<p>Did anyone notice the post about 1.5 babies?!</p>
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<p>The 0.5 baby is the unborn child.</p>
<p>This sort of topic comes up often on CC. I’ll bite…again.</p>
<p>First, getting a college degree is not all about how much money you might earn. Many attend college to become an educated individual, job or no job. As a parent who is paying for my kids’ college educations, I’d feel it was worth every cent even if they never held a job (though they do have career plans).</p>
<p>Secondly, many do not choose a career field based on income potential. Many choose based on a field of interest. I did the latter and so have my kids.</p>
<p>Third, you can earn money without a college degree, that’s true. But a college degree affords many opportunities that are not available without a college degree. The opportunities without a degree are more limited. Certain fields will be closed off. Further, overall, those with degrees tend to earn more than those without, even though there are many exceptions. </p>
<p>Fourth, a degree is not worthless if the college is not well known. Perhaps the opportunities after graduation may differ in some cases, but a degree is a degree. </p>
<p>Fifth, the OP’s notion of “fluff” degrees certainly makes me smile. He gave an example of someone who majored in human development as a “fluff” major. I’ll have you know that my UG degree is in Child Study (also referred to as Child Development). It wasn’t worthless (nor easy) and many from my college degree program have been successful in the field. I went on to get a grad degree at Harvard in Education, and while my field is not a high paying field at all, I’ve been in my field my whole life. So, my degrees have benefitted me in terms of my career. The OP goes onto mention “theater” as a “fluff” major. Oy. I have a 22-year-old who graduated 1.5 years ago with a BFA in Drama (specializing in musical theater). Not only was this a very very intense program (nothing remotely fluff about it, not to mention highly competitive to be admitted to), but since graduating, she has supported herself in NYC in her field. While she isn’t making “big bucks” (let alone is still quite young), she is doing quite well in performing arts. I am 100% confident that she will have a life working in the arts. So, um, no Starbucks barrista work for her.</p>
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<p>Most, if not all famous actors lack a degree in theater. They got there from good looks, talent, and connections. You learn to act by acting. Not by sitting in a stuffy classroom listening to an aged professor drawl on about theory.</p>
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<p>Believe it or not, actors attend many acting classes. Nobody comes out of nowhere, gets the role, and starts acting right away. </p>
<p>You know who Doris Roberts is? She played the mother on Everybody Loves Raymond. She is in her 80’s and still attends acting classes.</p>
<p>Most musicians didn’t go to college and major in music, but they didn’t pick up a guitar and start making records right off the bat. It takes years and years of practicing and hard work.</p>
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<p>Halle Berry, Michael Dell,Henry Ford,Bill Gates, Andrew Jackson, Rachel Ray, John D. Rockefeller , Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Abraham Lincoln, Sean Connery, Walt Disney, Michael J Fox, Mick Jaggger, Paul McCartney, Harry Truman, Jesus Christ, William Shakespeare, Lebron James, and our Founding Father- George Washington…</p>
<p>Do those names ring a bell? All of those people never got a degree either.</p>
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<p>Those are the exception, not the norm.</p>
<p>Read all of those people’s biographies. They did not become famous overnight. It took years and years of hard work and luck.</p>
<p>Jesus Christ didn’t get a college degree? lol</p>
<p>If you are against college, why are you applying to colleges?</p>
<p>Well the world’s most influential person never got a degree :).</p>
<p>I am not against college. If you read what I said I am against the notion that EVERYONE has to go to college. Sometimes graduates end up with mounds of debt they can’t pay off. The time and money spent on college could have been allocated differently.</p>
<p>If you knew anything about a BFA degree in acting or musical theater, you would know that most classes are not the type where you listen to a professor discuss theory. Rather, the classes are conservatory training. While you can become an actor without a degree, you do need training and one place to get training is college. </p>
<p>It is very easy to recite the names of successful people who do not have a college degree. Many are the exception, not the rule. As far as theater actors go, open any Broadway playbill and many, though certainly not all, do have a degree. A degree is not a requirement in the field, but many successful actors started by receiving acting training in college. </p>
<p>Speaking for my own kid, every job and artistic opportunity she has had since graduating college in theater, has been a result of her having a degree in this field. I venture to say that none of the things she is currently doing would have happened without her degree.</p>
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<p>I bet all these people worked a lot harder than anyone did in college to get where they did. College is a cakewalk in comparison. Go to college, or not – either way, if you want to be as successful, you have to work constantly at your profession, craft, whatever. I went to two top liberal arts colleges, then transferred to an art school, which, to my shock, was much more difficult. Let me tell you, some of these “fluff” degrees is not for lightweights!</p>
<p>Value is very much in the eye of the beholder. I would have made a lousy engineer, can’t do math to save my life, have zero interest in medicine (do you want a doctor who is only there for the cash?), etc. I happen to have made a good life for myself without taking ‘hard science’, etc. </p>
<p>If everyone followed umadbro’s advice, we’d have way too many engineers, accountants, and bad doctors, and the ‘value’ of their services would drop. (See lawyers.) And an unhappy engineer or doctor can endanger a good many lives. I’d rather have them be people with a true passion for their work beyond how much money they are making. </p>
<p>I’ve held some truly terrible jobs that I was really well suited for…and couldn’t wait to get out despite the money. Money won’t make an unhappy person happy. Waking up in the morning eager to be part of something makes a happy person. Education, art, music, writing, anthropology, history, adding to the beauty of this world…or saving what parts you can…these things have a value beyond the monetary. They make us more human and remind us that we also have a value greater than money.</p>
<p>It is also of note that among the successful non-degreed people the OP gave as examples, many are not from current times, and are from way back in time. The necessity of a college degree has grown since then. What was possible in another generation (not to mention century), is not the same as today.</p>
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<p>The names that the OP mentioned are not doctors, lawyers, and engineers.</p>
<p>Look at the Jersey Shore people. Some went to college and some didn’t. I think kids today look at these people and say if those people can go out and be on a TV show and make millions, then so can I. The thing that these kids don’t consider is how those people got there. A lot of it is due to luck (especially in the entertainment business).</p>
<p>Look at Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. They did not get famous overnight. They have been doing music for many years before their music became mainstream. Again, some kids (like the OP) think that all you have to do is write a hit song and you’re golden. These 2 singers went through years and years of struggling and even had record labels drop them.</p>
<p>@#29:
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<p>Good point, umadbro. How about a rule that says that only the [top</a> 20%](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1033481-chance-me-ut-austin.html#post1065905269]top”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1033481-chance-me-ut-austin.html#post1065905269) of high school grads can go to college?</p>
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Obligatory “umadbro”?</p>
<p>If you want to do what you love to do and you want to be able to find a job in that field EASIER than others, get college degree in this field. I concluded it from experience of looking for a job 9 times (living in economically depressed region) and having MBA which is really not needed for my job. I did not pay anything for my education, various employers paid for it. I was told by several interviewers that they were impressed by my MBA. I do not need ANY degree to perform my job. My H. also got MBA because his employer paid for it and he does not need his either, although BS is almost reguired.</p>
<p>However, it is not clear, how one could be an MD without degree, if MD is a dream. My D., pre-med is graduating next year. Her tuition was covered by Merit Scholarships. We hope she will not need to take loans to go to Med. School.</p>
<p>Even my S. (graphic designer) indicated to me that having 4 year college degree in his field has opened doors. He could have learned his trade on his own, just like I could have. We paid for his education out of our paychecks, no debt either. He knew what he wanted to do in 8th grade.
I do not want to do anything outside of my field, I have tried and felt miserable. I have fun at my job and have no plans to retire. I am sorry for people who decided not to go to college. However, they might be sorry for me. Going to college has been fun for all in my family despite the difference in college experience.</p>
<p>Lady Gaga actually went to college but did not finish. She attended the same college program my D did.</p>
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<p>I had the pleasure of sitting in on a talk back session with Doris about four years ago, when D2 was at Syracuse auditioning. Doris happened to be on campus that day and someone in the audience actually asked her how she ‘keeps up her skill’. She said that she attends acting class every Saturday morning (when time allows) and continues to try to hone her skill. She didn’t want the students to think that, once you graduate, you’ve learned all you can learn. Learning goes on forever and to me, college is just the beginning. It is typically the first chance most teenagers get at living away from home and developing life skills, while also pursuing classes in their area of passion.</p>
<p>My college education enabled me to work primarily by giving me necessary skills. I’m not sure I even needed the degree in my particular field. But what my undergrad and graduate schooling gave me is priceless – it gave me a life of the mind, an ability to think critically that my life would be unthinkably dull without.</p>