[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '
')Read these three books:

Your Erroneous Zones
Pulling Your Own Strings
Your Money Or Your Life

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SchroedingersCat', 'H')ey Strato, tough times. I was there. Top of my class. National Merit Scholar. Destined for 'great things.' MIT, Duke, etc. I turned down appointments to West Point and Annapolis and my dad threatened to cut off my balls and ship me to Canada.

I took a year off and worked any job that came along. Car wash, restaurant, retail, whatever. Read everything I could get my hands on and thought about my plans. I ended up going to the local university and getting a major and a minor that interested me. Mostly to have the paper. I knew that my learning would be self-directed and life-driven.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '
')Read these three books:

Your Erroneous Zones
Pulling Your Own Strings
Your Money Or Your Life

[kevincarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'R')ead these three books:

Your Erroneous Zones
Pulling Your Own Strings
Your Money Or Your Life

[SchroedingersCat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SchroedingersCat', '.')..I turned down appointments to West Point and Annapolis and my dad threatened to cut off my balls and ship me to Canada. ...

[pup55]

Since the weather is going to be crap for the next couple of days in Texas, I suggest you go to your local movie rental place, and check out "American Graffiti" (Richard Dreyfus, Ron Howard) (1973) (try not to laugh too hard when you see Harrison Ford drag racing some guy in an old Chevy) and Orange County (Jack Black, Colin Hanks) (2002). The second one was on cable the other day so you might be able to see it for free. The reviews were not as good but it has some comic moments.

Anyhow, this theme you are describing, namely whether or not to check out of the old home town to get some level of "education" is common to both.

If you had no potential, or no prospects, you would have no problem, so count yourself lucky.

As to the issue of "education" in a so-called "elite" school, I always tell the story of a production process I was working on at one point, which was designed by two guys who went to MIT and Stanford. To make a long story short, they arrogantly designed this thing with no way to recycle OQ or defective material back into the system. The end result was after about six months, we had such a a monument of scrap it almost shut the plant down because there was no room, and the fire inspector said it was a hazard. We ended up selling the stuff for pennies on the dollar to get rid of it because there was no way to reprocess it. If those guys had gone to Iowa State, I can assure you they would have built in a way to take care of the mistakes.

There is one minor issue, and it really is minor, that might favor the so-called "elite" schools, and that is networking. The more time you spend in there hanging around other elite kids, the more likely you will run into one or more that you can team up with to do something really interesting once you graduate, or else hang out with someone who becomes a success, or who is related to someone who is a success, and will hire you. At a cow college, or nearby Football U, you will not get the same benefit. One need look no farther than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC for an example of this. A lot of the people that are running the show in the US get where they are by knowing somebody with connections. This will be equally true, if not more so, after oilmageddon than it is now.

[PolestaR]

Strat is obviously here venting and all you pompous middle aged twits are acting just like his parents. What he is feeling is a result of his intelligence trying to tell him something, I would trust that instinct more than some person on the forum trying to get him killed by telling him to go to college. He won't have even finished college before a crisis hits.

If you want to drink beer through an over sized funnel and experiment with drugs (college summed up) like most posters in this thread, there are cheaper ways to do it. If you choose the right industry you can walk into a job without that "bit of paper" as long as you show talent and enthusiasm. Reading books and learning on your own in the RIGHT industry will make you more employable than any other way.

If your parents are paying for college tell them to give it to you to invest and prepare for peakoil with it, otherwise get a job in the industry you want and learn on the side. If you are smart like you say you are you would have already known this as the right thing to do. You have no time to waste. Good luck.

[dissimulo]

I dropped out of HS, moved out, and did my own thing. It took a few years of deprivation to work out how to live in the real world, but I was able to live by my own rules (for the most part) and have been quite successful.

You don't have to follow anyone else's plan - just make sure you have a plan of your own and be prepared to experience some discomfort.

In 17 years of working and numerous jobs that 'require' a degree, no one has ever asked if I have one. Your mileage may, of course, vary - particularly if you want to do physics research at a university, where those little pieces of paper tend to matter - or so I've heard.

If you are confident you know the right path to take, don't be afraid to put yourself to the test.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', 'A') lot the great thinkers I know hated systematic "learning" so they ended up teaching and alienating themselves from society. They turned out fine.

Then there are these arrogant little children attending Ivy League schools and never reach their 10th birthday.

[nth]

dissimulo,

What do you do for a living?
Everytime I apply for a job, they ask what degree I have.
I have applied for like 10 different industries in my life.
From banking, insurance, building maintenance, real estate, software, hardware, biotech, food, agriculture, etc....

[Cobra_Strike]

I know how the OP feels, I was in the same kind of situation...parents expected quite a lot for me, I did not deliver on those expectations. I decided I would not go back to school this year. Part of my choice was made for me, depression during the last school year killed my academic chances. Not that is made too much difference, I still feel the same things will happen, but now they can happen and I will not have debt to greet them. Looking at everything you can do, then doing something you feel has a future is important. Given time you will be able to make the choice that is best.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', 'U')nless I am not reading you right your idea about Einstien seems a little hazy. He did poorly in high school because he was bored to death and did not care about anything but physics and math. He worked at the patent office true, but he did have to actually go to university and pass exams and terrifying oral examinations on advanced physics and write a dissertation (Brownian Motion I believe) to get his Phd. So I would respectfully submit that your statement is an untrue truism. The boy needs an education, failing to get one puts him in a demographic that is statistically unlikely to sustain an elite lifestyle.

[dissimulo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'd')issimulo,

What do you do for a living?

[nth]

dissimulo,

I am surprised that no one asked, especially if you don't have one listed on your resume.

I do think degrees are over rated. What I do in my job has not much to do with college education. I had to pick up most of my skills while working. And I actually did research for 4 years where my bio class is supposed to train me for. Sadly, I had to disagree.

[davep]

I think IT is a bit of a special case. I got involved twenty years ago with no degree. A degree gained at that time would be next to useless now.

Now that the industry is maturing (and that there appear to be far more graduates), I think degrees are being demanded for new entrants to the sector.

Anyway, I don't care! I finished my job today and am going to be concentrating on real-estate, permaculture etc. Here's hoping I can cope with the potentially reduced income and possible sense of loss of status.

[dissimulo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', '
')I am surprised that no one asked, especially if you don't have one listed on your resume.

[Micki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aybe a degree is simply not all that important in the IT world. No one has ever cared that I don't have one.

[EnergyHog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', 'A') lot the great thinkers I know hated systematic "learning" so they ended up teaching and alienating themselves from society. They turned out fine.

Then there are these arrogant little children attending Ivy League schools and never reach their 10th birthday.