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HEY
Oh my goodness. I am so glad that today you are the featured columnist. I read your information and you are just the person I want to talk to!
Well, I'm a sophomore in high school (I'll be a junior next year). I'm a good student, I suppose. But I have been having many, many thoughts about college. I have tons of friends in college and it sounds really hard. Not only that, but I just don't feel like learning about history or science or anything uninteresting to me. I know it sounds weird but I just don't wanna go.
However, I know that because I may not go to college, the opportunities to get great jobs become limited. I want a good job, no doubt. I don't want to become filthy rich but I would like to be able to afford food, a nice home in a good neighborhood, and enough money for vacations and stuff like taxes/bills.
My question is..Is it difficult not having a college degree to get a good paying job? What size house do you live in, if you don't mind my asking? Does your boyfriend go to college? If he does or did, is most of the income coming from him?
Thank you SO much. I may ask you more questions based on your answers. =)
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Maybe give some free advice about: Personal Finance?
Hi there,
Like you, I got to the end of school and realised I just didn't want to be in education any more. I'd had a rough time at school and had never been a great student. I had enough and decided to leave to get a job for a time. It was frowned upon by a LOT of people, who said I was ruining my life and so on but those who knew me well knew it was the best decision I could make and looking back, I can see that it was because I have never been happier and university would probably have destroyed me.
That being said, you are right in thinking that jobs for people without degrees are not as easy to find. Of course they are out there but they tend to be less well paid with limited prospects. In the UK, a lot of companies, such as the insurance company I work for, hold little value in university degrees but if you want a well paid job, you need to have a good qualification from a university. I got to where I am now more because of my people skills, telephone manner and experience working in the insurance industry and nobody has ever asked me about my qualifications. However, I have come to realise over time that because I did not obtain a qualification before starting my job, I would be very hard pressed to get a job elsewhere for the same money and this has put a lot of strain on me and my partner because although I am quite good at my job, I do not want to be doing it for another 5 years but cannot afford to leave. I want to stress this point to you because you need to understand that this decision will affect you for years to come, whatever you decide to do.
I don't mind you asking about my home at all. I live in a two bedroom Ground Floor Flat in a converted house. It has a decent sized garden at the rear, with a shed and is actually a nice sized flat, as long as you don't mind using a cupboard sized toilet on one side of the flat and going to the other side to wash your hands!! It doesn't come at all cheap though and there has been a lot of overtime to pay for the bills and make up some ground from our initial deposit and mortgage payments, along with all the bills!
My boyfriend, Richard, didn't go to university. He went to our version of a College which is a two-year school in which you study for A levels, before heading off to university. He studied computers at College, before going to a company that repaired and sold computers and after a while, he became Assistant Manager. He is now (after a LOT of studying for Microsoft qualifications)an I.T Manager at a Health Insurance compant. This is where the majority of our income comes from, as he earns a fair amount more money than I do. As he is 5 years older than me, he has also been saving it for a lot longer so had more in the bank than I did. Unfortunately, I was also something of a shopaholic before this. Something I have had to curb a lot!!
University degress are required to obtain the best jobs here in the UK. If you want to be an architect or a Personal Assistant, a teacher, lawyer, doctor, journalist and so on, they usually will not even consider anyone without a degree in that area. Unfortunately, I couldn't say whether it is the same with the rest of Europe because I really have never spent any time in Europe at all and don't know anyone there. I can imagine it probably is the same, I'm afraid. The good news is that if you have done your A Levels (not sure of the American equivalent but they are the qualifications required before you may attend university), you can go to university at any point after that, whether it is two years or 30 years after you have left school.
The only piece of advice I can truly give you is to follow your heart. If you truly know that if you went to College right now it would be a waste of time and money and if you can go in a year or two instead then I would say it is best not to go right away. Your friends are absoloutely right. College is very difficult and most of my friends (still at university) are frazzled from studying so hard. This is why I believe that unless you are passionate about the subject you are studying, it is a waste of time because you will never put in the effort and hours you need to do well and it's just too expensive to waste that.
However, if college is a one-time opportunity over in America, I really would strongly recommend that you go. Yes, it is very hard work and you may not know what you want to do now but if you miss that opportunity you will spend the rest of your life regretting it. Although I am happier now than I ever could have been if I had gone to university, even I sometimes think I should have gone because it might have put me in a better position for the future.
Think very carefully before you make a decision and don't worry about not knowing what you want to do. You will work it out. If you need to know any more, feel free to contact me any time.
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