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Why do people go to college when they don't even know what they want to do?
Because in the post-WWII era, anyone who had any college degree had career doors open straight into the managerial ranks. College degree became less and less of ad advantage in subsequent decades. But even in the '80s, big-name IT companies like Digital Equipment would grab anyone with any college degree and put them into systems analyst training. It really wasn't until manufacturing and then later, white collar professional jobs, got offshored that college grads really had problems landing jobs. Even cyclical things like chemical engineering, if you graduated at the wrong time, there were no jobs, but then within 2-4 years you'd probably have great opportunities, especially if you got a masters in comp sci or engineering while you waited.
What internship is that? I've never heard of an internship paying the equivalent of $84k/yr. Also, is he majoring exclusively in pure Math or is he double-majoring in Math and CS?
Is that something you read in the Wall Street Journal or something you've personally observed? Because neither I nor any of my Math major friends (besides the ones who were double-majoring in Math and CS) were getting pursued by tech companies.[
I think part of the problem, often, is people expecting to be pursued.
What internship is that? I've never heard of an internship paying the equivalent of $84k/yr. Also, is he majoring exclusively in pure Math or is he double-majoring in Math and CS?
Is that something you read in the Wall Street Journal or something you've personally observed? Because neither I nor any of my Math major friends (besides the ones who were double-majoring in Math and CS) were getting pursued by tech companies.
Agreed that that amount is pretty unbelievable. An internship paying that much is rare, even for top electrical engineering students at Stanford and MIT. People who get those offers have already had internships at other prestigious companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
A junior undergrad does not get an offer like that just for being smart. I know a math PhD student from Stanford that has never even heard of an offer like that.
There's either some exaggeration or some important details being left out.
Agreed that that amount is pretty unbelievable. An internship paying that much is rare, even for top electrical engineering students at Stanford and MIT. People who get those offers have already had internships at other prestigious companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
A junior undergrad does not get an offer like that just for being smart. I know a math PhD student from Stanford that has never even heard of an offer like that.
There's either some exaggeration or some important details being left out.
As a Math grad from a decent university (usually ranked in the 35th-40th range) in a city that is one of the main tech hubs in the nation, who had a ton of trouble finding a job after graduation, an alarm bell goes off in my head whenever someone says that Math grads are in high demand by tech and finance companies. I'm not sure where that myth started, but it gets perpetuated all the time by publications such as The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. A lot of my fellow Math grads are doing freelance tutoring or went on to get a Masters and still aren't sure how to apply their educational background. Maybe that's unique to my school, but I really did notice that a lot of my fellow Math classmates were folks who couldn't get into competitive majors and settled for Math because it's one of the only open STEM majors.
kids go to college without knowing what they want to do (and lets be honest, who REALLY knows what they want to do at 18 years old?) because you have so many closed doors if you don't get the degree. Employers are getting ridiculous nowadays, they are requiring bachelors degrees for jobs that an above-average monkey could do.
I hope our next president focuses on the educational system in this country because it is right up there with marijuana being illegal so far as destroying our country is concerned. We incarcerate 800,000 otherwise law abiding people every year for smoking weed, which then gives them a criminal record and makes them un-hirable. Sort of similarly(but not really), we are forcing kids to go to college, most of whom will go severely into debt that they can't escape(since tuitions are rising at insane rates and have been for awhile now), only so that they can have a SHOT at getting a mediocre job that doesn't pay well enough to support themselves and pay off their debt, which ends up meaning these people won't amass nearly as much savings over the course of life. So were basically creating a nation of people in debt (which fits considering the country itself is in crazy debt) and/or with criminal records for enjoying a substance less dangerous/harmful then cigs and booze. This country would be so much better off if just these two things were sorted out.
DING DING DING!
My wife and I made this "mistake" - of course we both had partial schollies and our educations were relatively inexpensive (and our families could both afford, so there was no debt upon graduation).
But we've told our kids when they get out of high school, they can do any of the following until they decide (and to help them decide) what they want to do:
1. Go to military
2. Start a business
3. Go to Juco while working
Then if they decide they need a degree - because they want to go into medicine, corporate world, etc - then go to university.
luckily i went to a state school in the late 90s when scholarships were plentiful, the dollar was strong and tuition was low. seriously tuition plus room / board was $8k - $9k for the year back then. with that being said you can't figure out what you wanna do by taking gen ed. courses. gen. ed. courses at a community college are no better than honors level high school courses. if you couldn't figure out your career path while sitting in high school classes what makes one think they will be able to do so in the same class on a different campus???
with that being said for me it was easy. i wanted to experience COLLEGE. i didn't want to stay at home for my 13th and 14th years of high school. to be honest i would've felt like a loser had i gone to CC route. taking 5 AP courses your senior year and then going to a CC would've made that last year of high school a complete waste for me personally.
I can guarantee you he didn't get an offer of $7,000/month for an internship just because he's "brilliant". I bet he's done independent work outside of school, participated in competitions, and maybe even has a publication. And I'm certain he didn't spend the majority of his time in college "figuring out what he wants to do."
If you have nothing on your resume other than a degree, you're definitely not even going to get an interview at a company paying that amount. Employers want to see accomplishments and demonstrated long term interest in the field. Not just some person who went to college because they decided that they want to start making more money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavelength
Agreed that that amount is pretty unbelievable. An internship paying that much is rare, even for top electrical engineering students at Stanford and MIT. People who get those offers have already had internships at other prestigious companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
A junior undergrad does not get an offer like that just for being smart. I know a math PhD student from Stanford that has never even heard of an offer like that.
There's either some exaggeration or some important details being left out.
Well, it is the poster's friend's son who allegedly got this offer; maybe his mom was exaggerating a wee bit? Maybe it's 7 grand for the summer? Or something else?
I find it strange that anyone would just bandy these numbers about to their friends. My friends and I certainly don't talk about our kids' finances like that.
I got my degree because I had specific career goals in mind. I didn't go to college straight out of high school because I didn't know what I wanted to do at the time. It took me a few years to figure it out.
The purpose of a degree is to prove formal education relating to certain subjects. Most people need it as a stepping stone into their career.
So why would someone go to school when they don't even have a career in mind, and then try to match up jobs with their degree after they graduate? That makes about as much sense as going out and buying a tool for which you have no use for. And then wandering aimlessly around the house trying to find something to fix that requires that tool. It's just non-sense.
Don't tell me it's because they just want to get "educated" or "enlightened". It doesn't take tens of thousands of dollars and years of your life to audit courses or go to the library.
And don't tell me it's because employers are looking for just any degree. The kinds of jobs requiring an arbitrary degree are just more of the same crappy ones you already have access to without a degree.
1. Just so that they can still have fun while they are young
2. To avoid having to work full-time that early
3. Make friends
4. Get laid
5. Find a girlfriend or boyfriend
6. Having a degree at least pays higher than none
7. Peer pressure (all their friends go to college so they follow suit)
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