Comment by lee | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lee | Hacker News Reader

Totally go.

>> learn 3x much being on my own

I doubt that. Part of it is the mindset of school. For 4 years of your life, you will have no other obligations than to focus and learn. It is "liberating" in the sense that you know you're there to improve your self and your talents.

You can buy textbooks, but you can't buy the experience of going to school and meeting a diverse set of interesting people your age.

For me, University was a formative stage of my life. I don't regret going at all. It also forces you to learn things that you may not have thought of learning, things that you learn to appreciate later.

You may not want to work at big corp now, but there may be a time when you have to sell-out, even for a short period of time out of pragmatism.

And even if you're restless (like I most certainly was), you can still work while you're in school for a company, the university you attend, or yourself. Best of both worlds, and it keeps loans down.

But the one big thing that college offers that lee references here is the learning things you may not have thought of learning. You'll have to take some "fluff" classes, or classes that aren't related to your major, but they expand your appreciation for other topics.

More importantly, at least for me, was the idea that college was a sandbox in which to learn about myself and leadership. I went the fraternity route (of the "Greek" variety, at that), and I learned more about leadership than I would have thought possible at my age. When I first got to school, I never would have dreamed of joining a "frat", let alone running one.

Working my way to President and leading 60 men/fratboys to a higher calling than getting drunk on weekends - a Sisyphean task if there ever was one! - built up my ability to lead without authority, and focus on such nuanced topics like recruitment for business and attention to detail.

Not everyone will have the same experience, that's for sure. I can definitely say I learned a ton outside of the classroom, and the ability to have those experiences when the generally worst case scenarios is a few angry drunk guys and not salaries or a business was very unique.

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