Besides college you pretty much have trade school, apprenticeships, getting a regular old lower education job like in food service, starting a hobby/business yourself, or collecting welfare/being homeless.

will it guarantee you a job? Not really.

is it worth it to network and make connections with smart people (both students and faculty), get a well-rounded education, and get the piece of paper (degree) which is more or less required for every job now as a baseline? yeah. Just try and spend as little money on it as possible.

Depends what you study and what your goals are. Tradeschool is good too.

>>16910118
Do majors really matter in that case?

How significant is the area of study when it comes to employment? Would it be feasible to just study something I like just so I could get through and say I have a degree?

I have no real goals, other than the obvious: to just be happy.

>>16910112
College is just proof (or not depending on your grades/involvement) that you are ambitious and capable individual. If you can leverage other skills/life experiences to your advantage, then you may not need a degree. At least this is what I've been told at mock interviews. You're basically marketing yourself to an employer and demonstrating that you'll fit into their business culture.

I'm not sure where I want to go in life, but at least I'm meeting people and I'll have something to show for it in the meantime. The more people I meet, the more "oh I can put a good word in for you at ____!" and just flat out facial recognition is nice. I kind of hate how just making an effort to be friendly seems to pay off more than all the hardwork put into tests/tedious bookwork though. (x

In contrast, I have a friend who didn't go to college and is making $60k annually as a cellphone store manager-all he did was take care of himself/try to be genuine/ make good impressions on people/actually learn the cellphone features and policies, which led him to get commissions and promotions in a two-year span.

If you have family/friends that can get you positions, that's always a plus. Trade and vocational schools are also nice because they seem to aim for <2 years, which equates to less time having to pay for tuition and quicker workforce entry.

>>16910112
It's hard to say.

Lots of white-collar companies require and/or strongly suggest having a bachelors to even be considered for entry level positions. The ones that don't ask this may still require possession of a degree for promotion.

OTOH, some of the top tech companies are starting to see that college doesn't necessarily equate to success (think of all the cumsluts and normies at your average 4-year degree mill) so the do not require a degree (but you must be a master at your field). Other companies may follow this trend.

Practical options are abound. The only barbers I ever see are black and Latino (and therefore, usually only work in those communities). Most men are going to women for a trim. That's a dying trade that is a money maker but for some reason no one seems to be doing.

There are lots of other trades but that's just an example. Honestly, you might find yourself better off in a trade. Our generation is filled with people who have a degree but cannot find real work (they end up in their high school jobs at the supermarket). The simpleton jobs are slowly being automated or out sourced. But you can't really outsource an electrician, carpenter, etc

>>16910123
^^^ This. Also do an internship doing what you studied for or volunteer to do some work related to it after you finish your studies. Do it well and as proffesionally as possible. Put that in your resume, go in detail about the challenges you faced, how you solved them and what you learned. Make it sound like it was the greatest shit ever. A lot of people fir entry level just have their degree to show. Experience will set you apart. Also try to get grants, get into the honor role and put that in your resume as well. Overall people have given you a lot of good advice here, but the best one unfortunately is the creepiest one: connections. Make a lot of friends with students in your field. Don't do it thinking on the rewards of it. Just do it. Later in life some of them will have jobs where they may be able to squeeze you in and if by that time you're still good friends, you may not even have to ask.