'Aimless' - who said anything about being 'aimless'? No degree done well in a good college is 'aimless'. Note that the financial services firm I joined 25 years ago in London (and one of the biggest in the world) had a policy of specifically NOT hiring undergraduates who had studied either accounting or finance, on the basis that a) it wanted broadly-educated individuals with a wide experience beyond numbers and b) it would, in any case, directly teach the individuals they hired the skills required for the job. The policy hasn't done the firm any harm - its still one of the biggest and most successful in the world.Pol Pothead wrote:We must come from vastly different economic backgrounds. University, for me, was not a time of aimlessly finding myself and having new experiences. I desperately needed specific, marketable skills that would better assist me in finding steady and gainful employment, as opposed to the menial, minimum wage crap jobs which seemed my only other alternative at the time (and practically everyone else around me then). Higher education is insanely expensive in the US, and I was spending my own hard earned money to attend. Some of us had no safety net if we dreamily drifted through our only chance at a better future.RBD wrote:Sad day when a degree in history is considered a waste of time. What's a 'good' degree? Law or accounting? Yeah - like the world needs more lawyers and accountants. Actually in most cases it doesn't matter what people do in uni - the point is they go, have new experiences and come out as different people.
God bless those who go through life without having a specific plan and are able to make a go of it with whatever opportunities arise, and do so by their own natural abilities. I do envy them. Post-economic crisis, perhaps many other such young people have not had such a good ride?
Also, when you leave school at 18 do you really know what you want to do for the rest of your life???