Is/was the "college experience" as or more important to you than the education?

[evident]

i went to a good college, but the "experience" was what really helped me mature. without it , i would have all this technical knowledge but nothing on how to deal with people.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything.

Not only am I learning so much, I (and PLEASE don't turn this into a religious thread) have been blessed with a Christian Fellowship and matured in my faith to a level I never imagined. Even further, I am learning to take on responsibilities myself and how to live in this world without running to my parents at every corner.

I have to manage my time, I have to make sure that my bills are paid (Parents pay for college provided my grades are good), I have to do my job as an RA, I have to show the world that I can be a responsible adult. As flat out amazing as my parents are - this isn't something that they could teach me from home - I had to make mistake or, in most cases lucky for me, just choose the right way the first time around.

College, the friends, classes, and experiences are what has shaped me into the adult that I am today (Well if 20 nearly 21 is an adult in your eyes). My parents laid the foundation and I have taken hold of it and made it my own!

(Jeez turns out I am fairly passionate about this whole topic 😉 )

-Kevin

 

[Ricemarine]

In my opinion (I'm taking the standpoint of a person who did community college + high school simutaneously and am now in a 4-year institution), I felt that community college was much much better in experience than what I'm facing with now.

In my opinion at least, at community college when I progessed passed the introductory courses where it is taken by everybody, you slowly find people who are actually taking the class to get an education for their own sake. In constrast, in the 4-year institute I'm in now, a lot of the undergraduates are there for fun and games in my opinion. It is a possibility that they do so because they want to live out the life they want in college having no restrictions. I commute (as do many others), and so I don't hang out with my buddies all the time because I'd like to believe I'm focusing more on improving myself, not letting having fun get the best of me.

To answer the OP's question, no. If you're taking online courses, you don't know who are your classmates, nor do you socialize with them as much unless over a BBS. Thus, you may withdraw from society in the real world. There are many things you can learn from going outside, so in essence I'd say the tuition would be worth it.

 

[amicold]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
College is for the education. Don't go on about the "social" crap please. Get the education so you can get a decent job. Social stuff should be outside education. If college is about getting drunk, stoned, losing your virginity, etc to you, then you need to rethink your priorities. You can go elsewhere to do all that crap without the huge college bill. Why pay all that money just to goof off? Grow up a little bit.

That said, I don't think I'd like online classes much. I much prefer a live teacher over some videos and screenfulls of text.

I think you're missing the point The point of the "college experience" is to enjoy the last time you have before you truly get fucked by the real world. No one goes to school just to dick off. The people that go out and get fucked up and fuck random people are the same people that continue on into successful careers. Sure there are people that fall out, but the same can be said about the rigid, precise, no frills lifestyle that some have advocated in this thread.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: ggnl
The social experience was invaluable. It taught me that there's more to life than the contents of my bank account.

this man speaks the truth

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: AreaCode707

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: AreaCode707

Originally posted by: Ns1
oh yeah

no college football for online schools =P

re: AC707

Wasn't directed at you personally. I'm just sayin'.

As a hiring manager I'm less inclined to hire someone who I find out was a significant partier in college. More often than not I find that that personality type prioritizes their personal life and fun over the job to the detriment of their work product. I'm just sayin' back. 😉

Sure, but tell me it's not completely obvious who the poorly socialized types are

look down at the ground all the time, never make direct eye contact, poor speakers, very quiet, just awkward in general

THOSE are the ones I'm talking about.


Anybody who has their shit together would NEVER let a hiring manager find out about their college antics 😉

I can hire a socially awkward person as a software dev, no problems! A talker who can't get shit done, now that's what I try to screen out. 🙂

you don't sound like you know what you are doing, someone incapable of working effectively with a group of people would be the very first person i would throw out, in my mind, such a person is completely unredeemable.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: acheron
Sure it was fun and all, but just the experience is not worth $xxx,000.

you did it wrong if you spent more than 5 figures. I didn't work during the school year and racked up some pretty decent medical bills, and will still come out under 40 grand in debt.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: AreaCode707

Originally posted by: slsmnaz

Originally posted by: Ns1
oh yeah

no college football for online schools =P

/thread 🙂

Maybe there should be two types of colleges out there. One for us "boring" people with a sheer educational focus, and another "school spirit" college with the sports, the bars, the fun dorms, etc. It'd be interesting to see the supply and demand and which type would wind up more expensive due to higher demand. Probably the latter.

the 'school spirit' types coincidentally are the ones with the best academics. The only top schools that don't have 'school spirit' would probably be MIT, Caltech, and a couple of other engineering schools.

Originally posted by: Duddy
Hmm, be broke in a place where you don't know anyone or live with your parents, have money, be with friends you know and attend online courses....

I would choose online. Especially now that college is financially out of reach for most Americans (B- students like me who couldn't get any scholarships and can't get financial aid because their parents make too much but are in too much debt).

i remember having high school friends, its interesting that i haven't talked to almost any of them since thanksgiving freshman year

Originally posted by: Duddy
Just want to make this point also:

During the great depression, those people in the unemployment lines, where college educated. You know why? People with a college education have no real world working skills. Think about it, if the system collapses, they are useless. They can only do numbers. They can't possibly know how to get their hands dirty without bitching about it.

Of course, this doesn't apply to grad school students.


It's all about technical school. Sure, you can probably only go so far in a company with a tech degree, but at least your job is more secure than your boss's.

Job Security > Higher Salary.

that looks like something you pulled out your ass.

 

[Tiamat]

The college experience is as important as the education. Being able to work in groups, suffer as a group, have a great time as a group in the engineering curriculum was an integral part of the whole experience.

In addition, it is a great time to learn financial responsibility, responsibility in general, and just learn more about yourself and the environment you live in.

 

[Pieceofmind]

The social/educational experience are combined for me; I'm at a small, residential liberal arts college and my social group is the type that's there to learn. So we spend a lot of time in extracurricular activities (speech team, anyone?) and having intellectual conversation. We have fun too, but the focus is on our education, which is where it should be, seeing how much we pay 😉

 

[Ns1]

In my opinion at least, at community college when I progessed passed the introductory courses where it is taken by everybody, you slowly find people who are actually taking the class to get an education for their own sake. In constrast, in the 4-year institute I'm in now, a lot of the undergraduates are there for fun and games in my opinion. It is a possibility that they do so because they want to live out the life they want in college having no restrictions. I commute (as do many others), and so I don't hang out with my buddies all the time because I'd like to believe I'm focusing more on improving myself, not letting having fun get the best of me.

That's the difference between a commuter and a non-commuter IMHO. I did both as well, and I hated the CC because all you did was go to class, go home, repeat.

At Uni there's an actual community and where you can live life.

But w/e, if you're happy then good for you.

 

[imported_Imp]

I pretty much just went through the motions during college. It wasn't until my last year that I actually started feeling like I was part of a community, which is when I also started socializing more, but even then, it wasn't much.

If I went back tomorrow, I'd probably do it a lot differently. Think I learned more about myself after leaving college, and having to find my way, look for a job than in it. Oh well, I'm considering a Masters...