College: Underrated or Overrated?

Hi guys.

What do you think about college? Overrated or underrated? 

I guess it depends what you want to do with your life

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

JordanizPro

I think that too.

I also think that the over-emphasis on going to college devalues the degrees that people are getting. Part of what makes something valuable it that is isn't common, right? So if everyone else has a degree, what makes yours so special? It used to be that having a degree could meant you'd be fairly likely to get a job. Nowadays, don't even bother applying for a job if you don't have the relevant degree. If you do have a degree, then you somehow have to prove that you are the world's most amazing employee in order to get the job. Or you have to know someone in the company (and I don't like that). Problem with that is that obviously not everyone is amazing, and not everyone has connections.

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

JordanizPro

Depends on what kind of college education you get.  If you get liberal studies/gender studies/ethnic studies you are totally screwed unless you plan on teaching thos subjects or already have a job.

If you plan on working in a business doing office work, get a business degree that way you won't be 30 years old working at barnes & noble as a floor employee bitching about why your BA in chicano studies didn't get you no jobs, Sandra.  

College is not for everybody. I go, but frankly, I don't feel like it's for me considering I could do what I want without a degree. I'm basically just going so I can expand my intelligence via interesting classes. I know it's a waste of money, but frankly, I don't live my life in fear of money. If I have it then great, but if I don't then oh well.TonyDanzaFan

[QUOTE="JordanizPro"]

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

EnoshimaJunko

I think that too.

I also think that the over-emphasis on going to college devalues the degrees that people are getting. Part of what makes something valuable it that is isn't common, right? So if everyone else has a degree, what makes yours so special? It used to be that having a degree could meant you'd be fairly likely to get a job. Nowadays, don't even bother applying for a job if you don't have the relevant degree. If you do have a degree, then you somehow have to prove that you are the world's most amazing employee in order to get the job. Or you have to know someone in the company (and I don't like that). Problem with that is that obviously not everyone is amazing, and not everyone has connections.

BLS disagrees http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

The higher your degree, the more money you make and the more likely you are to be employed.

[QUOTE="JordanizPro"]

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

Ackad

Those are the classes you go to to meet chicks.

I have have a 2 year degree from a community college I paid for out of pocket as I went. That got me nothing but on the job experience doing other non related jobs got me a good paying job. My wife has a 4 year degree with honors and has 10s of thousands debt and is having troubles finding a job that even pays over 10 an hour. AutoPilotOn

You are comparing degree levels when you should be comparing degree types.

What is your degree and what is hers?

Also studies have shown that community college graduates make more money immediately upon graduation than their 4 year counterparts because they get more relevant degrees.

[QUOTE="AutoPilotOn"]I have have a 2 year degree from a community college I paid for out of pocket as I went. That got me nothing but on the job experience doing other non related jobs got me a good paying job. My wife has a 4 year degree with honors and has 10s of thousands debt and is having troubles finding a job that even pays over 10 an hour. thegerg

Overrated, though I never got a BA. The AA degree was a joke and like high school all over again but without any rules. Also, I know plenty of college grads that have never worked a day in their life and are complaining that they can't find a job. Some degrees are still useful though granted the person is a very hard worker and has some good connections or can establish a good network.

I loved undergraduate. Just started grad school, so idk about it yet. Almost every course I took as an undergrad provided something useful or interesting to me. For a liberal arts major I took some extra math because I was somewhat interested in a minor in mathematics for a while. Decided against it. But yeah, it was definitely worth it. I wound up taking a bunch of electives my last semester, and that was by far one of my best semesters. I really enjoyed it. The only thing I did that was related to my major was work on my senior honors thesis (which is optional), and it was in a specific area of study that I had loved since middle school.

To be honest.. Even if I was able to get no job.. I still would be happy with my education with all the shit I learned. It's been worth it to me. I actually think people underrate the amount of information than can be gathered from school.

To be honest.. Even if I was able to get no job.. I still would be happy with my education with all the shit I learned. It's been worth it to me. I actually think people underrate the amount of information than can be gathered from school.

The_Lipscomb

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"]

To be honest.. Even if I was able to get no job.. I still would be happy with my education with all the shit I learned. It's been worth it to me. I actually think people underrate the amount of information than can be gathered from school.

AutoPilotOn

Oh lol well if its paid for then I don't blame you for just enjoying it and finding subjects interesting. Unfortunately for a lot of people it has to make economical sense and have a payoff for the huge investment AutoPilotOn

i think for the financial cost it costs the individual and the degrees that the vast majority seem to go for. yes it's overrated, i think. 

It doesn't seem to pay itself off. I would suggest the financial costs of most degrees to be dramatically lowered. 

underated

A bit of both, but mostly overrated. 90% of what they teach you is either complete bull$hit, utterly subjective, or completely useless. ShadowsDemon

It'd be nice is they made college less expensive. Back in the day, a college degree wasn't all that necessary to land a decent job. Nowadays, you need a college degree to get almost any full time job. So why don't they make it less expensive? K-12 is mandatory for everyone, and that's pretty much free (yes, I know its supported via taxes, but in college you're paying taxes plus tution and the other stuff).

A bit of both, but mostly overrated. 90% of what they teach you is either complete bull$hit, utterly subjective, or completely useless. ShadowsDemon

those who landed a good post-graduate job related to their degree think it is underrated.

those post-graduates just struggling to find any job think it is overrated.

Sadly, the latter just keeps growing.

[QUOTE="ShadowsDemon"]A bit of both, but mostly overrated. 90% of what they teach you is either complete bull$hit, utterly subjective, or completely useless. cain006

[QUOTE="JordanizPro"]

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

EnoshimaJunko

I think that too.

I also think that the over-emphasis on going to college devalues the degrees that people are getting. Part of what makes something valuable it that is isn't common, right? So if everyone else has a degree, what makes yours so special? It used to be that having a degree could meant you'd be fairly likely to get a job. Nowadays, don't even bother applying for a job if you don't have the relevant degree. If you do have a degree, then you somehow have to prove that you are the world's most amazing employee in order to get the job. Or you have to know someone in the company (and I don't like that). Problem with that is that obviously not everyone is amazing, and not everyone has connections.

No. No, no, no, no, noooooo. First off, college is likely the best investment you -can- make: knowledge is the only thing that, bar a freak accident, you can't lose. Second, the value of a college degree isn't that you have it and others don't, it's that you can do things that others can't and that you've studied, extensively, topics that one regularly doesn't. You don't need to prove anything when you have a degree, you just need to apply the knowledge you learned to the degree-appropriate job you got. Very few laymen would be able to perform the job of a lawyer, physician, surgeon, engineer, statistician or even a teacher (a proper one, too, who's studied what he teaches and the methods to convey knowledge).

With that said, I think college isn't particularly overrated or underrated by the population. It's very useful, but dedicating yourself to studying for 4 - 6 years, possibly more, isn't something everyone is willing to do. And that's fine. There are plenty of opportunities for people who don't want to go to college; but there are also plenty of opportunities that are  exclusive  to people with a certain college degree.

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

JordanizPro

  This, also I have had conversations with older people about how they seem more geared towards trying to influence you, rather than being about getting you into a field of work.

[QUOTE="cain006"]

[QUOTE="ShadowsDemon"]A bit of both, but mostly overrated. 90% of what they teach you is either complete bull$hit, utterly subjective, or completely useless. JordanizPro

Overrated. I didn't even finished grade school and my life is the one of a winner!

When I got my job (which required a degree), my starting pay was about twice that of someone who didn't have a degree who'd been working there for 20 years.  I don't know how you could overrate that.

When I got my job (which required a degree), my starting pay was about twice that of someone who didn't have a degree who'd been working there for 20 years.  I don't know how you could overrate that.

Jackc8

Definetly overrated. The first 2 1/2 years they are wasting your time because you arnt studying your major. They just make you take extra classes to suck money out of you. I just graduated high school this summer and i cant stand the thought of college. They arnt even really teaching you anything your just memorizing useless crap to take a test and on top of that you will probably have to owe studant loans smh

JordanizPro

To me it was a waste of time so it was overrated. Went 2 years and didn't get a degree.