the value of a university education

Because you can't go straight to law school or med school.

Originally Posted by mafoofan Jr.

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Thank God I was not born to be a yes man to the riche and famouse.
Actually, his family is quite wealthy, to the point where he really doesn't have to work (kinda like SoCal, whom I hardly see as a yes man). He works in high-end retail because he enjoys it, not because he has to. When I'd go in to buy stuff, we'd sit in the bespoke room flipping through fabrics just shooting the **** for 2 hours at a time. He had similar relationships with many of his clients, and that's why he enjoyed his job so much and retained so many as repeat customers. He's really anything but the sniveling little **** that so many people in high-end retail are stereotyped as. The thing I liked most about him, and that made me stick with him, was that he wasn't afraid to tell me straight-up that something didn't fit or looked bad while i was still defining my own style. Most people in sales would have let me make some rather questionable purchases. I can remember one $400 Armani shirt in particular. Thank god he put his commissions aside and pushed me toward one that was half the price, fit better, and looked better. Many are dismissive of people in sales, but it's sales that generate the money to pay most people's salaries.

It is made to weed people out of a certain career path. That's really the main reason, in my opinion. For example, when you have a 4.0 GPA, why take the MCATs to prove your worth? Makes no sense to me.

Originally Posted by singhstyle

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why take the MCATs to prove your worth? Makes no sense to me.
Because a 4.0 for biochem engineering or psychology means different things, in addition to the differences in grading system between schools (UC Irvine vs. Princeton). Why is an interview even required after a secondary application? To test your commitment to a school.

Originally Posted by scarphe

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i am just wondering why such pressure is put on a university degree, as form experience most of the people with degrees learn 99% of the things they need to know working.

Why stop with the university degree? Clearly high school is a bigger waste as it is far worse at both social education and general intellectual development.

I doubt that most employers want to hire someone younger than 21, and a college degree indicates that they've shown at least some work ethic since the end of mandatory education.

Originally Posted by quartzguy

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I have to disagree with some of what has been written. I think when a person studies one of the hard sciences; math, biology, chemistry, engineering, physics. they change as a person.

I think this is true, although I don't think it's exclusive to the sciences.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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If you really are interested in History, Philosophy or some other nonsense at least double major and have your second major be potentially lucrative like marketing, business management, Econ or finance. Of course the computer sciences, engineering courses are lucrative (possibly more so). THats what I did, I doubled in Economics and International Studies. International studies was my main interest and economics i retained b/c it was the only other business course I was interested in, it offered many classes in my concentration within Intl' Studies and I felt it would make me a stronger candidate when looking for jobs.

I ended up loving both majors and they have been a big help so far since graduating. So think smart when selecting your studies in college.

Yes, that's what I did, economics and dentistry. I think the economics degree was very valuable personally. My classmates that have bio degrees seem to lack a lot of common sense about econ issues, and I think some may struggle in running a business in the future. They also seem to have very little advantage in school with the bio background, so it kind of seems like the bio degree was a waste of time for them.

Im a bio and sociology major. I still have my sanity.

I didn't intend to knock retail or any other occupation. The point I guess I intended was that of ending up where a person intends. Further more, I agree the difficulty of a degree has little correlation with how a person ends up but I would pontificate that having a degree is strongly correlated with happiness. It allows people to seek career changes that help make them happy.

In the end college is about learinng how to learn and adapt. If you do that well you do well in general.

It's just sort of a "requirement" in this era. I think college attendance is largely expected throughout the middle & upper middle classes.

Because Millions of people work for said Universities and/or make a living because of them???

Originally Posted by Hany

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Study Engineering and Philosophy. You'll know everything and have all the tools to live a succesful and commendable life.

You'll be unemployable, but have one hell of a spork?

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that this question is raised so often among the general popultion (i.e. non-teachers, etc.).

Here's my economics (and former professor) take on it:

Your college degree is a signal to employers that you are able to learn. Sure, little of what you learned in class may be applicable to your actual job and you will learn much of what you need to know while employed. But college (just like HS and primary school before that) give you the basis from which to learn those things. Showing your potential employer that you are able to learn (and learn quickly) tells them that they won't have to spend so much time teaching you stuff. That's why things like your GPA and course distribution count so much. Were you able to learn well in many different subjects? If yes, then you look even better.

Beyond that, I'd argue that going to college and learning a bunch about a number of different subjects also makes you a more interesting person. And no matter how much anyone argues that you could learn that (history, art, philosophy) on your own I have two responses: (i) aside from learning names and dates, you won't learn much else and (ii) you'll never actually do it if you're not forced. And I'm all for forcing people to become more interesting.

b

Originally Posted by rdawson808

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... I'd argue that going to college and learning a bunch about a number of different subjects also makes you a more interesting person. And no matter how much anyone argues that you could learn that (history, art, philosophy) on your own I have two responses: (i) aside from learning names and dates, you won't learn much else and (ii) you'll never actually do it if you're not forced. And I'm all for forcing people to become more interesting.

b
I agree.

people have hit on a lot of the reasons, but seem to have missed one out "transferable skills" which is academi-bullshit for things you learn that are not directly to do with your degree.

I am just about to complete my degree, have I learned that much about by subject that will be directly useful to me in my future employment, debatable. But I have become better a certain types of writing, using crap like excel, people and time management skills.

Most people when they leave school at 18 or whatever are still idiots, and college/university gives them an opportunity to change. I don't include myself in this, I may still be an idiot now but that hasn't changed since I left school. Lots of people have never lived alone/cooked for themselves/ managed their own schedule for working or mastered a whole bunch of basic skills, both to do with work, and just life skills, that an employer is not going to want to teach them and will be pretty damn hard to pick up whilst your holding down a proper job.

And somewhere along the lines in your college education, you should learn to write properly. Sheesh.