An existential crisis right now amongst many Gen Z’ers and even the younger Millenials (some of whom have buyer’s remorse), is the question “Is it worth going to college?”
Price (or lack thereof) aside, do you feel the institution of college has helped you in particular with advancing your career, and making progress? Or do you think there should be less emphasis on college education going forward?
What’s your take?
14 comments
I didn’t go to university for my bachelor’s degree only to optimize the chances of having a high income and a lucrative career. I studied my degree because I am very interested in this academic discipline and because I wanted to work in an area which is somehow related to the things I care for. Therefore, I am very grateful that there are almost no tution fees for university education in my country. I think it is sad that most people in my country still only look at university education as an entry ticket to a potentially well paid job in the future.
Of course it is very important to think about potential professional paths you want to take in the future. But if your only goal is to have a high income, you should focus on developing an entrepreneurial mindset and work on possible products or services which might succeed on the market. You don’t need a university degree for that.
Yes and no. Yes because I paid only 40 euros per year so I didn’t really waste a lot of money on it. I always liked education, I love learning new things and I love being an engineer. I also met a lot of great people, I made connections, and my mindset changed a lot. No because we are not paid enough and I think spending 7 years at Uni (I have a Master’s degree) is too much.
born around ’90 and studied economy+ finance& accounting now working in hedge fund business as low level manager
i consider my uni time as mostly wasted time when put next to what is required at my work. Most of the useful stuff was due to my own personal interests.
From positives i can say it taught me how to think as an account – it’s not a thing you can develop from one course and it’s a BIG thing. I realised that not so long ago when talking about investments/planning with people that got no accounting/finances background. Other than that the useful, applicable knowledge could be done within a half year course.
At entry level 90% work you do in fin corporations is based on company procedures and i feel prior knowledge is more of a hindrance than anything useful. Knowledge of law and accounting starts being useful at higher levels of your career.
higher education is “free” in Poland so hard to be salty about it put against countries like US where it costs you a ton
/edit: for young people: if you are planning to start working in any big bank/big4 or smth like that get xls/vba skills (ms office skills in general) and some foreign global lang and apply for entry position and start weekend studies in the meantime. By the time you get masters you could be pretty far up the ladder and know which courses will be most useful for your career
/edit2: oh and field specific english vocab – english at uni was focused on business, financial, accounting and law english (language used in contracts, financial statements etc) – which is not a thing you cover on your normal language courses (i was at A1 level before Uni), which was super useful considering i’m working in english environment atm.
I usually win at trivial pursuit because of it, so yes.
But, seriously, yes. It was interesting, it broadened horizons. It all depends on where you place “worth”
But I didn’t study thinking on future careers.
There is no “college” in Europe, but University, for tertiary education. You go from High School to University or to a practical/vocational school (different names in different countries). University has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Undergraduate degrees are the closest to what average Colleges in the US provide (the terminology being complicated and too diverse).
The word ‘college’ itself has a different meaning, in France being used for secondary education, in Spain for primary education, etc.
That aside…
University is absolutely needed for my profession. In fact, there is no undergraduate (Bachelor’s) degree; you need a full Master’s degree to practice. That goes for most professions where lives are at a stake.
You will find drastically different stats in Europe. The country with less University graduates, by a staggering rate, is Germany. That’s because they have an excellent vocational education structure, and people know they can have quite a successful and comfortable life in those professions.
Southern countries have more graduates, and more unemployment. Since they modernized later, people with now access to education believe that having a degree equates to a better life. This stems from the not so far gone perception of a society where an architect, a doctor, a lawyer, where the most important people in town, and where rich. Of course… there was only one architect and he did everything. A proper vocational industry is not well implemented and regarded as less prestigious.
Obviously the German system seems to work better with reality. Each country has to work with different societal aspirations and educational structures in place.
Yes for sure. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten any of my jobs if I hadn’t gone to uni. Official qualifications are very important here. Doesn’t necessarily have to be a university degree, it can also be an apprenticeship. I do an office job and there’s also many apprenticeships that qualify you for different office jobs, but a university degree just offers so many more doors for you and you’ll be able to rise higher.
Also like just personally no regrets. It was a fun time, I would not have wanted to properly work already at 18, I like to learn and it’s basically free here so I would never regret it. I’m actually thinking about going back to uni for another degree just for fun this time.
Assuming you mean university, then it was most definitely worth it. I met a lot of great people, got taught about and introduced to a lot of stuff outside of my degree, had to be independent (learn to cook, clean, etc.) and enjoyed life in general.
Having a degree definitely opened doors when it came to employment, but the education itself served me much more in terms of being able to tackle more complex tasks and being able to apply more analytical thinking in work.
I should note that I don’t work in the field that I studied. I did my degree because of the interest in the subject but didn’t want to make a career out of it. Nonetheless, my degree still helped immensely in my career.
Well, I couldn’t have my career without my college education, so it was definitely worth it.
Pursuing higher education and the career path it opened for me also allowed me social mobility that I hardly think I would have had otherwise.
It isn’t a path that suits everyone, and it doesn’t benefit every career the same way; it’s very field specific, and I certainly have friends who don’t use their degree at all.
Of course. For pretty much anything but IT you need to either have a specific degree or (mostly in the case of non-niche humanities professions) at least some sort of university if even just university of applied sciences degree in order to work in anything high level. To show that you have the intelligence level, critical thinking, independent work skills, problem solving, etc that’s covered in university. If you don’t attend university or a university of applied sciences you’re going to have a very hard time getting any kind of higher level job. And even if you manage it it’ll take you 20 years to end up where other people jumped into right after graduation.
If you don’t have the ambition to land those kind of jobs then sure I guess you could skip higher education. I know a few people my age (mid-20s) who did and who after 5+ years of working in the same company have now gone from bottom of the ladder to doing sort of mid level admin jobs there. If it works it works, I’m certainly not one to say that you need to push for the highest attainable education. But I do wonder how they will feel about their choice 10-20 years from now. There’s a reason there’s such a big market for university of applied sciences degrees people can do alongside their work.
Yes, definitely. What I got from my degree was an even greater love for history and heritage, deeply ingrained critical thinking, a more than healthy respect for sources, a wider understanding of the world and of geopolitics, and the ability to step back from an argument and see the larger picture. I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Those are all skills I’ve gained from my studies and used in work, but I’ve never worked in that specific field. History is still my passion and I still study it daily. It enriches travel when I go to new places, and it also enriches my life at home.
I’d do my degree a second time if I could.
I am currently studying for a degree. I don’t need one to work in my field. I could quit tomorrow and start freelancing, and after some time, I’d probably make enough money to be able to live on my own.
Having a university degree is absolutely necessary if I want job security, though. If I don’t get a degree, I’ll only be able to work as a freelancer.
I think the European countries I’ve lived in (mostly CEE) ***already*** put less emphasis on college (or rather university) education compared to North America. Not to say that university isn’t important or doesn’t increase your career prospects. Especially long term it certainly does, since there’s often this glass ceiling somewhere in lower to middle management where you’re just stuck if you don’t have at least a bachelor’s degree.
But a university education simply isn’t the only way to make a proper living or have a decent career in this part of the world. Vocational school and/or learning a trade, particularly one that’s high in demand, is still a very lucrative option for workers in countries like Germany, Poland, Czechia or Austria.
Personally, I appreciate my years in university even if it wasn’t always easy and took a toll on my (mental) health. I earned a master’s degree in a very technical and maths intensive field which I don’t work in directly, but it helped me apply a level of analytical thinking you won’t necessarily acquire “just” through job experience alone. Again, this is only my personal observation, but I often notice a different approach among university graduates when trying to solve a complex problem. The higher the complexity, the more reliable the results from the average graduate in certain fields. On the flip side, these people often over-think and over-engineer solutions to simpler problems. I’m certainly guilty of the latter, but I hope I also check the former.
EDIT: I also want to mention that through government support, several small-scale scholarships and rigorous budgeting I was able to cover most of my expenses and even graduate with a small but comfortable surplus with very little to no financial help from my parents. Even though I only worked during summer break (and not even each one), this was possible because I didn’t have to pay any significant fees and the material was quite affordable. If university education came with a 5 to 6 digit debt tag attached, I would certainly reconsider my stance. Every country has a right to go about college education the way they see fit, but I have a right to have a personal opinion about it. And I simply don’t think it’s fair what is done to young people in the US but also some western European countries with increasingly high costs for tertiary education.
My university degree is completely useless for my career, but I had tons of fun those years and met/did a lot of interesting people/experiences.
If I had to choose again I would for sure radically change the topic of my studies but I’d go to university again 100%
I went to law school (which doesn’t work the same here as in the US – you don’t get a separate degree beforehand, it’s a single programme you can begin right out of upper secondary school). So for me personally higher education is not just something that’s helped my career, it’s the basic requirement for it.
I’d say most non-manual jobs in Sweden require a degree, so if you want those careers higher education is definitely worthwhile. If that’s not the goal, it’s a different story. I think the difference in education systems makes comparisons on this a bit complicated. Swedes generally make an advance decision about university the year we turn sixteen, as not all upper secondary programmes are university preparatory. A bit less than a third of upper secondary students graduate ready to enter the workforce in the career their programme have prepared them for, and often haven’t taken classes required for university studies, while the rest have spent three years preparing for university. University here is also either a programme preparing you for a specific career, or a bachelor’s in a specific topic, while my understanding of college is that the degrees are a lot broader.