You know that dream where you’re at school with no pants on? I don’t have that one, but I have one that’s almost as terrifying: that I’m in school WITH pants on. I dropped out after a year and a half and am extremely glad I did so. I think that too many people are going to college these days, and that although everyone calls it an investment, no one is doing even the most basic cost/benefit analysis of it.
But even if you agree with me on school, you may find yourself trapped there. Some parents put enormous pressure on their kids to go to school, and I understand that it can feel like you have no choice. I think you always have a choice, but let’s assume you don’t. You’re in school– what should you do?
I’m going to assume that you’re not going down a path like law or medicine, where you really do need to be in school. If that’s the case, only a small part of this advice will apply. For everyone else, here’s my advice:
1. Realize that your degree is worth nothing, but the process you go through to earn it can be worthwhile. If you coast or cheat your way through school, you will have wasted four years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars. All of your decisions should be made while thinking: what will put me in the best position four years from now.
2. I would have the goal of dropping out, with getting a degree as a backup plan. Use all of your spare time to build a business, intern, or learn marketable skills. Double down on those projects during your vacations. My strategy would be to work as much on a side project as possible during the year and then try to launch it into a full business during the summer. If it doesn’t become compellingly successful, you go back to school in the fall.
Even if you want a job eventually, you could do this. Build skills during the year and then take internships during the summer and try to do such great work you can keep working there during the year instead of going back.
3. Take as many useful classes as possible. I forget all of the calculus I learned, but can speak Spanish because I took it in school. Languages last beyond school. So does anything (including calculus) that you will continue to use on a regular basis. So if you’re a blogger and want to write books, take a ton of writing classes. If you want to do a startup, take a bunch of programming classes. Don’t take stuff like “film appreciation” if you’re not going to make movies. It might be fun, but it’s not going to pay off, and it’s going to take up time.
4. Focus on building good work skills. Like the useful classes, these will pay off beyond school. Can you budget your time properly? Can you beat procrastination? Can you do work that’s not absolutely required of you? When you’re in a situation that you don’t want to be in, like being forced to go to school, you may as well get as much out of it as possible. Look for those opportunities.
5. Don’t party / eat junk food / slack off. College is actually an ideal environment to do almost nothing. It is very easy to waste all of your time and do the bare minimum for classes. You will have so many peers doing incredibly dumb things that it will seem like those dumb things aren’t so bad. They are. Have a social life and make friends, because it’s probably the easiest environment in the world to do so, but don’t waste your time.
6. Don’t try to get straight A’s. Unless you’re going on to grad school, which you shouldn’t be thinking about if you don’t like school, no one will care about your grades. Some people will care whether or not you have a degree, but everyone will care about what experience and skill you have. Sacrifice grades for the sake of building experience and skills. Of course, if you are so interested in a subject that you can’t help but get A’s, that’s a good thing.
7. Try not to hate school. If you have to go, you may as well do everything you can to like school. You’re going to be there for four years, so try to get into it. The real issue with school is the cost, both in time and money. If those costs have become sunk costs, because you’re forced to be there, you may as well make the best of it and enjoy the (overpriced) benefits.
8. Get into the best shape of your life. There’s probably a gym on campus, and it’s most likely free or cheap, and as close to you as a gym is ever going to be. Learn how to lift weights and begin the habit while you’re in school. Eating healthy will be more difficult, but most campuses have a lot of restaurants nearby, and a couple are probably healthy.
I think that it’s a shame that kids are pressured to go to college. Parents do it with the best intentions, but it’s not the best option for a lot of people. If you’re one of those people and you’re forced to go, focus on making lemonade out of the lemons you were given, and prepare yourself for four years from now when you’ll finally have complete freedom over your choices.
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Photo is an old graveyard in Boston. I need to get back into taking photos because I have almost no decent ones left.
I finished Arabic and have moved on to Russian. Arabic was the hardest language I’ve ever had to pronounce, and Russian seems harder so far. Here’s a community post I wrote about finishing Arabic.
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