College Is A Waste Of Time - Agree or Disagree?

[arraamis]

This guy makes a good argument that the majority who attend and graduate college end up in different fields of work than what they had originallymajored in, in addition to being weighed down with the debt after graduation.

I tend to think someone with some type of a degree has a better chance of landing a higher paying job in the long run, although while still being indebted to the school ...

College is a waste of time, if you're not in a position post completion, to benefit financially from the effort. The converse of that is that no form of education is a waste of time.

The choice is ultimately up to the individual ..... either way.

[BTTAG145]

Well my Father has a Masters and runs his own business, My Mother has two degrees and is a successful DON of a Assisted Living Facility. My Aunt is a Doctor and is doing fine. My Uncle has two Masters degrees and makes great money. My mother in law has a PHD and another Masters in Accounting. I myself have a Bachelors in Nursing and I'm working towards Medical School. Basically almost everybody in my family is highly educated and we're all eating good. So you can not get a college degree if you want that's your choice. But don't fool yourself into thinking that it isn't the best chance you have for success.

[Danny Gunz]

I have to disagree with you here, while business degrees aren't anything special, accounting degrees show employers a bit more initiative and are a pretty solid degree to have. Everyone I know with science degrees (outside of like biomedical engineering phds) have crappy ass lab jobs that pay hardly more than gas stations. These are really smart people too, but there are no jobs out there for this.

For the medical degrees, there is just a huge saturation of nurses hitting the job market right now. But when the baby boomers start progressively passing away over the next 20 or so years what is going to happen? We are going to have an assload of nurses in their 40s and 50s with no jobs.

Honestly I'd rank them this way (for 4 year undergraduate degrees)

Accounting
Nursing
Business
Science

STEM degrees are in high demand in the US. Much more than business degrees.

[Danny Gunz]

This is true. However, I still say a degree shouldn't cost so much for the average student with no financial backing from the family's trust fund.

I'm sure most students seek all the gov financing they can to help with the costs, though many don't qualify for whatever reason.

I agree colleges are way too expensive. In most cases if you are in need of it the government will finance part of the college money but it varies from person to person.

With that said though it isn't a waste of time given you are studying something that will impress employers after graduation. You are much more likely though to be hired for any job if you have a degree over someone who doesnt.

[mannyman]

College or in the UK university isn't a waste of time but its true that most graduates end up in jobs they didn't study. The problem is that so many people go to uni these days that it actually drives down the importance of one. Back in the day only a handful of people went to uni so a degree was special, now everybody has one. However it does increase your earning potential and opportunities as most employers want a degree these days.

Exmaple: A well known supermarket chain will put staff on a management training scheme which will take 2-3 years of working your way up the ranks. A uni graduate can go straight on to management training without working on the shop floor.

[Biolink]

If you are going for an art degree or music, practically a waste of time unless you want to teach it, or its somewhat of a requirement(To play in a symphony orchestra for example).

Management degrees are good because they are flexible. There are a ton of English majors out here so good luck advancing up the ladder, but if you want to be comfortable I'm sure you could still find a degree using it. Finance & Accounting are solid bets from what I hear(I got a friend who is my age making 50k doing accounting and he was only a Mid Level student).

Business I hear is not really all that good, there is an over saturation of those. Or rather I should all aren't created equal. A business degree from lets say John Hopkins University is gonna be worth more than a business degree from Western Michigan University.


STEM should always be good. Though all Engineering fields aren't created equal, if you are smart enough you could easily change the focus of your degree and still get in another related field.

I dropped out of school because I wasn't interested anymore. Rather find a trade or go the Air Force.

[hayZ]

In the UK, loads of people have degrees..**** loads. I have a degree and now I am now in the middle of my masters. If I was to do it all over again, I would honestly get a degree in a more specified subject which has practical importance rather than a theory-based, broad degree. At the end of my degree I thought to myself, what did I learn that I can apply to a real job apart from being a teacher? Nothing really to be honest with you in terms of knowledge taught. Things like sticking to deadlines, being organised, improving my writing skills and being more comfortable/confident are things I learnt throughout those three years. Honestly I could have learnt that doing a real job or learnt other ways rather than paying $5 a year at the very least.

Courses like Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Accounting are very valued, constantly in demand and safe. If I was to do it all over again I would have probably been an accountant. Jobs are plentiful and safe and salary is very good which is what you mostly want from a job, everything else comes secondary imo.

If you guys and girls ever have kids, make them go into something like that OR Teaching OR if none of them interested them then I would make them start on an apprenticeship and learn a trade. I honestly went to university and chose Sociology/Criminology because I did not know what else to do. On top of that my dad expected me to go university and hes an old school kinda guy when it comes to education so that's pretty much why I hate to go. I honestly enjoyed my time at University, I found the work pretty easy when I actually put my mind to it and I pulled out with a good grade. The job market in the UK is not great though, it's not awful like Spain but it's struggling just like any other country in the West atm bar maybe Germany.

[!! Shawn]

All I know is that Piers Morgan is a twat.

[fight_professor]

My mind switches on this regularly. Sometimes I think college is pure BS - save for medicine or something. Other times, I am itching to go back cos I do love learning and being in the college atmosphere.

[rorymac]

Depends on what you want to do. Some jobs will be ruled out if you don't have a degree. Also, it depends on what you're studying and where - Maths at Oxford is more valuable than most other courses (which will remain nameless)