I've found that college is great for the 'pluggers' in life. Those kids you remember from high school who asked question after boring question and spent hours on their home work while you spent class time hacking your graphing calculator and spent study hall exploring your high school's network.
Sure they got better grades than you, but instead of an A on your test you got a B- and worked 10x less to get it.
College is also great for the socially motivated who love to party, 'hook up' and generally spend the entire day trying to sleep the previous night's craziness off and plan for the upcoming night debauchery.
Believe it or not, you can learn, get decent grades, party and get laid, and have scholarhips all at the same time.
Those people that skip this, are soreley missing a great experience of their life.
Remember, work will be there for the rest of your life. Don't just rush into it. From 24 to 64, that's 40 years or working for most people.
you can start your startup just as well as 25, as you could at 20, but probably you would be much smarter at that age.
I'll agree with the not rushing into work part. But I don't agree that you need to waste 4 years of your life on college. If you find it's not worth it for you: LEAVE. 4 years is a lot of time to waste, especially during your 20s.
it amuses me that people advocate the importance of college -- supposedly an educational institution -- based in part on parties and sex. and in part based on avoiding work.
if you can pay for college, you could pay less to not work or go to college. and still party and have sex, if that's what you care about.
It amuses me how some people say that college is not worth their time and money. Maybe you stop taking easy clases? Get the challenging ones? Don't overpay for school?
Nobody is measuring the importance of school, on how much fun you have with it, but what I am saying is that you can learn a lot, and yet have a great time, and yes even fun. Unless you are sociophobe, scrooge, or something, most humans want some fun on the side.
I thought CS was not that difficult, so I decided to minor in math, which I found it not that difficult so I challenged myself even more, and I decided to minor in Physics, and here I met my match. A hard ass professor, that would teach a lot, but it was almost impossible to get an A. My first ever class, where I felt no matter how much effort I put into it, I couldn't get an A. It taught me about humility, and learning my limitations.
And, yes, I did all that, plus lot's of volunteering, helping with alumni affairs, while having a part time job (washing dishes, and then just a lab proctor) at the same time.
There is nothing more awesome when you learn a lot, and yet can have fun and get laid at the same time.
To all you say that college is waste of time:
1. Maybe you should study something that you are going to get a great return out of it, or it will be challenging enough.
2. You might want to check if you have problems getting socially adjusted.
So, unless you quit school and become a millionare by now, you have no cred on saying college is a waste of time. College is a waste of time for many, b/c they don't use it. To those that are smart enough, it is a great learning experience.
To those that think are too smart for college, maybe they are not taking the right/classes or programs. If you are a genius, what prevents you from finishing it in two years, get a masters, get a phd. and become the next albert einstein, invent cold fusion, a cure for H1V or something great?
You can do that in college. It allows very smart people, to have access to great equipment, grant money and other resarch, things that you probably wont have in your own basement.
i didn't say college is a waste of time, i pointed out one way the pro-college arguments are flawed. repeating myself in different words: some arguments advocate a lifestyle (college) in part for certain benefits, that are easily available from rival lifestyles. so they are not an advantage over college's rivals. so they should be left out of the discussion.
Sure they got better grades than you, but instead of an A on your test you got a B- and worked 10x less to get it.
College is also great for the socially motivated who love to party, 'hook up' and generally spend the entire day trying to sleep the previous night's craziness off and plan for the upcoming night debauchery.