.oO Goodness, I typed “your” for You are. Too much internet chatting!
i appreciate all the input people… it seems like most people lean to, you should but at the same time if u don’t really want to then… so I’m thinking of doing as some of you said and go right in to being a loan officer and rei but going and taking mini courses at college
It is difficult to explain to someone who never been to college about the benefits of college specially if they make good income.
It is sad that people associate college with income. There is so much more to it than just income. I will leave it at that because it will become pointless to argue it 
I don’t know many people who have gone to college who have regretted it. I have met some who wish they had gone to college.
I disagree completely with the idea that college inhibits your ability to be an entrepreneur. That’s crap. College doesn’t form a straight line of thinking which eliminates all other options that a non-college thinker could come up with. It does the opposite.
College will affect the way you relate with people. It also develops you as a person by opening your mind.
However, if you don’t want to do it, and you want to stay home and gamble on something else, go for it. You’ll never lose your education if you go to college (although you won’t remember everything). If you don’t go, you might spend 4 years p!ssing around in worthless jobs and adventures that do nothing for your career goals.
listen dont read what ppl are saying you dont need anything if you know thats what u wanna do got for it college isnt for eveybody… if u follow your dream and know ur gonna do like u say …forget college u dont need to pay for somthing ur not really interested in and that u’ll probally just be moppin around exuse for going to college is b.s, not everyone is as lack luster in carrer motivation as some of this simple minded former college students… i did go to college and u do get a good experience but life is to short to do something u dont want u’ll end up making more by working hard and making sure u accomplish ur goal u dont have to listen to me but definently dont listen to these other numbskulls listen to urself
I disagree completely with the idea that college inhibits your ability to be an entrepreneur. That's crap. College doesn't form a straight line of thinking which eliminates all other options that a non-college thinker could come up with. It does the opposite.
The grading system encourages a person to retain the information in their short term memory for a test, I’m sure you could agree with that. I’m sure you’d also agree that people have different ways of thinking and learning (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic/ Tactile of different combination). Therefore since most tests are of a visual nature, the mainly kinesthetic and auditory learners have to throw their natural abilities aside to get the grade.
As everyone is encouraged to get good grades, everyone is forced to conform to 1 way of thinking for the tests, as there is 1 test for a myriad of different kind of thinkers.
I will agree that college opens your mind to different course content. It does not however open your mind to other ways of thinking, or to be resourceful to find answers since you can open a book to read it or raise your hand to ask a question. When information is not given to you on a silver plater (a class) you must struggle to find that information on your own. It takes more ingenuity to survive without a college education.
When you get out of college, you might spend years pissing around in worthless jobs and adventures that also do nothing for your career goals. College does not increase your chances of running a successful business, therefore leaves you right where you started only with an expensive piece of paper in hand. You will learn more in the first year of starting a business, about business than you will in 4 years of college. The way I see it, you’ll have a 3 year head start on those who decided to start a business after college.
Life isn’t all about making money…it’s also about quality of life and about “life experiences”…
Keith
whats ur point thats not the question college isn’t the only experince worth having mabey the kid will make enough money to travel the world one day i bet everyone on this site would rather do that than go to college
w2w,
Your not helping our side of the debate with your spelling and grammar (or lack thereof). LOL
Edit: I agree Keith, the one thing I miss about never going to college is the parties and “after-parties” after large amounts of alcohol have been consumed! :-*
ok sir sorry for not typing like a college student that dosent understand the shorting of words but im not here to fight im just giving advice but if you want to start a debate over my typing skills go ahead
I don’t mean to start a fight or debate over your typing and word “shorting” skills. If you type in English or Spanish, I’ll understand you perfectly, just choose one.
Ah. The old “should I go to college or not” debate once again.
Like, Keith, I went to the military out of high school, however, I only stayed for 6 years (USAF). Learned a lot about life even though I was stationed at the same base the whole time (but I did go on a lot of TDY’s!).
Got out and got a job as a programmer for a small company all without a degree. No vertical movement in the career ladder, so I bailed and went to college. Graduated in 3 years with a Computer Science degree (took 45 hours the last year). Learned more about life. I actually liked the non-CS courses more than the CS courses.
Got a job working for one of the top IT companies in the world, making good money. The JOB definately helps with getting loans, getting credit, covering me medically/dentally/visually, etc.
Lots of things to weigh in your decision, but if I had it to do over again, I’d probably go to college right off the bat. Build my credit/reserves. All the while dablle in RE and maybe some other ventures (with what free time I had remaining).
nice…i’m an IT guy too.
computer science degree but doing QA stuff.
while i love computers, it’s not providing me the lifestyle that i foresee, hence the ongoing pursuit for financial freedom obtained via REI.
ryan
I’m in IT also…as a Telecommunications Manager dealing mostly with the voice systems…
Keith
ryanpal / kdhastedt -
Cool. I’ve found a good number of IT folk are in the REI industry these days. Matter of fact, another investor I meet with regularly is in IT (different company).
I went directly into the military, for one year, after high school. Then I went to college on a scholarship, graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps. I spent 6 years as a naval aviator and got out in 1989. I have been entrepreneurial all of my life, learning all along the way.
College / entrepreneurial work is not an either / or decision.
Almost every college grad will advise that you get a college degree. Time spent in college will increase your base of knowledge and broaden your social horizons. Think about the type of person who you would like to spend the rest of your life with. For me, college and a career requiring a degree put me among women who met my criteria.
Some without college degrees will advise you to skip college. After all, they are doing just fine without it. I wonder how many of them would give that advice to their own child, if the child is 18 years old, intelligent, and ambitious.
Unfortunitely we can’t predict the future on whether going to college will benefit us. I can say after getting a 4-year business degree and then pursuing a Masters, that very little “Business” knowledge was obtained. However I would not have the job I have right now without a degree, which also means I would not have qualified for the properties I have without the income I make.
So college will not help you be better at Real Estate. But it may open doors for jobs that pay better, which will help you buy more Real Estate.
If I had to do it over I would go to a trade school. Plummer, Electrician, IT, etc. Something you can make good money with only a short degree. Then pursue Real Estate on the side.
IT here also. I work for a smaller firm that supports medium to large lawfirms in CT. Firms that are big enough to need us but small enough that they don’t have in-house tech support.
Stew,
What’d you fly?
i’m sensing a trend here ;]
…the funny part is, that i see these software packages and web sites offered at reia meetings…and im like, “i can make a better product than that”. i love how my technical experience gives me an edge over some people and really allows me to customize (still in the development stage) my business.
i’m currently working on automation, a web page which allows access and easy maintenance of my preforeclosure records, contacts, clients etc… as well as designing some new busines cards. -a man of multi talents i tell yah!
… it doesn’t end there. i have big ideas. once i have a fully customized system which requires little manual intervention, i’ll look into making it easily portable so that other can customize to their own use. hell i should even dig up the vb application i was developing for analyzing cash flow properties.
i’d be open to sharing ideas and brainstorming about developing applications which can benefit our rei business. perhaps we should take the dicussion offline sometime ;]
ryan