
Don't Go to College This Fall - tndl
https://www.perell.com/blog/dont-go-to-college-this-fall
======
nickff
This is bad advice.

Even the stereotypically low-earning majors (Education and English) are very
(financially) rewarding to those who complete degrees. This is true even
though most majors confer almost no useful skills or knowledge. The only
caveat is that there is almost no reward for attending college, so you should
only go if you are reasonably certain that you will complete the degree.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_Against_Education](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_Against_Education)

~~~
nostrademons
Businesses are very financially rewarding to those who "complete" them, much
more so than degrees can be. Your upside for completing a 4-year bachelors
degree is maybe $150k/year, best case, if you study CS from an Ivy League and
end up at a FAANG. Your upside for building a successful business can
potentially reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

There's an issue of probabilities: you're probably a lot likely to complete a
4-year degree than found a billion-dollar company. But that's a risk/reward
tradeoff, and it's worth remembering that there are a number of "off ramps"
from the startup path that may not be billion-dollars but still lead to a job
just as good as a college grad would get. Being able to run a profitable,
self-sustaining business is viewed very highly by many employers.

~~~
WkndTriathlete
"There's an issue of probabilities" undersells it. Lifetime average ROI on a
college degree over the population has historically outperformed those
entering the workforce - either employed or as an entrepreneur - over the past
50 years. And while the ROI difference has shrunk (mostly due to exorbitant
tuition increases), it is still more profitable over a person's lifetime - on
average - to go to college instead of starting a business.

Georgetown actually did a fantastic site that shows ROI for a variety of
institutions:

[https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-
reports/collegeroi/](https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/collegeroi/)

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ErikAugust
Let me outline this for you:

1\. Pontificates a bit on the “Don’t go to college, start an online business
instead” meme, arguing it as good advice.

2\. Claims writing is an important skill for starting an online business.

3\. Provides call-to-action selling online course about writing:
[https://writeofpassage.school/](https://writeofpassage.school/)

We were all just making fun of the dropshipping cargo cult a few days ago and
here we are upvoting this.

~~~
threatofrain
What’s annoying is the article has no intention of delivering on its more
modestly stated title — don’t go to college this <fall>. I was expecting a
narrative that gathers together facts about how schools were intending to
reopen on time.

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Imnimo
"The smartest people I know are mostly self-educated."

Which direction do you think the causality arrow points in this sentence?

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MR4D
I get the sentiment, but it would also be good for a lot of people to goto
junior college and knock out some pre-reqs at the same time.

Also, I think you should make it the whole school year, not just a semester
(if we have issues this fall, we're likely to also have them in January and
February of next year).

This gives you several advantages:

1 - you don't fall a year behind in schooling

2 - you can still start a business, as junior colleges aren't trying to weed
out students

3 - your cost will be lower (no room & board, lower tuition)

I fully agree with the author that now is a time to try something new, even if
you fail completely, you'll learn a lot more than you ever thought you would.

~~~
greendave
Junior college is a great option which far too many people dismiss.

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lucasmullens
> Use your time to start an online business.

I feel like some people have been in the startup world too long and forget not
everyone is trying to be an entrepreneur.

> But what if my college goes out of business from a lack of tuition dollars?

Students aren't concerned about this. No one goes to college with the goal of
funding their college.

Degrees still matter in many industries, and this article seems to be
targeting too broad of an audience.

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andreygrehov
Honestly, it sounds like the author lives in his own bubble. There are a ton
of people who give zero shits about online businesses. I'm sure all of us
heard of those people, you know, they call them doctors, architects, teachers,
actors, police officers, etc.

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greendave
> The smartest people I know are mostly self-educated. They already know the
> secret: With an Internet connection and strong work ethic, you can teach
> yourself.

> To sum up, don’t pay $30,000 for Zoom classes. Start a business instead.

Author seems to be trying to be provocative, but at the risk of stating the
obvious - there are lots of other in-between options too, including a formal
education that doesn't cost $30k/yr (zoom or no zoom).

~~~
alistairSH
For example, an undergraduate degree from Harvard's Extension School costs
less than many Big State U degrees.[1] $60k for a Harvard degree seems like a
bargain (yeah, it's the extension schoo, but by most accounts, it's still a
rigorous, high-quality program).

1 - "At the 2019–20 rate, the total tuition cost of earning the full
undergraduate degree is $58,880."
[https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/bachelor-
liberal...](https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/bachelor-liberal-arts-
degree)

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abhisuri97
Cue another “college is useful/useless” debate in the HN comments...

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sequoia
> In the best-case scenario, you’ll end the year with a path towards a
> profitable business and the money-making skills you thought you needed
> student loans to build.

Author should include a pie chart (or something) of the odds of this
happening. When you're unable to see the "profitable business on first try
after 4 months" slice for how vanishingly small it is, that will put this
advice into context. Basically, if someone wants to do this, they should
definitely do it _for the experience_, not because this is a viable means of
starting a profitable business.

I say this as someone who is not a fan of "college for all" and think that
taking a year after high school to work & experience life without grades (and
without someone else paying the bills) before heading to college is very good
idea.

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rasengan
In general, this advice can make sense in some cases. However, I want to share
some advice that I've found while both investing in hundreds of businesses and
running a few myself:

1\. Don't start something you're not actually passionate about. The easiest
way to work your a __off and never procrastinate is to love what you do.

2\. If you build it, they will /not/ come. It's all about marketing,
marketing, and, did I say, marketing.

That said, I agree with many of these comments here. Having a degree really
will help you get a job unless you're the top in your field already.

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ars
And what if you are going to College to learn something, rather than "for the
experience", or "to socialize"?

What if you don't care how many amenities they have, or that the cafeteria is
something special? You just want some classes?

It seems to me college has gotten more and more expensive as teens are
treating it as some sort of adult theme park/experience.

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purplezooey
"Use your time to start an online business" instead of going to college? Does
that strike you as a good idea? A better strategy is comm. college for a year
especially if you live in i.e. CA that has very good ones.

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D13Fd
This is self-promotion. He urges readers to "Learn by watching YouTube
tutorials and taking online courses" instead of going to college and talks
about his YouTube videos and then links to his online courses.

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ykevinator
Why flagged?

