College is just not worth it anymore

[cosine]

Hope you stick it out. Society needs more attorneys—and law professors—with a sense of ethics.
Only by finishing law school and pursuing a career will you be in a position to contribute to the field.

My uncle grew up a math prodigy -- my mom attended the same university, and STEM professors would always ask her if she was as smart as her brother. For "retirement" he put himself through law school and graduated at the top of the class, earning 12 of 14 awards. Must have been annoying for the competitive 20-something kids.

He went into elder/senior abuse and only works pro-bono cases. I imagine he gets a lot of people thinking, "oh, I have to use the free lawyer, I bet they're not very good..."

 

[Enoch]

Your son will be way better at business in 4 years if you just give him $200k to start a business.

The concept of this is good, however, better for him to bootstrap with parents helping with personal living expenses.

I bootstrapped my own business and if I had started with 200k I feel like I would blown most of it on shitty "professional service" providers.

 

[cosine]

The concept of this is good, however, better for him to bootstrap with parents helping with personal living expenses.

I bootstrapped my own business and if I had started with 200k I feel like I would blown most of it on shitty "professional service" providers.

He also needs to have the desire to run a business and the openness to adapt. And the knowledge/understanding to know what type of business, what it will do, what he brings...etc.

 

[Enoch]

He also needs to have the desire to run a business and the openness to adapt. And the knowledge/understanding to know what type of business, what it will do, what he brings...etc.

Most definitely. I would never recommend someone to start a business unless they have a ready and waiting customer. For instance I had my first customer before the business was ever incorporated. Revenue on Day 1. Many people confuse a product or service they want to provide with what the market actually wants and is willing to pay for. Saw a lot of tech type of startups fail due to this.

 

[Hypno]

The investment company Ark Invest is aggressively challenging this idea. Their thesis is that the .com boom resulted in a massive capital allocation that took time to get right, and people jumped the gun -- there are legitimate innovations coming out of those ideas, it's just coming a couple of decades later.

Their ideas suggest that robotics, batteries, AI, genomic tech, and fintech are all overlapping, and that the last time humanity saw that much overlap was the telephone, electricity, and the internal combustion engine.

They seem to have gotten a lot of things right about 2020, and their founder has turned into an investment star. Seems like she's the first woman on her way to Warren Buffet recognition.

Don't confuse stock prices with business success. She was early on several fads - kudos to her - but 3D Printing and Tesla have turned into relative duds, and her stock prices are crashing. Year to date, they have basically given back all of their gains and are eithe flat or down for the year. And she's not really allocating capital - buying shares on the secondary market doesn't allocate any capital to the companies.

 

[cosine]

Don't confuse stock prices with business success. She was early on several fads - kudos to her - but 3D Printing and Tesla have turned into relative duds, and her stock prices are crashing. Year to date, they have basically given back all of their gains and are eithe flat or down for the year. And she's not really allocating capital - buying shares on the secondary market doesn't allocate any capital to the companies.

Buying shares does allocate capital. If you are a FAANG company with a monster market cap, equity in the business is a powerful currency that can be used to pay employees or acquire new companies.

Tesla has two of the largest factories on earth, with two even bigger ones on the way, and they are getting much better at building them quickly. Everyone will want a cybertruck, semis will revolutionize the shipping industry, and they're building a $25k model for the masses. They are years ahead of everyone else in battery materials and production, and they have more self-driving data than everyone else combined. Its stock price 7x'd in 2020 and then took a dip in the first couple of months.

That's like saying "oh god, bitcoin went DOWN to $48k! It's a dud."

 

[midwest_struttin]

The concept of this is good, however, better for him to bootstrap with parents helping with personal living expenses.

I bootstrapped my own business and if I had started with 200k I feel like I would blown most of it on shitty "professional service" providers.

Not to get too off topic but I whole heartedly agree. I grew up poor and have had businesses I start fail. But I keep getting back up and trying.

 

[Jacob Robinson]

The investment company Ark Invest is aggressively challenging this idea. Their thesis is that the .com boom resulted in a massive capital allocation that took time to get right, and people jumped the gun -- there are legitimate innovations coming out of those ideas, it's just coming a couple of decades later.

Their ideas suggest that robotics, batteries, AI, genomic tech, and fintech are all overlapping, and that the last time humanity saw that much overlap was the telephone, electricity, and the internal combustion engine.

They seem to have gotten a lot of things right about 2020, and their founder has turned into an investment star. Seems like she's the first woman on her way to Warren Buffet recognition.

If a company exists that is making money on tech is not a question anyone was asking. The original issue was if AI was going to automate away a large swath of jobs. Personally, I will not lose any sleep over Ark Invest combining batteries and genomes and thereby automating away what I do for a living.

I think the idea that there will be huge job losses to AI is over hyped and is used mainly to sell the idea of a basic universal income.

 

[Wild Steve]

I'm paying 7k a year out of pocket, for my accounting degree. This is with online classes , it should take me 2.5 years to finish. This is from starting with 0 credit hours. I just want a CPA license to freelance with, and to help me on my own investments. I would not go to a brick and mortar school. The closest one where I live is about 18k a year. The people there also take twice as long to finish the program. In the U.S. by the way.

 

[henrypemberton]

Im studying to become a lawyer, though after almost a year into the studies, im starting to notice the complete amoral attitude which is taken by the legal profession.
Most people are in it for money or pride. The amount of idealism is next to zero.
There are several classmates and teachers that expresss admiration for defense lawyers who could defend any serial killer or worse.

Imo the further the faculty of law strays from moral teachings the further society degenerates...

Also studying in law...I agree. "Amoral" is a good descriptor. I sometimes think law students are the most prideful and greed-filled students there are, but I think this can probably be extrapolated to most university students in general. Most go to university to satisfy their ego and desire for status and wealth (along with lust). Either that, or many simply don't know what else to do, so they stay in school.

I feel that I am in the right place, but I don't prize "having a degree" above all else, especially what I know is right. If you are genuinely a bookish person who absorbs information like a sponge and constantly wants to know more, then school is enriching and you can tune out a lot.

If the time ever comes where I feel like my work hinders my ability to serve God, I know it will be a no-brainer to find something else to do. But that time hasn't come yet. God could be preparing me for things I have no ability to see now.

 

[Douglas Quaid]

If I could go back to 18, I'd skip college and invest the "college fund" in an index fund for retirement. Basically treat it like an IRA.

I'd also start working at 18 and invest a good amount of each paycheck. This would be especially easy living at home for a few years after high school.

This would have saved so much time and headaches. And at 30 I'd be very comfortable without much stress getting there.

 

[Hypno]

Buying shares does allocate capital. If you are a FAANG company with a monster market cap, equity in the business is a powerful currency that can be used to pay employees or acquire new companies.

Tesla has two of the largest factories on earth, with two even bigger ones on the way, and they are getting much better at building them quickly. Everyone will want a cybertruck, semis will revolutionize the shipping industry, and they're building a $25k model for the masses. They are years ahead of everyone else in battery materials and production, and they have more self-driving data than everyone else combined. Its stock price 7x'd in 2020 and then took a dip in the first couple of months.

That's like saying "oh god, bitcoin went DOWN to $48k! It's a dud."

How many vehicles did Tesla sell last year?

How many companies did Tesla acquire last year?

How much in terms of investments did Tesla receive from Ark? Do you realize that when you buy a share of stock, unless it in the IPO or a secondary offering, the money you invest does not go to the company, but rather to someone else on the stock market.

 

[cosine]

Do you realize that when you buy a share of stock, unless it in the IPO or a secondary offering...

Secondary offerings are no joke, and it's easier to attract top talent by giving them equity. FAANG companies milk this hard.

Tesla has made 7 acquisitions according to this site:

Query Builder | Acquisitions | Crunchbase

Acquisition search results

www.crunchbase.com

It also now has the capital to make many more.

I find that people who ask, "how many vehicles did Tesla sell last year" haven't paid much attention to their rate of expansion over the last 2-3 years, or the current rate of factory expansion.

And I'll say it again: Tesla has more self-driving data than all of its competitors combined. Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world by licensing a computer operating system. Tesla will soon have the capacity to license an FSD system if it chooses. Or they could just run a robotaxi network which would ruin Uber and Lyft overnight, and likely gobble up their entire market caps.

 

[JohnQThomas]

My uncle grew up a math prodigy -- my mom attended the same university, and STEM professors would always ask her if she was as smart as her brother. For "retirement" he put himself through law school and graduated at the top of the class, earning 12 of 14 awards. Must have been annoying for the competitive 20-something kids.

He went into elder/senior abuse and only works pro-bono cases. I imagine he gets a lot of people thinking, "oh, I have to use the free lawyer, I bet they're not very good..."

But he IS good—right?

 

[Easy_C]

The concept of this is good, however, better for him to bootstrap with parents helping with personal living expenses.

I bootstrapped my own business and if I had started with 200k I feel like I would blown most of it on shitty "professional service" providers.

From a technical perspective, you can get much of what you need from online course software that will give you a business education on par with, and often literally from, an M7 business school. Google "M7 Business School" if you don't recognize it.

PRE-Covid I still would have suggested that isn't what actually determines success. It's branding and the ability to go to parties with rich kids who know all the right people, which opens up business opportunities. "Who you know" is far more important than what you know in business most of the time. Post-CV restrictions that's nowhere near the case because being on Zoom calls with people is nowhere near the same as pounding beers with them.


Example: I've seen Lloyd Blankfein in person, as well as some very senior people at other large banks. A pleb meeting him was something that could happen pre-COVID at the right event and absolutely will not happen post-COVID.

 

[cosine]

But he IS good—right?

Apparently judges usually just agree with what he says.

 

[Dixie Expat]

I co-sign the original post. College is not worth it if not in STEM. Given trends in the near future even STEM may be a gamble.

If looking at alternatives consider getting a business mentorship, or if you're already through college look at a Compsi job (do a bootcamp). It's a great way to avoid flipping burgers like other college grads.

 

[kel]

I co-sign the original post. College is not worth it if not in STEM. Given trends in the near future even STEM may be a gamble.

I advise people to even try to avoid college in that case. Okay, the M you're kinda stuck if you want to be a practicing doctor, but if you're young and want to work in the tech industry do everything you can to get a friend/family member to get you an internship or something. Once you're producing value and have something on your resume the degree becomes a lot less important, especially once you can start networking organically.

 

[JohnQThomas]

I advise people to even try to avoid college in that case. Okay, the M you're kinda stuck if you want to be a practicing doctor, but if you're young and want to work in the tech industry do everything you can to get a friend/family member to get you an internship or something. Once you're producing value and have something on your resume the degree becomes a lot less important, especially once you can start networking organically.

Sure—you can “get a friend/family member to get you an internship or something”. If you’re well-connected.

 

[Dixie Expat]

You can get an internship via a college career fair or alternatively by cold calling or cold emailing people. Or LinkedIn. Not that difficult.