He realized this was not going to work, and instead joined the Air Force. While in the service, he learned computers as a career field, worked really hard to excel, and completed 4 years active duty. Based on that experience, he landed a job at a company in the IT division, and started moving up from there. Today he is very successful, makes a good salary, and still has no college degree. Many of the skills needed to succeed in college are the very same ones needed to move up in the service.

All along he had a ferocious drive to better himself, and his life is quite a success story in everything he has done.

Yes I thought of that. I live3d in an area with a third-tier law school. In the general legal hierarchy, graduates of first-tier law schools get hired by leading law firsm, graduates of second-tier schools often get hired by trailing law firms, and graduates of third-tier schools often end up working as paralewgals. So I was at a competitive disadvantage looking for work as a paralegal.

Re: going to college for “personal growth”

One option gaining increased consideration is taking a ‘time out’ for a year or two after high school for personal growth, e.g. traveling overseas to expand one’s worldview.

Re: “I’d also like to add that there are a lot of opportunities in the US for motivated people. ”

Oh yes, I see opportunities all over the place, but they usually require money in one way or another. (e.g. starting a business usually requires money – not necessarily a lot, but more than a broke person has – and going to school requires money.)

Regarding “poor boomer”. If his plan was to become a lawyer but he didn’t have money, why couldn’t he get a job in a law office as a paralegal for a while, for example? Sure salaries aren’t as great, but they are better than minimum wage. The writer I mentioned above actually tried it for a while, hated it, and went to a prestigious graduate workshop for writers instead. If the “poor boomer” is the same as “minimum wage”, then he also had a minor in CS. In this case he could’ve tried to get an assistantship to one of special graduate CS programs targeted for those without an undergrad degree in CS (Illinois at Urbana had one such program at the time, Princeton had one as well). Assistantships pay tuition and a small salary as well – the salary is usually small, but it is way better than minimum wage.

I’d also like to mention that the idea of going to college for “personal growth” is an American idea. It seemed really strange to me when I came to the US from Russia – I truly couldn’t understand people who majored in “art history” for example unless they had rich parents; I also couldn’t understand how can one just declare music as a major without any kind of audition. Frankly it seems a bit strange to me now. College is expensive, so why spend the money unless it can help you make a living? If your parents are rich – OK, but if they aren’t surely you need some plan of what you’ll do with your degree? Some things mentioned – like discipline needed to study or basic writing skills in a native language I believe should be learned in high school.

In most countries people go to college to get a profession. In some countries, you apply directly to a specific department, not just to a university as a whole, and the number of students accepted as well as the entrance requirements vary by major. In these countries, you couldn’t major in your native language, for example, unless your writing ability is already much better than that of most of your peers. Where I grew up, one needed to pass a writing exam (among other exams) to enter any college or university, but while future engineering majors only needed to demonstrate the knowledge of native language and literature and excellent grammar, future native language majors had to show they can actually write better than 10 other people applying for the same spot. Since fewer people were accepted to these programs than, for example, engineering and because more people applied the competition at admission was 10 people for 1 spot for most humanities vs 2/1 in engineering or 1000s/1 in any of the performing arts. The latter I think is true for at least some places in the US – like Juilliard, for example.

I’d also like to add that there are a lot of opportunities in the US for motivated people. My cousin who immigrated from Russia at the age of 40 used to be a pharmacist there. Since she didn’t know any English when she came she couldn’t pass the exam and get a pharmacist license in the US. So instead she finished some home care classes and worked in home care caring for elderly for a while. This gave her medical insurance and small salary. While doing it, she studied on her own, passed the exam for a pharmacy technician and got a job in local CVS. This job didn’t pay much and charged a lot for a health insurance – although it was better than the minimum wage, so she kept her home care job for weekends and worked in CVS during the week. After she saved a little money, she left the CVS job while keeping weekend home care job for the health insurance. By that time she learned enough English to go to one of NY city colleges (if I am not mistaken) that offered professional program for radiology technicians. After she finished it, she passed an exam and became a radiology technician, and got a job in a local medical group. Them she took additional courses in nuclear medicine to get a better paying job in the same field.

I also had a friend who worked as a live in nanny for several years. The family she worked for gave her Saturdays and Sundays off, so she used these days to clean people houses on weekends. She saved a nice amount of money during this time that she used to pay for computer courses – this was during internet boom – and get a well paying job. This is a bit off subject of colleges, but it shows that there are a lot of opportunities here for people who are motivated.

In any event, Merry Christmas Poor Boomer. May your prospects for 2009 be as bright as you choose to make them!

If I submit a comment to your blog and the comment goes into a black hole, did I leave a comment on your blog?

I never made the connection. Makes sense though.

Thanks for the comment.

Poor Boomer leaves several comments on everyone’s blog. At first his name was “minimum wage” now he changed it to “poor boomer”

I glad to see you giving him attention. He needs it.

Larry Winget is the man, looking forward to reading his new book

You’ve got to choose the right degree and once you have the degree you need a good mentor. When you come from a poor family and work your way up from the bottom, you need someone to show you the ropes and college won’t give you the practical experience only book experience.

I was fortunate to have great mentors at the last three companies that I have worked. They were all successful people that had similar values; honesty, diligence, persistence, solution oriented(not a complainer) and the skillset to think outside the box to solve a problem.

You made Larry point to the “T” in your examples. Delivering pizzas and working in a convenience store are not “career” environments. There are no special skills that are specifically required for either and neither are known as “career growth” industries. No matter what you read or watch or learn nothing is going to offer those employers any additional benefit because there is no need for educated, skilled workers in those particular jobs.