Many of our students wonder if they need to start with college or self education (like a coding bootcamp).
Ideally one should start by self-educated work to see if the work pleases him. Then the colledge education will be percieved in perspective of practical experience. Further self-education or advanced degree will result in deeper and wider understanding of the area. Personally I have a degree in Engineering (signal processing) and I am self-educated in other disciplines.
I am too invested in education to be objective. So I asked one of our favorite bloggers (Tom Jager) to write his honest opinion.
Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. We all know about the unbelievable achievements of these incredible entrepreneurs. Many people set them as role models for themselves, learn about their working philosophy and tools they used to achieve success. But did you know that all of them are college dropouts?
It may be hard to believe that it’s actually possible to achieve success, especially if you worship formal education. But these examples prove that anything is possible if you can strategically plan your self-education and learn stuff by yourself.
However, there are still some aspects in which self-education just cannot compete with college or university education. First and foremost, your college degree shapes your personality in the eyes of your employee.
For example, a common belief states that college education will earn you a living, but self-education will guarantee you a fortune. Is it really so? Let’s explore pros and cons of formal education and self-education and find out!
| Advantages | |
| Self-education | College |
| Dive deeper
This is a great opportunity for you to explore the topics you need as you don’t have any limits. You’ll become self-teacher, which will also give you the possibility to become more organized. |
Helps to avoid after-school confusion
After graduating from high school, most teens have no idea what to do next. They feel pressure and often get confused and undetermined about their future. College offers you a variety of fields you can study. But if you don’t like what you’ve picked, there always a chance to change your major! Colleges are flexible nowadays and allow their students to pick the field they are interested. It takes no effort and is extremely convenient.
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| It’s relatively cheap
Not to mention some resources you might need access to, self-education is mostly free. Now, this is definitely an advantage if you are short of money and cannot allow yourself to spend thousands of dollars on college education.
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Guidance
The college education offers you guides you on your way to getting knowledge. All college education tools are targeted at giving you structured knowledge about the subjects you need. And, of course, you can learn even more from your college professors besides the best essay tips they give you. They have so much experience and wisdom that will definitely come in handy. |
| Manage your time
Time is the most valuable resource we have. However, not many people can say that they can effectively manage their time. Self-education gives you an opportunity to set your own deadlines and create your own timetable. This is a great skill that will come in handy in many aspects of your life!
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Become independent
“As soon as I finished high-school, I was so eager to go to college and move from my parents”, says Jim Adler, HR manager. “Leaving apart from my parents was the best life lesson.” Indeed, living in a college dorm, deciding things and taking care of yourself on your own is one of the best things college life can offer! |
| Become an expert
Let’s say you already know what subjects you’re interested in. And you’re diving deep into them, exploring more and more. Eventually, you will become an excellent expert in a certain field, which will make you very valuable at the labor market. Thanks to in-depth learning you will become world’s only expert in the field you aspire to. |
Get a job you want
We all know that the first question any employer will ask us will be about our college degree. The college will ensure getting a degree that will bring you to the job you’ve always dreamed about. Besides, your future employer will see that you have structured knowledge about the necessary field, so it will be easier for you to start. |
| Study without interruptions
There’s no noisy college roommate or dorm neighbors to get you distracted from studying. You can sit quietly for hours and saturate yourself in work. And yes, there are no deadlines or an annoying teacher pressuring you. Isn’t that great? |
Best years of your life
College years are all about socializing. Get invited to parties, discussion clubs, enroll on different interesting courses and make friends! The connections you make during college years will stay with you for life and will leave wonderful memories that will stay with you for life. |
Now that we reviewed the advantages of self-education and college education, let’s proceed to their disadvantages.
| Disadvantages | |
| Self-education | College |
| No guidance
Be prepared: no one will correct your mistakes. Self-education is all about working on your own. And while it brings you a lot of advantages, lack of guidance is the major downside of self-education. So you’ll never know if your knowledge is correct. |
You’re told what to do
This is all about different styles of learning we all have. Someone just devours new information, while others are slowly chewing small bites of new knowledge. But college education has its own pace, which sometimes is very hard to get used to. |
| Getting distracted
If you’re sitting at home studying and suddenly your phone rings, you would probably answer the phone call. And that’s the major disadvantage of self-studying. If you’re studying at home, it’s very hard to concentrate because of so many distractions around. |
It’s very expensive
This is the reason why lots of people do not even consider getting the college education. College degree is an ace up your sleeve, and if you don’t have money to attend college and get that degree of your dreams, you are deprived of this great advantage. You can wait and earn money to attend college by yourself, but it might take too long. People in their mid-forties rarely need college degree anyway. |
| Lacking motivation
We all have days when it’s very hard for us to just sit there and read that book chapter. There’s no one to motivate us to do that. And let’s face it: self-motivation isn’t what most of us are good at. |
Sometimes it’s not practical
Did it ever happen to you: things you’re doing at college were completely unnecessary? Sometimes tasks we get at college take a lot of time and effort but turn out to be completely needless. But there’s nothing you can do because you need to stick to your syllabus. Some students try to get some professional college writing help from online essay services designed to provide them with custom-written papers. |
Over to You
Hope this information was helpful to you to make a wise choice about how to get your education. Be careful with your choice, and let it propel you to success!
Tom Jager is a professional blogger. He works at Proessaywriting. He has a degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him on G+ or Facebook.
It is true there are disadvantages to college education. But a lot of what the disadvantages are. Are part of the country you come from. Where I come from a college degree costs about 2000 a year including the books and the required materials. Also, a combination of the two ways that you described here is a whole lot more useful than just one of those. The biggest problem I think comes from a college education is the dislike for learning people develop. I love learning. I have 3 degrees and I have done over 40 online courses, just for the sheer fun of it. I love knowledge. But so many people I know are disgusted by the idea of continuing the learning journey. A lack of motivation and cultural and or social pressure are the biggest problems.