But it’s not all bad. Instead, you can get other things that you would not expect, that are still really important! These are:

3. I learned how to learn

Two weeks ago, I randomly met one of the professors from my ex-university at the gym. (Where else?) We started to talk about the current state of higher education and it just slipped out of my mouth that I think that online education will take over higher education. I reasoned: in the last few years I’ve learned everything I needed online — I picked the best fitting courses for me, and I could learn everything at my own pace. The reply? “Of course, because in your first year in university you learned how to learn.” And the prof was right. All those crazy exams — even if they didn’t give me any useful, practical or marketable knowledge — they taught me one really important thing: how to learn efficiently.

I’d say that’s the number one skill I acquired at university: learning how to learn.

4. I got friends and memories

Another thing I got from university is friends. Intelligent, motivated, educated friends. When you are surrounded with these kinds of people, you will get motivated, too. And of course, those hikes, weekend adventures, canoeing trips and parties — I’ll never forget those, either.

5. I got a network

Looking back at it, one of the best moves I made in my college years was to apply for a tutor / teaching assistant position in the same department that offered that presentation techniques course. Let’s call it the “Presentation Department.”

Why was that so important? Because at the Presentation Department I wasn’t one of the thousands of faceless students. I had a personal relationship with the teachers and professors. This led to two things: 1. They convinced me to participate in a student research program (that I might have never done by myself). 2. They put me in contact with a cool startup company who was looking for interns…

6. I got my first job

How did I get my first job? One of the teachers at the Presentation Department sent over my paper from the student research program to someone at a cool startup company — and 6 months later, that someone emailed me asking if I was interested in working for them. I said, of course I’m interested — so I got invited for a short interview and then I got an offer for an unpaid intern position. I accepted the offer.

Entrance to Prezi office (photo source: Wikipedia)

Taking this opportunity was a game changer for me:

During my 2 months of unpaid internship at a real company I learned more than in the previous four years at the university. I could learn and use cutting edge technologies. I found good mentors — actual practicing professionals. The company sent me to workshops to learn more.

I could learn and use cutting edge technologies. I found good mentors — actual practicing professionals. The company sent me to workshops to learn more. After 2 months, my unpaid internship got transferred into a paid internship, then into a junior data analyst position. And after two years into a regular Data Analyst position.

Besides the fairly good salary level I reached by the end of the two years I spent at that startup, I also got two years of real-life work experience in a really competitive and growing market (data science and analytics) — which opened a lot of new opportunities in my career.

7. I didn’t get a college degree

Yepp, so eventually, I never graduated from university. Why? Because I felt that they couldn’t teach me anything else there that I couldn’t learn from my mentors, from books, from the internet or simply by myself. So I decided to focus on my job rather than finishing university.

“If you don’t get a college degree, you won’t get a job.” Remember? At the beginning of this article I wrote that when I was 18 years old, I really believed this sentence. Now, I know that it’s not true. Today — many years after I decided to drop out from university and take a more practice-based and more free, self-educating path — I’m literally getting at least one or two job offers per week. Without a college degree.

photo credit: unsplash.com | Matt Hoffman

Conclusion

So was it worth it to go to university? Yes. But looking back at it, it was really important that I didn’t focus on the main track, and instead took on as many extracurricular opportunities as I could, met with the right people and took the unpaid internship opportunity.

Was it worth it to drop out? Absolutely. If I were still focusing on finishing university after I got my internship position, I’d have lost many career opportunities, and more importantly, I couldn’t have acquired as many practical and marketable knowledge and skills. In fact, if I could change one thing, that would be to drop out earlier and in my spare time take more online courses, read more books and work more on my soft skills.

But this is my story only. I hope sharing it will give you another perspective about higher education, understand better what you can expect from it and help you to decide whether you should go for it or not.

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Tomi Mester

my blog: data36.com

my Twitter: @data36_com