[Alpha Mind]

Finish your degree.

If you're a chump with no skills, it won't matter that much.

If you're a sharp kid, it can definitely help when you're starting out.

Also proves you're trainable.

Having a college degree is badass anyway.

If you ever find yourself in a tight spot (biz fails, get fired, medical disaster), a college degree will definitely help you get a job that'll at least cover your living while you get back on your feet.

Something no one can ever take away from you.

Finish that shit.

[kazz]

(04-22-2013 02:45 AM)polymath Wrote:  

Nobody's going to give you anything just because you have a piece of paper.

Once you graduate, it's you and your skills man.

I had to study for 5 years to get a piece of paper; then I got interviews, then a job. Now I use the skills I forced myself to learn at uni.

[scotian]

I knew the whole time that I was taking my BA (Boot in the Arse degree) that it was useless, I was just there to party and meet girls anyway, it was a good time. Then I went to trade school and got the skills to pay the bills, no regrets boys!

[iknowexactly]

People have to screen quickly when they meet you, and that includes potential employers, girlfriends, cops, everyone.

A college degree adds some credibility because it shows:

1) The willingness to listen to what someone else says, and do what you're told.
2) Being smart enough ( no serious reading or math disability typically) enough learn what you're told.

Even if you're climbing out of a dumpster in back of Safeway after rummaging for food, you are someone different in the eyes of the educated if you are educated.

Note the rather obvious fact that the forum we are on was created by a college grad.

[polymath]

(04-22-2013 04:38 AM)kazz Wrote:  

(04-22-2013 02:45 AM)polymath Wrote:  

Nobody's going to give you anything just because you have a piece of paper.

Once you graduate, it's you and your skills man.

I had to study for 5 years to get a piece of paper; then I got interviews, then a job. Now I use the skills I forced myself to learn at uni.

Exactly. You use the skills. I'm willing to bet your interviewer cared about your skills too.

Even an MIT degree won't get you through the door of some places. You have to know your shit to get an in.

I imagine it is only more strongly so when you are studying a non mainstream field.

[germanico]

If anyone wants a law degree, you can have mine.

[presidentcarter]

I could probably count on one hand the number of people I know that got their first job strictly based on submitting their resume. These people had 3.8+ GPAs and otherwise stacked resumes from known schools in reputable undergrad programs.

It's all about who you know, your demonstrable skill set, your personality, oh, and apparently how fancy your linkedin profile is (no joke).

This is my experience mostly related to finance-related fields. I'd say in your field contacts/skills are even more necessary.

[Genghis Khan]

Personally, I still think college is useful, but only in a few fields. I have a pretty high GPA in engineering from a top school...got multiple well-paying jobs.

If possible, I would advise anyone to switch to engineering, though make sure you're willing to work hard and have an inkling of ability for math and science. If you can be near the top of your class, jobs will come easily. Computer science especially, if you're at the top, jobs will flow.

[Downunder]

Just finish it as you are so close to doing so.

Complete your degree.

Then work out where you are at with it and how you feel and what you want to do with your life.

Take it from there.

[AAYUSLASH]

i graduated with Political science degree major,with minors in IT,Business studies and Communications, i am a Project management consultant in the IT and Telecoms industry, nuff said

[OSL]

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This thread was posted quite a long time ago. I also have no idea if the OP is still reading. However, it looks like this is your situation:

-$20,000 USD of student loan debt
-Useless degree in fine arts
-No acquisition of practical digital skill sets
-No prospects for getting a job immediately out of school in your field to pay off debts and build a career

I'd be curious to know what you think of my following proposal.

(Keep in mind I am unfamiliar with your industry.)


YMG ATTEMPTS TO HACK VIDEO CAREERS

1. DEBT

You are in debt. As a fine arts graduate you will likely find it hard to achieve the sorts of savings that will enable you to immediately begin eradicating this burden.

However, as a westerner with a bachelors degree you can teach English in Asia.

Thus, you can move a second tier city in one of the following countries and live a frugal lifestyle to destroy the entirety of your student loan debt in 2-3 years:

-Japan (don't have links for this, but I know people who have paid off about $15K of student loan debt in 1.5 years in third tier Japanese cities)

-Korea ($17,000 USD in one year)

-Taiwan

http://www.movetotaiwan.com/moving-to-ta...ent-loans/

http://www.movetotaiwan.com/experiencing...g-chinese/

-China

(don't have links for this, but I know people who have paid off about $30K of student loan debt in 3 years in second/third tier Chinese cities)



2. DIGITAL SKILLS


Congratulations, your degree has imparted upon you lots of theory and no practical skill sets.

All joking aside, you can acquire many of these digital skill sets on the internet for less than the cost of one college course. Here are some that I found:

https://www.udemy.com/videoediting/

https://www.udemy.com/final-cut-pro-x-training/

https://www.udemy.com/final-cut-pro-7-basics/

https://www.udemy.com/apvt_fcpx/

You will be teaching about 30 hours a week in order to make enough to hack at your debt. You can use your free time to independently acquire the digital skill sets that were not provided to you by university. All of these courses, combined, will cost less than the cost of one course at your university.


3. BUILD EXPERIENCE AND A TRACK RECORD


It sounds like it will take time to build up a portfolio of skills independently. You can offer your services up on elance as a freelance video shooter and editor to make some extra money and begin creating a portfolio of sorts.

Let's say that you choose to travel Asia for 3 years.

You can live for 12-18 months in Korea and destroy 100% of your debt in that period of time.

During this period of time you can aggressively practice your shooting/filming skills. You can put up a portfolio on the web by using Wordpress. You can also get hired by people on elance, as I mentioned before - all while traveling and hacking off your student loan debt burden.

After you spend this initial period of time hacking at debt, you can go transition into a teaching job in Japan/Taiwan/China/Vietnam/Thailand and continue teaching just to pay the bills while also getting a massive amount of work done for your video portfolio.

At this point in time, you have already eradicated your student loan debt. Thus, you free your schedule up and begin teaching only about 20 hours per week so that you can aggressively focus on your video projects and services.

At some point you begin producing stuff like this:

What's a better option? Slaving away as a barista at Starbucks in Seattle/Vancouver/NYC and going further into debt and being bitter about never being able to utilize your education?


Or doing this:

-Annihilate $20,000 USD of student loan debt in 2 years

-Create dozens or hundreds of incredible documentaries in 5 different Asian countries over 3-4 years while building a rockstar portfolio and building a name for yourself

-Hire hot models for pennies on the dollar in the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, to be featured in your documentaries and videos and also date them

-Work as a freelancer and teacher to pay the bills

-Build a network and reputation as a mobile creative in SE Asia who decided to blaze his own trail and build a boutique video company (dont know what you call this)

-Network with big companies and become contracted to be an international film contractor who scrapped his way up from the bottom.

-----

Imagine the opportunity you have in front of you. You can be PAID to travel through Asia, destroy your debt, and practice shooting footage and documentaries on all kinds of amazing destinations.

The world is yours. But you have to seize it, nobody will give it to you.


Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

-The Art of War

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