Mastery: Do You Need To Go To College? Here's Why I Am

Issue No. 44 | October 30th, 2023 | Read Time: 3 Minutes

Happy Monday Everyone!

I was never a fan of the concept of college.

Yet here I am. I'm currently a Sophomore pursuing a degree in Computer Science who's also an aspiring writer. Kind of an odd mixture is it?

But surprisingly, I really enjoy it.

Long story short, I was getting paid to go.

Nothing that would make me rich, but enough to incentivize me to go. At one point I was bringing in around a couple thousand dollars per semester after my tuition was paid for.

Because if I had to pay for college out of my own pocket, I don't think I ever would have enrolled.

Besides getting paid to go, I've always enjoyed building websites and playing around with different programming languages. So I thought that if I was going to college, it might as well be for something I enjoy.

So at the end of the day, I had some free time and I was going to get paid, so why not?

But everyone's situation is different.

Like I said, if I wasn't getting paid to go to college, I don't think I would have ever enrolled.

Because college debt is one of the stupidest things you can do with your life. You're simply going into debt in order to work a job to pay off that debt.

The only time I would recommend someone to go to college is if they were able to receive scholarships and have their tuition completely paid for.

I'm not saying you need to get paid to go, but at least have it paid for.

And if you're thinking about going to college, make sure you're doing it for you, not for someone else.

If there's something you really enjoy doing and your local college has a degree for it, then do it. That's doing it for yourself.

But if you're going because that's what your parents expect of you or because you want to feel respected by society, I'd take another route.

Four years of college is a long time to be living it for someone else.

So take it from someone who's in college. Don't go if you can't afford it. There's so much more you can accomplish in four years with a lot less money.

But I'd truly recommend going if you have some free time, have a career you'd enjoy seeing yourself doing, and can pay it off completely through scholarships and grants.

College gets a lot of hate. But typically from those who never even went in the first place.

So take it from someone who has.

Until next time,

Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I'm Currently Reading -

Right now I'm in the middle of reading

Talent Is Overrated

by Geoff Colvin. A book on what really separates world-class performers from everybody else.

• If you'd like to see my notes on any of the books I have previously read, then check out my websiteisaiahctaylor.comto view my entire library of notes and summaries.

Quote Of The Week

• “There’s no point in being unhappy about things you can’t change, and no point being unhappy about things you can.” — Dan Harris