Are You Happy With The Educational Path You Took?

Discussion Open Forum
#1

Are You Happy With The Educational Path You Took?

  • No, I would not have gone to school.
  • No, I would have gone to school.
  • No, I would have went to school for something else.
  • Yes (went to and finished school)
  • Yes (never finished/never went to school)
  • Other, explanation (hopefully) below
  • I’m too young to vote, I just graduated (damn noobs :wink: )

0 voters

In the poll, school = any higher education past what the law states you have to do. I know every country has different rules and requirements. That means school is = to; college, university, techinical schools, that half working/half school shit some countries do, etc.

I’m still a young buck, but I’m finally getting old enough to see what a college degree would have and have not done for me. Parts of me think it would have been nice going to University for the parties, mental gymnastics and the piece of paper at the end. Also, I didn’t really get much done in life during the time between when I would have started and would have finished.

On the other hand, I got a jump start on the “real world.” People who have recently graduated (friends and not) seem to be coming from fantasy island in some respects. I’m sure that will all even out in the long run and numbers show that people with degrees tend to make more (in their life time) than people without.

So far I’m completely satisfied with the path I took. I’ve found that having just a BA isn’t much of an indicator of a persons intelligence. I imagine that the same will hold true for MAs and PhDs (though they’ll probably be more well spoken.)

When I was highschool aged I had lots of people tell me “Don’t end up like me. Get an education,” but I honestly thought that the world they grew up in was very different from mine and they didn’t know what they were talking about (I think I was only half correct now.) Would you give a young cat the same advice?

Still, my favorite quote about higher education is (something like) “Whether a person goes to college or not, everyone has to pay their dues to make it in life.” That was from some book my brother was reading about going to college. I was actually anti-college back in the day.

And you?

#2

I am very happy with my choices. My first year of college was a waste, as I was going just for the sake of going. I dropped out for a year, but couldn’t find any work that I liked. I decided to go back to get my education degree, and after my very first day of classes I knew I was doing the right thing. During my practicum I got involved with the ESL students in my school, and realized that ESL/EFL was what I wanted to do. I’m here by choice, not by necessity, and it might not have happened without getting my B.Ed.

#3

I studied Accountancy through a series of mistakes that have lead me to where I am today. Not a bad place and the future looks bright, but if i had my time again I would have studied something more interesting and less rigid, definitely would have studied harder and would have gone into some kind of consulting work from the word go McKinsey/Marakon kind of gig 'cos those guys make soooo much cash in the early years.

#4

I studied economics and Chinese at one of the better colleges in America. How I ended up teaching at a buxiban in rural Taiwan instead of at a consulting firm with all my former classmates making is a tale of woe. Unfortunately, I’m still paying for my undergraduate days and the only way I can see out of this mess is accrue more student debt by getting an MA somewhere. :s

#5

10 years of uni. Lots of parties. Lots of babes. Lots of fun. Lot’s of job opportunities. No regrets. :slight_smile:

#6

No way, just renounce your American citizenship and renege on the loans! :laughing:

#7

Couldn’t cut it at medical school, dropped out, ended up doing liberal fucking useless arts. Wish I’d gone to art school.

#8

My degree in meteorology is useless. I’ve never used it. Probably never will. I could have spent the time and money doing something else.

#9

I have the same level of education as Bill Gates and Richard Branson which makes unemployable and destined to be a failure.

#10

Well…you’ve succeeded. :wink:

#11

Liberal arts degree - didn’t know what I wanted to be then or now. I envy those folks that seemed to always know what they wanted to be when they grew up.

#12

I should have studied more of what interested me and less of what other people thought I should study.

#13

Obviously I have a passion for languages, so if I could, I’d go back and start learning several more of them in childhood, including Chinese, and do a Ph.D. in jiaguology. But if that means I wouldn’t be here with Dragonbabe today, then screw it. I’ll take my ABD in I/O Psych and keep da babe. :smiley:

#14

Looking back, I should have finished the f-ing liberal arts degree that I recieved funding for from the start. When the money ran out, I couldn’t get a loan in time and I ended up in various well paying trades jobs, eventually signed up for an 18 month mining technology course that I never finished because I was practically hired right out of my classroom during the “boom” that collapsed with the demise of BRE-ex. Mining was boring and eventually drove me nuts but I ended up with alot of money in the bank in a short time. I ended up trying to make a living doing various trades and labour jobs again, but hated every second of it. I ended up in the film industry and now I’m here.

Shoulda just finished the liberal arts degree for the darn piece of paper. Finishing courses online here is a waste of time as far as the govt is concerned. Sucks being poor and afraid of debt. I would have ended up here (not that I’ve ended up anywhere until my body is chopped up on a mountain top for a tibetan funeral) a lot sooner had I just racked up a student loan and came here to pay it off, like so many do.

Still relatively free from debt, still struggling (somewhat) but quite happy with how it’s coming along. Life is good and I don’t worry anymore about what I coulda, shoulda, or woulda. If it was available, I would take classes in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship and stuff like that.

And I’m loving this Chinese study stuff; so cool.:wink:

#15

Now THAT’S funny. :laughing:

#16

Uhm… well, school where I come from is quite different I think.
99.9% goes to college, its’ just the way it is in Sweden.
I did loads of stuff I enjoyed as it was an engineering, maintanence, electronics, electrical, roboticts, automated production systems, CNC and god knows whate else course. Good fun, never used any of it except the basic electric stuff which has been useful around the house.
Did a third year of computer programming after that, hated every minute of it.
Everything else I know has been self taught out of interest or need to know.
I seem to get along with technology really well, I can pick up just about any gadget or computer component and figure out how to work it within a few minutes.
I guess that’s why I’ve done ok as an IT journalist, but I don’t see much of a future in this job right now…
But what I did in school was in a way a waste of time, but at least I enjoyed most of it.

#17

Never regretted it for a moment. As it was instilled in me from a young age that nothing less would be expected from me. As a majority of my family have higher degrees, it would actually feel funny not to have one, IMO.

Finishing my BA was a bitch, but it was worth it in the end. I was going in my third year of college when my mother’s breast cancer came back. She was an associate professor and (what irony) a researcher on breast cancer. I took off a semester to tend to her before she died,and she swore up and down, out of fear, that I would never finish. The fall after she died I went back and finished. When I completed that last class, I felt as if I had truly honored my mother. Not just because she was my mother, but because of who she was as a person when it came to having an education. I can recall many times my mother lecturing me on the values of having an education. Because many blacks were denied one, or were not able to get it easily, she impressed upon me how important and valuable it is. How it can elevate one from one class or position in life and open doors to unseen possibilities. She loved education, perhaps for her it was a safe place where she found herself to be of value, and was fierce about others having one.

When I look back since graduating, I am grateful that I finished. Because I could have done many of the things I’ve wanted to without a BA. While a BA was necessary for my field, it does allow me to have a lot more freedoms than someone without one.

IMO one doesn’t need a BA, MA or PhD to truly live a full life. Or carve a niche for one’s self. What it really takes is a firm commitment to one’s goals, elbow grease, faith in one’s self (and if inclined a higher power) and staying power. Success isn’t going to be determined by what letters follow your name but boils down to who you are as a person.

What makes Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and all the rest of those people highly successful is that they understand the power of integrity, commitment, and keeping one’s word. Because that’s all you truly have in this world.

#18

I would love to go further than a Masters in English Lit, because I loved Uni and it’s just something that I would really like to do. Too bad I would have to leave Taiwan to do it, and right now I don’t wanna be doing thaaaat. :astonished:

#19

My major required that my health stay perfect. Which it did not. Now I serve fries.
Well, no. Now I work in many other aspects of my field which I enjoy fully but could have done without wasting a billion dollars on schoolin.

#20

I started off Pre-Med as that’s what I was supposed to do. The I decided F*&^ that and switched. I majored in English Lit and Women’s Studies and took loads of other interesting classes in film, history, music, etc. I loved getting my degree and don’t regret a second of it.

But I ticked other as I really wish I would have gone back to school when I was supposed to (1996) for a law degree. But then, I wouldn’t have my hubby, my cat, my various other experiences, etc.

So I guess it all works out in the end!