How To Succeed Without A Degree
Do you have a degree? No, then congratulations.
I have a degree, and I'm bummed to say that it hasn't come close to compensating me for the years I spent in school. I'm not saying school is worthless — quite the opposite, actually — but let's face it: if you want to succeed in today's economic climate, don't count on your academic credentials to get you ahead of the pack. It doesn't make any difference if you took business classes or creative writing courses; this is a job market where everything has its price and it generally doesn't take college degrees to find employment in those fields.
In order to successfully procrastinate out of the job market, you have to have a plan. That's where the hacks come in! You see, if it didn't matter that I had a degree, then I could go about the business of researching my college majors and picking up some new skills. Instead, though, I've chosen to focus on education by paying attention to what's being taught in the classrooms at some of the nation's top universities (along with a few popular colleges).
I've also spent an inordinate amount of time reading and watching interviews with people who were once 24-year-olds with master's degrees but are now considerably wealthier than they ever would have been without their degrees. In other words, I've spent years deconstructing the job market.
College is a ton of fun and it's a rewarding experience. There are also some things that you learn that aren't exactly useful once you leave school. Don't get me wrong: gaining a solid foundation of knowledge is not only beneficial, it's necessary if you're going to put together a coherent argument on why higher education isn't worth it (no matter what your personal experience has been). But I've done the hard work for you and here are the seven things you need to know:
First, in order to be successful at making yourself look like an expert in everything and anything, stop pretending that everything is worth studying. It's not. Second, if you're going to major in communications or the arts, don't expect to be making a lot of money — ever. Third, while it's true that there are plenty of people who make their fortunes in the arts, most of them owe their success (or at least a large percentage) to some sort of wealth transfer , and even then most of them would have been better off with an MBA . Fourth, for every example you can find about how someone became rich without a college degree — which is easy enough to do — I can find an equal number of examples where that didn't happen . Fifth, if you're looking for a job in health care or medicine, don't bother with a college degree. Sixth, if you want to be a successful salesperson — especially for expensive consumer durables, real estate or financial products — you can avoid that degree and still find work . Seventh and finally: the only way you're going to be able make it on your own without an education is if you have the most incredible luck on your side. And even then ... I'm sorry to say this, but I've done enough research to see that the odds of having such luck are much higher than people realize.
It's not that hard to figure out what college degrees are worth these days. The answer is: it depends.
What's the most obvious way to tell what a degree is worth these days? Look at the unemployment rate of recent college graduates. In fact, look at their unemployment rates and then look at the unemployment rate of people who didn't go to college. Those who opt out for education are facing a much harder time finding work, particularly during recessions .
And what about those who don't go to college? If you go back and look through the numbers from 2003 – 2007 , you'll see that there aren't many differences between those without college degrees and those with them . So ... if it doesn't matter whether you have a degree or not, why are the unemployment rates so far apart? Well, if you look at some of the other numbers , you'll see that it's not so much about going to college or not as it is about what kind of degree you have.
And then there's that whole thing about where you went to school. If you're from a "top tier" school, your chances of finding work after graduation are much better .
Still confused? There's good news: employers don't really distinguish between bachelor's degrees from different schools . It's the degree that matters, not necessarily the school.
Meanwhile, it's not really about picking schools from the "top tier", it's about figuring out a way to transfer enough wealth to your daughter to pay for her education and still have enough left over to live comfortably on. If you can do that — or better yet, if you can get her accepted by a "top tier" school — then send her off with your blessings. Just don't be surprised when she comes home five years later with no job prospects and an eviction notice. By then she'll be at an age where she was supposed to already be married off with children; unless your daughter is extraordinarily pretty, chances are good that will never happen.
It's not just the unemployment rates; it's also the make-up of the labor pool. More than half of all graduates are working in jobs that are not in their fields of study . What about those who aren't looking for work? They're getting married and having children instead. Why? Because college isn't about getting a job, it's about getting into a good school where you can get a job — even if that means deferring your career for five years or going $100,000 in debt .
And what about those who go to community colleges? According to some research I found ( I wasn't able to locate the original source ), only 25% of 2-year college degree holders find employment in their fields .
So why are the unemployment rates so far apart? Why are recent graduates with college degrees facing a much harder time finding work, particularly during recessions, than those who opted out for education? It's because some fields are in demand and others aren't. But that's not the real story here. After all, even high school graduates face a staggering unemployment rate of 10% . So what's wrong with the economy these days?
What's changed is the way we work. People are doing more jobs that require less training and education. Menial jobs like collecting trash, cleaning toilets, waiting tables and unloading boxes at warehouses are done by people with little to no college experience . As the middle class has shrunk and incomes have stagnated, most people have been forced in one direction or another: either up or down. And as a result, the middle is disappearing:
The problem is that most people don't have anywhere to go but down. After all, it's much easier to get a job after graduating from college than it is to figure out how you're going to pay off $100K in student loans you took out just so you could go to school.
Conclusion
I realize that I'm painting a pretty grim picture here; not everybody was able to go to a "good enough" college. Maybe they didn't even graduate from college or maybe they did, but are now stuck in a dead-end career doing work they don't like. And of course those people can always make the argument that their life is better than mine; the fact remains that we're both stuck making income in some low-paying job because we don't have an education or don't have enough wealth to pay for one.
First, I'd like to thank you for sticking with this long post as I got sidetracked into ranting about Obamacare repeal and what goes on in Congress .