

Why I'm dropping out of college and you should too. - jtallant
http://justintallant.com/dropping-out-of-college/

======
kunjaan
>The internet has more than ample information for a man to become a genius if
he desires to spend enough time.

No one denies the amount of information available. But it is the careful
mentoring, vibrant environment, constant testing, presenting your ideas,
convincing people that you are correct, discovering newer ideas with your
colleagues and discovering more about yourself that made my college life
amazing.

For example, I could list you 10 good operating systems book, point you to the
projects that we did, exam papers that we had and even video recordings of our
classes. I did all of that too. Actually I had read most of the books and I
thought was well prepared for the course. BUT I cannot even begin to enumerate
the things that I learned from the 3 months of the OS course that I took last
sem. I am a LOT better system designer because of the professor and his
guidance. I am a lot better team player because of the stressful project that
we had to complete. I am a better problem solver because of the constant
examinations.

Yes you could probably learn these things at your job and in your weekend. But
wouldn't you rather just take some time off and really get into the
fundamentals? Wouldn't you want to hear opinion of a concept from someone who
actually discovered it? Wouldn't you rather learn the "art" and the
"intuition" from someone who has been doing it for his entire life? Wouldn't
you rather spend your time surrounded by people who are smarter than you
anyone who you have met? Wouldn't you want to be surrounded by ideas and
challenges?

Dude go to a good engineering school. I stress that go to a GOOD school. You
will not regret it.

~~~
jtallant
I appreciate the insights and I think you bring up some really good points. I
think you're right about the environment and being around the professors who
are obviously seasoned in their field and that's not something you're going to
get on your own unless you're lucky enough to have close friends with that
kind of knowledge. Personally I might reconsider if I had the kind of funding
to get into a truly great tech school. Of course if you have Stanford like
resources, you're going to think twice before going it alone.

~~~
ipince
"I might reconsider if I had the kind of funding to get into a truly great
tech school"

I don't know if I misunderstood your point, but financial aid at all great
tech schools is beyond amazing. In my opinion, money should not be an issue.

~~~
jtallant
I don't think you misunderstood, I wasn't being specific enough. There is aid
but what I mean is I am not comfortable with that kind of debt and in my
opinion if someone is driven enough they can learn as much and more than a
university graduate without paying for the education. They are just giving up
the credibility which in my situation, in my opinion, isn't necessary either.
I think there are ways to build credibility other than a college degree and if
you put the work in and you really did build the skills and you are building
the right relationships, hustling, and making the right connections you will
be successful. Of course I haven't pulled all of this off and become massively
successful or anything, this is in theory. Part of what I was saying in the
blog post was that the debt students are getting in can be crippling and many
of them don't understand the full weight of that, and I do not agree that one
has to go through the government to receive a certificate of credibility. When
information is free, credibility can be free too and the government doesn't
have to have a near monopoly on "paper" credibility. An alternate system could
be created there is nothing magic about the ones handed down through the
government and yes there are private institutions but I'm talking more along
the lines of a free system which in my opinion is achievable with current
technology.

------
cmer
Dropping out of school is the easy way out. Way overrated.

College is not perfect, but it certainly has lots of merits. If not only
proving the world that you can actually follow through with something...

~~~
jtallant
In my opinion whether or not it's the easy way out really depends. I took a
good hard look at the value I was getting and the money I was spending and I
just couldn't justify it. There certainly are many students who drop out just
to get away and give up. To me it's not about giving up and I'm not attempting
to talk myself up just speaking honestly when I say that when I look around, I
just don't see the students in my area working hard at all. I see a lot of
slackers that have a sense of entitlement that don't do any self education.
They rely entirely on what they are taught in school and that's just not
enough. I'm not generalizing, there are many amazing students out there taking
full advantage of their university and working their but off in their spare
time and I respect that.

~~~
cmer
If it's really the case, it seems like your problem is that you're at a lousy
school. College is the best time to meet smart people with whom you'll want to
work with later in life. Don't underestimate this.

This is something I didn't do and regret. I should have made more connections
with smart people back then. Instead, I was working on startups, which wasn't
such a bad thing at all actually. I just wish I had managed my time a bit
better.

