College or work?

[drturkturkleton]

I'm at a crossroads right now, do I go to college or should I learn a trade? In terms of earnings I'm not sure which one would put me ahead, but I'm thinking it would be the chance to start my own company one day. Has anyone been face with this decision? What did/ would you do?


ttt

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

do both?

I am currently working and going to school full time. It can be hard, but worth it in the end IMO. You get the experience from working so when you graduate with the credentials you look much better on a resume. Working for a fortune 500 company I think helps a bit as well

 

[Platypus]

Get a degree... it opens a lot of doors for future work.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Learn a trade. Trade schools cost less, take less time and, allow you to earn money to return to college if you choose to.

 

[RandomFool]

College. I know a bunch of people who were going to wait a year or two before going to college or just find a good job and stick with it. None of them have gone very far.

 

[Farang]

Colleges are full of young, easy women you fool!

 

[sdifox]

You can always go into trade school. SKilled labourer are retiring like there is no tomorrow.

 

[Xavier434]

Well, two things are for certain.

1. No one can predict the future. Therefore, your plans for a company may succeed or they may fail or you might just change your mind. No one knows.

2. A college degree is one of the very few things in life which no one can take away from you once you have it and on average it will increase the chances of you earning higher wages. Unlike a Trade, college degrees can often be used as an asset in a much more variety of professions as opposed to a specific trade.


I'm not saying this to you to try and persuade you to choose one path over the other. I am saying this because these are two primary things that I feel everyone should heavily consider when faced with this choice. Personally, I would get my degree first and then decide whether or not to start my own company. If anything, I would do it because college is a place where you learn to expand your horizons about many aspects in life which includes meeting and experiencing a great variety of people. Expanding your skills with so many different people is an incredibly important asset when starting any company. College can be a tremendous help in that area.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
College. I know a bunch of people who were going to wait a year or two before going to college or just find a good job and stick with it. None of them have gone very far.

I know a bunch of people who graduated from college, owe massive debt and, have jobs that don't pay them enough to pay back their loans.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: RandomFool
College. I know a bunch of people who were going to wait a year or two before going to college or just find a good job and stick with it. None of them have gone very far.

I know a bunch of people who graduated from college, owe massive debt and, have jobs that don't pay them enough to pay back their loans.

There are many options for people like this to make ends meet. Examples include the area you choose to live, the standard of living you choose to have, the number of years you choose to pay off your loans, consolidating loans, transferring your loan to another lender at a lower interest rate, etc. You get the idea. Almost everyone I know has graduated college. Many of them do not have jobs which pay a lot but they pay off their debt just fine and they have a lot.

The 2 main reasons they are successful doing so revolves around how well they manage their money and the decisions they make in order to reduce their monthly payments for all of their expenses.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: RandomFool
College. I know a bunch of people who were going to wait a year or two before going to college or just find a good job and stick with it. None of them have gone very far.

I know a bunch of people who graduated from college, owe massive debt and, have jobs that don't pay them enough to pay back their loans.

There are many options for people like this to make ends meet. Examples include the area you choose to live, the standard of living you choose to have, the number of years you choose to pay off your loans, consolidating loans, transferring your loan to another lender at a lower interest rate, etc. You get the idea. Almost everyone I know has graduated college. Many of them do not have jobs which pay a lot but they pay off their debt just fine and they have a lot.

The 2 main reasons they are successful doing so revolves around how well they manage their money and the decisions they make in order to reduce their monthly payments for all of their expenses.

Oh NOW I see it! The lack of success of these people with business degrees who worked to put themselves through college is due to their inability to manage money! :disgust:

Try the real world with a family.

 

[imported_yovonbishop]

Originally posted by: drturkturkleton
I'm at a crossroads right now, do I go to college or should I learn a trade? In terms of earnings I'm not sure which one would put me ahead, but I'm thinking it would be the chance to start my own company one day. Has anyone been face with this decision? What did/ would you do?


ttt

I'd go with getting a degree in college. At least then, you've got your degree and if you want to learn a trade but it doesn't work out you've got something to fall back on.

 

[FoBoT]

how about both
not necessarily at the same time, but it is always good to have more options

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
how about both
not necessarily at the same time, but it is always good to have more options

I agree, it has just been my own sad experience that my trade has put more money in my pocket than my degree ever has.

 

[hypn0tik]

If you were to go to college, what would you consider majoring in?

If you went to trade school, what would you consider learning?

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: RandomFool
College. I know a bunch of people who were going to wait a year or two before going to college or just find a good job and stick with it. None of them have gone very far.

I know a bunch of people who graduated from college, owe massive debt and, have jobs that don't pay them enough to pay back their loans.

There are many options for people like this to make ends meet. Examples include the area you choose to live, the standard of living you choose to have, the number of years you choose to pay off your loans, consolidating loans, transferring your loan to another lender at a lower interest rate, etc. You get the idea. Almost everyone I know has graduated college. Many of them do not have jobs which pay a lot but they pay off their debt just fine and they have a lot.

The 2 main reasons they are successful doing so revolves around how well they manage their money and the decisions they make in order to reduce their monthly payments for all of their expenses.

Oh NOW I see it! The lack of success of these people with business degrees who worked to put themselves through college is due to their inability to manage money! :disgust:

Try the real world with a family.

I am in the real world. I have a family. Wife and kid. I have a lot of college debt. My salary is not huge. I am doing just fine.

You do not need to be very successful/rich to pay off your college debt little by little and do it without struggling. People do it every day. Plus, if they have a business degree, that should open many doors for many different fields of work. All of which pay differently. There are probably many opportunities for these people to get jobs which make more money if they look in the right places. If not then they probably did not pick the best place to live.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Oh NOW I see it! The lack of success of these people with business degrees who worked to put themselves through college is due to their inability to manage money! :disgust:

Try the real world with a family.

No, their lack of success stems from getting a worthless degree and wasting their time in a field that has far too many applicants. Seriously, what do you do with a business degree, Run a business? Essentially you just earned yourself a pretty paper that says you where able to learn how businesses work and sat through classes that talk about people skills.

Just because you get a college degree doesn't mean someone will hand you a million dollars just as soon as you graduate, but it does mean that you are that much closer to getting a million dollars when you graduate. If you get a business degree and don't make friends or contacts, then your degree is worth less then toilet paper. Almost any other field doesn't require you to make friend, just be good at what you learned.

 

[drum]

ask JD or Rowdy

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: Cogman

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Oh NOW I see it! The lack of success of these people with business degrees who worked to put themselves through college is due to their inability to manage money! :disgust:

Try the real world with a family.

No, their lack of success stems from getting a worthless degree and wasting their time in a field that has far too many applicants. Seriously, what do you do with a business degree, Run a business? Essentially you just earned yourself a pretty paper that says you where able to learn how businesses work and sat through classes that talk about people skills.

So lets see, Economics, Accounting, International Business and one BS in Hospitality and Tourism are all worthless degrees?

Just because you get a college degree doesn't mean someone will hand you a million dollars just as soon as you graduate, but it does mean that you are that much closer to getting a million dollars when you graduate.

Say what?

If you get a business degree and don't make friends or contacts, then your degree is worth less then toilet paper. Almost any other field doesn't require you to make friend, just be good at what you learned.

The concept of networking is hardly unique to business. And last I heard, businesses actually have to sell a product or service which generally requires some competence.

 

[drturkturkleton]

Originally posted by: hypn0tik
If you were to go to college, what would you consider majoring in?

If you went to trade school, what would you consider learning?

I think that my major would be Psychology. Science doesn't interest me.

If I was going to learn a trade, probably Electrician.


ttt

 

[IceBergSLiM]

definitely college unless you can make 100k+ right now.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: drturkturkleton

Originally posted by: hypn0tik
If you were to go to college, what would you consider majoring in?

If you went to trade school, what would you consider learning?

I think that my major would be Psychology. Science doesn't interest me.

If I was going to learn a trade, probably Electrician.


ttt

Depends on your drive/motivation and your IQ. But if you are going to major in Psychology I say be an Electrician, they make good money for a blue collar job. Plus it opens up opportunity to run your own shop (be your own boss). With a psych degree you will end up doing sales for minimum wage + commission.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Go to University. 3 or 4 years of fun, and you come out with a degree. If you don't you will eventually hit a glass ceiling. Although there are always the stories of people without degrees making millions, but they are few and far between.

And don't major in Psychology unless you plan on following the career path through and getting a PhD eventually. Psychology is THE easiest major and probably the least useful because nobody really uses their major.

If you are thinking of a trade, then a major with a specific purpose would be right for you, like IT or something practical.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: Cogman

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Oh NOW I see it! The lack of success of these people with business degrees who worked to put themselves through college is due to their inability to manage money! :disgust:

Try the real world with a family.

No, their lack of success stems from getting a worthless degree and wasting their time in a field that has far too many applicants. Seriously, what do you do with a business degree, Run a business? Essentially you just earned yourself a pretty paper that says you where able to learn how businesses work and sat through classes that talk about people skills.

So lets see, Economics, Accounting, International Business and one BS in Hospitality and Tourism are all worthless degrees?

Just because you get a college degree doesn't mean someone will hand you a million dollars just as soon as you graduate, but it does mean that you are that much closer to getting a million dollars when you graduate.

Say what?

If you get a business degree and don't make friends or contacts, then your degree is worth less then toilet paper. Almost any other field doesn't require you to make friend, just be good at what you learned.

The concept of networking is hardly unique to business. And last I heard, businesses actually have to sell a product or service which generally requires some competence.

Might I just just point out that here most degrees are buisness management. I am surprised though that an accounting major can't find a decent job.

As for the Million dollars statement, I only ment that you will be one step closer to earning a million dollars, not that some people do actually get a million dollars as a direct consequence of graduating....

Also, I'm not saying that networking is totally unique to business, but that business management majors are one of the few majors that are totally reliant upon it.

Was that the list of majors your friends that aren't making it have?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: drturkturkleton

Originally posted by: hypn0tik
If you were to go to college, what would you consider majoring in?

If you went to trade school, what would you consider learning?

I think that my major would be Psychology. Science doesn't interest me.

If I was going to learn a trade, probably Electrician.


ttt

So do both and you are a psycho electrician

on a more serious side, nothing stops you from doing trade first psycho later.