Is university worth it?

Just wanted to know what do lainons think of uni, is it useful, can't programming be learned at home? Also, what universities have you attended?

Tuition is insanely priced in the US. I do have respect for places with proper comp sci programs that treat it as a science. They generally lay a solid foundation on which to build from. However I don't think it's necessary to attend a university to get this. It's all in your approach. If you're just wanting to hit up a coding boot camp and start pumping out software ASAP, then by all means, go for it. If you want to learn the proper fundamentals of computer science, go to a uni.

>>12104 $4,550.30 for 1 semester (12+ credits). You need at least 120 credits to graduate. Let's say you do 15 credits per semester, taking 8 semesters. It will cost you $36,402.4‬0 plus books and online course fees. Let's hope you received a scholarship or you have your parents paying for you. On the flip side, if you graduate with a CS degree, you can expect to make more than $90k starting in most areas. You're done paying for your education in the first year. I've done everything listed above for slightly less inflated prices. It is possible, and it is worth it. I'm a success story.

>>12105 >you can expect to make more than $90k starting in most areas. You're done paying for your education in the first year. any place that's going to pay you $90k fresh out of college with no experience is prolly gonna be pretty high cost of living. good luck paying that off in less than a year. you might be lucky if you have family you can live with. paying down the loans before the interest starts to compound is key

>>12106 That's just not true. I was only paying $1,500 in rent to make that salary. That's living alone. With roommates, it's even easier.

Community colleges are a hell of a lot cheaper than regular university, find one with a programming course and you'll be fine. Probably won't be able to get a job programming without a bachelor's even if you can learn at home, but it pays well so you should be able to pay off any loans easier

>>12103 It is, unless you just want a hobby level of programming skills. Also you might get better education than University graduates if you can study the same content in less time, meaning your self learning skills would beat the 7 daily hours+home study hours which the average University student has.

>>12290 the average uni student studies for 7 hours a day? Most students at my uni are extremely lazy

>>12292 Yeah, your university probably has low standarts since soykaf like link related happens when you don´t give much of a fuarrrk about your career and just party all day n´night >https://www.lasexta.com/noticias/sociedad/asi-orla-carrera-mas-dificil-espana-solo-tres-alumnos-logran-graduarse_201907085d236b7a0cf278d6eb096598.html Just use the built in translator, anyway TLDR: Only 3 students graduated from the Computer Science course, people say it's because it was incredibly hard but actually was filled with lazy fuarrrks

>>12296 >low graduates implies quality or people saw it as not worth and bailed there's also the option to switch and graduate at another university. Some places are literally stupid. Introductory course and they test knowing commands. Cause yes memorizing soykaf in a single language you might not even use outside is proof of skill. fuarrrking retards. >>12103 You can learn ~60-80% at home depending on how good you are learning by yourself. Could literally just walk into the uni library lend same books and learn by yourself. What you won't get is the cutting edge stuff and connections. You gotta build connections to really make it worth. This is how you cruise to easy employment. Lastly semi-offtopic but you could get quite a few benefits from your student status. Lower insurance payment, public traffic, ... Was surprisingly profitable here to be a student.

>>12290 >It is, unless you just want a hobby level of programming skills. My personal experience does not match this. Coursework is not enough practice and I would gladly trade away a computer science major for a more experienced hobbyist.

I'm currently in uni. I have learned a lot, but the prereqs/required courses really fuarrrk with me. I have to take a bunch of courses that are irrelevant and waste my time, and I have knowledge gaps that make some other courses hell-- but if I took the courses that would fill those gaps, the credit wouldn't go towards my degree. I'm considering dropping out or getting remote work and reducing my schedules to only one or two courses per semester, because I already took the main programming courses. My uni is middling, it has good rankings for the area but that's meaningless. Aside from that, your courses will be REALLY hit or miss. IDK if there's a single university without this problem. Basically, half or more of your professors DON'T GIVE A fuarrrk and all they want to do is research. As a result, you can pass lots of courses without learning much, meaning you have to teach it to yourself anyway. Or some are stupidly tough and you still don't learn. Uni will give you a few things: - discipline/motivation if you're lazy - friends and peers to work with on stuff - some work opportunities and hands-on experience (esp if you work on something relevant on campus, like research) - going out of your comfort zone. Say you like programming but not math. IF your uni is good, it should expose you to useful math. - the piece of paper. It matters to a significant number of employers/HR depts. >>12104 Some burgers have access to really high amounts of financial aid and in-state tuition prices. Meaning you actually get paid to go to school. OP should evaluate that for his situation.

>>12299 Oh yeah. And generally speaking, you should get some relevant work or personal projects / study. Chances are low that you'll be in an amazing uni where all your assignments are cool/comprehensive enough to count as real in-depth knowledge.

uni can be called a good think if only for the fact that these days you can't be hired for jack without some sort of college degree, and it's sure as hell a lot better for learning than public school, but honestly with the advent of the internet you can learn basically whatever you want for comparatively free if you have enough common sense in navigating. I mean I don't think the concept of university is COMPLETELY useless these days, but the fact that you could say it's more useless than ever for the one thing it claims to be for (education), and it's simultaneously more necessary than ever is pretty sickening but like that's just the way the moppy floppy I guess.

>>12103 I will be doing uni starting september. Any tips for completing uni as quickly as possible? I already program and do linux as a hobby for around 2 years now.

>>12305 slow and steady wins the race

if you're not American, it can be really hard to get a US visa without a degree, if you want to do that at some point. t. dropout Australian

>>12305 >Any tips for completing uni as quickly as possible take it at your own pace. rushing yourself will make you miserable and get worse grades.

>>12305 See if you can test out of things.

>>12103 Figure out if there is something you really want to leaen and if it is best tought by a person if so find out which place has the best reputation. If you can think of a specific person you want to learn from find out if that person teaches somewhere and apply there. Have backup choices. If what you are looking for is mainly infrastructure and contacts check on that basis.

I'm studying computer science. It teaches you beyond just programming in c++. But the important thing is getting a bachelors degree. If you don't have one of those, you won't be accepted in any work space.

I'd say it's definitely "worth it" in today's world. Most countrys education systems are fuarrrked, but the things you have access to through university are pretty great anywhere

it is useful, but do some combination of maths physics and/or philosophy instead. if you understand these, pretty much everything else in life is a piece of cake (intellectually at least).

>>12103 There are (maybe?) two kinds of university: Small and large. Small are usually liberal arts, large are usually research or state schools. If you go to a small uni you'll get a better overall learning experience since classes will be smaller, and probably a more well rounded education, and most importantly a degree from a smaller and selective school + connections to people you meet there. This is probably a bad deal overall because tuition is always absurdly expensive, the administration will inevitably be trash, and you could learn everything by yourself or by hiring someone with the same credentials as your professor to teach it to you at a lower cost. Big universities offer the same connections, but with a worse classroom experience and probably lower standards concerning the student body. However, you get access to a lot more stuff - talks, research opportunities, physical objects like rare documents / specialized equipment. This won't necessarily be of better quality than the stuff at a small uni, but there will be more of it. If you are thinking of exploring what you're going to do, this is probably a good choice. In the end the connections (which will help you get a job) and the degree (which is almost required to get a job nowdays) are what really matter. Most of what you learn, you will of could learn by yourself. >>12305 If you can take courses during the summer, that will help. Other institutions can transfer credits to your uni if you can't take summer courses where you are.

Does you major matter lainanons? I'm in mechanical engineering but i have a focus on CS, always did as a kid. In my country your major is decided based on your high school performance only and a competitive exam like the SAT but science only, no overall review. Kind of like CalTech, Academii only. I did pretty bad on that. Hence had to choose Mechanical. I don't hate it or like it, but i like CS. Any advise? Will it matter when it comes to hiring/jobs?

it has it's upsides and downsides like everything else. I'm almost done my program and it's given me many opportunities to meet like minded people and experience new things, which is amazing. that said, you can learn anything you want without going to college(read up + apply), the real draw is being forced to push yourself and jump through hoops you may otherwise avoid. you might not enjoy it at times, but god damn there's value in productive discomfort. "pressure makes diamonds" was a central theme for me. >I was a music major, jazz guitar, who gives a soykaf tho?

>>12105 you're assuming your university costs the same as every other university.

>>12888 in north America at least your major is purely what you choose(although you need to qualify for the program, eg. have the grades to enter) and your major is what people see on a resume. I have a friend who completed a political science degree taking more history and 'humanities' courses than actual recommended courses, but employers wouldn't care what the content of your studies were, the label matters more. I think many employers are just happy to see you have a degree regardless of the focus.

>>12103 no, there are more people with "high education" degrees that there are jobs for it, become a tradie and save as much money as you possibly can and put on a interest account, then retire at 35-45

If you enjoy science (not life sciences). Take the time to hang around your local university. Get to know some of the faculty. Do some personal projects. Show your results to your new faculty bros. See if they will help you get an assisstantship or get a program director/ other administrator to bring you in with a tuition waiver and an on campus job. You will make about the same or better money per hour as you would working a trade, work fewer hours doing mundane repetitive soykaf, and develop your personal creative and analytical faculties under the tutelage of others who have gone forward in the field of your interest. The university system is pretty fuarrrked all around, but there is still some utility in it if you know where to look and can make some friends.

I spent two years doing a CS degree, ended up dropping out in my third year cause of anxiety issues and lack of motivation. While I was there, I pretty much did the minimum required, especially in the mandatory math and physics classes. Still ended up getting a programming job, so I'm doing alright for now. Honestly, uni wasn't a good fit for me. I hated going to class and doing all the assignments. I was a self-taught programmer that learned by hacking my way through things, not by reading a textbook and I was terrible at generating the kind of sterile motivation you needed to succeed in these academic environments. I'd say a degree is the most straightforward way you can acquire the kind of knowledge you need, but it's not the only way. I've found that I'm more motivated to learn when I can apply my skills in a practical manner and for instance, a subject like Distributed systems was tedious until I started working on an actual distributed system and I could finally understand the problem space intuitively and what all the theory brought to the table. Suddenly, a textbook wasn't just a pile of information I needed to regurgitate on the exam but was an actual pathway towards learning how to solve a problem. I don't know. It depends on the school and the type of person you are, A degree from MIT would probably open up a lot of doors but regular state universities probably won't stand out much on your resume. You can even work without a degree, provided you can demonstrate your knowledge in other ways.

My brother got a comp sci bachelor's degree last year and now makes a little over $100k/year in a pretty inexpensive area. He's a good example of someone who got the absolute most out of university. Took graduate and special topics CS classes once he exhausted the requirements for his B.S. Was a very active member of the school's ACM chapter, as well as a couple other comp sci related extracurriculars (one of which was probably the deciding factor in him getting his job). All of this was at a relatively inexpensive public university in New England, so he doesn't have much in the way of debt. Overall, university was absolutely worth it for him.

I'm still >>14599 I guess I'll tell my story too because it shows another possible way university can go for you. I went into an expensive private university (but with a decent financial aid package that made it around the price of an unfunded state school) wanting to learn music production/recording but when I found out that industry wasnt what I thought it was I loaded up on electives in math/science/tech because they were more interesting to me than my degree classes. Obviously this is a bad sign so I eventually switched majors to mathematics but it took my a couple years to do so. Instead of getting really deep into CS and getting straight A's like my brother, I took the maximum allowed credit load pretty much every term and got good but not exceptional grades. I loved this approach while I was there because after the first year or two I had basically taken care of all the low level prerequisites in math, CS, and computer engineering, so I could essentially take whichever classes interested me in any of those departments. Perhaps this was a mistake but I never turned this crazy course load into a minor or double major or anything. I didnt care what it said on my diploma, I just wanted to learn. Ultimately I got a B.S. in math (I do kind of agree with what >>12884 said. If you have broad interests in STEM, particularly if you plan to go into the more academic/research oriented side of your field, math is a great thing to study because your skills will readily transfer between disciplines). After graduating I couldn't find a job and couldn't get into a PhD program. Focusing solely on learning what I wanted to learn and not enough on résumé building and gaining experience made me a poor candidate (at least on paper) for the kind of work I wanted to do. After a kind of gap year working a soykafty IT job (which I got through a friend I met in college) I got accepted to a master's degree program with a TA stipend at a public university. After a year of fuarrrking around I got kind of resentful of my undergrad, thinking it was a waste of money. But honestly, seeing what the undergrad education is like at this small public school has made me appreciate the quality of my undergrad. To a certain extent you do get what you pay for. These days I'm content with my job and plan to have a career in academic research. Obviously since my goal is a career in math skipping university was never really an option so the question of whether it was worth it to go is kind of meaningless to me, but I hope my experience can give you some idea of what university can be like.

I study engineering at university, and for the first two years I thought it was a complete waste of time. I learnt most of the relevant material from sources I got online for free. Things are different in your later years though; when you start doing a dissertation, the facilities and staff available to you are all suddenly really useful and important. It becomes a whole lot more interesting at this point too. The other benefit is that by forcing you to work through everything on the course, rather than just what takes your fancy/you are good at, you are more likely to actually find out what you are interested in doing.

I found my schooling rather frustrating. I ended up taking a lot of math to avoid wasting my time with the computer science classes >>12144 I'd say this isn't the case. I'd nit recommend community College, most of them end up much worse than what my university offers (which is bad, i think university due to how funding comes in and trying to appeal to local companies really hurt thr system and thus the students in terms of competency). Also the company in which i work for has a high hiring bar, as its research and implementation of research, does not require a diploma. I think this is the case for a lot of smaller companies who use more sophisticated technology (functional languages) With this said there are a few good schools in the state. Namely upenn.

I really hate the discourse on the value of a degree. it works for some people and it doesn't work for others, either way you can get most jobs with or without one once you get above a certain tier in your skillset/portfolio. This really has a lot to do with who you are as a person and I wish people would give advice with this in mind. If you are a lazy person, don't lie to yourself and pretend like you are going to self study and build up a portfolio of production work on your own. You won't, you should probably go to university where the structure of the courseflow will allow your lazy ass to build a portfolio via coursework. OTOH, if you are truly a self-starter, and you know already if you are. If you have any doubt in your mind whether you are one, you aren't one. BUT, if you are one, university will hold you back. People who are self-starters have probably already started, and are really probably almost qualified for a CS job by the time they get out of high school. To those people I would say going directly into a job can stunt your social growth, and put you at a disadvantage in some aspects later on. You will have more money and savings quicker, but building the foundations of networking/friendships from college is not to be dismissed offhandedly.

The sad truth is yes you can. However, most employeers won't take a glance at you unless you have a degree. elitist bs, it never ends...

uni for computer science was awful, there was several courses where I got nothing from the teacher I couldnt have found myself. A few teachers would practically talk to themselves up on the board and just go through the lesson as if the students werent there. I wont say which one but its a fairly nice private university (they offered me a huge scholarship and thats how I can afford to go). When I switched to design things were much better. I was making connections and getting ins and info about really good job opportunities in the area and wasnt learning "how use photoshop" soykaf I can find online but a lot of really in depth theory, history, and methodology that would be difficult to just find yourself. To me college has been worth it for reasons outside of just professional ones as well, I met people who had similar passions that I got along with, I got to live in the city I always wanted to, the amount of people I met changed my perspective in a lot of ways, a number of little and big things I couldnt possibly list. Hard for me to say if I didnt have a scholarship if id still think its worth it. I just know if I didnt go to college I would be rotting depressed and alone at my moms house. I wouldnt have learned about the therapy resources I did because I got those from a college advisor. I wouldnt have felt able to go if I was still living with my mom anyways. Hard to quantify its worth, college that is.

You can learn programming at home. I did. I still learned a lot in college and had a good time. I'd rather go to school than do what I do if they paid the same. Major: CS School: The Evergreen State College

>>12305 I'll be starting in August but I'm a fuarrrking idiot. If anyone has tips on what would be good to know before starting to take lessons I'd be glad.

>>12103 Its been a while but I highly reccomend taking 2 years at a Community college at the very least. Easy to start networking and find jobs, and you get to try out new stuff and learn a lot. Tuition's pretty cheap, maybe 700 a semester. Unironically just work part time and take a student loan and you can pay it off over 5 months

>>12297 >You gotta build connections to really make it worth. This is how you cruise to easy employment. this is why I got so little, materially, out of university, because I never networked like that. I am still very glad I got to go to university. The first few years felt mostly like pointless busywork but as I got to more advanced courses (especially graduate courses -- legitimately stuff you will not find anywhere else in there) I started really learning a lot, and enjoying myself a lot more, and I got a much clearer idea of *what* I want to learn and preparation to learn it, and how to tackle learning new things. I also got no debt, which is basically equivalent to being rich these days. It's also a lot easier to focus on studies when you are enrolled in university. I still try to focus on studies but I also have full time work which means I have much less time that I'm not exhausted. Just having a group of people to talk to (IN PERSON) who are all trying to learn the same stuff helps a lot.

Important to mention that YMMV depending on the country in which you live. Some countries are simply anal about having paperwork, even if it's just Technicum. In some cases below a certain graduate level you plain won't be hired. And in other parts they don't care whatsoever. This varies not just on a country but even just a regional basis, specifics of the field also (government, military, etc). In USA given the ruinous tuition and bad quality, I'd skip and simply go technical school. Never really much noticed networking while I was studying, and others didn't seem to be making a major thing of it either at university. Sure they'll be able to reach out to friends later, but maintaining friendships is way more effort than mere networking, so that might just dissolve with time. I did more than most by attending open networking or interest/themed conferences & meetings on my own time.

>>16274 >>16274 >You can learn programming at home. I did. I still learned a lot in college and had a good time. I'd rather go to school than do what I do if they paid the same. >Major: CS >School: The Evergreen State College Uhhh I know this is an old post but on the off chance that you see it. I could have made this post except I rarely mention that I went to Evergreen on the internet because it gets derailed by people who wanna talk about stuff they saw on Fox News. Yeah learned programming on my own. Went there and it was a blast and learned more. Would rather take classes there for money than do my job. What year were you?