Should I go to College?

[Cyrion]

A quick note about my background: I'm a chemistry professor at a community college, and I've changed careers paths multiple times.

I'll encourage you to check out your local community college for all of the reasons that people have given you above: it's relatively cheap, it gives you a chance to explore different subjects through classes, salary typically goes up with the number of letters after your name, and education is about so much more than just classes.

Sure, there are going to be classes that feel like wastes of time because they're part of your general education rather than targeting the major you're interested in. That's part of the "price" of a well-rounded education; you're going to get exposed to lots of stuff that may or may not be useful later in life. Quite honestly, whether it's useful is up to you. I use stuff from my history, philosophy and English classes when I teach chemistry. That's a conscious choice on my part- I could certainly stick to "just the chemistry" but it's a lot more fun to teach using lots of different knowledge. Because I have a broad education, I have been able to change course a few times- I changed majors half-way through my PhD work, and I spent 15 years working outside of my field before settling into my original goal of teaching college chemistry.

It's been mentioned before, and I'll mention it again- Do the legwork to find financial aid! When you go to your financial aid office, they'll ask if you've filed your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), and when you say yes they'll offer you loans, potentially a couple of grants, and maybe work study. They just don't have time to get creative with everybody who comes in. However, there is a lot of money out there, and it doesn't all involve high grades. You have to get online and do some dedicated digging, though. Do a generic internet search on scholarships, and do a specific search through the website of any school you are considering applying to. Then send out applications to anything that you think you even remotely qualify for. Scholarship applications are free. (If they aren't, it's typically a scam.)

I offer extra credit in my classes for scholarship applications. Two popular ones that people apply for:

Zombie Apocalypse Scholarship: Yes, it's a real scholarship offered by the CDC. Write and essay on what you would do to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. Lots of people apply, and it's for ~$500 if I recall correctly. It's low yield, but it's fun.

Scholarship-a-Day: Write an essay, hope for a scholarship. Again, lots of applicants for not much money.

These are generic, but if you think about what sets you apart from the average bear in terms of interests, background and experiences, you can get money for lots of other things:

One student got a full-ride scholarship to a major university for getting clean and sober.

One student got $13,000/year through a combination of a transfer scholarship and a "bridge" scholarship (a specific program for the school he was going to.)

One student got a scholarship for Jewish women to help pay for medical school. The kicker is that Gabriel was Jewish but not a women. There weren't any other applicants that year, so the selection committee stretched the rules a little in order to help someone out.

If you're willing to do the work to find the money, there is no reason that a crushing debt has to come along with your diploma.

[Liquor Box]

On choice of career/degree

I'm going to reiterate what a few other people in this thread have said - some degrees will open doors for you, but others will give very little return on your investment. The most likely to lead to a decent paying job are those that are geared toward a particular profession - things like accountancy, law, engineering, archtecture or dentistry. IT degrees that are geared toward specific highly available jobs are another example. Other than that, sciences are generally good degrees, whereas arts and humanities and the like are not. That is not to say there are no jobs arising out of the arts and humanities (some people go on to teach those subjects) but there are very few jobs relative to the number of graduates.

I also think there is a tension between doing something you are interested in (unless you are interested in doing something most people find boring) vs a field where there are well paying jobs available. Generally, the more interesting the profession, the more competitive the job market will be. The extreme example is professional sportsman or rock star (or indeed professional gamer) - there are a lot of people competing for very few 'jobs', so generally only those who are super-talented succeed. This is also true of jobs like graphic designer, or jobs arising out of film degrees - lots of people want those jobs relative to the number of jobs that are available, so if you graduate you will be one of many in a highly competitive field (this also tends to mean that they will be low paying until you reach the upper echelons). It tends to be the case that more boring, less attractive jobs are likely to be more available and better paying.

The third point I want to make, is that (where I come from) very often getting a degree is not enough - unless there is a skill shortage in a field. Employers want to see good marks, and possibly good marks at a University with a good reputation. A law degree where you barely passed may be of no more value to you than an arts degree. This ties into the previous point as well - the more attractive the field the more likely that high marks are required to distinguish you from other graduates. So lawyers (often seen as more desirable) will probably require hire marks than accountants (seen as less desirable) -actually if you just want s decent paying and reliable job, I reckon accounting is your best bet.


All that is not to say that you shouldn't go for it with a job like professional gamer, director or graphic design. But you should do it with your eyes wide open that you are much less likely to get a well paying job in those professions than in more ordinary (perhaps boring) fields. As a high school leaver you may be young enough to spend a few years trying to chase a dream and then returning to study and start a more conventional profession.

[Anonymouswizard]

I also think there is a tension between doing something you are interested in (unless you are interested in doing something most people find boring) vs a field where there are well paying jobs available.

I want to jump in and say that you can find many people doing degrees in highly paid fields, especially science and engineering, because they are legitimately interested in it. This includes not only most of my family (my younger sister isn't old enough and is into different things) but also my entire gaming group, which makes a very different atmosphere to the one where most people did 'creative' subjects. In some ways it really helps getting those highly paid jobs because you have a motivation besides money to be good at it.

Because honestly, I find engineering fun, as do a good number of my engineer friends, and the scientists I know genuinely enjoy doing all the research and work that goes into science. This view that most people find some subjects boring is to me like the idea that some people aren't good at maths, a problem with this society in most cases despite being legitimate in some.

All that is not to say that you shouldn't go for it with a job like professional gamer, director or graphic design. But you should do it with your eyes wide open that you are much less likely to get a well paying job in those professions than in more ordinary (perhaps boring) fields. As a high school leaver you may be young enough to spend a few years trying to chase a dream and then returning to study and start a more conventional profession.

One of my friends came up with the observation that 'those who tell you to pursue your dreams are more likely to have made it'. Although I'll agree that there's nothing wrong with chasing a dream as long as you keep your feet on the ground, an example is a friend of mine hopes to publish a tabletop RPG he's making which actually has a really nice setting (the rules are good enough and being improved but not a real selling point), but he's fully aware that the likelihood is that he's going to sell about five books, and honestly he earns enough money with his job that he can afford to spend some time chasing the dream of being a published game author.

[Pocgels]

If you're in 11th grade and in the United States, you should be able to ask someone at your school about your GPA or transcript. Even if it's close to 3.0, you still have time to raise it, and high test scores on the ACT/SAT will help a lot with colleges wanting to have you attend.

Going to a local or community college is also your best bet for your first two years, and a good idea overall. I know people who have done this and managed a part-time job at the same time. Living at home also saves money.

[Xyril]

My mother sees it has if I don't go to college it would make my life incredibly hard. I mean the things I am interested in can be self taught and I have heard of companies hiring people who are self taught before. I sort of want to try self teaching myself coding but I took a class in high school a year or 2 ago with a horrible teacher and that killed my spark.

If you're serious about a career that involves coding, I would strongly recommend going to college. I know some guys who were largely self-taught before college, but they started much earlier than you did. Since it seems like you're unsure how serious you are, I'd say to take a year, try to get a job that gives you some exposure to the industry, and regardless of whether or not you find such a job, make an effort to self-teach or to take a course or two in order to get a better handle of whether this is something you really want to do.

My interests are really all over the place. I would love to become a professional gamer because I have always wanted to become a pro at something and I think if I try gaming could be that thing,

I don't imagine a degree for this, but if you're going to go this route, you should figure out some sort of rough plan and maybe get some backup options in place as soon as possible. What would make you stand out enough to make a living doing this? Are you particularly talented at some genre of games? Are you charismatic in such a way that your friends enjoy just hanging out, watching you play, and listening to your commentary?

I also like the medical field somewhat because you can help people etc, and photography seems interesting.

This is another one of those "try to find a low level job in the industry to get a better idea of what you want to do" situations. If you're thinking about being a doctor or a nurse, formal schooling is a must, and starting it sooner rather than later is a good idea. Photography is one of those things where you don't need formal college training, but you still might want to go to college if you can do it affordably while pursuing a back up degree. A good university will have classes or clubs that will essentially subsidize your formal training in photography, they'll generally provide access to good, professional editing software and facilities, and the exposure to other students and opportunities to publish your work as an amateur will help you to develop your own style and sensibilities as an artist. But again, I wouldn't recommend college just for photography--if you can't think of a few valuable potential degrees that would help you in some alternative career path, you're better off pursuing the photography career on your own.

I have always been the type who just goes "with the flow" and might see where my future takes me.

There's nothing wrong with this--I am very much the same way. The thing to remember though is you can't be completely passive--even if you have no clue what you want your future to be, you should take steps to put yourself in a position where the future will be bringing you a lot of options to explore. University is a great place to do this, but it's also an expensive one. Earning an associate's degree at a community college, or just taking a few classes for a semester or two, is a cheaper alternative that will let you try things out and might give you meaningful progress towards a four year degree if you end up deciding to go that route. Travel is also good for exposing yourself to options, but it can also be potentially expensive, and there can be a very real temptation to keep doing it for too long because it's fun and easy and doesn't put any pressure on you to start seriously consider your long term options.