Is college worth it? Alternate pathways to college that won't break the bank, and to get ahead in your career.
Don’t want to go to college? Don’t want crushing student loan debt? Afraid you won’t be able to get a job otherwise?
40 Alternatives to College will save you money, get you greater experience than college would have, give you adventures along the way that you will remember forever, and grant you the satisfaction of having chosen the life you want to lead.
Animated Video Summary by OnePercentBetter
Key Takeaways
Part 1
3 Crappy Reasons People Say Kids Should Go to College
1. You Will Learn to be Socialized
Spend 100k-200k to teach your kids how to make friends? There is an abundance of groups, meet ups and events you can attend to build your network — more than you ever could at a college.
- Search for an entrepreneurship or digital nomad meet up in your local area.
- It’s common to meet with millionaires in this group that are willing to connect with you if they can see you are an action taker.
- You can also build a social media following around something you enjoy.
2. You Will Learn How to Think
You will more likely be fed facts and information that’s tailored to the masses than of the individual, and more likely to be outdated by theme you finish college.
- If you want to learn how to program, then start programming.
- If you want to learn Human Relations, step out your front door, and start interacting with people.
3. You Can't Get a Job Without College
This is what college presidents and society wants you to believe. It’s a lie. A degree is becoming less and less relevant as online education from world class educators is becoming more abundant, and employers are waking up to the fact that a student with an MBA has never actually ran a business.
- You have also seen your friends get hired because of who they know, not what they know.
- If you spend one year adding value to people, building your network, and developing your sales skills, you will be swimming in job opportunities.
Part 2
4 More Reasons You Should Avoid College
1. Insane Tuition Costs
- Students in the US are $1.5 trillion dollars in debt. College tuition has gone up 10x since 1977.
2. Opportunity Cost
- 4-5 years+ of opportunity cost is lost. That’s 5 years you could be exploring alternatives.
3. You Can't Choose Your Own Teachers
- Too bad if you have a learning style that doesn’t go well with one of your teachers.
4. Limitations to your Schedule
- The college system has to do what it does, tailor to the masses, tailor to the to the other students and the teachers, so you are only given a limited amount of options on how you can schedule your day.
Part 3
5 Alternatives to College
1. Start a Business
- Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur, but if it is for you, you are only going to find out by trying.
- It will teach you insanely valuable life skills like how to manage limited resources, market, negotiate, and sell.
- You don’t have a limit for where you can work from, and how much you can earn per hour.
2. Travel the World
- It doesn’t cost as much as you think.
3. Become the janitor at Mcdonalds
- Think about it this way, you’ll learn how to work 5 years earlier than those going to college.
- You will be forced to deal with people who are not like you.
- You will see the genius systems Mcds have in place to get things done quickly and efficiently.
- Earning money instead crawling into debt.
- Not attractive for long-term, but short-term can do wonders.
4. Master a Skill
- “People laughed at me when I first made this suggestion, as if playing Ping Pong is more valuable than college, but let me tell you this—once you master one game, any game, it teaches you “How to Master” in general. This is an incredibly useful skill to learn.” Particularly if you can do it cheap.
5. Take a Gap Year
- Most students have no idea what they want to do with their lives, so why on earth would you jump to a crazy, expensive 5 year commitment?
- Visit new places, talk to people, read books, meditate, or journal.
- Now is the time to learn more about you
Extra
Remaining Alternatives to College
Overall the message is develop skills, try new experiences, and follow your curiosity! Trust the process.
1. Start a business
2. Travel the world
3. Create art
4. Make people laugh
5. Write a book
6. Work in charity
7. Master a game
8. Master a sport
9. Explore how you can become a doctor without a degree
10. Work for free as a paralegal for a year
11. Do anything you want to for one year
12. Go to uncollege.org
13. Do the daily practice for a year
14. Take a job
15. Write a script for a movie
16. Direct a documentary on something you are interested in
17. Audition in broadway for a whole year
18. Volunteer gardening around your neighbourhood
19. Become a real estate agent
20. Take up yoga
21. Go to 4 vipassana meditation retreats within one year
22. Study whatever it is you are interested in
23. Become a connector
24. Become a party planner
25. Learn and master a foreign language
26. Solve what’s bugging you
27. Become a personality
28. Write and pitch your own TV show
29. Go to motivational seminars
30. Play!
31. Become a model of whatever your size is
32. Go to San Francisco and mingle with silicon valley
33. Visit all the architectural historic sites of Europe
34. Backpack el camino
35. Hike the appalachian trail
36. Make your own list of alternatives
37. Virtual mentors
38. Run for office
39. Raise funds for a cause you feel strongly about
40. Watch a movie a day for a year
