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The answer to your question is really, "what do you want to do in life?" (And the answer is still, probably, stay in college) What's your end-goal -- where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years? Do you want to be working at some high-ranking position at a company -- in other words, a well-paid employee? Then yes, you should most definitely go to college and get your degree. You'll find that, without your degree, being an employee is incredibly difficult -- people won't want to hire you and they'll pick others ahead of you. And if another 2008 recession hits, then you may very well be screwed. Additionally, as others have said, if you want to be an employee, you're going to have to take your career into your own hands. Very few companies care to help their employees get ahead -- they view them as an asset, and they're trading money for the value of your work. You'll want to go out of your way to appeal to your boss, check for openings at higher positions, and apply quickly to move up. Bigger corporations tend to be worse about this; some startups and smaller businesses may be far more helpful to their employees, since the higher-ups know you on a personal level. Pretty much the only lucrative option, if you don't want to go to college, is to become an entrepreneur and work for yourself (unless you're extremely good at selling yourself to potential employers, or you have amazing connections). If you want to go down this road, however, I'd honestly suggest that you stay in school for now and work on your business on the side, only quitting when the business can support you and you don't need the degree anymore. That's what many of the entrepreneurs of our day did -- Gates, etc. I kind of felt the same about school -- it was way too easy. I didn't feel that I learned much, and I was honestly just there for the degree (and the beer, parties, and girls, haha), knowing that to get a decent job I'd need one. I also feel the same about jobs -- I'm currently working at a big company, and I just feel like a cog in the machine. It honestly feels like I'm back in high school -- easy work, learning nothing, showing up just for the paycheck. That's why I'm working to start my own business -- if I could do it all over again, I'd have tried to launch businesses while I was still in undergrad and had way too much time on my hands.... but hey, hindsight is 20/20. Disclaimer: This is all based on my own opinion, experience, and observations, but I hope it's helpful. I wish when I was younger, someone had basically said this to me. When I graduated high school, I was told that I absolutely have to go to college, get a job with great benefits, and climb the corporate ladder -- it's only once i got there that I realized, hey, this sucks! There are other options, but you must realize that the degree is still actually very useful as a fallback (or, pretty much necessary if you want to work for someone else). |