depends.

Quoting for emphasis. If you arn't sure what you want to do as a career and you do well acidemicly, then doing a degree is a good oppotunity to study something you're interested in and make some contacts which could be useful in later life. If you know what you want to do and its something that doesn't obviously need a degree, its worth checking around for apprentiships and vocational courses as they are more likely to give you information thats useful in the long run, as well as giving you job experience which is often more attractive to employers.

 

[Amaror]

Depends on what you want to do as a career. When you want to do something like computer sience, it's defenitly worth, since there's practically no way you won't get a job with that degree.
The Depth part depends on your country i guess. In Germany for example, the state runs the universitys and i only pay for a semester ticket (To get to the university).
(That's not everywhere in Germany, but where i live.)

 

[likalaruku]

I was told 3 things:

1)College is only for people who absolutely know what they want to do, for rich people with nothing better to do, & for gifted people who are damn good at what they do.

2)(Told to a group by a brutally honest college tour guide) It doesn't matter what major you take, the jobs you got a degree for won't be available when you graduate & what few students don't drop out usually end up working at one of the many car dealerships.

3)A college degree is not a guarantee for a good paying job. I can't tell you how many graduates I've seen working at Payless, Taco Bell, or folding pants in a mall.

 

[Ironside]

It depends on what degree you do as well. Don't go and study media studies or some useless thing like that and expect it to be any use to you in the future. If you have a career in mind though such as engineering or medicine, etc then it is definitely worth it as those kinds of degrees should give you plenty of opportunities once you get them.

 

[Astoria]

It depends on the degree. Some are useless and some are a guaranteed job. With the economy the way it is, it's probably a good time to study so you have the qualifications when the boom happpens. Make sure it's what you want though because the last thing you want to happen is to have a huge debt and a degree in something you don't enjoy.

 

[bluepilot]

oh, yes. Without a degree you can end up stuck in so many areas. I always wanted to go to Japan and you need a degree just to get the visa for working here.

However, if you are happy where you are at then no worries.

A degree is not something that will lead to success but is rather a stepping stone towards other things. Think about what you want and whether or not a degree would help you get there.

 

[the Dept of Science]

I was told 3 things:

1)College is only for people who absolutely know what they want to do, for rich people with nothing better to do, & for gifted people who are damn good at what they do.

2)(Told to a group by a brutally honest college tour guide) It doesn't matter what major you take, the jobs you got a degree for won't be available when you graduate & what few students don't drop out usually end up working at one of the many car dealerships.

3)A college degree is not a guarantee for a good paying job. I can't tell you how many graduates I've seen working at Payless, Taco Bell, or folding pants in a mall.

I think that this is the wisest response that I've read.

Personally, I don't regret my degree. Saying that, I only finished it yesterday. WOOOOOO!!!!

But seriously, I want to go into teaching, which requires a degree. There are some areas of life for which you need a degree. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists.
On the other hand, in the three years I've been here, I haven't met many people that haven't been disillusioned with the whole experience. Spending an awful lot of money acquiring skills and knowledge that they will never apply in real life.
One thing that I've found is that most degrees seem geared towards turning people into academics. You will write longer and longer essays about more and more obscure topics, culminating in a 10,000 word dissertation about a poem no one has read or some forgotten King's half-brother. After becoming an expert in that half-brother, you will go off and work in the civil service or some international company. You will start at the bottom anyway, because the only skill you acquired is essay writing.
Unless you are really good at essay writing and enjoy them, then you can go on to do a PhD and write 100,000 words on that half-brother's thoughts on the feminist movement.

Another thing I feel about university is that it is inherently unsatisfying at times. You are essentially spending three or four years taking. In every job, someone is benefiting from your existence, even if you're just putting burgers in a bag for them. Being a student however, doesn't directly benefit anyone but yourself. If I write an essay, exactly one person reads it, despite the fact that he knows all about the topic anyway.
When you are studying and feel that you aren't even benefiting yourself, that's when people start to get disillusioned with the whole university thing.

Also, this is a very good article that I would recommend.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-question-youre-not-asking-should-you-go-to-college/

 

[ResonanceSD]

Yes it is, you're there for the experience as much as the learning.

 

[electric_warrior]

Yes, but do something you enjoy instead fof something you think will get you a job.

 

[solemnwar]

I was told 3 things:

1)College is only for people who absolutely know what they want to do, for rich people with nothing better to do, & for gifted people who are damn good at what they do.

2)(Told to a group by a brutally honest college tour guide) It doesn't matter what major you take, the jobs you got a degree for won't be available when you graduate & what few students don't drop out usually end up working at one of the many car dealerships.

3)A college degree is not a guarantee for a good paying job. I can't tell you how many graduates I've seen working at Payless, Taco Bell, or folding pants in a mall.

Oh my god, THIS. I had a supervisor at Tim Horton's (canadian coffee chain) who was nearing the end of her SECOND (more specified) degree before she quit, I believe she got a job in a lab? It's ridiculous how many people STILL think that the people behind the counter are lazy and/or high-school dropouts who "aren't trying hard enough" to find a "real" job.

OT: Unfortunately, unless you REALLY love retail (some people CAN make a career out of it) you need a degree to even get a fighting chance. Sometimes two (there are certain degrees, such as teaching, that require you to get a degree in something "minor" (i.e. BA or BS) before you can apply). You need to basically throw your resumes at EVERYTHING and network as much as you possibly can. And even then, you might not be successful.

If you're not sure about what you want, take a few first-year courses in various faculties (take an english, take a history, take a math, take a science, something else that looks interesting) to see if you can find something that peaks your interest and makes you go "yeah, this looks like a good area for a career!". If after doing that you're still not sure, I'd say take a break from college and do something else while continuing to think about it.

 

[Esotera]

The question is faulty. It depends on what course you're doing, and how good that university is. Some give you much better prospects for employment at the end than others.

A lot of it is just luck and knowing the right people though.

 

[Cry Wolf]

As a high school student I'm obviously thinking about going to university and starting a career. However, I've heard loads f stories about student debt (not sure how bad that is in Canada), how it's hard to find a job and how many people, on forums and from friends of mine, have said its not worth it.

Now I have two questions: Is it only the state of the economy and if it was better it would be worth it? And, did you go to university or college and in your opinion, is it worth it?

Depends what you're doing. If you end up doing one of the generic arts courses, then hell the fuck no. In the end you still need to do something that gives you marketable skills - which is no longer just high school. That doesn't have to be university though. I'm personally doing I.T. courses and planning to do a goverment sponsered apprenticeship.

 

[Bertylicious]

It is worth it if you believe you can finish. If you suffer from depression, if you struggle to write an essay, if your coursework was crap and you got by on exams or if you're just not an academic, then do not go.

Otherwise go. You will earn more money, meet more people, meat more people, have a career and generally have a much fuller life than if you do not.

 

[RustlessPotato]

Well I went to university because I find Biomedical sciences fascinating. It's not like I have a certain job in mind I want to do. I just love the knowledge i'm given.

 

[Daveman]

Only if you're interested in what you're studying. People may try and get you to do a more "worthwhile" degree, but if you're interested in what you're studying it's that much easier to get good grades, otherwise it can be a real chore.

 

[cciiss4499]

As I am also a highschool student it is worth to a degree while we do live in a shit world getting degrees for a wide range of jobs is a good idea. I personally plan to go to RMC so I can get a degree and pay it off by filling out a 5-9 year contract with the army.

 

[somonels]

Anyone who says no is a moron or has never been there.
No.

 

[justnotcricket]

Totally depends on what you want your career to be - if it's a career that requires a university degree, obviously it's worth it, even if you accrue a bit of debt. If it doesn't require a university degree, it's still worth it from a life/personal interest perspective, but it's gonna be harder justifying the delay in career/accrued debt to yourself. If you don't mind, go for it anyway, but keep your mind clear about what the end goals are and what your limits are for debt.

 

[Dastardly]

As a high school student I'm obviously thinking about going to university and starting a career. However, I've heard loads f stories about student debt (not sure how bad that is in Canada), how it's hard to find a job and how many people, on forums and from friends of mine, have said its not worth it.

Now I have two questions: Is it only the state of the economy and if it was better it would be worth it? And, did you go to university or college and in your opinion, is it worth it?

Depends on what you mean by "worth."

Do you mean "will the degree eventually pay for itself?" Probably not, unless you're in a handful of very specialized, high-demand fields. Even then, you won't clear that debt until your 40's, at least.

Do you mean "will it get me a good job?" Coin toss, right there. It can get you some of the qualifications for a job, but there's no guarantee you'll get one or that you'll love it.

But college is an amazing place to learn a ton of stuff, practice a lot of skills, talk to a lot of awesome folks (academically and socially), and build a lot of life experience... if you put in the effort to do these things. Go because you want to learn and have those experiences, not because you want a job or think it'll make you well-off financially.