Is there anyone here who didn't go to college whose life turned out okay?

[Devouring Wolf]

Everyone I know either went to college, is going to college, or wishes they had gone.

It would honestly really help me with the panic attack I'm having right now if I could actually believe dropping out wouldn't ruin my life.

So is there anyone who didn't go to college who is happy with their life?

 

[kennyc]

I went twice. I dropped out the first time after about 6 years. Fell back on my love of radios/electronics and got a First Class FCC Certification and went into commercial radio repair/maintenance work. I later went back and got an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degree.

There are many well paying jobs that don't require degrees, particularly in the electronics/computer and health-care fields.

My son, got into law enforcement/state troop work and loves it, but it does have its dangers.

some links:

Best Jobs Without a College Degree 2015-Kiplinger
​The 9 best jobs for people without a college degree - CBS News
The Nation's Best Jobs If You Don't Have A College Degree | CareerCast.com

Many creative people love what they do - Artists, Musicians, etc.
the problem is often being able to live on what you make moneywise.

 

[skip.knox]

I went to college straight out of high school (great movie: Straight Outta High School). Went one semester and quit for two years. When I went back, I ate it up and didn't stop until I had a PhD.

But you may also be looking for a Quit and Didn't Come Back story. For that, look no further than any number of highly successful entrepreneurs. Or, indeed, a great many perfectly happy working stiffs.

College is great, but there are three prerequisites: time, money, and attitude. If you don't have the time, then college will never be more than something you want desperately to be over. If you don't have the money, you may well enjoy college but will go so deeply into debt you may spend more years regretting college than you did enjoying it. Finally, if you go to college more to "become" something than to learn, you will graduate, make money, yet still have wasted your time.

I have lots and lots of students who are in their fifties or even older, who are returning to college with the right combination of the above, and they're loving it. You've got time. Don't stress. Don't worry about what other people say. Including me.

 

[Heliotrope]

My sister dropped out twice, then moved to Dubai to work as a flight attendant for Emerates for a few years. She was paid to travel the world. She finally went back to school when she turned 30 and is doing fine.

 

[Incanus]

Interesting question.

As far as I can tell, judging by what I interpret as American standards—I eminently qualify as a ‘loser’. I don’t make much money and I have no wife or children. I don’t own a house. I have no college degrees (I took a few community college classes for fun, like writing and music).

The thing is, I deliberately don’t do the whole ‘rat-race’ or ‘keeping up with the Jonses’ kind of lifestyle. Don’t much care for any of it; not going to be pressured in to it. And, my terrible social and networking skills more or less preclude me anyway. So even if 99% of everyone else compares me to themselves and concludes I’m a ‘loser’, I don’t really mind much.

While I’m not ecstatic every single day, I’m also not usually stressed out much. However, I don’t recommend this lifestyle—it’s certainly not for everyone. I imagine it would be too boring or uneventful for most, but I find a great many things to occupy my time. For one thing, I have no problem carving out some daily writing time.

It’s not too hard to imagine a more ‘happy’ life, but I’m OK with mine. I suppose it depends on your goals. If you want to be the President of the United States, then you should probably go to college. If you don’t care what others may think, then spend your time as you will. I guess the most important thing is to live YOUR life, and not anyone else’s, however tempting or pressuring.

 

[kennyc]

Interesting question.

As far as I can tell, judging by what I interpret as American standards—I eminently qualify as a ‘loser’. I don’t make much money and I have no wife or children. I don’t own a house. I have no college degrees (I took a few community college classes for fun, like writing and music).

The thing is, I deliberately don’t do the whole ‘rat-race’ or ‘keeping up with the Jonses’ kind of lifestyle. Don’t much care for any of it; not going to be pressured in to it. And, my terrible social and networking skills more or less preclude me anyway. So even if 99% of everyone else compares me to themselves and concludes I’m a ‘loser’, I don’t really mind much.

While I’m not ecstatic every single day, I’m also not usually stressed out much. However, I don’t recommend this lifestyle—it’s certainly not for everyone. I imagine it would be too boring or uneventful for most, but I find a great many things to occupy my time. For one thing, I have no problem carving out some daily writing time.

It’s not too hard to imagine a more ‘happy’ life, but I’m OK with mine. I suppose it depends on your goals. If you want to be the President of the United States, then you should probably go to college. If you don’t care what others may think, then spend your time as you will. I guess the most important thing is to live YOUR life, and not anyone else’s, however tempting or pressuring.

I would say you are a Winner not a loser!

 

[Incanus]

I would say you are a Winner not a loser!

All a matter of perspective, I suppose. I'm just wondering how many Americans would agree with this assessment. Certainly not a majority.

 

[Devor]

I've known a few people who went into the military after dropping out of college or instead of college. It's a decent life for the right person.

 

[ThinkerX]

I attended college on and off after high school for a few years. No degree, kept changing my major, and flunking three classes in the first term did not help my GPA any.

Most of my jobs were towards the bottom end of the spectrum. Pizza delivery, security guard, counter attendant, construction. Didn't make much. But still...

I bought land, built a house on it, and paid it off from the proceeds of seven years of delivering pizza.

I have known a number of people who could be considered rich. Most of them were flat out miserable, no time for anything in their lives but work. One of the reasons I chose the path I did was to avoid ending up like them.


My youngest brother screwed up big time as a kid, got a 'join the army or go to prison' deal, left the military under not desirable circumstances, and never went to college. But these days he is THE Mine Safety Inspector for much of the western US and has a fairly comfortable lifestyle.

My nephew never went to college. Instead, he went into the oil fields. After most of twenty years doing that, they moved him to a desk job.

 

[Penpilot]

First off, will it ruin your life? No. There are plenty of ways to do that, but dropping out is not one of them. But IMHO it will limit your employment opportunities. Still, that doesn't mean you won't or can't do well for yourself. You're just starting off with a lesser hand. And to use a poker analogy. It's not you're hand that matters. It's how you play it, so every hand can be a winner if you play it right.

Now with that said, I went to college right out of highschool. Didn't know what the heck I wanted. Majored in computer science because it was something I was good at. Even then, I wasn't willing to do the work, so I dropped/flunked out in two years.

Decided I'd work for a bit. Hated the work and after a few years, applied to a Technical Institute and did a trade. Became a drafts man. Worked that for a bit and realized it was something I couldn't see myself doing when I was 50.

Went back to college/university, this time knowing what I wanted. I put in the work and finished my compsci degree.

I can tell you this. When I was working, all I could think about was going back to school. And when I was in school, all I thought about was finishing and getting to work.

What choice is right for you, only you can decide. Having bounced around, here's what I came to realize. The value of a degree isn't all in the type of job you can get with it. Part of the value lies within the experiences you gain in getting it.

What I mean by that is you learn how to learn and you learn how to think critically.

Before I went back to college I used to be self-conscious about stuff I didn't know, but after, I realized it didn't matter what I didn't know, because...well... there's a universe of things I don't know. BUT if I was interested in something, I now had the confidence that I could learn about it on my own.

A lot of this self learning involved writing craft. And in my writing, I use a lot of what I learned in my philosophy classes, how to think critically, how to articulate thoughts, and see things from other perspectives, even when I don't agree with them.

Before you drop out, I would encourage you to see if there are other options that might make you happy. If it's possible, maybe you could do a reduced course load, or take a semester or two off.

In third year, I reduced my load to 3 courses because my Mom passed away, and that threw me for a loop. But one thing I noticed was it took a lot of pressure off trying to fit everything into a day. I suddenly had room to breath and enough time to do all the course work, and from time-to-time squeeze in a little TV.

That made a lot of difference in how my life felt. The fear of failing in my courses went away, replaced by the challenge of how well I could do instead, which I think is a lot more healthy.

For me, if I could give my younger self a piece of advice before he left school, I would tell him to keep a toe in the door. Even if it's just taking one course.

But that's me to myself.

Devouring Wolf, I don't know your situation, so please don't take this as me telling you to do this or that. I'm just sharing my experiences in the hopes it'll give you some food for thought while you make your very tough decision.

 

[Devouring Wolf]

What I really hate about college is the people. They're all so hopeful. They believe in something. They have futures and aspirations and dreams.

I don't really know how to explain it. But I'm always exited to go back but then the semester starts and all I want to do is get out and get away from all of them and all their hopes and big plans.

 

[Penpilot]

The thing about people who get on your nerves is they can pop up anywhere. I worked in an office and sat face-to-face with someone who irked me to no end. And to be fair, I irked them too. We had to figure a way make things work if we wanted to work the job and get paid.

Majoring in compsci, meant tons of group work. When people had matching goals and personalities, things were great. Other times, I wanted to b!tch slap each and every one. When you're goal is to do as well on a project as possible and someone says to you that 51% is as good as an A to them, part of you wants to throttle them, but then again, another part respects them for being honest and upfront.

 

[Steerpike]

What I really hate about college is the people. They're all so hopeful. They believe in something. They have futures and aspirations and dreams.

I don't really know how to explain it. But I'm always exited to go back but then the semester starts and all I want to do is get out and get away from all of them and all their hopes and big plans.

Why would this bother you?

As for the original question, yes I think you can be successful without a college degree. I think it is becoming more difficult to find diverse employment options without a degree. As college degrees become more and more common, some employers use them as a baseline qualification (relevant or not) for hiring, or at least for advancement beyond a certain position. At least one car rental company requires a college degree just to work there and rent cars, for example.

But people can be and are successful. You can find various trades that you can learn by doing, and don't need a degree. Certain technician-type jobs, like being an optician, can be done through work experience and certification, without a college degree. Just take a look at the options and see if any of them appeal to you.

 

[Chessie]

I went to college. Double majored in Political Science and Biology. Now, I write for a living. Was a waitress before. So...yeah...going to college doesn't automatically mean that you're going to end up in the field of your choosing. Life happens (in my case, I didn't want to work in the state legislature and I love writing more than anything else). I chose to waitress so I could write.

So is college the right decision for you? It's definitely worth the peace of mind that you'll always have something to fall back on if times get tough. Higher education is something many people aren't able to afford or have the opportunity to take. Having that knowledge really helps in getting better paying jobs...although I know quite a few people up here that just started working at a company early on and stuck with it, now have high wages and solid positions in their careers.

It all depends on where you want your life to head. Is it okay to finish that degree then travel, or start a family, or do something else? Yes. But finish first is my suggestion. You never know when you'll need to dust off that degree and believe me, people respect it.

 

[Devouring Wolf]

Why would this bother you?

Because they remind me of what I lost. I've no hope left because I've come to realize the things I want from life are things I can never have.

 

[Devouring Wolf]

The thing about people who get on your nerves is they can pop up anywhere.

But its not the people as individuals per say, I'm pretty good at dealing with people I don't like. Its that all of them buy into the lie of college. Its not preparing us for the real world.

I could love college if it was a place of learning. But in our culture it has become a means to an end, a baseline measurement of a person's intelligence and worth. From primary school to the end of high school, I was told that college was the answer. I don't hate college so much as the lie of it. That it makes better people, more critical thinkers. College and not knowledge is the mark of the learned man.

I feel like someone in a cult whose lost their religion. Everyone around me, all of society, still unquestioningly believes and I pretend I do because what else am I supposed to do? Let go of the only thing I know that everyone else tells me is right, even when I can't see it anymore?

I wish just once in my life, rather than always being told how bright I was or how I could get into any college I wanted. I wish someone had told me "you don't have to always be the best" or "if you'd really rather be a waitress, that's alright" but no one ever did because no one thinks that. We're told not going to college is a perfectly valid lifestyle choice, but only for "other people".

 

[kennyc]

ahhh....expectations of others....

 

[Devor]

Its that all of them buy into the lie of college. Its not preparing us for the real world.

I could love college if it was a place of learning. But in our culture it has become a means to an end, a baseline measurement of a person's intelligence and worth.

That's kind of sweeping language. I can honestly say that I learned an immense amount in college, from both my classes and my peers, many of whom were simply amazing. But every college I think has its own culture. What college are you attending?

 

[kennyc]

That's kind of sweeping language. I can honestly say that I learned an immense amount in college, from both my classes and my peers, many of whom were simply amazing. But every college I think has its own culture. What college are you attending?

Agreed. It's been a while for me, so maybe things are different these days, but in my college days there were definitely various subsets - Stoners, trust fund kids, GI bill students, those focused on only getting a degree at any cost - cheating, bribing, etc, and those who were pursing dreams.

 

[kennyc]

We all learn (or most of us do) at some point to listen to others, but trust our hearts, to chase our dreams, to follow our own road no matter where that may lead.