Is University Pointless?

To expand Kelly's idea, university is not pointless at all. It just depends on your life goals. if you feel like making money is all you want then you will lose your time attending university. Even if what you need is learning business skills you are probably better learning from books since university teachers never have set up their own business

However, if you want to learn new things or network with like minded people then university may be a good choice. Never rely totally on what they teach you there but it surely can help.

I met my wife and some of my best friends at university. That's priceless if you ask me. I network with people I met there sometimes. We are all teachers who are worried about the state of the education in our area. Some of us are considering startin a master degree next January. Since I like teaching (even though I don't like lesson planning very much ) I think that university is good for me.

Hey, if I had not attended university I would have not learned english so I would not be posting this here and would not be building a business part time, so to me university was a great investment.

I don't think you really need much college to do internet marketing. Most, if most all stable careers in business require a college degree. Really depends on where you you want to be in the future.

Universities never provide a Frank Kern sorta education, straight to point and stacking the cool stuff. Universities never create millionaire. Its you who teaches yourself who make things done

In college I learned about standards, research, and exploration. My communication skills improved greatly. I learned what it is to specialize and excel. I learned how important discourse and debate is and the importance of looking at something from all sides. Those in my family who did not go to college tend to make decisions emotionally without really thinking about things. In college I learned to question assumptions and evaluate options. I learned how to learn, and that life is on-going learning. I would hope you would keep learning more and more each year, and that should not negate a good college education.

I was educated long before I got an "education."

The internet has changed the game. With the click of a mouse you can read and educate yourself on just about any subject without the need to take a class.

A college education now a days is about huge student loan debts, and getting a diploma that will help you get a better job. What a college education is not now a days is the only, or best way to get "educated."

No, anything but.

Look at almost every aspect of everyday, modern life and think about what proportion of it wouldn't exist at all without universities.

Business faculties in universities may perhaps - arguably - be close-to-pointless, but this is a radically different assertion!

The fashion highly changed in the course of time. Long ago, people go to college to LEARN. Now, people go to college just go get hold of that paper called DIPLOMA. As you can see, most college grads nowadays are jobless since the course they took was a mismatch to their skills and to the booming workforce needed by the economy.

Kenster,

Wow man. I just happened across this thread (which gets brought up a lot and is a GREAT discussion BTW!) and read your reply....you took the words right out of my mouth. Your answer is how I answer that question every time I have this discussion. I'll probably never use 95% of the stuff I actually was tested on in college, but it was 100% useful because it helped me grow as a person.

I dropped out to do IM, so there's some bias here.

Universities seem like a form of intellectual self pleasuring.

If you can find something functional to study, it's a great way to move yourself into a career, like nursing, physical therapy, engineering, etc.

For entrepreneurs, it's an alright experience, just that it happens to be true that you learn 100 times more in real life.

Or at least I do.

The university is a waste of time .You should really go if you want to have fun but do n't expect to make money from university

I studied Financial mangement in the university and it was completely waste

We studied a bunch of theory that was outdated and of no use today

You are not taught the important things in university like money (which is almost always skipped in the university and school) and yet you spend the rest of your life working to get money and making bad money choices until you meet somebody else and break that pattern

You are not taught to be build teams but to go at it alone which mostly lead to failure in business . you are not taught to focus in school but they rather spend you thin with so many courses and subjects so you are never really good at anything .

if you are gifted at art for example nobody really should ask you to learn spanish and 10 other subject together because you is going to hard to be amazing at art when you have 11 other subject distracting you and taking away your time

If you really want to make money find somebody who doing well (there are people like that on this very forum ) and ask to be their apprentice

Please don't waste your money with university .It can be a lot of fun but you don't make any money .

I never actually went to university, but I qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant, which is equivalent in status to a masters degree. It was great in that it was totally practical - real knowledge that you can use in pretty much any type of business. Necessary for an internet marketer? Well, no, but I don't think it did me any harm. However, with the online opportunities available today, I'm not sure I would do it again.

Overall, I would say...whatever, you studied or are planning to study, keep an open mind. Ask questions, push boundaries, challenge conventions. Don't let your learning trap you in a box.

This is a TRUE story...

When I went to college a few miles away from home, I went
believing I was going to get an education I couldn't get
any place else.

As I walked through the double doors and to my first class,
there was an odd feeling something wasn't "right". Someone
wasn't telling me the truth about something I had a hunch
about, and I needed to find out what it was.

6 months into my studies I finally put all the pieces to-
gether and figured it out:

NONE of the people I was learning business from had ZERO
business experience.

From the very first day, my suspicions were triggered, but
I figured I had to stay because many members of my family
had these high hopes I would graduate and get this degree
many of them didn't get or couldn't -- for some reason or
the other -- finish themselves.

At this point I started losing respect. I zoned out and
could not stay focused on getting any work done. I wanted
to drop out in the middle of the semester...

fast forward 4 months later one of the teachers shared a
story with me (his class) I will NEVER forget:

Teacher - "Do you know what the (famous electric tooth
brush brand) is?"

Student - "Yes"

Teacher - "About 15 - 20 so years ago I was asked to get
involved as a 50/50 partner from a fellow college class
mate..."

Student - "and than what?"

Teacher - "I turned him down. Not once. Not twice. Not
Three times. But FOUR times"

Student - "so the 5th time was the charm?"

Teacher - "well...not quite. By the fourth time he told me he
could take a hint and that he really believed this electric
toothbrush business would take off. But again...I told him no
so he left it at that and wished me the best"

Student - "What happened next?"

Teacher - "I ended up here"

they are definitely NOT pointless! What I've learned so far (3rd year on business administration) has been really helpful in understanding organisations, companies and customer's demand etc etc. You don't actually learn a lot of the IM, but that's not that important. At the university you get timeless information on so much disciplines. Nothing that you can learn here. And you learn how to do proper research, being as objective as possible (cause everyone has a biases) and much more...

It depends on you, really. I see it like this: most people go to university to learn some things and get a degree, so that after university they can get hired at a good company and earn more money. So if you already earn a lot of money (more than you would at the company I mentioned earlier), then you might as well just take a "shortcut" and skip university.

Yea,...I"ve been runnin' 4 a degree and seems to be useless coz I want to be young millionare...hehe

University is pointless. You can learn so much more on books. And I know some mentioned networking, you have a better chance at seminars where people are motivated and they have money to spend. I just attended the BigSeminar, and heard from one of the speakers that shes buying bank owned universities and converting them to senior living centers. What does that tell you?

I don't think University is pointless, it serves a purpose. But outside of pure science and the professions (medicine, engineering, law, etc), the purpose is not to educate, it is to train. Liberal Arts, etc, doesn't teach you to think, it's all about getting you to memorise what other people think.

Those of us whose egos are such that we don't really care what other people think, and who have had the good fortune of an upbringing that expected we think for ourselves, don't need University. For those who have not had such good fortune, it has some value as training to be a worker.

I you want to have fun, then uni is great, however my brother went to uni for 6 years and now does a manual job, however he does enjoy it!

College is much more than an educational experience. No, its not pointless.

That being said, its by no means a prerequisite for success like so many will lead you to believe, nor is it a guarantee.

University is a waste of time if i don't get my Masters lol

university is not pointless at all. It just depends on your life goals

After all is said, you'll soon find out that those who are yet to go ALWAYS FEEL INTIMIDATED by those who attended. So be there for the fun of it but remember, 'many are the insights that you will never get even in HAVARD.

Not everybody can be an entrepreneur. Some people feel happier at a secure day job. And there's no better way to prepare than going to university. Not to mention the doors it opens up.
Not to mention the jobs where good education is crucial- medicine and engineering for example.
So it depends on what you want to do in life.

In my opinion, if my professor at the University never built a fortune, then they cannot teach me how to build a fortune. True or True?

I never went to college/university, not even for one course, and I made my success by learning on the go. Though, I honestly want to go back to school, I'm still young, which I have that advantage, but even though I've made some money, I've come across people in my business who would rather you have a piece of paper than just knowledge.

Universities are not pointless, it is good discipline and good education.

But, the education you can get from being in the real world, learning from good mentors, internet marketing etc. is an education in itself! If you have the drive to succeed, you can do well without the training. People who spend 4 years in university, sometimes have to Re-train, so they can adapt to the new ideas out here!

Universisty is a stepping stone to get to your final goal, whatever it may be.

If your path doesn't require uni then don't go - it is that simple.

As a professor, I have to say it is not pointless, but you cannot be a sheep. You don't go with the expectation that if you put in time, it will spit out a lifestyle. But you already know that because you are here.

You of all people can make the most of University based on who you are. University is about relationships and if you make the most of them it will be one of the richest times you have ever had.

As a business student, you can also spend other people's money to try new ideas as an entrepreneur. What I have found is that because so few people opt to take the less tested path, there tends to be more capital available for entrepreneurs to try things.

I also encourage students to learn research methods. Real ones. In other words, how to measure things and get it right. Combine the practical knowledge you are gaining here with true research and analytics and you are going to be a dynamo.

If you enter with the mindset that you create your own success, you will learn things with the mindset of somebody who is on a mission and not on a vacation. That will make a big difference. As an IMer you already know the world owes you nothing, so you are two steps ahead of most College students.

College as an industrial age concept used to guarantee the American Dream. It doesn't do that any longer. But if you look at it as a time to learn on somebody else's dime and do it in something that you are interested in AND build relationship with faculty and others you can do some great things.

One thing that most college students do not take advantage of is when somebody of great caliber comes to speak. They think, "I am an art major, why the _____ do I want to go see this CEO speak?" Or they think, "I am a business major, why the _________ would I want to go hear this pianist? You get the point. Typically indusrial age mindset we instill in our students.

If somebody is an expert in ANYTHING, and they come to your campus, I would almost say you need to cut class to go meet them, talk to them, eat dinner with them and then get their contact information and then follow up.

That is the kind of stuff that is RARE in college students. But it is the kind of thing that makes a rich experience. Moreso than getting all A's. (I hope none of my supers are reading this). It doesn't matter if they are not in your 'major'. As a matter of fact the further away from your major they are the better.

I personally think though that you should pay your way through. That will motivate you not to screw around and to work this situation like it is desperate and like somebody who is going to get every drop out of the experience.

CT

I believe people that just settle for a job, are not using the gift that the higher power gave us. With or without a degree you can make it. We need not to rely on the government to take care of us. Every job will be obsolete, and if you don't think thats possible look up Asimo the robot. Universities will adapt to the entrepreneur, and if not that will close doors,which leaves room for other entrepreneurs to open up better schools. What do we all look for in life? Family friends, and happiness right? A job takes away your time, and puts you in bad moods. Who would want that?

I don't think University is pointless, I just don't htink it's for alot of the people who go there because they think they should.

I was one of those. I would have been better off joining the Army for a while!!

University is all about learning and growing as a person and for that reason it can never be pointless but if you only go so you can get a job and make money then don't waste your time because those four years can be better spent elsewhere

Definitely not pointless. I was thinking like that at first too but after I went to UCSD and meet some many smart professor I realized that there is just so many thing out there I need to expose to instead of spending all of my life doing IM stuffs. University is also a great place to social and meet new friends

We also have to consider that the IM will not always be there. I dont know about you but I like to have a back up plan and hold some sort of degree in hand.

There is so much we can learn on our own that we cannot learn in a university. If we find out where are strengths and our passions lie, we can become an expert in any field we choose. Besides all of this I just think How best can you sale yourself, your words thats it. All these degrees and universities are in vain when you cannot say how best seller you are.