College Nonsense

College Nonsense

Real Estate Investor · Novi, MI · Member since 2012 · 437 posts · 132 votes

So I'm currently finishing up my last couple weeks in my college career.

I'm getting to the point where I never want to go back to a college campus and I have fully determined that my friends at school simply don't understand me.

I just got out of a business class where a panel of "experts" came in and gave us what they considered "advice" about what our future plans should look like. Every single person told us to get a job, build a career, work at it for 40 years, and stuff our savings and 401k accounts with everything we can so we could survive till death.

All I hear at school is get a job, get a job, get a job (Or as I and others prefer to call them, J-O-B's...just over brokes.) Anytime I mention to somebody that I don't want to build a traditional career and that I want to start my own RE business they look at me like I have three eyes. I give them my reasons for doing so and it's like I'm speaking in another language.

I just cannot stand the entire mindset that I feel colleges teach, the slave mentality that only looks at the side of being an employee for somebody.

Every piece of traditional "advice" that I have received in school (Get a good career, get advanced certificates to climb the ladder, hand your money over to a professional to manage your retirement for you, etc...) makes me cringe and I want to yell out that there is another side of the world that you people are not even seeing!

The whole thing is really draining especially since nobody other than my fiance and other people here on BP really understand how I feel and think.

Anyone else experienced this same thing in college or in their families?

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  • Involved In Real Estate · Columbia, MO · Member since 2012 · 28 posts · 5 votes
    13y

    I graduated from the University of Missouri in May '12 with a bachelors in business administration-management and I could not agree more. I experienced that same feeling almost every single day in school. I knew after my first semester that I wanted to become an entrepreneur. My advisers, professors, and peers could not believe that I hadn't done an internship with a fortune 500 company and thought that I would end up homeless because i chose not to attend career fairs.

    The toughest part for me was not the discouragement of others but it was curriculum that I really could not stand. I felt as if I was attending a tech or vocational school to be a middle management type for some mega corporation. Even the few entrepreneurship classes I had were more directed towards intrapreneurship within corporations rather than actually starting your own business.

    And on top of everything, we pay tens of thousands of dollars (usually as debt) in order to be forced fed a curriculum that may or may not serve any real world application. Since i have graduated, I have found a few mentors and work for them in order to gain knowledge. I AM ACTUALLY PAID TO LEARN! And they don't give me a list of definitions to go memorize, they show me exactly how the business world works, what i need to learn, and what it takes to be successful.

    All that being said, I do see the value in a 4 yr education, especially the first two years of liberal arts classes. I'm just not sure a university education is the best way a high school grad can spend $40,000 (Of course if I had $40,000 to spend when i graduated high school, I would be broke, homeless and in rehab). College allows you a chance to mature, grow, and figure out what you are passionate about. However, if an 18 year old is mature enough to have self discipline and know the field they would like to enter I think their time can be better spent gaining real world experience while being paid to learn.

  • Involved In Real Estate · Lexington, KY · Member since 2013 · 46 posts · 1 vote
    13y

    Nick K.
    Congrats on graduating, I will be doing so as well in 3 weeks from the University of Kentucky. Sorry you had to hear that from so many professors. I'm an econ major and I've had great advice from my professors, but outside of the business school there is zero financial education classes for other majors. I had a professor just today tell our class that we are a step ahead of the rest when it comes to financial goal setting.
    Best of luck to you in this exciting time!

  • Annapolis, MD · Member since 2013 · 67 posts · 9 votes
    13y

    Landon S.
    You know, you economists have an edge, IMHO. You're taught to see the things others cannot, and as an entrepreneur, that means you can solve problems others can't identify. That might be a very over simplified definition of the word entrepreneur, but I've heard it said time and time again here–we're in the business of solving problems.

  • Involved In Real Estate · Lexington, KY · Member since 2013 · 46 posts · 1 vote
    13y

    Nick K. Jesse Holmes

    Econ is a love/hate major for most of my friends. I came into college as a finance major but switched to econ/finance after I took a few econ classes. Jesse: I'm glad you have an appreciation for the field, I think it should be a required class as part of a "liberal arts" education!

    As for my future plans, right now I got hired on for the summer at the investment banking firm I interned with for the semester. I don't want to stay there forever, but I enjoy going into work and I'm learning a lot. The partners at the firm are also very well connected with local business owners (including real estate) and have been introducing them to me.

    This summer I am traveling and enjoying life. In regards to real estate this summer, I want to do a small scale flip (if I find the right deal) or buy another rental off campus like the one I currently own. What about you guys?

  • Annapolis, MD · Member since 2013 · 67 posts · 9 votes
    13y

    I'm glad you asked! I've been working to develop my Personal Investment Philosophy as described on another popular podcast. I want to invest for cashflow, and I am starting with three and four plexes. I am also looking to do the same with small businesses since I have already had some success there.

    I don't think either of those plans makes me an entrepreneur, really. I'm not carving a unique path, I'm just trying to duplicate what others are doing. It's still exciting for me, but I feel like those things are just stepping stone toward becoming an entrepreneur.

    What do you think? Is there a difference?

  • Involved In Real Estate · Lexington, KY · Member since 2013 · 46 posts · 1 vote
    13y

    Jesse Holmes
    My boss, I would consider a serial entrepreneur. He owns real estate, a marina/speedboat dealership, and has his hands in some other interesting ventures. He told me his biggest piece of advice is not to try and re-invent the wheel, just find people who already invented it and learn as much as you can from them. Also, do what makes you happy and do something where you can help others. (the money is just a bonus) I'm not ashamed to admit I don't have the idea for the next Facebook, but we can all continually learn and grow as men not only in our personally lives but also in business.

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