Looking Back At What I Learned At College

You know what I learned in college? That you can pass all the classes with very little studying, provided that you -learn- the material instead of thinking you can just memorize it. Some classes don't even require that.<p>I also learned that teaching yourself is WAY faster than having someone hold your hand. And it sticks better, too.<p>I learned that the only good thing for me in college was being forcibly introduced to new things that I didn't know I needed or liked, and sometimes didn't need and disliked. (But at least now I know!)<p>I learned that the world sometimes grades on knowledge that isn't actually relevant to the matter at hand. At the time, I thought it was just college, but now I know it actually applies in business, too.<p>I learned that the right paperwork (homework/degree) means more than actually knowing things and being able to use them. At least, for some people. There are a rare few (bosses and teachers both) that know how to assess people properly.<p>And I learned that the next time I want to learn something, it will cost me 10s of thousands of dollars less to buy the equipment/supplies and some books and just start doing it myself. (Along with a healthy helping of internet, of course.)

The most important thing you can learn while at college is the skill of learning. The ability to quickly absorb disparate information and apply it to the task at hand. The <i>information</i> you learn in college is worthless. You will never use it. However, the skill you pick up as a consequence of learning that information is invaluable and will serve you well for the rest of your life. I work on something new and foreign to me on a daily basis ... that skill allows me to learn quickly and solve the problem at hand.<p>Granted, you can acquire the same skill by going to the library every day and reading up on a myriad of various subjects, then applying what you learned in self-created projects ... but ... that requires a will of steel and frankly, college just seems more fun.

What school did you go to? Honestly, it really depends on the type of school you went to. I felt that most of my learning in college came from meeting other really bright and motivated people, which are in higher concentrations in some schools compared to others (note the phraseology -- I did not intend to argue that some schools are better than others)

I disagree that general education courses are "crap". I think people greatly undervalue the skills those courses teach when they pass them off as useless.<p>I'm graduating in about a week myself, and reflecting back on my college education, some of the liberal arts courses I was required to take helped me to develop crucial communication skills - which technical/scientific people stereotypically lack.<p>Also, taking some of those introductory science courses, like chemistry, help to create a foundation of knowledge to intelligently speak about other scientific ideas. Could you learn this on your own time? Sure, but if you don't particularly like a topic, it's unlikely you're going to devote your precious free time to it.

College is a culture, not just an institution. You think differently (as evidenced by the large blog entry describing exactly how he thinks differently). Others who shared a similar experience have a huge common ground to speed up communication etc.

How do you find time to work on personal projects after all the school work and possibly part time job? I have so many things that I want do but there just isn't enough time after all the assignments and the job.