Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Go to college.

  Take science to discover something you're good at.
  Take humanities to discover something you may love.
  Take at least one art or music class.
  Take at least one advanced math class.
  Join a fraternity.
  Learn how to play bridge (and play all night sometime).
  Learn how to play foosball.
  Get drunk.
  Learn how to play foosball while drunk.
  Get laid.
  Play an intramural team sport.
  Get a part time job.
  Eat something you never tried before at least once/month.
  Get high.
  Do original research.
  Take a class you think you'll hate pass/fail.
  Do 5 minutes at a comedy club on open mike night.
  Hang out with a professor you like.
  Get laid.
  Do a web start-up on the side.
  Make a few friends for life.
  Go to at least one party each week.
  Pick a major you love whether it makes career sense or not.
  Get someone who has written one of your text books to sign it.
  Blog about your college experience.
  Get laid.
  Go to Europe with nothing but a backpack for a month or two.
  Enter a college talent show.
  Meet as many interesting (and boring) people as you can.
  Read good books.
  Go without shoes for a week just for the hell of it.
  Get laid.
  Graduate.

If you don't go to college, exactly when do you expect to do all of this?

And if you are, like I was, repulsed by the constant insistence from everyone that you should go to college so you can toke, drink, party, and fuck: take heart, you can get a lot out of college without ever associating with meatheads and frat houses. The idiot carnival is not as prevalent as popular culture would have you believe; you can invest yourself into a hugely rewarding intellectual field, have excellent roommates that don't make you shove strange objects up your ass, and never even learn the name of your school's sports team, if that's more your style.

I've done most of that in one form or another, with nothing but an unfinished high school education. Still am. Every time one of these threads comes along, I get the impression that Americans don't get to have a social/independent life until college. Is it really that way? I'm honestly curious.

(I'm 21 and in Denmark, fwiw.)

I think a lot of it is that here in America, we aren't exposed to many other intelligent thinkers, or many folks interested in much other than their homecoming date, or barely passing the SATs until we get to college. If I'd met just ONE person as inspiring as high school as the tens of them I did in college, I'd have had a significant head start.

I tend to think that intellectualism in America is the label on a box called college, this box is then traded to companies, without being opened, in exchange for the ability to buy a house, fill it with crap, and park a nice car out front...

I think you're right actually. I actually had a lot of European friends in college because they were far less superficial than most American students.

I think we're coming to a time in the US, and the perhaps the world, where smart / creative people can find each other and find their passions without needing much school. The industrial revolution brought us this system, but now we need something further evolved. I think FabLabs, the Khan Academy, Open Courseware, etc. are all part of this new genus of educational species.

I went to college at 13 (I've graduated now, obviously), and essentially had to answer this question over and over. I went to college, without the getting drunk, without the frat (I did get to do original research, though), and without the getting laid (for the most part). I did it because I loved learning. I still do, but colleges are essentially bureaucratic hucksterism. So a lot people think I missed out -- on high school, college, everything. And I explain, I lead a pretty active life, and I got some awesome chances to do cool things. Now I can spend these years really _focusing_ on doing irresponsible and stupid things.

Why is everyone such a punk about not being able to do cool things if you aren't enrolled in a degree-seeking program?

(Also, I'm American, so all I can do is confirm people have exactly the same social dysfunction you think they do.)

It was very satisfying seeing your post on HN. Too often, it seems, the bigger picture of the college experience is lost on HN.

Heed edw's advice. Go to college. College is as much about the education you get in the classroom as it is about the education you get outside of it.

All. Of. This. (maybe not the high part)

You're actually in an interesting spot, because a year or two of community college, while not exactly like a 4-year school, will help you determine whether or not you really want to put forth the effort to complete a degree. It will also be cheaper than a 4-year if you decide not to stick with it.

Especially the high part!

This is the only time in life it's (borderline) socially acceptable to try those things. FFS, enjoy it while you can. You'll have plenty of time in front of a computer later.

You can do all of these any time you like if you can afford it.

wish you were my college advisor...

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