Gum on your soul wrote:
He's after that oft-coveted University of Oregon degree. He can then get the all important job at Nike as a shoe wear tester.
PC Principle wrote:Does it really do Ches any good at this point to continue to run in the NCAA system? I have to think at a certain point it's not really helping him improve to the next level if he never has to race hard or all out. He probably didn't run a single race at an all-out effort last year. What's the point in continuing to train and race in NCAA if you're so far superior to the competition?
Moldy old sour grapes stale comment.
Those that pay attention to such things, note that Oregon, in addition to all the Phil Knight and other Nike or other former Duck millionaires donations for sports have endowed massive funds for academics and Oregon is steadily climbing the ladder in rankings of national public universities.
Disclaimer: I am not an Oregon grad/Duck.
Credit is due, where credit is due. And there are easy profs, and bad ass profs, who make you work your tails off at any college.
And you get what you put into it.
How many of you actually did extra study / research work other than was assigned to you for your college courses? Full disclosure, I did, but only for classes and profs I really dug.
You really get out of college what you put into it. I read one study that showed that by age 35 you have forgotten over 80% of what you learned in college...unless you went directly into using it...like Med school, or Dental School, or Law School specialty.
A far more important factor is who becomes a lifelong autodidact on topics they didn't study in school in order to help their career or personal life.
Three of the stupidist people I've met:
1. Yale grad in international studies. Fat, food addict. 64 year old Virgin. Porn addict (found on his work computer after I fired him). Rabid Conservatard, living on Welfare now, because he was lazy and never worked hard after Yal. He was incapable of learning something new, and retaining the information. Forgetful, non-focused, just thought he was smarter than everyone else because he went to Yale. All that said, he was a great story teller and everyone liked him / felt sorry for him.
2. MIT Engineering Degree, then Stanford MBA. Thinks he knows everything. Agrees to be managed, and a team member, then self-sabotages everything, delusional dream, and gets fired from every gig, to the point where no respects him or will work with him anymore; has lost all his friends. Still delusional.
3. Annapolis graduate. Co-designed one of the most famous weapons systems in US Military arsenal. Brilliant story teller, brilliant memory. Can't send a text. Can't send an email. Absolutely paranoid and has temper and anger control issues and can't hold down a job. He's in Mensa. He's also a conspiracy theorist, truly paranoid, and has angry violent tirades about "how they're out to get us." (He may be right, lol, but the outbursts in a business environment have gotten him fired. I know, cos i did the firing.) He's a rebel, if you ask him to do or solve a work task, he will drag ass on it and not do it until it becomes a problem...and you have to fire him.
I have fired all three of the above.
My most successful employee went to a string of "clown colleges," worked his ass off, did extra work, worked full time putting himself through school. Mastered every job he was in, and now is an uber success at a major world renowned corporation. He's a superstar, and humble, and kind, and a people pleaser, always happy to lend a hand. We was 19, and a part of a staff I managed of 25. Of the 25, he stayed in touch with me, always checked in a few times a year or more, asked for advice, guidance, coaching.
I'd go to battle with that "kid" any time he asked me.
There are, proverbially, more millionaires that have not graduated from high school than there are those who have graduated from every major named college in the world.
The X factor for super success...is not due the hoity toity school that you got your degree from. Yes, it helps to have a degree from USC and gain a network of your generation if you are going into the entertainment business. Yes, a Harvard MBA helps for the network -- but there are tons of Harvard (and their ilk) MBA's making less than 100k.
There's been many, many, many article about these things over the years in the NYT and Washington Post, The Economist, the usual sources of research on the correlation between college name and future success.
There's a national dialogue right now as to whether the 4 year collegiate baby sitting and party hosting holding zone for little humans to grow up, is worth the debt people incur.
I went to 4 colleges, post grad work, and the key to my successes has been my ferocious curiosity for emerging knowledge, not watching TV, and being an autodidact, studying something all the time, in the evenings.
You can open a huge set of worlds by giving away your TV.
Chez will be a success as a pro runner, if his health holds. And his dedication to focused study habits, and his great personality, will see him be a success in anything he does outside of running. Even if he went to Phoenix University.
But, I even know people who graduated from Phoenix University who are more successful than the Yale grad.
What's in your wallet?