<p>Since my adolescent years I have been taught by schools and everyone in this nation that the key to success and wealth is an education at a good university. Of course there are exceptions like Steve Jobs, but those kind of people are one in a million. The rest are convinced that getting into a Top 20 school will guarantee a bright future and a high salary. But there are so many cons! First of all, the amount of work you have to put to get into those schools! Lick the community’s ******* (sorry for my French) for hours on end to seem like a caring person to decorate your transcript. Study relentlessly with no room for the slightest error and deprive yourself from the given freedom that this nation has given us to do as our heart desires (unless you enjoy studying). Finally, the debt. Those colleges accept basically no credit from other colleges if you decide to transfer, basically no financial aid, and the tuition is ridiculously high. But the argument that people bring is that the future salary that you will receive will extinguish that debt and make you a wealthy, happy, and successful person.</p>
<p>Work Experience:</p>
<p>My father has a different opinion on the matter; he is an immigrant (as so am I) and he has awful English. He is a software engineer but he originally studied electrical engineering in a university at Ukraine. Once his degree got re-evaluated when he immigrated to the states, he got some jobs in the electrical engineering field. He was unhappy with the amount of money he was making. He saw that the IT industry was booming so he picked up a Java for Dummies book and studied it (no joke). He got the grasp of it, and eventually he started applying to different IT jobs. They accepted him surprisingly with ease! He didn’t have a 6 figure salary at first, but after doing that for 5 years (hopping from stable jobs to contracts and contracts to stable jobs) he was able to hit the 6 figure mark, and since then he has only been getting a higher and higher salary (currently $140,000). He lies on most of his resumes saying he knows how to do half of these programming languages (since many of them are so similar) and once he gets the job he quickly studies them and catches up to do the work. A deceitful but very effective strategy that has financed the lovely way that he, myself, and my family are living. Remember, the guy doesn’t even have an IT degree.</p>
<p>Conclusion:</p>
<p>So then instead of drying your brains studying so difficultly to get into a $40,000 university, why not instead try enough to master the material and get a degree at a mediocre university that costs lets say $25,000 annually. That way you can enjoy the beauties of life a lot more, all the while saving your credit history. Maybe I am missing something here?</p>
<p>P.S. I am not claiming that this method works for everyone and for every field of study, I am simply bringing this one example to shed light on an interesting phenomenon. I hope to gather different opinions and hear maybe some other people’s experience with this whole process.</p>
<p>I will be very grateful for any insightful input on the topic. I hope we can have a fruitful discussion on the matter. :)</p>
<p>[There are essays and essays and essays I could write on this- I was an Educational Studies major]</p>
<p>Yes, there is a push to have a highly educated workforce (ie with 4 year degrees and above). This is because it’s seen as a driving force for growing the economy in the future and keeping the capitalist cogs turning. Its also a factor for comparison between nations.</p>
<p>Higher education in itself is an industry. It gives jobs to millions of administrators, academics, cleaners, security workers, maintenance people etc. These people are also parents and consumers who contribute to society through their taxes. It does have a self-interest to perpetuate the most economically successful features at the cost of more ethical ones. </p>
<p>The US also invests far less in Higher Education that many other nations. It sees Higher Education as a family’s investment and responsibility and so passes more of the cost onto students. In other countries, the state sees it as a way of investing in the future of the nation through future tax and business growth. American Tuition rates have also risen at a massively fast rate in comparison to inflation or living costs. </p>
<p>However, I do think that just saying we’re victims of a system is a complete denial of responsibility from ourselves for our own poor choices. All my fellow uni grads know that financially we chose wrong but I don’t think any of us would trade in our college experiences and our lives since because of it. Because a good job/ lifestyle is so much more than a heavy pay packet (for most people).</p>
<p>What do you want to do with your life? If its IT, then why not take your dad’s example? You don’t need a college degree to become a writer, an artist, a musician, an actor, a stuntman, a bus driver, a train driver, a sailor, to join the military, to become a craftsperson, a gardener, a builder, a chef etc etc. Some of the most successful modern entrepreneurs quit college or didn’t even attend in the first place. They were too busy actually working at building their own business to worry about who’d pay them in the future.</p>
<p>u can go to the raf for work experience, although I find working as a sports devlopment officer is much more fun, they do this job at the local city council</p>
<p>There is no substantive distinction. Work experience is education (sometimes even formalized) and formal education is experience gained for the sake of gaining experience.</p>
<p>The difference is mostly psychological, actually. Working for the benefit of someone else and working for a grade on a transcript are motivated by different kinds of rewards and they suffer from different kinds of stress. Different people are more comfortable in different environments.</p>
<p>You realize that your dad still has an electrical engineering degree? Most IT jobs ask for a “business, engineering or similar” degree. An 'IT" degree is (usually from a low rank school and) essentially just a business/engineering combo degree. </p>
<p>My mom also works in the IT field. Her story is pretty similar to your dads. She said one of her co-workers daughters went to Berkeley and got a EECS degree. Now she is making a six figure salary out of college. </p>
<p>If you get a mediocre degree with a so-so gpa then you have no choice but to work from the bottom up until you can finally get a stable job with nice pay. Eventually experience will win out over college degree but that takes time.</p>
<p>I could literally write a book as a response, but this is the bottom line. </p>
<p>Employers know that students have to really work hard while being humble, or be very intelligent to make it to the top schools, which are the very traits they are looking for. You pretty much answered your own question in your opening post.</p>
<p>As for work experience being more important, yes, it’s absolutely true. But you aren’t gonna get your foot in the door at a top company without some serious academic qualifications. As a former management consultant, I can tell you that the top consulting company takes the vast majority of its employees from the top 15 schools ranked through a unique methodology - a ranking that is somewhat similar to what you see from USNWR.</p>
<p>Education is important when you’re trying to land your first couple jobs but after you’ve acquired a decent amount of work experience, employers don’t pay as much attention to how well you did in college. Of course, brand name institutions will still give you a leg up because of name recognition and alumni networks, but in 20 years what you’ve accomplished at other companies will be much more important.</p>