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Old    kx250frider617            12-11-2012, 2:56 PM Reply   
Im 21 going to community college taking GE classes and I am realizing that college just isn't for me. I like learning, it's just the whole sit in lecture then take tests just doesn't work well. I am a hands on type of learner, not a study by the books type.

Anyway, my overall goal is to own a business making mens footwear. Now here's the kicker. Technically I don't need to show anyone a degree to own my own business, so would it be a bad decision to drop out of school and persue that?

A major reason why I am contemplating that, I work for my uncle whom already owns a women's footwear company. I've been working here for 6 years already and basically started from the bottom. He wants to teach me and eventually make me the head of marketing. So i actually have a work position that most people go to school to study for.

What are your opinions on this, drop out of school and do some hand on learning within my uncles company, or stay in school and do both? I just don't see any benefit to be taking stupid classes like history and philosophy when it has no relationship with anything I want to do.
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            12-11-2012, 3:01 PM Reply   
Let me just say this...yes GE classes are boring, I skipped most of them (1st yr gpa 1.5 & 1.8 but had a hell of a time drinking underage) while my parentals paid over $30k/yr for my schooling. I too at one point wanted to drop out, once you get into the actual major and classes geared towards the major thats when it becomes more enjoyable. I switched majors 3 times until i found subject matter i enjoyed. I thought for sure I was going to be a Van Wilder...dont give up that easy, pick something you enjoy & roll with it.

***do both...it'll pay off in the end!!
Old     (jon4pres)      Join Date: May 2004       12-11-2012, 3:35 PM Reply   
If you can do both then do.

That said your uncle will probably give you a much better education than college professors. You will also get way more out of school if you can apply it as it; is being taught to you.
Old     (migs)      Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: SF Bay Area       12-11-2012, 3:50 PM Reply   
since you already know what you want to do in the future and more importantly are currently working in the company - stay in school and apply your work, to your school projects. This will pay off incredibly for you and your company.
Stay in school. All the boring classes and getting through it, is all part of it.
Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       12-11-2012, 3:54 PM Reply   
Give engineering a try. Once you get through the math classes it's super rewarding. More hands on, no BS in classes like with Gen Ed stuff.
Old     (ttrigo)      Join Date: Dec 2004       12-11-2012, 6:27 PM Reply   
Take it from someone who dropped out of cc almost 20 years ago: stay in school, no matter how mundane it may be! I thought i had a future in the music industry, and wouldnt need any degree to help me. Even had someone mentoring me in the industry. Yeah, it didnt work out the way i planned. Still trying to get that old aa degree now. Its a pain for someone with two kids, and a wife who works 60+ hours a week. Good luck.
Old     (psudy)      Join Date: Dec 2003       12-12-2012, 10:45 AM Reply   
Don't be a fool. Stay in school.
Old     (stephan)      Join Date: Nov 2002       12-12-2012, 12:20 PM Reply   
Its one of those things that sucks now but will pay off in the end. For one, you never know how well your current goal will play out. Two, having a business degree and superb business model will help immensely when you take steps to secure lending for your footwear business. Lastly, you never know what the future holds and having a degree offers you flexibility and options should things change.

I hated school and had terrible grades even in my first couple years of CC. But no one in my family had gone to college and I wanted to be the first. Couldn't be happier now that its all done. I have a career that requires the degree and I'm typing this from work, so yeah...stay in school! And chase college chicks around, best part of college!
Old     (jeff_mn)      Join Date: Jul 2009       12-12-2012, 12:39 PM Reply   
Same as everyone else.. Stay in school, keep workign for uncle, decide what you want to do afteer..

School gets much, much better after generals.
Old     (jason_ssr)      Join Date: Apr 2001       12-12-2012, 2:43 PM Reply   
Stay in school. Here are the real reasons:

1. It is the unit of measure in the real world.
2. It is very easy to get now, and gets exponentially harder with every year you put it off.

Stick to it now and have it forever. 4 years seems like a long time, but in 10 years from now, those 4 years will seem like a blur. As you know, that piece of paper does not indicate how smart you are or how good your work is, but it opens doors. You never know how many times in your life you may need a door opened. When your 30 and need that door opened, that 4 year degree will take you 10 years to get.

On top of that, the college years are some of the best years of your life. The ratio of freedom to responsibility will never be more in your favor until your too old to do anything with it. Live it up!
Old     (brettw)      Join Date: Jul 2007       12-12-2012, 3:00 PM Reply   
Once you have that degree, it's yours for the rest of your life. You never have to rethink your decision about dropping out again and think for the rest of your life maybe you'll go back. With the opportunity to work with your uncle doing what you'd like, I wouldn't skip on that either. Do what it takes and get both done. The thing with your uncle may or may not pan out long-term, so it'd be nice to have that degree if it doesn't.

Some of those classes may be boring or seem stupid, but the purpose of some of those is to help make you a more educated and well-rounded person.

Oh, and make sure you don't major in something stupid.
Old     (humboldt9)      Join Date: Jun 2004       12-12-2012, 8:56 PM Reply   
Sounds like everyone's in agreement. Stay in school, your degree wil make you much more marketable in the labor force should you decide the shoe business isn't for you. I have a BS and MBA and realize how much work it is, but it's worth it in the long run. I also have two young kids and it helps to reinforce to them the importance of a good education. Keep grinding away!
Old     (augie_09)      Join Date: Mar 2011       12-13-2012, 6:12 AM Reply   
the 2nd half of college was much more enjoyable than the first. Classes became hands on labs, tests became presentations. Don't get weeded out by the GE and intro classes, hang in there. I remember one dick professor who would announce every class, "now some of you won't come back next week and that means I am doing my job, weeding out the people that really want to be here".
Old     (fouroheight68)      Join Date: May 2006       12-13-2012, 7:58 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_ssr View Post
Stay in school. Here are the real reasons:

1. It is the unit of measure in the real world.
2. It is very easy to get now, and gets exponentially harder with every year you put it off.

Stick to it now and have it forever. 4 years seems like a long time, but in 10 years from now, those 4 years will seem like a blur. As you know, that piece of paper does not indicate how smart you are or how good your work is, but it opens doors. You never know how many times in your life you may need a door opened. When your 30 and need that door opened, that 4 year degree will take you 10 years to get.

On top of that, the college years are some of the best years of your life. The ratio of freedom to responsibility will never be more in your favor until your too old to do anything with it. Live it up!
This. Took me 7 years to get my engineering degree, and thought about quitting a few times. Get it now, you never know when you might need that piece of paper.
Old     (ord27)      Join Date: Oct 2005       12-13-2012, 10:59 AM Reply   
here's a different take.

I have a 4 year degree that I don't use.
I was in a similar situation. The owner of my company offered to show me how to run a business, a family, and howto accumulate wealth.
It has paid off ten fold. Compared to lots of my friends, I have a well rounded life, happy family, and make more money than most of my friends. I now own the place and am expanding....

Don't get me wrong. My daughters are definitely going to college.
But.....the main thing that under graduate school teaches you, is how to think. It also buys you some time to mature socially and create some life long contacts.

If the mentoring opportunity is there, and the current and potential money is there.......pursue your dream.

Warning......if you emotionally can't handle making some real money , or have a hard time staying focused on the dream, stay in school. Use school as an opportunity to grow emotionally.....

just my 2 cents
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       12-13-2012, 12:15 PM Reply   
I went through the same thing. I got really burned out on school and wanted to take some time off but my parents did NOT let it happen so we compromised....

I was able to take a year of GE classes online through my university; since I was a full time student at the school but doing it all online, I moved down to Florida to wakeboard for a year.... got the best grades of my life (although I wasn't 21, so drinking wasn't a big distraction). My schedule during that time:
Wake up at 10am. Breakfast and video games til noon. Wakeboard from 1-3ish. Come in for lunch at wait out the afternoon storm. 2nd night session. Dinner and homework from 10-midnight.
I pulled a 4.0 that whole year and it felt like I did nothing, it was great. After that year I had a lot of hands on / lab based classes so I moved back to Wisco, but it was an awesome two semesters.
*My "Student housing" and food costs that I saved not being on campus paid for the entire trip too.... so I actually came back with more money than if I would have stayed in Wisco, even with paying for cables/boat gas.

Look for a Poly-Technic school, a lot more hands on than tradition college type environments but still gets you a 4-year degree, I think it would suit you well.
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       12-13-2012, 12:16 PM Reply   
bottom line - get the degree, you'll wish you did someday.
Old     (stephan)      Join Date: Nov 2002       12-13-2012, 3:06 PM Reply   
I agree with the last thing that Nick said, go to a polytechnic! I went to Cal Poly SLO and it was awesome. They also have pretty rad wakeboard (& snowboard) clubs. Their motto is "learn by doing" and they mean it. Get those grades and get after the type of classes you want to pursue, its much better after the GE stuff.
Old     (phatboypimp)      Join Date: Apr 2005       12-14-2012, 4:22 PM Reply   
Let me first state that I am an Executive Recruiter and I have been in this industry for 15 years and I work for the most prestigious brand in our industry. People without degrees don't progress......period. Now you will find people who have started their own businesses, that have been more lucky then good and some that have straight up busted their asses and been successful without college. It is such a small percentage it is nauseating.

I personally don't buy that the "traditional college teaching process" doesn't work for you. Guess what....... college is hard and boring and requires a lot of time. We all learn better when we are hands on but most of the foundational lessons you will learn do not have that option.

The best advice I can give you is get a Bachelors Degree from a reputable college. I am not going to argue with everyone on this board about how they made it and college doesn't matter or go to work for this guy making shoes. You are 21 - I promise that you don't have any idea what you will want to be doing when you are 35 or 40 or 45 and it will likely not include owning a shoe manufacturing company.

I have conducted over 3000 interviews in my career. Most of them are highly successful and they all have varied backgrounds. Two things are more prevalent in successful people than anything else (including background, financial status or intelligence): The first one is self-awareness - without self-awareness you are determined to fail. The second is a quality education.

I CAN NOT STRESS TO YOU HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS TO YOUR FUTURE SUCCESS. I give career advice for a living and I could write another 1000 paragraphs about why education should be your first priority but if you would like to talk to me live I am happy to do so - it is that important. PM me if you want to talk.
Old     (phatboypimp)      Join Date: Apr 2005       12-14-2012, 4:33 PM Reply   
Here is an article for you. http://www.usnews.com/education/best...ifetime-salary - not everything is about money but education is a powerful way to improve your chance for success.
Old     (acurtis_ttu)      Join Date: May 2004       12-17-2012, 10:25 AM Reply   
just curious? What is your uncles advice to you?
Old    kx250frider617            12-18-2012, 4:22 PM Reply   
Thank you all for the advice. I have yet to ask my parents or my uncle the advice. I just didn't want them to have an idea that I would drop out or anything. I actually just finished my hardest semester yet of GE so it should all make sense now. Right now my hardest decision is to pick a major and stick with it. Everyday, I get new ideas of what I would like to do and what interests me, its so hard to just pick one and go for it.

But i am going to finish up schooling, thats for sure.
Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       12-18-2012, 10:13 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by kx250frider617 View Post
Thank you all for the advice. I have yet to ask my parents or my uncle the advice. I just didn't want them to have an idea that I would drop out or anything. I actually just finished my hardest semester yet of GE so it should all make sense now. Right now my hardest decision is to pick a major and stick with it. Everyday, I get new ideas of what I would like to do and what interests me, its so hard to just pick one and go for it.

But i am going to finish up schooling, thats for sure.
Engineering.
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       12-19-2012, 6:13 AM Reply   
Quote:
Engineering.
If you're halfway capable at math - I agree.

This is what I went for and the classes got pretty interesting (I was at a poly-Technic) and finding a job out of school was almost too easy, I had bought suits for interviews and one got to wear two of the three. I had a job offer from both of the first two places I interviewed at, one I took because they offered to pay me my salary starting 6 months before I graduated.... I was getting checks dumped to my account without doing a thing because they didn't want me to look other places.

Engineering +1
Old     (skiboarder)      Join Date: Oct 2006       12-19-2012, 8:45 AM Reply   
If you can hang on through an engineering degree, you can do whatever you want...

I had a strong GPA in Journalism and now wish I had a 2.0 in Engineering.
Old    kx250frider617            12-19-2012, 11:46 AM Reply   
Surprisingly, all those career tests and everyone I know suggests that I would do best in engineering. I was known to be the kid to take anything apart and fix it, and to mod things and make them better. The nitro RC car hobby started all that. Its definitely something I will look into.

And I'm halfway decent at math. Just finished up my statistics class with a B.
Old     (jason_ssr)      Join Date: Apr 2001       12-19-2012, 3:00 PM Reply   
I wouldn't focus to much on shaping your BA\BS around an expected career. The key is to get it in something. I know few people who are actually in the field of their bachelors. My buddy Winston got his undergrad in music. He became an Astronaut.
Old     (cadunkle)      Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: NJ       12-20-2012, 7:39 AM Reply   
Best advice I can give you is do not go to college. It's a tremendous waste of time and money and you will not learn much if you are already motivated and have worked anything entry level in your field. I wasted a few years of my life working 40-60 hours a week at work and taking full time classes simultaneously, at a school with no summer break. Learned very little and spent a lot of money.

Tuition the first year seemed affordable but they were raising tuition over $10k/yr and totally blew past my budget. Then to top it off they cancelled classes often despite the teacher being able to run the course and having a sufficient number of students wishing to register for it. They outright stole $21k from me and the rest was just a terrible waste of time and money. Eventually I dropped out with only a few classes left to take as they had already stole that $21k and wanted to charge me $42k for a handful of classes that should have been covered in the costs I already paid and would have only taken one or two quarters to complete. I didn't have any more money, wasn't gonna take out any more loans, and refused to throw good money after bad.

I have done well in my career despite wasting all that time and money, though I live like a poor person while paying back loans I took out to pay those college scammers. Best I can say is don't buy into the college scam. The cost is outrageous, they will outright lie to you and steal from you, and you won't learn much. If you're motivated you can learn a lot more on your own and through work experience, for a fraction of the time and money the schools charge. Don't make the same mistake I did, don't go to school. There's only one thing in my life I truly regret and wish I could go back and change, and that's my terrible decision to go to college.

From what you've said it sounds like you're already set up to succeed at what you want to do. You have the background, support, and way to get more experience in any areas you may be lacking. Pursue that and you should be fine.
Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       12-20-2012, 7:59 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadunkle View Post
Best advice I can give you is do not go to college. It's a tremendous waste of time and money and you will not learn much if you are already motivated and have worked anything entry level in your field. I wasted a few years of my life working 40-60 hours a week at work and taking full time classes simultaneously, at a school with no summer break. Learned very little and spent a lot of money.

Tuition the first year seemed affordable but they were raising tuition over $10k/yr and totally blew past my budget. Then to top it off they cancelled classes often despite the teacher being able to run the course and having a sufficient number of students wishing to register for it. They outright stole $21k from me and the rest was just a terrible waste of time and money. Eventually I dropped out with only a few classes left to take as they had already stole that $21k and wanted to charge me $42k for a handful of classes that should have been covered in the costs I already paid and would have only taken one or two quarters to complete. I didn't have any more money, wasn't gonna take out any more loans, and refused to throw good money after bad.

I have done well in my career despite wasting all that time and money, though I live like a poor person while paying back loans I took out to pay those college scammers. Best I can say is don't buy into the college scam. The cost is outrageous, they will outright lie to you and steal from you, and you won't learn much. If you're motivated you can learn a lot more on your own and through work experience, for a fraction of the time and money the schools charge. Don't make the same mistake I did, don't go to school. There's only one thing in my life I truly regret and wish I could go back and change, and that's my terrible decision to go to college.

From what you've said it sounds like you're already set up to succeed at what you want to do. You have the background, support, and way to get more experience in any areas you may be lacking. Pursue that and you should be fine.
What was your major? What field of work are you in now? Depending on what field you hope to work in, school is essential.

Here is how I look at it..... Give yourself the most opportunities you possibly can. Don't close any doors until you have to. And whatever you do, dont quit because its "hard" or "boring".... its four years, in the scheme of things, its not that long.
Old     (fouroheight68)      Join Date: May 2006       12-20-2012, 8:10 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilikebeaverandboats View Post
What was your major? What field of work are you in now? Depending on what field you hope to work in, school is essential.

Here is how I look at it..... Give yourself the most opportunities you possibly can. Don't close any doors until you have to. And whatever you do, dont quit because its "hard" or "boring".... its four years, in the scheme of things, its not that long.
This. A degree in underwater basket weaving does no good other than saying you stuck to a 4 year goal and finished it. If you want to get into any kind of technical field - electrical, civil, mechanical, or construction engineering no one will look at you without at LEAST a 4 year degree. I did construction management; every year our class had 100% job placement even in this economy. Not many other industries can say the same thing. I also heard petroleum engineering is the highest paid post graduate career out there.
Old     (phatboypimp)      Join Date: Apr 2005       12-20-2012, 9:39 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadunkle View Post
Best advice I can give you is do not go to college. It's a tremendous waste of time and money and you will not learn much if you are already motivated and have worked anything entry level in your field. I wasted a few years of my life working 40-60 hours a week at work and taking full time classes simultaneously, at a school with no summer break. Learned very little and spent a lot of money.

Tuition the first year seemed affordable but they were raising tuition over $10k/yr and totally blew past my budget. Then to top it off they cancelled classes often despite the teacher being able to run the course and having a sufficient number of students wishing to register for it. They outright stole $21k from me and the rest was just a terrible waste of time and money. Eventually I dropped out with only a few classes left to take as they had already stole that $21k and wanted to charge me $42k for a handful of classes that should have been covered in the costs I already paid and would have only taken one or two quarters to complete. I didn't have any more money, wasn't gonna take out any more loans, and refused to throw good money after bad.

I have done well in my career despite wasting all that time and money, though I live like a poor person while paying back loans I took out to pay those college scammers. Best I can say is don't buy into the college scam. The cost is outrageous, they will outright lie to you and steal from you, and you won't learn much. If you're motivated you can learn a lot more on your own and through work experience, for a fraction of the time and money the schools charge. Don't make the same mistake I did, don't go to school. There's only one thing in my life I truly regret and wish I could go back and change, and that's my terrible decision to go to college.

From what you've said it sounds like you're already set up to succeed at what you want to do. You have the background, support, and way to get more experience in any areas you may be lacking. Pursue that and you should be fine.
This is probably the most ignorant post I have read on Wakeworld - and that is saying a lot.
Old     (sidekicknicholas)      Join Date: Mar 2007       12-20-2012, 10:44 AM Reply   
Quote:
This is probably the most ignorant post I have read on Wakeworld - and that is saying a lot.
Haha. 100% on everything you said!

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