Post: #1

Right now I'm at a real crossroad in life and I'm pretty unsure of what to do about it. First let me give you some background information, I'm 18 Y/O Canadian kid about to graduate High School. I come from a business oriented family, but one that's somewhat open to anything and I'm not really all that pressured into going to University (1 parent with University Degree, 1 without). I also know that in the future Ill definitely end up doing something within the family business if not continuing my own company. So here's the question what are your guys opinions on staying home and going to school v.s travelling now and working/school later. If you could do it over what would you do?

Post: #2

Are you paying for school yourself? If you are, and you don't have a specific profession you want to prepare for and are pretty excited about, then I'd say don't go.

But don't just be a travel bum for 4 years as the alternative. Invest those 4 years as if you were at college: start a business or learn a trade, read a lot of books, work on your body and your health, meet lots of people and learn social skills, etc. You can do those things abroad, of course, so nothing stopping you from exploring the world while you're at it.

Personally, I got a 4 year degree in finance and went into debt pretty hard to get it. If I were to do it over again, I would have opted not to go and focused on going straight to entrepreneurship or an internship / apprenticeship of some kind.

Post: #3

(06-11-2012 11:50 PM)PROD3GY Wrote:  Right now I'm at a real crossroad in life and I'm pretty unsure of what to do about it. First let me give you some background information, I'm 18 Y/O Canadian kid about to graduate High School. I come from a business oriented family, but one that's somewhat open to anything and I'm not really all that pressured into going to University (1 parent with University Degree, 1 without). I also know that in the future Ill definitely end up doing something within the family business if not continuing my own company. So here's the question what are your guys opinions on staying home and going to school v.s travelling now and working/school later. If you could do it over what would you do?

There is a difference between aimlessly traveling and pissing your money away and then going somewhere for a purpose.

School and traveling are both completely useless in the sense of making a living unless you have some idea of what you are looking to do.
I would only go to school if you could go there for cheap, and you had it planned out on what major you were getting, along with what field you were planning on going into.

We don't know what you want to do or what your goals are, so you'll have to be more specific.

I think that a little bit of traveling is good so you understand that there is an entire world of possibilities out there, but once you do that, you need to buckle down and focus on whatever you are planning on doing. If that plan revolves around traveling, you will be traveling. If that plan involves going to a 4 year institution or trade school, thats what you'll be doing.

Post: #4

I know what I'm going too be doing 5 years down the road I just don't know if it's worth going to University if I'm going into a field of Real Estate Development, I know people who are in it that are High School drop out's and people with 4 degrees. I'm am already somewhat into this business and I sort of share my first building with my Dad already so this is definitely what I plan on doing. Also I wouldn't have to pay for much of school if any. Just debating if I want to spend time in a classroom for the next 4 years v.s say travelling for a bit and working on my company after that which pretty much means that I will be fully committed from that point on out to the business and really don't think there would be much time to travel for at least two years after I start to more actively pursue that goal. Thanks for the input by the way guys.

Post: #5

(06-12-2012 12:32 AM)Rah Wrote:  Personally, I got a 4 year degree in finance and went into debt pretty hard to get it. If I were to do it over again, I would have opted not to go and focused on going straight to entrepreneurship or an internship / apprenticeship of some kind.

Yeah that's kind of what I mean being an entrepreneur can't really be taught in school so it's starting to seem like firsthand experience would be better for me there.

Only problem with that is then there's no degree to fall back on and find a job with.

Post: #6

Study abroad. Problem solved.

Post: #7

(06-12-2012 03:55 AM)Lemmo Wrote:  Study abroad. Problem solved.

Been thinking about this too, applied for a school in Prague seems like quite a good central starting spot.

Post: #8

Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

Post: #9

(06-12-2012 08:20 AM)PROD3GY Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 03:55 AM)Lemmo Wrote:  Study abroad. Problem solved.

Been thinking about this too, applied for a school in Prague seems like quite a good central starting spot.

Or you can study in the US and do 1-2 years abroad. Many schools in Western Europe have degree programs taught in English (assuming you aren't fluent in another language) so I would suggest going whichever route is cheapest (in-state tuition vs. direct enrollment abroad).

Post: #10

Put Economics on that list.

Anyways man, I say stay in school but have a side hustle to make money. You'll be financially above the students whose life depends on daddy's dollar.

Post: #11

....

Post: #12

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Post: #13

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

if i apply the recent forum ideas. no one will succeed in something he hates, because hes getting negative feedback loop, even when he does a good job. i guess you cant draw a line between cause and result because its a interrelation

Post: #14

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Finance is the only degree I could handle working in for the next 30 years on there but wouldn't a marketing degree, which is what I plan on taking work well too though?

Post: #15

(06-13-2012 01:59 PM)PROD3GY Wrote:  

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Finance is the only degree I could handle working in for the next 30 years on there but wouldn't a marketing degree, which is what I plan on taking work well too though?

Personally, I look at "competition for jobs" when I made my list. Of course, one can succeed in marketing abut there are a lot of folks in it which means a lot of competition for jobs.

Take something like software engineering. If you specialize in certain areas, you don't really have to compete for jobs which translates to less pressure on jobs and nicer supervisors because they know that you can leave and get another job quickly.

Post: #16

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Yeah.

Those majors sound about as much fun as knee surgery.

Post: #17

(06-13-2012 02:07 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Yeah.

Those majors sound about as much fun as knee surgery.

Finance is the only one I could even withstand doing, not my prefered field though.

@UrbanNerd - also seems like computer related stuff is decently popular the last 3 years or so anyways I figure by the time I'm done there will be a lot more people with degrees. Plus, it's really not something that interests me and couldn't see myself doing that for the next 30 years. By the sounds of it University is starting to sound more and more useless if your not in a "core" of degrees every year nowadays.

Post: #18

you can always stick finance with something else, a lot of my friends in uni double major finance with marketing so you can get best of both worlds. Also with the hard science degrees enrollment hasn't grown much at all, for the last 20-30 yrs they've been flat vs arts degrees. Also if your interested in real estate you should either go into a building trade or get a degree in finance. The Caveat with a finance degree is that it needs to be from a reputable school. With a building trade you can start from the bottom and do the dirty work of fixing houses, doing turnarounds on fixing property, etc. basically starting as a small time entrepreneur working your way up. If you pursue a finance degree at a good school you can enter as a analyst in a big real estate development group like CB richard ellis that deals with massive commercial projects in the many millions. You can work yourself up in the organization, lateral into a better offer, or even start your own firm once you have connections in the industry you can work with and raise capital from.

This is just my 2c

Post: #19

(06-13-2012 01:59 PM)PROD3GY Wrote:  

(06-13-2012 12:21 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

And before you pick any of those degrees, ask yourself if you actually want to work in that field. A lot of people pick majors just based on earning potential. They forget that they might spend the next 30 years doing something that they fucking hate.

Finance is the only degree I could handle working in for the next 30 years on there but wouldn't a marketing degree, which is what I plan on taking work well too though?

IME it is not even close to those other degrees. Much smaller number of mkting jobs but the same number of people (if not more) competing for them, which not only makes it harder to get those positions, but also drives down the pay.

Post: #20

(06-12-2012 08:35 AM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  Here is the thing about going to college CURRENTLY in the USA (and probably Canada too).....

Unless you are taking one of about 7 or 8 MAJORS, you are basically wasting your time. The majors are:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Mathematics (Applied)
Accounting
Finance
Nursing

Right now, if your major is not one of the above, one may have to ask themselves why they are in college.

I think you can also major in a foreign language so long as you are prepared to devote yourself to developing fluency. This may be a good idea since you want to spend some time abroad. The point is that you should use education to acquire a real skill - not just study liberal arts fluff subjects like history, politics, etc. Anyone who can read can learn those subjects so you won't be setting yourself apart from the pack.

But the above may not apply to you. If you already have a job lined up after graduation, you are free to just study what you want.

Post: #21

(06-13-2012 09:30 PM)zeeman Wrote:  you can always stick finance with something else, a lot of my friends in uni double major finance with marketing so you can get best of both worlds. Also with the hard science degrees enrollment hasn't grown much at all, for the last 20-30 yrs they've been flat vs arts degrees. Also if your interested in real estate you should either go into a building trade or get a degree in finance. The Caveat with a finance degree is that it needs to be from a reputable school. With a building trade you can start from the bottom and do the dirty work of fixing houses, doing turnarounds on fixing property, etc. basically starting as a small time entrepreneur working your way up. If you pursue a finance degree at a good school you can enter as a analyst in a big real estate development group like CB richard ellis that deals with massive commercial projects in the many millions. You can work yourself up in the organization, lateral into a better offer, or even start your own firm once you have connections in the industry you can work with and raise capital from.

This is just my 2c

Thanks for the input, I do most of that now since Real Estate Development is the family business but I plan to branch out and do my own thing after school or whatever I do for the next little while or so. So much easier to do your own thing in that industry anyways and much more rewarding as well nowadays.

@Lemmo Yeah I'm really more thinking of to going to University just to learn about an industry as well as push myself to work harder, I just want to learn skills that I would use running my own business which is why finance/marketing seems best. If I was actually going to school to work in a corporate job those degrees wouldn't appeal to me as much.

Post: #22

(06-13-2012 02:07 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  Yeah.

Those majors sound about as much fun as knee surgery.

Less fun. They give you good drugs for knee surgery at least.

Post: #23

(06-13-2012 01:59 PM)PROD3GY Wrote:  Finance is the only degree I could handle working in for the next 30 years on there but wouldn't a marketing degree, which is what I plan on taking work well too though?

Marketing degree? Only if you want to work for a shitty company that does "branding". Showed Cashvertising to someone with a marketing degree -> mind blown, never heard of that stuff and devoured the book in a day... They apparently only learn crappy stuff that has no real life use. Oh and this mysterious, unmeasurable branding of course...

Also studying economics is likely useless as most schools teach Keynesian bullshit nowadays. Go to mises.org, read a few books, watch some videos and you will be far ahead in the game. Unless you want to work for a big corporation of course where you need the degree.

If you want the knowledge, read good books and you will be far ahead quicker and cheaper than by studying.

If you just want a shitty degree you only have one option anyway.

PS:
IT engineering is also easy to get into without a degree, even easier if you can show previous projects. Teach yourself part time, create something useful and finding a job is the easiest thing in the world.

Post: #24

(06-11-2012 11:50 PM)PROD3GY Wrote:  Right now I'm at a real crossroad in life and I'm pretty unsure of what to do about it. First let me give you some background information, I'm 18 Y/O Canadian kid about to graduate High School. I come from a business oriented family, but one that's somewhat open to anything and I'm not really all that pressured into going to University (1 parent with University Degree, 1 without). I also know that in the future Ill definitely end up doing something within the family business if not continuing my own company. So here's the question what are your guys opinions on staying home and going to school v.s travelling now and working/school later. If you could do it over what would you do?

When in doubt, join the Army.

Having said that, figure out what's important to you. University is about learning for learning' sake, but only a few elite schools offer that. You have to enjoy knowing trivial stuff and discussing.

If you're just in it for a job, then it's better to work, travel and do a degree on the side. The best way to learn to do a job is to do the job.

If you really want to broaden your mind, learn from the best, read the best, then go the uni route. Go to a good school with enough resources, so you know you'll be spending time with the professors instead of some mindless TA.

Post: #25

(06-14-2012 08:32 AM)bface Wrote:  Showed Cashvertising to someone with a marketing degree -> mind blown, never heard of that stuff and devoured the book in a day... They apparently only learn crappy stuff that has no real life use. Oh and this mysterious, unmeasurable branding of course...

What's that sounds interesting?

@ElJefe I think the alumni outside of a university helps as well especially in business where it's all relationships with other people and networking etc.