School or no school?? please read!!

moe

Member
Jan 10, 2006
795
3
Hi ladies i've been thinking about this for months now. How many of you actually have a degree and found going to school was the best decision you made?
I ask because i'm 21 and I've dropped out of college 1 year ago. My focuse was never there and my marks wre not great (i was taking business administration.) I've been working part-time since i was 17 and i knew i was excellent in sales, so thats what i've been doing for a year now as a sales rep for a multicarrier cell phone company. I make about $3000-$4000 a month take home.
My parents are very old fashion and they think school is the one and only way to go. They still don't know i've dropped out and now i'm thinking maybe i should go back. Truth is if i wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant, i would go to school because i have to, to become one. I want to own my own company one day or be a successful sales representative and i feel that experience is more important. I learned so much more in 1 month of trainning from work than 4 semesters in school about business. Please help i'm confused. School or no school? will i have a good future???
 
Hi ladies i've been thinking about this for months now. How many of you actually have a degree and found going to school was the best decision you made?
I ask because i'm 21 and I've dropped out of college 1 year ago. My focuse was never there and my marks wre not great (i was taking business administration.) I've been working part-time since i was 17 and i knew i was excellent in sales, so thats what i've been doing for a year now as a sales rep for a multicarrier cell phone company. I make about $3000-$4000 a month take home.
My parents are very old fashion and they think school is the one and only way to go. They still don't know i've dropped out and now i'm thinking maybe i should go back. Truth is if i wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant, i would go to school because i have to, to become one. I want to own my own company one day or be a successful sales representative and i feel that experience is more important. I learned so much more in 1 month of trainning from work than 4 semesters in school about business. Please help i'm confused. School or no school? will i have a good future???
 
In certain fields, you don't really need a college degree. It's true. You just need to be self-taught and know exactly what you're doing. A lot of people with degrees have no idea what they are doing, believe me.

I dropped out after 2 years of college. That was twelve years ago and I now work as a web developer for a Fortune 500 company, making enough money to buy my own Louis Vuitton.

The best part is: no debt! Hahaha!!
 
3-4K is great for not completing school. sounds like you don't need it. education doesn't mean a thing. pick up this book "rich dad poor dad" he's a millionaire retired at the age of 41. and he says education worked back in the day, but not anymore. look at all the billionaires like bill gates, he barely finished high school! and all those millions paid to athletes? need education? nope. singers? not even britney can sing and she's worth millions. mary kate ashley? 400 million and they haven't finished college. i have my bachelors in arts! what am i doing now? i'm on wall street. go figure.
 
Hi and welcome! Since my parents are drs all I ever knew growing up was school school school, I grew up learning that school is the only way to acheive lasting success. Now I'm all grown up, a lawyer and I know my parents were wrong (bless 'em) Certainly infinite avenues to success exist outside of school and school is just not for everybody. You're young, and there was a reason you dropped out of school in the 1st place, presumably it's just not the right thing for you now at this time in your life. That may not always be the case of course. Just leave your mind open, right now it seems that you're on a great track! Good Luck!
 
My view about college is this: go to college if there is something you are passionate about studying. Don't go to college if you don't know what else to do. You'll be wasting your time there.
 
i don't think school is so important as having a marketable skill. some people need school to aquire that skill - knowledge of law, medicine, etc. others are born with it. i'm a born talker, i'm the best salesperson in my department and i was a national-level debater in high school. i want to turn that skill marketable through law school, but i feel like i could drop out now and make a good living, possibly be even a great one with a little luck.

so it just depends on what you've got, i suppose. if your job is upwardly-mobile and you enjoy it, i don't think there's any reason to go back now.
 
Oh and you can always go back! I dropped out at age 20, but I have completed night classes for my own enjoyment, or for career advancement. I did a 3-course editing program at Berkeley which was fun and got me a certification. I took a few months of a French class just for fun. You can always take classes to develop whatever you want to learn.

At 20 it is almost impossible to know what you want to be. I feel like college is really wasted on the young.
 
I'm encouraging both of my kids to go to college, however, if you have a natural talent for sales, a solid work ethic, and the drive to succeed you will probably do well in your chosen field with or without a bachelor's degree. The catch is, if you work for a large corporation, sometimes not having a degree will limit your advancement. For example, you could be a top sales executive, but may be unable to get into management without the degree.

I say, if you are doing something you love and enjoy going to work each day (and you're earning a comfortable living) , stick with it. You can go back to school anytime--even 10 years from now if you decide that's what you want!

Good luck!
 
Have done tons of school, I still value life experience. You're still young and make a good living. If you're thinking of starting your own company or something like that, you could consider taking some evening classes in business at a local junior/community college. Sometimes having a combination of life experience and an education are the most useful tools...
 
Please don't take this the wrong way, but isn't this an odd place to ask for advice such as this? Why not make an appointment with an advisor at the college you used to attend? Is there someone older that you trust with whom you can consult?

FWIW, I'm with Pradasmeadow on this - school is important. Many people take some time off from college to work in the "real world" for a while, then continue college. Maybe it won't be this year, or even the next, but you may find yourself motivated to continue your education at some point.
 
luvboogie said:
Please don't take this the wrong way, but isn't this an odd place to ask for advice such as this? Why not make an appointment with an advisor at the college you used to attend? Is there someone older that you trust with whom you can consult?

FWIW, I'm with Pradasmeadow on this - school is important. Many people take some time off from college to work in the "real world" for a while, then continue college. Maybe it won't be this year, or even the next, but you may find yourself motivated to continue your education at some point.

i don't think this is necessarily great advice. of course a college counselor is going to tell you to come back to college. they're not an unbiased source. on the other hand, there are some VERY successful people on here that have become quite good at what they do, and i think it's useful to get real-life experience from sources without an agenda.

like i said in the other thread, i think a marketable skill is more important, in and of itself, than college. you just have to decide if you already have one or if you need college.