I think more and more people are realizing college is a waste of time

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'll make an exception. Those who know they will complete a graduate degree, then I would say it's worth going. To the over 80 percent though who are just in college and don't know what the hell they are doing and signing up for loan after loan after loan, those people need to quit. The male college population continues to dwindle because more and more are realizing that college is a waste of time for them.</p>

<p>Why would I go major in English and not be able to get a job when I get out, when I can go to a trade school and learn how to drive a truck, how to do carpentry, be an auto mechanic, be a computer programmer, what have you. I can learn my trade in a year and a half and make 45k out of the gate in an in demand field instead of going to some "prestigious school" and expect some employer to sign me up when I have no experience or qualifications for the position.</p>

<p>My personal advice. Find a trade you like and do it that way instead of the 4 year plan.</p>

<p>I will continue to say that college is the most overrated and pushed down our throat process. Acquiring a trade will always be more valuable then attaining a bachelors degree.</p>

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<p>You seem like a very smart guy, but you a little right, and really wrong at the same time. College is a scam, I will give you that. The amount of money a person needs to spend to acquire a BA even at a state school is ridiculous. BUT, more and more jobs are requiring BA's at least. And just like everybody is not qualified for college, not everybody is fit or talented for a specific "trade." </p>

<p>Not to throw out the cliche numbers either, but a person with a BA makes an average of one million dollars more in life than a person who only has a high school degree. That is worth the 20-30k in debt. But of course there are exceptions to the norm.</p>

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<p>You seem like a very smart guy, but you a little right, and really wrong at the same time. College is a scam, I will give you that. The amount of money a person needs to spend to acquire a BA even at a state school is ridiculous. BUT, more and more jobs are requiring BA's at least. And just like everybody is not qualified for college, not everybody is fit or talented for a specific "trade." </p>

<p>Not to throw out the cliche numbers either, but a person with a BA makes an average of one million dollars more in life than a person who only has a high school degree. That is worth the 20-30k in debt. But of course there are exceptions to the norm.</p>

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<p>You seem like a very smart guy, but you a little right, and really wrong at the same time. College is a scam, I will give you that. The amount of money a person needs to spend to acquire a BA even at a state school is ridiculous. BUT, more and more jobs are requiring BA's at least. And just like everybody is not qualified for college, not everybody is fit or talented for a specific "trade." </p>

<p>Not to throw out the cliche numbers either, but a person with a BA makes an average of one million dollars more in life than a person who only has a high school degree. That is worth the 20-30k in debt. But of course there are exceptions to the norm.</p>

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<p>That's compared to somebody who has no trade and is doing labor there whole life.</p>

<p>You ask those auto mechanics who make 50 dollars an hour and I guarantee you 95 percent of them didn't go to college, but instead went to auto mechanic trade school. </p>

<p>The money is in learning a trade that few people have. There is no advantage these days to having a bachelors degree. I can make more money with a trade then a degree, because I have something more rare and in demand then you.</p>

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<p>I think you are wrong. </p>

<p>More and more people are applying to college, so obviously more people think that college is NOT waste of time. Get it?</p>

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<p>Has nothing to do with the declining male population and the fact that it's a waste of time and money for 80 percent of the people who go. </p>

<p>More and more people apply because it's been burned into your head that it's a necessity, when it's not. </p>

<p>Trade>degree.</p>

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<p>What about people who want to do a career that they can't learn about in trade school like Psychology or Medicine? Better to spend more money and be happy rather than save money and be miserable.</p>

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<p>I doubt that there is a declining male population, it's probably more like a declining male PERCENTAGE. Which just means that more women are applying than before. One of the better options instead of getting a BA is going to nursing school and becoming an RN, they make good money. But I highly doubt most trades offer better positions/salaries than a degree would.</p>

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<p>Go to grad school then. It's a waste for 80 percent of the population who major in pointless liberal arts crap and ends up working at target making 10 dollars an hour.</p>

<p>If you plan to do graduate school, then its worth going for. Otherwise, learn how to be a truck driver. I know friends who have done that now for 2 years and are up to 70K at Werner. No kid with a bachelors degree is going to make that type of money right away, only in rare situations.</p>

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<p>josh5sox, the mechanic making 35 dollars an hour is always going to be in work. while the bachelors degree business people continue to get laid off.</p>

<p>i'll agree though, a graduate degree i would say is more valuable then a trade.</p>

<p>trade>bachelor degree though.</p>

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<p>No one knows what the future will hold. It is better to have the college degree than not to have it. Who knows if you will want to become, say, a teacher, when you are old and gray and working at that high-paying manual labor job gets to be too hard physically. If you already have a college degree from 20 years before, it becomes just a matter of taking about 12 courses in your new major and then you will have a college degree in that new interest of yours.</p>

<p>I told my own son to get a college degree and then go to the trade school for job education. He wants to work with his hands. He majored in engineering, though, and now wants to try working as an engineer! The best laid plans of mice and men......</p>

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<p>I guarantee if you go to Target right now you will not find anyone working there with a BA with the exception of MAYBE the store manager or general manager. It'll be just as hard to find someone there making ten dollars an hour but thats aside from the point lol. If I chose not to go to college I would much rather join the military than go to a trade school.</p>

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<p>Well, I agree that if you don't want to stay in debt for your whole life, and if you want to earn a pretty decent salary, you don't have to go to college (as long as you have a useful talent). BUT, if you want to work in a profession that requires more mental labor than manual (such as physics,math, etc.), then you should go get a PhD or a Masters</p>

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<p>so your only options in life are grad school or truck driving school? </p>

<p>one thing to keep in mind is that for many college is a social experience as much as it is an academic/professional one. but the bottom line is that no one path could possibly be the right thing to do for the entire population: trade school would be just as much a waste of time for someone who doesn't want to be there.</p>

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<p>I actually think that the OP has a point. If you have absolutely no idea why you're in college, bouncing back and forth between majors, then it's in your best interest to find a trade instead of wasting your parents money and your own time.</p>

<p>This doesn't apply to most people, however. Going into a trade is like getting a grad degree: you need to be absolutely sure that this is what you want to do.</p>

<p>It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a car mechanic, then getting a BA in psychology isn't really going to help you. It might be a good backup plan, but it shouldn't cost you $60k+ and 4 years of your life.</p>

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<p>Liberal arts degree teaches you critical and creative thinking. You are not taught a specific skill to do a specific task. Initially, if you have a technical skill (or an engineering degree) you'll have a higher starting salary, but over time if you have good problem solving or project management skill, you would have more opportunity for advancement. As someone with BA degrees in math and economics (no graduate degree), in 7 years out of school I was able to increase my salary by 10 times over my starting salary out of school. I think it would be very difficult for someone to do that with only a technical skill, unless you end up having your own business. But in order to run it well, it would be helpful to have some finance or management skill.</p>

<p>I do agree there are too many people going to college with no idea what to do with the degree, some of them may be better off going to trade schools. Not everyone is suited for college, but it is definitely not a waste of time, because not everyone could be indians, we do need some chiefs around.</p>

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<p>OP, you have a good point that you should have a point or a plan for attending college. If you're just going because you're parents are forcing you to, it's not worth it.
All that should matter is that you're doing something that you want to be doing. If you'd like to learn a trade, learn it. If you like English, study English in college, but make sure you have everything planned out. If you like math and science, study engineering.</p>

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<p>I have to disagree that a college degree is a "waste of time" for 80% of people. For some people, indeed, a college degree is a waste of time; I'm the first person on the bandwagon to say that college is not for everyone and some people should learn a trade. I was the first person in my family to earn a BA. I'm in graduate school now, for a doctoral degree in public health.</p>

<p>My brother went to a trade school for a summer to learn how to do electrical linework. He works for an electric company now, and he makes decent money -- around $35,000 a year. Recently he started calling me up asking me about going to college. I was surprised, because he tried college for a semester and decided it wasn't for him. He told me he changed his mind because he realized his earning potential was so much higher with a degree at his company; besides that, my brother (who is extremely smart, but I'm biased) realized at age 20 that when he gets older he's not going to want to be climbing poles and going up in the bucket. He wants a degree so he has options.</p>

<p>My father is in his late 40s and he was a bus driver in NYC for nearly 20 years. It was a good job and he raised three kids on that money. Now he works for transit in Atlanta. It's not that it wasn't a good choice for him, but he's in college now for business administration. Why? Because he's almost 50 and he's still doing manual labor, and his back and knees are messed up. He's decided that he doesn't want to do it anymore.</p>

<p>My mom went to nursing school for 2 years and became a nurse. She's worked as a nurse for nearly 10 years now. And she's back in school to get her bachelor's degree. She's also in her late 50s and realized that her salary will nearly double when she gets her BSN. She'll be doing pretty much the same thing as she is now, but those three letters work some kind of magic. Plus she could go into administration and get off the floor if/when she gets burned out.</p>

<p>My fiance is an airman first class in the U.S. Air Force. He's completed around 90 credits in college before he realized that he didn't really like it and wanted to be working with his hands. But a couple months ago he decided he would finish his degree. He loves the Air Force, but he wants to be an officer -- make more money, gain more responsibilities.</p>

<p>I can list a dozen other people, at least, who went in for a trade or to the military and it worked out wonderfully for them, and they love it, but they are either back in school or planning to go back shortly because the earning potential is so much more. Most of them don't want to leave the general field that they are currently in, but they realize that they will make more money and will generally avoid manual labor that takes a toll on one's body, especially in middle-age.</p>

<p>College can certainly be a waste of time if one doesn't have a plan of what they want to do with the degree, or if they're twiddling their thumbs and not doing what they're supposed to do. But I won't say that in all arenas, a trade is better than a bachelor's degree. In some fields, you absolutely need a BA/BS to get a job, and in others, your options are wider and the pay is much better (for essentially the same work) with a bachelor's.</p>

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<p>juillet - great post.</p>