Expand Your Horizons (Score 1)

I just graduated from college a year ago and _did_ manage to find a job I mostly like that I learn a lot from, but at this job I use almost NOTHING I learned at school. I'm a hardware geek, and all they taught me was programming (which is useful but not what I wanted to do 9 hours a day). So there was a nice steep learning curve waiting for me when I migrated to the "real world" but I dealt with it and am a better (albeit tireder) person.

That said, I encourage anyone with the means or the will to go to college at least for a couple of years - even if it's community college. Why? Not because what you learn there will prepare you so well for your dream job, but because you will have the time and the opportunity to do all that stuff that you might never want/be able to do again, such as:

-- learn a language
-- develop an artistic/musical talent you didn't know you had
-- meet people that aren't just like you who can expand your awareness of the world
-- fall in love
-- get dumped on your ass hard by a member of the opposite sex
-- how to make and sample a variety of mixed drinks

It's really hard to concentrate on this kinda stuff when you're working 50 hours a week. I don't really miss being an undergraduate (especially around finals time) but I use what I learned there every day.

-jm