You Can Hate College But Still be Successful
Success does not come merely from a college degree. Success comes from doing something you absolutely love so you keep getting better and better at it than most other people.
You can definitely hate college and still be successful. The only way to be successful is if you do something you love, whether it is with a college degree or without. Once you find out what you truly enjoy doing, you can always go back and complete college.
You also need to figure out what the word “success” means to you. To most people, success is when you they do something that makes them happy, and when that work comfortably pays for their lifestyle including a nice house, car, family, travel or vacations and so on.
How I Hated College And Still Became Successful
In the early 90’s, I did not have the money to make it to an engineering college. Not sure why, but I always wanted to be an engineer. I always deeply felt that I needed to use my intelligence to build things that would make the world better.
My parents simply did not see things my way. They somehow felt that their plans for me were better served if I had less education. As long as I did not spend much of their money and completed some college, they were ok with it. They just did not want relatives and friends to call them bad parents, so they introduced me to a couple of cheap colleges that fit the small budget they had in mind for me.
As for my brother who scored much, much lesser then me in high school, his engineering college degree was well funded so he was able to complete his 4 year engineering degree from a prestigious college in southern India. As for me, I got completely frustrated with the lack of any real education and I quickly dropped out of each of the dinky colleges my parents enrolled me into.
After this point, everyone in my circle of family and acquaintances labelled me a good-for-nothing girl. One of my friend’s parents who knew me well once asked my father why he neglected my education but went out of his way to pay a lot of money to educate my brother. It became quite clear to many people around us that I was the less favored child of my parents.
It seemed I was less favored because I was their daughter and not their son. My brother and I were similar in age, so it certainly was nothing to do with our age. Anyway, God had other nicer plans for me than my parents ever did. After several years of struggle, educational neglect and lower self esteem, I rose above my circumstances and eventually became a confident and happy software engineer.
I married a man who encouraged my further education even if it meant I would have more advanced college degrees than him. There were many people who encouraged and mentored me over the years such as my beloved high school principal, my 1st and 2nd bosses and mentors and many other colleagues also became my well wishers over the years. I earned the respect of my colleagues and bosses due to my work ethics, dedication and team spirit.
Your situation is probably quite different from what mine was when I dropped out of college. But if you truly hate college for whatever reason, you owe it to yourself to pay attention to how you’re feeling. If you’re unhappy in college, just stop college, or postpone college for another time.
Then find out what work or training or field you are really interested in. It may happen faster or you might have to be patient and try many different trainings, courses or work before you find that one thing you truly enjoy doing. But once you find that out, life will all of a sudden seem magical and totally worth looking ahead to another new day for!
How To Hate College And Still Be Successful
There are several fields and careers where experience and knowhow is more important than a college degree. But to get to success you should be able to start your own business in it and reach a substantial level of profitability. Not everyone is able to get there but some business persons are able to get to success sans college degree et al!
There are several fields such as Organic Farming, Software/ Game development in which you can be successful either for a few initial years or by doing business, without completing a college degree. There are other jobs such as home care aids, veterinary assistants and so on where it is possible to get a job with just a high school diploma. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists fast growing occupations as of 2022 that don’t require a college degree.
To do organic farming, you will need some money to buy an initial stretch of land to start farming. Or you need someone who believes in you well enough that they would either give you or lend you some money to buy the farm land.
Mentors can have a huge positive effect in one’s life especially in the early years of your college or career. Even close friends who care about your welfare can be good mentors, so it does not always have to be older people that mentor you. Also, finding your mentors is something personal to you and the mentor, so make sure it’s natural, and that you’re not just looking for a mentor because someone else such as a parent is forcing you to do so.
As for software development, you will need to have access to a good and reasonably powerful computer and a good internet connection to learn computer programming and other technologies.
In fact, just having a good computer with internet access can open up a world of opportunities for you. You will be able to take some free college level courses using Khan Academy, MIT Open courseware and from variety of other free online sources.
But even with organic farming or software development or any other job, as you gain about 3 to 5 years of experience, the lack of a college degree will likely create some roadblocks in your career progression. Changing jobs or getting promotions may not be as easy to do. Even if you have your own business, getting a business loan will likely be easier if you have a college degree and some awards or certificates handy. Meeting a worthy life partner will also get easier once you have that college diploma in clear display!
So if you hate college, just put it away for a few years, find out what you love, and then go back and complete that college degree online, parttime or fulltime as it best suits your schedule.
But even if you never work toward a college degree, if you can reach a certain level of consistent success in business whereby a college degree becomes just another worthless piece of paper, then yes, success sans the college degree is guaranteed for you for the rest of your life!
Success, College and Financial Security
Life is ever changing and just because your career starts taking off does not mean that you’re all set for the rest of your life. So don’t expect your life trajectory to mimic anyone else’s, your set of life or career challenges could happen early on, or later after several years or beyond.
Life is never static, good and bad times come and go, up and down like in a roller-coaster ride! So when you’re at a point in your life when you’re making a lot of money whether in a high-flying job or in a great business, please have the wisdom and forethought to set aside some money for the future.
Go buy yourself a nice house in a great school district so it’s value appreciates with time and serves you well as you age. Buy some precious metals or jewelry for yourself or your spouse as a protection from financially-tougher times. Just don’t put all your eggs in a single basket and be careful with stocks or even your 401k, it’s not always as safe as you are led to believe.
Even if you are able to complete advanced college degrees in a field of your liking, this does not necessarily guarantee ever-lasting success in life and career.
Success comes from a combination of:
a) Doing what you like and,
b) Financial security and,
c) Good health and,
d) A loving family and relationships and,
e) Career and societal achievement/ recognition.
If any one of these areas is unsatisfactory, it can quickly spiral to cause issues in other areas of life as well.
FAQ on Success and College Education
1) What are the names of some well-known successful people who never completed college?
Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell and Sergey Brin did not complete college. Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers, Oprah Winfrey has had the most world-famous talk shows and is a thought-leader, Bill Gates founded Microsoft, Michael Dell founded Dell Computer, and Sergey Brin is a co-founder of Google.
2) What is the most common college major of the world’s millionaires?
The most common college major for becoming a millionaire is Engineering.
3) What are some of the easiest college degree majors?
The easiest college degree majors include General Studies, English, Psychology and Communications.
4) What percentage of millionaires never graduated college?
Only about 18% of the world’s millionaires never completed college. So a vast majority of the world’s millionaires do in fact have a college degree.
5) What career can you learn in 6 months?
A career that you can begin in 6 months includes real estate agent, truck driver, nursing assistant or personal trainer.
6) What is the fastest way to get a 4 yr college degree?
To complete a 4 yr college degree in one or 2 years time, enroll into a degree completion college, then credits transfer any previous courses or learning, and complete CLEP/DSST/ACE courses for the remaining course requirements.
