Given the economic situation, should I skip college?

[jsot]

I'm in eleventh grade and around a year from now I'll have to commit to going to a college. Looking at the news it seems like it's very difficult for recent college graduates to get jobs because they don't have the right credentials. Instead of a bachelor's degree they should have a few years of actual work experience. Obviously, I don't want the same thing to happen to me. I do reasonably well in school, I think: Mostly As and a few Bs. If I did go to college I would hope to go somewhere like Amherst or as a last resort the University of Texas in order to get a B.A. A B.A. is obviously something not very conducive to getting a job, which is concerning; not that the alternatives such as medical school or engineering school are much better these days. I was thinking that maybe a better idea would be to start looking for a job immediately after high school and start getting those years of experience which all employers require at the moment. I would hope that my parents would let me live with them for those four years when I would otherwise go to college, which would allow me to not make very much money. Is this smart?
One thing I would have going for me in attending college is that my parents would pay for everything, meaning that I would have no student loans to pay off afterward.

Edit: I realize that if it is nearly impossible for a twenty-two-year-old to get a job it will be even more difficult for an eighteen-year-old, but I think my advantage would be that I wouldn't have to earn enough to support myself if I can live with my parents. That way I can afford to waste my time doing the most demeaning and unfair jobs.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by jsot

I realize that if it is nearly impossible for a twenty-two-year-old to get a job it will be even more difficult for an eighteen-year-old

You've gotta give up this belief man. It's nonsense. People in many fields are in high demand, especially the medical and engineering fields you mentioned. I don't have a degree yet, but I'm hired as a software engineer and my team is having trouble hiring more people. Not enough good ones apply!

I also work while going to school, thus solving your "no work experience" idea, which really isn't as big of a problem as you might think. Also, remember that employers want years of experience in the field you choose. They don't care if you spent two years working at a supermarket.

There will always be work for dedicated people, whether they work for someone else or start their own company. Given this economic situation, going to school is a GREAT idea right now, if it's what you want to do, because by the time you graduate, there will be even more opportunities. The economy isn't going to stay in this slump forever. It never does.

[The Big D]

When the economy sucks, the BEST thing to do is to go to school. That way you don't have to job hunt in a sucky economy. Four years from now, the economic picture will be entirely different. If it's better, great. If it's much worse there will be fighting in the streets and getting a job will be a moot point anyways.

Let's hope Obama gets an infusion of competence sometime soon, for all our sakes.

[James81]

In a crappy economy, the people who have college degrees get first crack at the good jobs.

[Brutha]

What do you want to do with your life?

[jsot]

Originally Posted by Brutha

What do you want to do with your life?

I don't want to starve to death, certainly. Other than that, I don't know. The only reason I would go to college would be to get a job. There are other ways to get a job than to go to college, but that's what I'm supposed to do and I don't have any better ideas. It's very hard for me to go against the norm, but I think I would do it if I thought the norm were a dead end.

[Tara680]

You should learn everything about business, marketing, accounting, and finance while you can.

Then when you find what you do want to do with your life, you can work for yourself.

No matter what the economic climate is, you are in total control of your own employment.

[Manomanman]

College is a scam unless you're learning a marketable skill.

If you can't answer the following question with respect to going to college, don't go to college: "Why would a prospective employer hire you rather than the next guy?"

"Because I have a B.A." is not the right answer.

[pjhaggerty]

the overall economic situation is much less important than your personal circumstances

if you know what you want then you can get it. if you don't, you can't. unfortunately, it has been my experience that college is not helpful in figuring out what you want.

if you know yourself, you can get a job in just about any economic situation, and if you don't, it's going to be harder.

I would suggest focusing on your personal development more than the college thing. Especially since you have time till you have to decide.

[John Tedder]

"A B.A. is obviously something not very conducive to getting a job,"
What makes you say that? Why wouldn't it be? I'm sure there are lots of people who have a B.A. who are employed.

[Brutha]

I don't want to starve to death, certainly.

No employer wants to hire somebody with a scarcity mindset.

[Illustro Cado]

At the very least I'd wait. College is gonna be the next thing to crash if the economic situation doesn't turn around soon. What that means is they'll have to lower their prices and provide better service. (There's a lot of debate these days over whether or not college is worth anything. People can believe what they want, but employers aren't gonna put up with having to train their workers to do stuff school was supposed to cover. Not for long.) If you wanna get something out of school, that'd be the time to go.

In the meantime you've got inner work to do. That doesn't change the fact that you need to get out into the world but your mindset is akin to shooting yourself in the foot before going out for a run. There are plenty of opportunities out there even in a down economy (sometimes because of a down economy) and if you develop the ability to take advantage of them you'll be fine no matter what the climate is like.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Illustro Cado

At the very least I'd wait. College is gonna be the next thing to crash if the economic situation doesn't turn around soon. What that means is they'll have to lower their prices and provide better service. (There's a lot of debate these days over whether or not college is worth anything. People can believe what they want, but employers aren't gonna put up with having to train their workers to do stuff school was supposed to cover. Not for long.) If you wanna get something out of school, that'd be the time to go.

Couple things:

1. The economic situation is already turning around and rebounding.

2. Your statement about training is false. First of all, I'm living proof that that is not true because my company took the time to train me. Employers know that college isn't geared towards training you to work at their company. College is geared towards getting all the general principles of your career in your head so that training you is EASIER than somebody straight out of high school. Thus, an employer is far LESS inclined to hire someone out of high school because training THEM is going to be more involved than training a college graduate.

[Shokoya]

Lewis Carroll once said: “If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

So I think the most important thing for you at this stage is to decide where you are going and what you want your life to be like in 10 years time.

If you're not yet sure, you might want to write down all the things you would like to own, places been, people have in your life, etc

Then write a list of all the things you like doing now.

Complete this simple but powerful exercise and your subconscious mind will soon find the best answer for you

[Hyperchiller]

Getting a degree will get you through the door.

If you don't, you get filtered through the HR department and don't even get considered.

If you don't get a degree, you can overcome this through networking, using stronger intentions, visualizing and playing with energy. However I still recommend doing a degree.