College is not worth the time, money or energy

College was the best. Keggers and Coeds.
Don’t regret going into debt since the Biden Administration will forgive my loans.
Then I’m in line for reparations here in sunny CA.
You’re living life wrong if you’re working for the man.

The money better put in a small business for yiu

laundramatte etc

Or put towards the spy s and p 500

or even t billls

college grad school

promises much delivers nothing

Yes. High school grads should all be enrolled in YCombinator. After only 6 months they get to work for a startup company with an initial $500K in VC funding.

Not overrated at all

Masters degree - I like college so much I wanted more of it. Well I thought a couple more years of 120 miles a week would see me finally crack 15 in the 5k (and 31 in the 10), but I just got injured a lot, dealt with a bunch of bs in academia, and only ended up dropping seconds from my 5k and 3k and bringing my half marathon in line with those.

I substitute taught for a few years and did seasonal summer work until I got a job that required just some college (but good luck getting an interview without a degree) I work in the federal sector and was able to go from gs5 to gs12 on their pay scale.

I don't regret college. College sports and the freedom to structure my day was the best time of my life. I wish I'd majored in a science or engineering - prob dual major would be best. At the time I wanted to make college fairly easy and focus on sport. I might have regretted college if instead of averaging 10 hours a week of studying, I had to average like 60 - and still didn't get a good job. Now 50-60 hour work weeks are pretty standard.

I do regret grad school though. Besides in business, the only reason to get a masters is if your employer will pay for it or pay you more money for having it. Besides that, its go phd or you're wasting your time. Those who do best in grad school treat it like a job, not like undergrad.

You say your jobs required a hs diploma, but would you have gotten them without the degree?

Without a degree, the only place to make enough to constantly not be worried about money are skilled labor and tipped service industry jobs. As an introvert, the latter would make me incredibly miserable - plus being on your feet all day is not good for any kind of physical activity (like running) you want to do after work. So unless you are an extrovert, or willing to work with your body life isn't going to be great.

If you lament your degree so much, nothing is stopping you from going to trade school (your local community college will probably have trade courses), or applying to be a waiter, or even getting a job in retail. You can work your way up to the position of retail manager which probably makes less than you do now but with longer hours and a lot more stress.

Highest level of education: High school

I've been trying to get a higher level of education, but I've been having trouble convincing the sheep in med school admissions that college is not worth the time, money or energy.

More than ever it's what you make of it. You get a degree from a mediocre school majoring in non-STEM field, you most likely wasted time and money. I only found out this month people who scored 900 to 950 on SAT are doing no better than just randomly guessing answers. They're going to college? For what?

College was the best time of my life (until I had kids, which was harder but more rewarding).

I met my wife in college. I had four great years of learning tons of interesting things. Lots of cool late-night debates with friends. Road trips with hilarious dudes who all had the same interests as I did. Traveling to and racing track meets (and XC) was great. My best friends today (+20 years later) are all college runners! I did a double major, so I got a lot of degree for the money. I got a good job that ties directly to what I studied..

But I agree that it is very situational, right? As the previous poster said, it is what you make of it.

I can't imagine how bad it would suck to be studying something useless, having a ton of debt, living in an expensive but crappy apartment with sub-par roommates, not dating cute co-eds, and never really making true friends on campus. That would be a waste of time and money. But who would choose to live like that?

p.s. I did not study STEM but that doesn't mean college was a waste. There are lots of fields where business, education, law, design, marketing, and finance degrees are in demand.

College was the best choice I ever made, career-wise. BSEE from UT-Austin in 1983. Worked up until I was 58 in highly interesting jobs in semiconductor engineering until I was 58. Never laid off in that entire span. Retired and have money to travel and live well in the SF Bay Area. Still run most every day on roads, beautiful trails and the track. Thank you UT-Austin.

Tip: Don't major in something useless.