But what if I don't want to go to college?

<p>Why do you want to go to college
i want to go to college so ican make money and always have something to fall back on. even if i meet a rich man and i don't have to work, i would still like to have a college degree. because people get divorced, then what ... I want to be able to get a job. i also just want the expierence. </p>

<p>but i also know what youre saying with like having it shoved down you throat your whole life. my parents have made me play soccer since i was 3. when i quit before freshman year they were so disapointed. probably because i didnt look so good next to my older brother who got a golf scholarship to auburn. but i did what i thought i wanted to do. im glad i did it to. and if your parents are goign to pay for you college and be supportive. take advantage of the opportunity, you might regret it later. but who knows, you should just go.. see if you like it. you can always drop out like bill gates =]</p>

<p>and what i think of people who don't go..
i personally think its a bad decision. in my family . not going to college is not an option. which im glad. if i didnt have my parents pushing me and telling me how important is .. i would probably make a huge mistake. but everyone's different.</p>

<p>hope you make the best decision for you =]</p>

<p>College isn't for everyone, maybe talk to you guidance counselor about different options such as trade school or online classes. My father never completed college and now is a paramedic and loves his job. Or maybe consider a program like leap year where you spend a year in India or something and it counts as a year of college. Think about whether you truly don't want it or you just want a break. I have plenty of friends who don't give a hoot about the typical 4 year college and are just getting jobs or going to community college. Try and keep your options open, you're young.</p>

<p>I want to go to college (eventually) because I look forward to going somewhere new and meeting new people. I also generally love learning. I don't really care about having the typical college experience though and I think it's up to people to choose their own destiny. Don't go to college just because you feel pressured to.</p>

<p>I have a few friends who are not going to college immediately after high school.</p>

<p>One is in the Navy. That ought to be self-explanatory.</p>

<p>Another is going to take a year or two to work, help her parents with the family contracting business, and take care of her troubled little brother. Essentially, her family's going through a rough patch financially and emotionally, what with the collapse of the housing bubble and her little brother's mental problems. She doesn't have the money (or the grades) for a 4-year school, so she's going to save up and enroll at community college when she can.</p>

<p>Another got a job with a radio station, which was what he always wanted to do, so he's skipping college as long as that lasts. </p>

<p>Another has health problems.</p>

<p>Etc, etc.</p>

<p>Depends what you're looking for. If you're looking at strict financial success, it's very possible to succeed without getting a college education. A lot, if not most, of the leadership positions in the world rely more on networking, interpersonal dynamics, leadership, common sense (which ain't so common), business calculation and trends, and that "intuition" that gives CEOs such fatass paychecks. There's lots of people who are millionaires, multimillionaires, who do little to no college at all. Getting into an ivy means you enter an established business when you're near your 30s in a high up office position, where most likely you'll be working your way either up or down the ladder based on work place politics. Guaranteed 6 digit figures, but getting a job and progressing/keeping a job are two completely different animals, and often times people just start up their own proprietorships and become rich enough to retire by the time the graduate student finishes their MBA (plus the fact that the rich person has on-site experience, which is a lot better on resumes). </p>

<p>And with the increase of the online world and the $100 laptop initiative, it looks like there will be a lot more millionaire internet marketers springing up. Forex is also catching onto people too, so if you're genuinely a bright (or hard working) person, then no, college is not needed at all. It will save you a lot of money actually not going.</p>

<p>NOOOOOOOOOOOW, why do I want to get into college?</p>

<p>Easy, to network with people who could possibly be people I partner with in the future or work with. And...to meet all the hot ladies. Cheers.</p>

<p>Just my .02</p>

<p>My parents have said not to worry right now, but that I should take high school courses "as if I'm going to college even if I don't know right now."</p>

<p>Why can't they just straight up say "you're going to college whether you like it or not"?</p>

<p>My 19-year-old son is taking a “gap-year” (instead of doing his Freshman Year of college in Fall 2011) since he just didn’t seem “ready” for college at this stage in his life, despite being accepted to 4 colleges; his lack of interest in attending college this Fall (not excited about the prospect at all) caused me as his parent to encourage him to “defer” admission to the one college where he placed his deposit (on May 1st), to start as a Freshman in August 2012 (that is, if he still wants to attend that school). He also didn’t want to leave home (didn’t want to live in a dorm) to go to college; at first he wanted to commute to a local LAC (where he deferred his admission til Fall 2012). As a college grad myself, I’m frustrated with my son for passing on his opportunity to start college this Fall 2011, but maybe it’s better to wait til he’s really ready (?), whenever that may be (?). I don’t think that my son realizes the few alternatives to not attending college = minimum-wage jobs/Mickey D’s; also he doesn’t want to join the Armed Services; not much else is out there with the current depressed job market (not much for my non-vocational high school grad with no trade-school training). I think my son is missing out on college culture; meeting new people; fraternity rush; etc.; now he’s just living at home with me (a widow), and he’s lamenting that he’s not still now in high school this year when he graduated last June 2011. He’s not ready yet to “move on” and transition to a new way of life = college, and/or to grow-up! Maybe he’ll mature in another 10 months (by this time next August, but his decision to go to college needs to be made by May 1st, 2012 for a deposit). In the interim, my son’s doing Church Mission Work, but it’s for a short period of time (not all year); then he needs to also get a minimum-wage job til next August 2012. I was so hoping to get my son into college this Fall and to see him excited about his prospects (new friends/classes/routines).
Woe is me (parent)!</p>

<p>I want to go to college because it has been forced down my throat since I was little and still is today. So yeah its been programed into me.</p>

<p>In 21st century America, you don’t have to do **** to get into college. There were kids in last year’s graduating class who I didn’t even know, because they never even showed up for school, who managed a diploma and acceptance into university.</p>

<p>Plenty of colleges are just diploma mills these days. I know one kid specifically who is going to college to party for four years and then take over his father’s automobile dealership when he’s done.</p>

<p>CCers don’t want to go to college to learn, otherwise they wouldn’t bother with school work, ECs and test scores because they’d be doing things that interest them. CCers want to go to THE BEST colleges to be BETTER than everyone else. Will we be better off objectively speaking? Probably. Is it superficial? That’s for the individual to decide.</p>

<p>I love to study and I want a career.</p>

<p>I want to go to college so I can figure out what to do with my life.
Plus, if I didn’t go, my parents would disown me. Or kill me. Possibly both.</p>

<p>I want to go to help my family…plus I kinda need college to do what I want to do. I don’t think SpaceX, Boeing, or Northrop Grumman are going to leave the fate of a multi-million (possibly billion) dollar rocket in the hands of a non-graduate :/</p>

<p>^Hey, but Virgin Galatic was founded by a guy who never graduated high school.</p>

<p>I would seriously consider a gap year. Are you one of the older, or younger in your class at your high school?
Many students by their parent’s choice have repeated a grade level so your age after a gap year would be a help to you beginning your college career.
Of late, secondary school has become a hyper environment and often the long-term goals are not expressed when trying to just complete the next jump in successive and consecutive hurdles. High School can too often feel like a race with declared winners and losers.
College is a conglomerate of students studying for different goals with varied majors. High school curriculums are competitively narrow by nature and help create the laser-like drill your feeling. College is often a big relief for students and you may find at the end of your HS junior year that college is the best decision.</p>

<p>I don’t want to run the company…I want to help make designs and whatnot not like pay ppl to do it</p>

<p>I’m a sophomore in high school and am currently ranked #1 in my class with a 4.25 GPA but right now I don’t see why I would go to college. There is no reason for me to. I want to play soccer professionally, but my chances are very low after experiencing the politics and corruption of the business. After that, there is nothing else I really want to do except travel the world and go to beaches, mountains, etc. and just explore many places. I don’t want to spend more time in school doing things that I don’t want to be doing. The problem is that I don’t have money or a job. I’m almost 16 and I don’t have my learner’s permit. My brother went to college for a year and dropped out because he didn’t like it. Now he is on the path of becoming a professional referee for soccer. My sister was ranked #3 in her class and is going to be a freshman in college this year with a full scholarship including one for soccer. I don’t know what to do because I personally don’t want to go to any college, not even to play soccer because college soccer is also filled with corruption and its not even a big deal. However, my mom says I have no choice and that I must go. I still have 3 more years of high school, so maybe I’ll find something, but right now that’s my position on the idea. </p>

<p>I’d like to hear your opinion on the situation.</p>

<p>Thanks, </p>

<p>Chris U.</p>

<p>Why:

  1. (superficial) To say I went to college.
  2. Because I want to do something with my life that requires a degree. (as in, can’t get hired without one)
  3. Because I want to learn new things.</p>

<p>And people who don’t want to do that?

  1. Perfectly fine with me. It’s their life. My dad didn’t go to college, neither did my aunts, uncles, or grandparents, my mom only got an associate’s, and my little brother doesn’t want to go to college, and I know plenty of other people who didn’t, and some of those people are pretty damn successful. You don’t need to go to college to be successful, and you definitely don’t need to go to college to be a happy or more complete person.</p>