Motivation for college: education or salary?

[NoraBrimstone]

When I win the lottery I'm totally going to quit my job and go and get some A-Levels then go and get an English Degree somewhere fancy.

[CleanShavenJesus]

People in the US like to brainwash high schoolers into thinking they won't succeed if they don't go to college. Trade schools are looked down upon for whatever reason, while you can make a better living as a carpenter or plumber than half of the business majors in college who won't even get jobs when they graduate.

[Rahul]

The retarded thing about getting a college degree now-a-days in the US is that you just need to have one to checkmark a box to be considered for a job.

I work in IT. My first supervisor in IT had a college degree in Forest Husbandry. My second supervisor had a college degree in Architecture. The professors at one college I worked at were actually impressed that I was an IT guy with an IT degree.

How retarded is that? They don't care what college you went to. They don't care what your degree is in. They don't care what your GPA is.

They look at your experience an any special certifications you have and do you have a college degree? (yes or no) What a scam.

But I wouldn't have even gotten an interview for my last two jobs if I didn't have a college degree in something.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I graduated from trinity Oxford, then finished another MA at another university where I'm doing my PhD (England).

If you want a job in academia, you gotta go Into academia. I really enjoyed my undergrad and my post grad (less so my phd ). It certainly opened doors. I think the merits of doing a science based undergrad outweigh doing an arts on based on the universal transferable skills. But that said, as bennyboy said earlier on page 2, networking is such a great way to get your foot into the door regardless of your career.

Your lecturers will have networks you can tap into if you play your cards right, especially if you go to a decent university that has decent schools/colleges that attract good academics.

But I also very much agree with this:

People in the US like to brainwash high schoolers into thinking they won't succeed if they don't go to college. Trade schools are looked down upon for whatever reason, while you can make a better living as a carpenter or plumber than half of the business majors in college who won't even get jobs when they graduate.

I went to a school where everyone was expected to go to Uni. I'm not ashamed to admit it; I'm terrible with physical trades, but good with intellectual pursuits prevalent in academia.

If I could choose differently, I'd want to get a trade because in the UK having a trade is a great way to earn a living. If I wanted to re-do my academic career (I don't), I'd have done engineering of any discipline (probably structural or electrical) because that's where the money is and always will be, especially in developing countries where the expertise is lacking and the sector has high demand.

But yeah, trades are definitely the way to earn a transferable and positive living, especially because once you master you can start your own business and earn your own living being your own boss. As with the US (it seems), mastering a trade in the UK has gone out of vogue, and the country has suffered as a result (IMHO).