I went to University of Maryland as an undergrad and Rensselaer for grad school (dropped out of a PhD program, but earned the M.S.).

Frankly, I did very well in school, but found that most employers haven’t cared about my stellar grades or the name of my alma maters.

They care whether I can do the job.

In all, you have to build a life which satisfies you, and you alone. So follow your own instincts, dreams, heart, whatever it is.

Best of luck to you!

Kate

For 20 years as a technical writer, reclassified as an engineer 10 years after the change, I worked an average of not more than 30 hours per week. One project I did by myself for 4 years was moved to a different facility (California). I was replaced by *10 full-time engineers* who couldn’t make schedule. I made a fuss publicly. They tried a harrassment action. I was interviewed by a guy from personnel to get my side of the story.
For 20 minutes I read him the riot act about how political correctness and laziness of employees was wrecking the company.

About 6 years after that, I left. A manager in California wanted me punished for “being a poor team player”. All I did was tell her to figure out how to do what needed to be done when it needed to be done with the time and resources she had, instead of whining all the time about not having time and resources. My boss (also a woman)
told me of the complaint. I decided to retire. My boss was distressed about how she was going to replace me. She left 2 months after I did. A year later, they were asking if I’d like to come back, and what it would cost. I had been replaced by three people full-time. My first replacement when I left was a graduate with a masters degree from MIT! Before retiring, I was working about 3 hours per day and holding a chair down the rest of the time.

Where did my skills come from? A typing class and an English teacher when I was a high-school senior. We graduated 23 kids that year! One of them was US Senator Ken Salazar’s babysitter.

Corporations are too often convenient places for lazy people to hide from performance and responsibility. Our public colleges and universities are becoming propagandizing centers instead of educational institutions, and too many of their “movers and shakers” are morons.

I have enough experience to appreciate a *quality* education. But too many “institutions of higher learning” don’t provide much useful learning.

I have nine children. My youngest daughter is pursuing a doctorate in audiology. My youngest son, age 26 is a senior at Colorado State U. He speaks English, French, Spanish, and Mandarin, and is currently spending a semester studying international business in Shanghai. Both of them were home schooled for their last three years of grade school before going to middle school and beyond.

Unfortunately, too many employees of businesses who are responsible for hiring think that piece of paper is important. What’s really important is ***HOW YOU THINK***! People think they need a job, when what they need is a means for producing income. Remember: Fifteen PhDs from Harvard and Yale, plus three bucks, will buy you a Big Mac at the Golden Arches.

Sorry about my irreverence. I worked for 30 years with top engineers from the top universities in the country, and some of them were very very good. But some didn’t have a lick of common sense. I interviewed a Masters in Electrical Engineering candidate from Iowa State University in 1976. His GPA was 3.96. He couldn’t even tell me how a simple transistor works or behaves in a simple electronic circuit!

Find something you like to do or can learn to like to do, then figure out a way to market yourself. Your income is a reflection of the value others place on what you do for them. It need not be tied to a diploma from some fancy-dancy high-falutin university.

I grew up on a farm. My dad got through the 9th grade. My mother had a degree in fine arts from Brigham Young University. My dad’s greatest desire was that his children be well educated. I agree. But well educated doesn’t mean you have to go to a hot-shot college. There are many good ways to gain valuable knowledge.

Take it for what it’s worth. My wife says I’m neither outspoken, nor opinionated.

Clarke

I went to a large, well-ranked school my freshman year of college and it was just too expensive for me. The tuition itself was way below private institutions (this school was not a state school, but a state system-affiliated school, so tuition was somewhere in between public and private level), but because it was considered public, it did not offer much in the way of scholarships, grants, etc. I ended up paying almost $6K out of pocket my first year. I just couldn’t manage my 19-credit course load and work a work-study job paying $6.25 an hour enough to make $6K.

So, I applied to a private school close to home. In addition to my federal and state loans and grants, they also offered me a $20,000 scholarship. I went there for my remaining three years of college. The problem is, this private school is not considered a top school by any means. Sometimes I feel looked down upon because I made a wise financial choice and went with the school that gave me the best aid package instead of the school with the best name. I can honestly say it has limited some of my internship and job opportunities.

Honestly, the really educated people are the ones who use our public libraries on a frequent basis. It’s FREE!

P.S. Steve Wozniak went back to college to finish his degree. Although, that was after his success at Apple.

Explain that he’s going to get a good general education to prepare him to take advantage of the opportunities we all come across, then have faith that something will resonate within him with the passion that a true calling requires.

Certainly, for some jobs, it’s a prerequisite. But I’ve met countless successful professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs with no college degree at all. (And can anyone say Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Michael Dell, Woody Allen, Ron Popeil, David Geffen, Ted Turner — need I go on?).

According to Saul W. Gellerman, Ph.D., “Focus and persistence are all that really distinguish the leaders from the laggars.”

I myself found my true calling and dropped out of a third-rate college with only 9 credits under my belt.

What do I do for a living? Direct mail copywriter, naturally.