I Regret Going To College 

I really agree with this. I'm 17 and have finals in a few months, i will not be going to university nor start an apprenticeship. I will rather be spending my time mini-jobbing, building a business, training mma and working freelance for a production company my friend has set up. I cannot wait to get started and i'm really looking forward to the time i can invest in these things rather than sitting in school.

Same here it's a waste of time. Worthless. I removed them from the CV

I regretted spending 5 years doing CS. I wasted my whole time doing that degree 🤦‍♂

Happiness and college are two different things

as a university student in my second year, it’s so difficult. Everyone is so competitive, stamping each other down for their own benefit. If the lecturer doesn’t like your work, it doesn’t matter how good it is, you will always get a low score. If I wasn’t already halfway to graduation, I’d drop out.

I just graduated high school a week ago. I went to an early college high school that granted me a Degree in Academic Studies for completely free and i took around 30 different college courses to do so. Therefore the only people who actually made it through and got the degree was about 35-40 out of the original 100 who started. A lot of smart kids who wanted the degree. Therefore, after we graduated pretty much every single student got accepted into a college and are going right away with no second thoughts. I’m not. I believe I’m the only one of the 40 that chose not to go to college right away. All school year, i had a teacher nag me and nag me about how I need to hurry up and apply before it’s too late. Which just didn’t make sense to me, how can it ever be “too late” when it’s ongoing and never ending? Throughout the year i expressed my thoughts to my teachers and why i didn’t want to go right away out of high school. Not even that i won’t go, just i wanted to wait before i go, because i don’t know what career i want to pursue yet. And almost all, if not all of them laughed in my face and/or told me it’s a terrible idea not to go. Telling me i need to hurry up and find what career i want to do for the rest of my life. Like seriously. They wanted me to figure out what im going to do for the next 50 years in less than a 3 month window. One of them told me “That’s sad and a problem that you don’t know what you want to do yet” to which i replied “I’m only 17 how is that too late?” and he said “That’s what’s sad, you’re 17 and don’t know what job you want” All of this negative talk just made me oppose college even more. I watch my peers tell each other about what college they’re going to and what career they want. One of them told me “I’m going to be a pediatrician but if i don’t like that then i’ll just be a history teacher” which to me just seems like the dumbest plan ever. Why go be 100k in debt for a job you don’t know if you’ll like. Thats wasted time and money and unnecessary stress that you’ve gone through for nothing. Just a paper that says you went to college for a career and didn’t like the job. But the teacher’s tell those students that they’re doing everything right and going down the right path in life to being successful. Telling them they have a plan and i don’t. But they don’t have a plan they’re just doing what you tell them to do. I actually got accepted to a couple universities because the school forced me to apply to at least 3 colleges. First thing i noticed about it was as soon as i applied to a university, they’re quickly calling me, texting me, and emailing me. Being really nice and conversating in a very sweet and caring tone. Texting me asking how my day is saying they care about me. Everyone else sees it as them being good people. I see it as some con artists. That’s what con artists do. They butter you up, make you think they care, then take your money and spit you out. The only positive i see in going to college would be the interactions with new people and friends i could make. Nothing else makes sense for me to go. I just feel like with all of the people in the world that have gone to college, they all seem to have hated their experience or regret going due to debt and other issues they had such as not liking their job or not getting a job. So i’m not going to go. I have no idea what career i want. There’s hobbies i like and i’m gonna continue to try to find it but i don’t see myself taking the college route with how it end for most people. This video was really informative and was another positive look in my direction and kind of backed up what i have said to everyone about college. Society shines a negative light on not going and no one likes to be singled out, they want to fit in so they do what everyone else is doing even if they don’t know what they’re doing. I understand that not knowing what career i want is a problem, but who’s to say i can’t just work a casual job like construction or a warehouse job where i work the same amount of time i’d be in school and instead of reading books that i don’t care about i’m gaining experience doing things that interest me. And while doing that i can do other things while i’m not working to figure out what it is that i want to do. For some reason society thinks it’s unacceptable but i’m fine being told that.

I hadn't thought about that until you said it. People who have college degrees do tend be the a--holes who won't give you any information. I am the opposite of that (me and my worthless MA) but I really appreciate you pointing that out

I graduated in 2021 with a degree in community corrections/probation and had 2 jobs in two years using my degree. The 2nd was a move up in a different department. 6 months into that job I found out I hate the work related around my degree and feeling like I’m the opposition. Currently unemployed and never felt so lost in my life at 26. Now I’m in this place of stagnation where I’m afraid to waste anymore time because I don’t know what I want to do as a job or career.

Studdy for knowledge, not for a grade.

Hello Tom, .i agree with much of what you say. I left school at 17 in 1960 and started work as a junior reporter on the local newspaper. This would not be so easy nowadays as a degree is desired, though not necessarily essential if you have relevant experience (as a vlogger say!!). I got my degree, aged 69, in counselling practice. As you point out , I could have learned most of this in books, but the relevant authority demands, and continues to demand qualification. I have worked as a voluntary counsellor ever since. My belief is that the best counsellors have life experience and humility, rather than academic prowess and this can be said of some other professions too. Brilliant video. Thank you Tom.

I agree with a lot of this video. College was the biggest waste of time and someone else's money. I went to college and it will always be my biggest regret in life. I spent 5­½ years in college only because in high school I was told that I had to go, otherwise I would not have a good job. What a load of horsesh** - And why do they ASSUME that just because I got good grades in math and science in high school that it meant that I LIKED math and science - It really meant that it was taught a snails pace and I could regurgitate the formulas, and get a good grade. So I ended up in college, slept through classes (literally just put my head down on the desk and snored) drank lots of beer, smoked some pot and showed up for the exams. I eventually got a worthless comp sci degree, had no skills, but eventually got a job and worked as a computer programmer for over 25 years. No one ever cared that I had a degree, or where it came from. It was obvious that there was nothing from college that I would not have been able to learn on my own or while at my first job. Meanwhile, I worked away for years, never really enjoying the work, nor did I share my fellow co-workers passion for tech, always faking it and answering with a fake smile when asked about the job I did and how I liked it. After 25+ years, I had enough, saved up some money, quit and found a *REAL* job in the auto repair industry. I love what I do now, but often wonder what I could have been if given the chance to do it over. Bottom line is that I was brainwashed into thinking that I had to go to college, just because everyone in high school that has good grades goes to college. From the time is was a junior in high school I knew in my mind that I did not want college and I was soundly rejected when I expressed this thought to my parents and guidance counselors. If just one - JUST ONE PERSON - had said to me at 18 that I did not need to go to college to be successful and happy, I never would have gone.

Completely Agree Tom: I was in a very similar situation to you. I’d graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree, & was invited to go back to do a Masters Degree. After being at Uni 5 Years to get my Bachelor’s- I’d simply ‘Had Enough’. Like you - I’d had a major Show-Down with a Professor (I just looked him up on Google, he passed away 2 years ago: RIP) I was very Very Angry with him at the time, as he’d publicly Humiliated me in front of my peers when I presented my Bachelor Thesis. It’s taken me all these years to ‘let it go’. During my career I had similar ‘Personality Clashes’ that always seemed to end Badly for me (i.e. Getting Fired). I’m a retired multimillionaire now, but I didn’t make my fortune through being a Corporate Stooge! For me, spending 5 years at Uni was a complete wasted of time, including the lesson I should have learned from a certain professor. R.I.P. Prof Des Taylor

Grad school dropout swaad represent! The worst thing is that the signaling is now greatly diminished. When they care in industry they care about particulars and they care much more deeply than some say. I have definitely had my grades interrogated by employers they wanted to know about the specifics of my undergraduate research. One advantage academia and it should not have this advantage but it does have it and it is extremely powerful because autodidacts' are ON SIGHT assumed to be illegitimate. Industry experience matters more than formal book learning but you gotta have a really impressive body of work validating the self taught stuff but let's be honest human eyes aren't ever going to see the evidence of proficiency. I really dislike when people tell kids where and what university doesn't matter because that is just not true now depending on what it takes to get the degree here or there it is a math problem about it being worth it but overall institutional prestige is one of the most impactful factors now if I'm being generous sometimes the institution matters not because of prestige and that is actually how I know that which university is paramount alumni are going to respect fellow alumni. I can't in good conscience not put the asterisk of my luck about it as a small school graduate. Prestige matters in itself and prestige also means better regular alumni advantage and the alumni advantage is better funded alumni network. I got a lot out of university because I didn't want just to study to the test I loved learning and I still do. Again I'm the statistically outlier situation hardly anyone is going to have that silver lining and that is how everything must be approached if the worst case scenario, aside from highly improbable outcomes, isn't tolerable the proper conclusion is DON'T. People who I met and told me that they really wanted to do this college is the backup plan and they weren't in a discipline undergoing a demand boom while audible voice top level inner monolog is interested and optimistic the chatter part of the inner monolog was peppering in "Oh that is so stupid you are going to be so screwed and not realizing it you are going to feel more betrayed. Honestly you shouldn't feel betrayed because honestly that is such an obvious bad idea. Oh man 3 years from now ooh buddy it is going to be bad" and it was. They had such poor guidance their eventual fate had they at least had true passion it would soften the blow so much but they had been legit advised explicitly so that they should have their backup plan be university. If your backup plan needs a backup plan either it is a highstakes mission critical endeavor or more likely it is a bad plan. Even if they got or get jubilee forgiveness to pay for the normal costs they still wasted time and thus opportunity to do something else when they didn't even like what they were doing. It would be cringe if it was not so dang sad. They're too pathetic to be lolcows. That's how sad.

I suppose I can see your point in general, but I am going to say a few contradictory things. a) I graduated with an engineering degree. It was hard, but it taught me that I could solve just about any problem. That knowledge has helped me throughout my life, and I appreciate it. b) Although I couldn't stand the corporate world, I use things that I learned in engineering school to run my own business, which is hugely rewarding. I appreciate my engineering classes in University.

One idea, you live in a beautiful Country. Get a bike, something like a gravel bike and go out and explore the Country. This is what keeps me happy even during this times.

I am amazed at your insight. You are probably the first person I've encountered ( thanks to the wonder of the internet) whose thoughts align with my own. As for higher education? Well, I have a master's in humanities/literature, but I also had difficulties with a professor who taught creative writing. He asked all students to give a brief oral summary of their writing experience. When I informed my class that I once was a newspaper columnist, that two poems I had written were placed upon plaques displayed aboard navy nuclear submarines and that I authored the official song of my hometown, a sour look crossed his face. Later, I received a grade of D on my first submitted paper. I longed to break the guy's nose, but went instead to the Dean of arts and sciences, lodged a formal complaint, withdrew from that idiot's shsm of a class and asked for a refund of my tuition, though the time had passed for withdrawal with refund provided. I informed the Dean that if I did not receive a refund I would spend whatever it would take to sue the university. Bottom line? I got away from that incompetent professor and had my money returned. So, yes, college can be a negative experience at times.

I agree.

I'm working in a highly regulated field (law) without a degree. There are a few things I formally can't do. Fine. Does it matter? I still have more clients than I could ever serve. Good work speaks for itself.

University was the worst thing that ever happened to me.

I'm a drop out but studying the right subject like math has real applications to the real world but careful select mathbooks

I was able to get an associates in welding during high school. I graduate this may and also have an associates degree in welding. I make $40 an hour at my part-time welding job. I have been making that since i have been 17. I want to go into product design and start my own business. I dont have much experience so I am at a stand still but do not really belive college will give me a boost. Any tips :)

Well said. Tom I have subscribed more than 6 times to your channel but I keep seeing subscribe, this is strange.

You are my favourite youtuber🙌 I too got degree in Busienss administration and its painfully useless

I agree with this, I don't like school, I hate memorization, I work as a web developer

Wasted time and money on uni here too

I like this alot! Specially the part of fake friends

One advantage of going to college is having access to its libraries.

Most people don't study on their own, that's the truth. I work as an assistant professor at 2 universities in my country and 90% of people don't go to college to learn, they're just there because they're told to be there to get a degree (the piece of paper) and because they don't want to work or think about life and work..co college is a way to avoid this, to postpone real life. You don't need to go to college, you just need to understand 2 things: 1. you need money to survive and to make money, you need to provide something to society that is valuable for people, not you; 2. people will criticize you if you stray from the usual, average path... and college is portrayed as the better path, the one that shows you as being more intelligent than those who go to trade school. This in itself is a bit irrelevant because it's not really about college, it's about something deeper. What I see in this video is that you have a lot of frustration about how your life ended up and you want to blame it on college, society etc., instead of actually trying to understand what's making you unhappy. The world looks the way it does because this is the natural way. Everything that is exists because that was the natural evolution. Had you not gone to college, you wouldn't have become something else, like become a millionaire, you would have done something similar, something shown to be accepted by society. You went to college because that was your option back then and if you really had had a better plan, you would have done that. I'm pretty sure you saw examples around you and chose this one, like a plumber or that someone mentioned you could do this or do that. I can tell you that every time I try to talk to my students about their career or job ideas/options, they would rather not think about it at all. Most of them have decided to postpone even seriously thinking about it until they graduate college. This is an adult decision. I'm sorry, but at 19-20 years old you're a grown man and woman. In older times people started working and getting married around 12-13 years old. I also give private classes and in the past 7 years I've had many adults as clients because they wanted something different in their lives. I noticed among my clients everybody has regrets: some regret not going to college at all because during their 20's and even early 30's they did menial jobs with no satisfaction, for money at the beginning and then the pay stagnated and as adults it was too low; others wanted to change careers and were now doing a secondary BA and preparing for the teacher's exam with me; others were now interested in moving abroad; some had studied other languages and now realized they still needed to know English at advanced level to get a good paying job. Those who didn't study regret they didn't read more and studied more, even if now they have a lot of money from a business or some high paying job and those who studied, read etc. regret they did this instead of partying, having fun; those with BA in humanities regret not having done STEM studies and those in STEM regret not having done humanities or social studies. I'm starting to think people simply want to be and do everything and they're just too influenced by what they hear around them. Make peace with your life and your path.

wow you just save me my money i was going to study business next year

And who wrote those books you find online or in the library?

I agree!!

If you have time & want to, please make a video giving your criticisms of science, it would be interesting.

I regret studying civil engineering.

"The people who do good in school are really just people who are the most obedient." I agree. Obedient individuals may also be more conformist because they are more likely to comply with the expectations and norms set by authority figures or the group. Many times, groups/oganizations are led by grandiose narcissists or so-called "reluctant entrepreneurs" that are willing to use other people and keep them in servitude. LOL. My degree is also in the attic collecting dust. Contrast that with attorneys who prominently display their degrees in their offices. LMAO!

Vilken högskola gick du på?

F@ck the College Industrial Complex. This is what Nietsche warned about, if everyone goes, what's the value?

I think having a college degree is better then not having one. You never know when it can be usefull. College should be adressed like quiet quitting : do what is necessary to pass. Also, most of the actual skills come from learning outside of what any college teaches. So, I'm for going to college but not for destroying yourself to get the degree.

At least in Poland college is "free" (I'm not in debt because of it).

Im ashamed of going university, my certificates are in the loft lol we are supposed to cherish them lol

is this a video about your regrets, or an ad for skill share?😂 anyway, i can tell by the way you speak that you are intelligent. what exactly is your job title? i work in the skilled trades (mechanic) and the business field seems so nebulous to me. are you some type of analyst?

this video is sponsored by skill share...lol

Criticism against science vid please. Your right science has hardly any validation mostly just theory