[app]

It goes without saying no matter what you need a degree to do medicine, law, accounting etc.  The biggest paradox is that universities are breeding so many of these graduates that supply has to outweigh demand, meaning people will get paid less.  You can blame Australia's economic prosperity for that.  Kids in Australia will not do anything that involves their hands, it's almost as if they're entitled to being well educated and in a well paying job. Their parents and society, especially those that are the product of private school system, look down on those that are not educated, meaning kids follow a path they're expected to go on.  On the contrary, many unskilled jobs pay good money, again I believe this is for the reasons just stated.

In my case, my debt is over $50k for bachelor and masters degrees.  Luckily my firm paid for post-grad qualifications after masters.  My pay and that of my colleagues and generally professional services is certainly not great compared to the education cost.  Most graduates will stay in the jobs that relate to the tertiary studies they obtained.  In which case, you're better off doing something else that pays better.  In my case, I plan to spend say 10 years building up experience and exploring options to do something else that pays better.  The advantage of my qualifications is that they are directly applicable in just about any industry.

As for the entrepreneur and high school drop out theory, this is apparently a myth.  The Bill Gates's of the world represent a very small minority.  When I did an entrepreneurship subject at uni, it was said that studies have shown the majority of entrepreneurs are educated, with a correlation between more tertiary qualifications and increased likelihood of success.  What we don't hear are the millions of potential Bill Gates's who didn't make it, due to wrong timing etc.

[Brenton]

Also Zukerbook was still smart enough to get INTO Harvard in the first place.

The fact he "dropped out" is probably secondary to him getting in. He also would have finished if he had not started Stalkerbook

[Joel]

Also Zukerbook was still smart enough to get INTO Harvard in the first place.

The fact he "dropped out" is probably secondary to him getting in. He also would have finished if he had not started Stalkerbook

Exactly all the tech drop outs are geniuses or close to it.

[Sparkz]

Exactly all the tech drop outs are geniuses or close to it.

Being jewish helped.

[amgsl55]

Being jewish helped.

His dad was/is a dentist, got a nice 60th birthday present from his son



$60m USD

[Paulstar]

His dad was/is a dentist, got a nice 60th birthday present from his son



$60m USD

so...a couple of extractions worth?

---


All degrees are not equal. International business plus half an arts degree here (dropped the arts to graduate early) If i hadn't gone to Uni, I'd likely have gone into a car related trade or tried to get into carsales. My International business and 1/2 an arts degree (humanities) has been useless in terms of getting a job but potentially priceless in terms of (in no particular order) I actually care about what happens in the world, I learned how to be a human being and not a punk high schooler (it is a continual work in progress) and I can speak a little Mandarin Chinese and pick up the basics of languages easier due to studying linguistics. That's worth something.

I think 1-2 years at uni is enough to instil the aforementioned skills/characteristics. 3-4 years is too long to be wasting the competitive advantages mentioned earlier in this thread.

[fivesix]

University for me was an opportunity to develop skills. My experience:

I graduated with a very solid GPA, and three degrees under my belt (one with honours), all achieved while working in the family company. I was lucky that I had full time employment that I could self manage. That said, I worked full time, minus the time to drive to Brisbane from Toowoomba, and the time in tutes and lectures.

Before jumping into my own business, I am gaining experience and developing my skills in a corporate environment. I believe the company I currently work for will be my stepping stone before doing my own thing. Graduating post GFC, the job market was horrible. I was lucky to receive multiple offers, but that was rare amongst my peers.

Some things I noted.
1. Degrees are easy to get. 'P's' (passes) get degrees pisses me off.
2. The vast majority of graduates have little entrepreneurial spirit.
3. Even having a solid GPA and degree, real world experience trumps all. All undergraduates should be doing internships.
4. University teaches you absolutely nothing about day-to-day business operations.
5. Degrees do not equal jobs. They are a prerequisite these days, they are not an entry ticket.

I have a job now that gives me everything a normal person could want, but it is not enough for me. That said, my time in university/corporate has given me solid foundations, with technical skills and soft skills I will take with me no matter what my future entails.

[S4Simon]

I sent both my kids off to Uni.  Both into IT specialisation areas.  I believe there's decent money in that sector for the next 50 or so years. Better than an arts degree - seriously who goes that avenue nowadays.

For me - no degree. My last three jobs have been minimum degree as a pre-requisite. My early days were spent getting the ground work done, working in over 20 countries and racking up some 120 international business trips.  Now I've got a cushy job writing technical instruction manuals for the Air Warfare Destroyer (Specialising in crowd control - guns'n stuff).

I suppose a degree nowadays gets you above the 'out of work' holden workers, and that's all that really matters in this state. 

[Cooch]

I'm enjoying this thread, so thought I'd throw in my take on all this:

Seeing we're in a car forum, I'm likening going to University like getting driving lessons.  The lessons help you get a driver's licence, but don't actually really teach you how to drive properly.  If you want to learn how to drive properly, you take your car to a race track and drive it under instruction.  Much like getting a job out of school and really learning the ins and outs of life.

I have a degree, a post grad and a Masters in Finance.  I did all this back in the late 80's and early 90's and basically got away free from all that HECS debt Shiite.  I would say this.  While I was at Uni, it was to learn about stuff to help me out, not get a job.  I wanted to know how to do my tax, save money, use credit properly, understand the capital and property markets, all so I could look after myself, my family and future.  That said, I think cause I had a good attitude I got a job in the Professional Accounting world [shittest pay ever - my Florist Sister was earning more cash], but went in with the intention of learning more to help myself.

Would I send my kids to Uni [if I had any]??  Probably not.  I would try and educate them on the financial stuff myself and through real life practical experience! 

[andecorp]

I think a Uni degree is for personal satisfaction only.