Your worthless college degree....let's share your story.

[ChiForce]

I have my worthless college degree, a 4 year one.  With my first college I went to while I was on my path (the path leading to the Kundalini energy awakening--you know it is going to be earth shattering and mind blowing revolution), I attended there for 2 years and left.  I felt so ashamed of my experiences there (demeaning experiences while receiving tons of negative Karmas from the professors), I did not even want people to know I went there.  In fact, when I transfered to my third college, I didn't even want to transfer my college credits I had there.  Heheheh....Third college?  What happened to the second college?  That was when I had my full blown Kundalini energy awakening experience.  I felt so out of place and my past life Karma dominated my experience in that place and further re-enforced by people surrounding me, co-incidentatlly.  I guess that's what it means by past karma is ripened in one's life timeframe.  Events in one's life is slowly beginning to unfold and the fruit of one's past life karma is beginning to ripen.   

 

The experience there in my second college...took me years to come to term with it and to fully understand my past life karma.  All of this was happening while I was in my third college.  It took me 6 years maybe total to get my college degree and to finish it.  Then what?  I didn't even pickup my dilopmat that was how much I cared about it.  Is a shame but is the reality.  I was majoring in Liberal Arts in a technical college.  Don't ask why.  Maybe because of my kundalini energy awakening, I didn't really think my education was important.  It was like my life has another path.  After I was done with college, I had a management position in retail, for 7 years.  Met some good people, helped many others, and made lots of people happy in my job.  When I left there, all seem to disappear and it was like a dream.  Now, I have been into photography and pretty good at it in both film and digital.  However, it isn't sustaining.

 

On my cultivation side, I had my huge progress early on as indicated in my Kundalini energy awakening in my late teen.  I had to wait for another 15 years before I could realize my own potential further.  To advance enough to receive visitations and spiritual guidance from other  Sambhogakaya immortals.   

 

Here you go, my worthless college degree.

Edited February 28, 2015 by ChiForce

[Lth]

i tend to look at it as not worthless but the opposite. after all this path led me to an awakening. i could not be more grateful for it.

[子泰]

imo you shouldn't view your degree as worthless. it's worth at least some paper and ink

[eye_of_the_storm]

[soaring crane]

Perhaps the degree is worthless, but the experience, not. No experience ever is.

[thelerner]

in weighing the value of things you have to look at the alternatives.  If you hadn't gone to (and spent the usually large amount of money) on college, what do you think you'd most likely have been doing over those years?

[GrandmasterP]

The majority of graduates earn more than the majority of non graduates over a working lifetime.

Education is never wasted.

[blue eyed snake]

At the time i was at university I enjoyed it, It fixed some muddy thinking in me. I learned to read scientific papers and understand them. It still gives me the change to point out faulty reasoning in my colleagues  . I'm not getting talked into a corner easily.

 

And have had a good living of it for some years, when I'm healthy again I hope to pick that up again. So I never regretted it, but it's not the degree perse, but the things I've learned and the ability it has given me to learn more on my own.

[Yasjua]

I think it's cool that you have a degree. You know, I've been learning more and more that if you want to help people someday, you have to have struggled with some of their same problems. I want to help people... so I consider the shit I've been through to have been secret blessings. Sure, they've taken their toll on my mind and body, but my spirit is stronger than them, and I haven't fallen apart yet.

 

That said, I would take back my first two years in college if I had the chance. The self-inflicted damage and the overall negative vibes I took on as part of my lifestyle really served no purpose. It took me the next two years just to reconstitute my terrorized psyche into something that functions again. ;P

Edited March 2, 2015 by Yasjua

[liminal_luke]

I sometimes think about how I could have funded my own personally devised education program, a program that wouldn´t have resulted in a degree but might have resulted in a better learning experience.  Chalk that one up to another "if only I had."  Given that I wouldn´t have had the foresight or gumption then to carry out the kind of plan I would envision now, university wasn´t a bad option.

 

Liminal 

[Spotless]

It's hard to see it as worthless - your resistance to it has been priceless and as you release your grasp from that you will see the great benifit in why you created that experience for yourself.

 

I went to seven colleges and in the end rejected college - but I walked away quite clear about it. It was a very good experience while at the same time a complete sham of robotic socialized sleep - it opened my head like a can opener yet somehow did not manage to scoop out that which is me.

 

It was a time in California when college at UC Berkeley was free. Most Universities in our nation then cost very little. 1970s

 

Higher learning is still found in colleges - most people assume they can think - most people assume incorrectly.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Spotless

[eye_of_the_storm]

easier to walk away when it is free

 

[ChiForce]

Heheheheh..yeah, student loan debts.   Let's not talk about it.    Yeah, I am trying to or preparing my mind to uncling my desire that I should have gotten something meaningful during my college years.  See, I have dreams about me back in my college or colleges again.  Thank goodness I don't have those dreams lately.  Feeling directionless and feeling at the wrong place and going nowhere.  My theory is that my mind is still trying to cling on to the desire that I should have gotten something meaningful from my college educations.  My mind is or was or has been seeking something in them in which it was never there......  It was real and yet not real at the same time...much with my life experiences as well.   

[Stosh]

The majority of graduates earn more than the majority of non graduates over a working lifetime.

Education is never wasted.

On average financially it is not wasted.

 

What does a college degree ,in and of itself prove? Exactly ...

You yourself is are a brilliant man ,but did that change with the bestowal of a degree? No moron or ahole ever gets one? Etc

Does the degree indicate the panache ,the je ne se quois ,that is you?

I think not .

And there are probably one million things you have been educated to , which will never bear fruit.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Stosh

[Taomeow]

Would you believe me if I told you that there and then, where and when I went to school, not only was my education free, but the university actually paid me a stipend.  You had to maintain the equivalent of B average (and no Cs) to get that, and if you had the equivalent of straight As, your stipend was increased.  I almost always got the increased variety, for five years.  Very non-useless money for a poor student girl who liked to party.     Good old totalitarian days...    

[Stosh]

Yes, it does seem to suggest that. I knew a guy in college , who was there because his parents wanted him to be an accountant. The most brilliant man I know dropped out ,to support his family. So, to me, this setting apart though, isnt decisive. The degree does not differentiate why one completed or did not complete it. So I couldnt rightfully attribute ..sticktuitiveness ..to the owner of the paper.

[Stosh]

For me ,college was much easier than the working world and I was even working when I was there.

My room and board was secured for me ,my schedules were predetermined,I only had classes part of the week ,and that was with 21 credit hours. It was an extension of childhood.

Ive been working here, for the past fifteen years, thats five times as long as college, and I have never since used calc 2.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Stosh

[futuredaze]

I got a B.A. in psychology with a minor in philosophy.  I enjoyed most of my classes, and especially benefitted from my philosophy classes and evolutionary psychology.

 

I agree with the others here that university was an integral part in my development and journey, however I am not currently using my degree.  It helped set me on the path.  I was fortunate to have friends interested in meditation/spirituality, intellectual pursuits, and creative folks.  This helped me immensely, probably just as much as what I learned in my calsses, if not more.

 

I'm glad to be done with college, as I have gotten into travel, working on farms, got to stay at a zen temple, etc. since then and the lifestyle suits me for now.  I grow a lot by helping to grow vegetables and observing patterns in nature.  With travelling, I can tune into myself and learn so much through the constantly changing environment.  There are times I miss university, since it was one of the happiest times of my life in ways, and the "bubble" of school can be nice sometimes compared to the open-ended post-grad world.  I don't miss bullshit assignments, mediocre professors/classes that I was required to take, annoying people in class, etc., however

[Stosh]

I dont know why that is phrased as if you are in contention with what I said,, especially since your testimony basically supports it.

If you do disagree with me , thats fine. Just do me the favor of actually disagreeing with what I DID say,it gets confusing to the casual reader.

[Perceiver]

I got a college degree in business. I never liked it, and I never liked the people there either.

 

Now I've got an academic business job. I've never liked it, and I don't like the people there either.

 

So was my college degree wasted?

 

No, something that you experience is never "wasted".

 

My college degree has taught me what I don't want to spend my life doing (= a business job). And now I'm slowly rebuilding my life and career in another path. A few years from now I think I may succeed. I've got all the steps mapped out, and I'm following them one by one.

Something that is experienced is never "wasted".

 

Cheers everyone

[Sunbeam]

I graduated with a BFA in Writing & Publishing but also was in a music program for two years.  Would I go back?  Unlikely.  But at the time it all felt supremely necessary, and the convoluted career track that I took lead me back to martial arts -- which was actually offered to me before I went to college but I refused at the time and regretted it, even though I know I would have regret it even more had I not gone away.

 

I do feel I use my college education, even though my direct profession has nothing outwardly to do with it.  I am self employed and use all of my different artistic/creative skills in different ways.  I spent a lot of time in programs that involved a lot of peer scrutiny and have pursued my "informal" education as a martial artist/general all around artist which has all lead to me feeling fairly comfortable with having to work hard and be self sufficient in life.  I tried to do regular career jobs and they just don't fit me.  As much as I wish I didn't have my student loans -- I feel I chose tracks which I considered practical and skill building, even if on the outside they seem ludicrous to people who are more materially minded.  When you're an artist, you're an artist, there's just no way around it.

 

But man, I hated academia, and was glad when it was over.  My college experience from beginning to end was extremely demanding.  Doing a BFA in two years was like an olympic sport and music programs are no walk in the park (you are in class for like 12 hours a day and practicing the rest of the time!)  Everyone asked me if I would go to grad school at my graduation and I was like... Are you crazy??? NO.

[silent thunder]

For me, University study was never about preparing for a job.  It was tantamount to therapy.

I designed my own independent degree under the watchful gaze of two amazing professors, for the express purpose of apostasy and self exploration.  By the end, I had enough credits for two majors and three minors, never bothered picking up the diploma and only stopped attending classes, because my wife and I moved across country.  I still consider myself a student... always have, hopefully always will.

 

I work in a field that does not require a degree and yet, what I studied has everything to do with what I do and who I am, every. single. day.  It is utterly invaluable to me.

 

I can't overemphasize enough the value for me, of the environment of College/University.  It is such a unique social setting.  Some freedom and the first taste of being independent, yet still cloistered from much of the world.  Several of the relationships I formed there have thrived and remain among my most valued treasures 30 years later. 

 

Even the shit and stupidity I encountered remain useful and instructive at the least.

 

All around, I recommend it whole-heartedly.  In fact, were I to win the lottery, I'd likely begin taking classes next semester.  Hell... why wait for the lotto...

 

edit: spelling goblins

Edited May 6, 2015 by silent thunder

[gendao]

The majority of graduates earn more than the majority of non graduates over a working lifetime. Education is never wasted.

Or so says college brochures, lol.

 

But fact is, while STEM majors are a profitable investment, Liberal Arts can actually be a financially losing one...

A new report from PayScale, a research firm, calculates the returns to a college degree. Its authors compare the career earnings of graduates with the present-day cost of a degree at their alma maters, net of financial aid. College is usually worth it, but not always, it transpires. And what you study matters far more than where you study it. Engineers and computer scientists do best, earning an impressive 20-year annualised return of 12% on their college fees (the S&P 500 yielded just 7.8%). Engineering graduates from run-of-the-mill colleges do only slightly worse than those from highly selective ones. Business and economics degrees also pay well, delivering a solid 8.7% average return. Courses in the arts or the humanities offer vast spiritual rewards, of course, but less impressive material ones. Some yield negative returns. An arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art had a hefty 20-year net negative return of $92,000, for example.

Not all degrees are equal...some not by a long shot...so choose wisely, or pay the price!

[zerostao]

the week i am having on campus right now experience wise is in my estimation worth umm roughly 17.3289 years of paychecks, but i would not trade this week for those paychecks. it is a nice week going on, others i have had were worth more in my estimation, i take the good with the bad.

it is the type of stuff that is not shown easily on a color enhanced 2D graph, impressive as it is.

 

this is "dead week" next week finals, then well wow not sure exactly what i will get into,

tbh havnt thought that far ahead, 

meditation, qigong, shen gong, baguazhang is a given

a few other practices or playfulness i wont mention, has to be shared in person anyways

you may be mildly surprised

 

i reckon some sunrises and sunsets and some moon gazing too, the rare sip of fine moonshine

some nights spent watching the nightscape filled with twinkling, shooting, falling stars

some swimming in the local lakes and rivers, a little fishing, some hiking in the woods, some cave exploration,

will need to mow the lawn, coffee, check on gardens i have planted in the forest seasons past,

some campfires, a couple or three bonfires,, some beer,

maybe a road trip to the beach, like we havnt already done that countless times

heck once more for old times sake wont hurt

 

definitely some outdoor grilling in the company of others with worthless college degrees or lack of entirely,

quite a bit of laughter, grins and smiles, dancing altho i never took dance class

possibly a summer romance,,

likely not a pay check one, dammit anyways, it'll be alright

i'll just have to settle with the fact that i dont always choose wisely.

these semesters all wind down in a flurry of bittersweet, mostly sweet

but with a dab of bitter thrown in for good measure, tea

 

if your only measurement of success is the size of your paycheck

or that is how you measure your own self worth

a 2D graph should be studied intensely for certain.

 

if however you are less than certain

if you are the type that easily confuses worthless with priceless,,,,

then you are welcome to come hang out a little this summer,

between semesters, we can talk about scholarly stuff or not

crickets will join in chorus, frogs croak, trees creek

occasionally a fish will jump completely out of the water

song birds will overwhelm us with melodies

above, clouds will pass by

we can sample natural wild waters containing sparkling life force

crows will closely monitor everything and report to a raven

[Enishi]

1. Associates in Graphic Design.

Not bad per see, but upon graduating I realized that not only did I not particularly enjoy the work, but my portfolio looked like crap compared to many of my far more determined, talented and outgoing classmates. In addition, we were all emerging into a job market that was already saturated (and based on my research it got even worse when the recession hit).

 

2. Bachelors in Technical Writing.

 

Once again, better from a career standpoint than your typical money sink liberal arts degree, and I was far better at it than Graphic Design. Still, I had very little passion for the work, and was only using it as a stepping stone so that I would have better options after getting certified to teach English in other countries (an option that ended after meeting my fiance in America). I also graduated right in the middle of the recession, and all the jobs and interviews I found were either unpaid internships or part time work that made less than my current job.

 

Looking back on it now, I was quite lost when I went into both programs. I basically felt pressured to be doing "something, anything!" to escape my current job, and choose subjects that I assumed I would like, or at least be good at, based on a mixture of self-delusion and poor advice from counselors. Much of my failure was my own fault of course, not necessarily the degrees in question. If I had been more determined and had more passion, I might have been able to carve out a niche in those paths.

 

As of now I get far better client feedback and interest from employers after getting certified in Therapeutic Massage and incorporating Medical Qigong. The work in my former degrees didn't entirely go to waste either, as it helped me with designing business cards, resumes and cover letters. I intend to make more use of it down the road as well, even if my "official" job title isn't Graphic Designer or Technical Writer.