College Education and Early Career

[Noah Norton]

Hello. To put my question in simplest terms, would it be possible to not attend college, but to instead find the same textbooks that would be used in a specific college class, and study them, hence learning everything I would learn if I was in that class, without actually taking the class?

This would save me loads of time, which would allow me to work more hours, and save up more money for future real estate investments. I don't want to drop the college education altogether, because having a solid understanding of things such as micro and macro economics in business would help me have a better understanding of the real estate market as a whole, and understand what influences the market, and etc.

One more question unrelated to college: My ultimate goal is to make passive income off buy and hold real estate investments, but that isn't a day job I can start out with. My plan is to get a part time job unrelated to real estate when I am 17, then get my real estate license as soon as I turn 18, and work as a real estate agent. As a real estate agent, I would prefer to eventually work with investors and/or commercial property, instead of selling to regular home buyers(how would I go about doing this?). After I am making decent income as an agent, I would quit my original part time job and live off the income I made from real estate. After I have relationships with lots of investors and an understanding of the real estate market, I will move to wholesaling/flipping/buy and hold.

My question; is this all a realistic idea? Is getting a real estate license and becoming an agent the best way to "break in" to the real estate field? Would there be too much competition as a real estate agent to make decent money? This ties into the college questions, because if becoming a real estate agent is not possible, my next best choice is to get a degree and work a regular job, until I have the money to start investing in real estate.

Sorry for so many questions,

-Noah Norton