[JimNortonFan]

These institutions push suicidal ideology. They are paid for by people who work and then they undermine the society that pays for them.

They are overpriced, elitist, and pro-Left.

This thread is to collect links that can let guys know about alternatives to college and how to get as much from college while spending as little effort and money as possible there.

http://www.uncollege.org/


There's also MOOCs.

A piece of advice I would start with is that in any non-STEM course you need to know you are in enemy territory. Get out with as little effort as possible. Note that I'm not advocating cheating here. I'm saying spit the professors BS reworded on to the papers and get the A with as little effort as possible.

Another piece of advice is that it takes much less effort to get a B than an A. Just because a B is 80% and an A 90% doesn't mean that you have to work 8/9 as hard to get a B compared to an A. If you can absorb a B, do it. Focus on languages, MOOCs and internships.

More advice. Never participate in any social stuff at the college. It's there to indoctrinate you in Left ideology or to use you as free labor to push what they want. Don't join any alumni stuff except for business contacts. Make your own networks.

Never buy a textbook new. Get it used on Amazon, buy an older edition, or use Google to find the info without a book.

[bacon]

College was a 4 year party that my parents paid for but even when I was a freshman at 18 when some of my friends talked about student loans (and had non stem majors) I wanted to ask them is the expense worth it?

[vinman]

Learn a skill until you figure out what you want to do with your life. This way you're making money without the crushing debt of college loans. And if you do go to college major in something in the STEM field of study. No one gives a shit about your Humanities major. But the world will always need engineers, electricians, mathematicians, masons, plumbers, mechanics, etc.

[DickDastardly]

delete

[Aliblahba]

(05-11-2013 01:40 PM)DickDastardly Wrote:  

College in the U.S is an absolute joke. Graduating with 100,000 in debt for a basic degree? The joke is on you.

Also the standard is piss poor in a lot of colleges. A monkey could get a degree as long as it coughs up the cash.

I'm graduating with a PhD here in Ireland this summer. I was paid to do it and I graduate with zero debt.

What is your tax base exactly?

http://www.finfacts.ie/taxfacts.htm

[salmonfella]

College or uni or whatever ye guys call it is free in Ireland but not only that a lot of the students get payed some students even get as much as a person that was made redundant that might have payed tax's for years its great..dunno how ye dudes have to pay sol much!!

[theArbiter]

(05-11-2013 11:56 AM)JimNortonFan Wrote:  

Never buy a textbook new. Get it used on Amazon, buy an older edition, or use Google to find the info without a book.

In the past, there was gigapedia or library.nu where I got the majority of my textbooks.

It got shut down, and there isn't really another site that was to the scale of library.nu.

Try libgen.info, however.

[Aliblahba]

I just had an interview with Siemens and I was over qualified. How does that compute? And I have no degree. You'd me amazed at what experience has over education holds. Ask the members here that I know. Respect for the Engineers. Bishes.

[JimNortonFan]

We have to pay so much for so little because the purpose of US universities is to provide university administrators with jobs.

The universities improve their magazine rating rep with numbers. They attract students with numbers using perquisites like luxurious dorms and gyms. For some reason, using the money to improve education doesn't attract students. Using the money to improve reputation takes a decade or more. A new gym, stadium, or some other recreational BS can attract them now.

These institutions started as libraries where smart people came to read and discuss the books. The internet has rendered them obsolete.

[salmonfella]

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/mon...lated.html

Bit of light reading for ya Ali

[Pete]

It sucks. I wish I wouldn't have spent all that time and energy in such a useless thing.

[salmonfella]

Guys do not many people in the states do apprenticeships? I would have taught a lot would serve in the Army and get a trade that way I no if I had the chance to I would go that route: D

[Aliblahba]

My last job paid $550 per day. No degree. How do you guys think me and guys like scotian can take a whole year off?

[OSL]

Some related articles...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013...companies/

http://www.inc.com/jillian-donfro/peter-...eckup.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03...57082.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/busine...d=all&_r=0

[JimNortonFan]

Colleges cut costs but won't admit it:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...23268.html

They need to keep up the illusion of scarcity to those who can still afford to pay for their BS.

College bubble has burst:

http://www.businessinsider.com/college-b...rst-2013-5

[Emancipator]

I'm at the dilemma on whether to go into college or not. I would preferably go for the experience of college poon, but I don't see it as cost effective, especially when my entrepreneurial ideas if continued can provide more $$$ than going into debt with a college degree for a starting 40K job that isnt guaranteed.

I think I have this dilemma due to the fact that for all our educational years the system keeps pushing kids to go to college to do whatever they want without properly assessing each person's situation. When I told my counselors that I'll be taking a gap year to improve myself and travel they were shocked. In elementary school they keep telling you "Oh we're preparing you for high school" then at High school they keep telling you "oh we're preparing you for university/college", then at college they tell you "oh we're preparing you for employment and real life", but when you graduate, depending on a variety of factors some might graduate school without learning things about life and with debt into the thousands with their only real asset is a piece of paper telling people what is their alma mater.

Decisions, decisions.

[Cyclone]

I graduated with a Civil/Environmental Engineering degree from the #1-ranked CEE university in the country (UIUC)

2 years later, no real job.

Wish I had discovered game upon graduation to be more aggressive in my search and more charming during interviews, but just in case yall thought engineers "had it easy". even we have a tough uphill climb ahead of us.
.

[Hannibal]

Gonna graduate in a week with a physics bachelors degree.

Let's hope something pans out.

Everything I know about how shitty college degrees are I read from "Worthless". If what Aaron Clarey writes is true, then he has validated everything I ever thought about dumbass liberal arts majors like english, history, theater, and women's studies.

[Sabra]

(05-11-2013 03:36 PM)salmonfella Wrote:  

Guys do not many people in the states do apprenticeships? I would have taught a lot would serve in the Army and get a trade that way I no if I had the chance to I would go that route: D

I think that apprenticeships are more common in Europe than the States. For example, I met a pipefitter that had worked for Phoenix Gas in Northern Ireland. He completed a 2-year apprenticeship. I knew a German engineer who told me that all engineers in Germany must complete a 1-year apprenticeship before becoming licensed engineers.

That's not the case in America. I hardly know anyone who's done a formal apprenticeship, other than maybe a welder or two. Maybe plumbers. Like Ali B said, we're big on on-the-job learning and experience here.

[MHaes]

(05-11-2013 10:00 PM)Cyclone Wrote:  

I graduated with a Civil/Environmental Engineering degree from the #1-ranked CEE university in the country (UIUC)

2 years later, no real job.

Wish I had discovered game upon graduation to be more aggressive in my search and more charming during interviews, but just in case yall thought engineers "had it easy". even we have a tough uphill climb ahead of us.
.

Find this hard to believe without more info. What was your GPA?

[the chef]

college was fun as shit and i have no regrets about it whatsoever.

[JimNortonFan]

(05-12-2013 12:05 AM)Hannibal Wrote:  

Gonna graduate in a week with a physics bachelors degree.

Let's hope something pans out.

Everything I know about how shitty college degrees are I read from "Worthless". If what Aaron Clarey writes is true, then he has validated everything I ever thought about dumbass liberal arts majors like english, history, theater, and women's studies.

Please give us updates on your job search (or PM me).

[WestIndianArchie]

(05-11-2013 11:56 AM)JimNortonFan Wrote:  

More advice. Never participate in any social stuff at the college.

lol

WIA

[salmonfella]

But an apprenticeship is on the job training well it least it is here in Ireland. We do 3 years of on the job and 1 year of schooling which is broke up into 1> 6 month stint and 2>3 month periods its great we get the best of both worlds as we can life experience and get to do the whole college/uni thing. and at the end of it we get a trade cert that is valued worldwide. and also we dont have any debts we get payed to go to college quite a lot actually maybe in the states ye have diffo training.

[Valentine]

College may be right for you, but only in very particular cases.

The first reason is because you don't need to go to college to be an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur is far better than being an employee in the long term (no pay ceiling, no boss, set your own hours, more likely to be your passion, etc). See here for more reasons http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07...get-a-job/

If you want to learn how then read The $100 Startup and listen to the Internet business mastery podcast for how-to set up your own online business. Absorb as much info as you can and ACT on it. There's so many resources out there for getting you started it's not even funny.

If you want to go down the job route, you don't need a college degree for most areas (unless you want to go into medicine, law, etc) and the only areas in which it will really be beneficial are STEM subjects. Every other subject you can learn about to a sufficient level without tens of thousands of debt.

Think carefully if you really need the degree you're considering. Often using the years you would spending studying instead working you could get to the same pay level (or higher) depending on the industry you're in.