Improvement Pill here, welcome to the Question and Animation series – where I answer your
questions with fancy shmancy animations.
If you want your question to be featured in our next episode all you have to do is comment
down below.
Today we have a question from Anil who asks “Is college worth it in 2019?”
Ah, I actually have very strong feelings about this topic – See growing up, my entire life
revolved around academics and doing well in school.
My parents – were immigrants - and valued education above all else.
They truly believed that if I got good grades, if I could get into good schools, that I would
be able to live a significantly more successful and comfortable life than they ever could.
I remember being sent to prep school on the weekends when I was still in elementary school
just so I could prepare for a special exam that would eventually get me into a specialized
middle school.
One that only had about 60 students per grade.
Once I was there, I was sent to even more prep school so I could get into one of the
top specialized high schools in New York City.
Which I barely managed to pull off.
And once I had accomplished that, the process repeated itself one last time, and I was pressured
to study my way into one of the top universities in the country.
Now throughout this entire process I never really questioned this belief my parents,
my peers, and society drilled into me.
Everyone around me said that this was the best path to go down so I just assumed it
was true.
But when I got to college – I finally had time to actually think this through.
For the first time in my life I was away from my family.
Away from my parents constantly berating me to study hard and get good grades.
For the first time in my life I actually had some quiet time to myself -
Where I could actually think about what was going to happen AFTER college.
See the thing about college is that there is no clear next step.
It's not like middle school or high school where you know exactly what to do next.
Which is essentially to move to the next level of education.
After college – it's really up to you and what you want from life.
So I sat down and thought about my life.
And I realized that the only reason I was attending college was because it was supposed
to secure my financial future.
In theory going to college was going to guarantee me a job.
A job that pays well.
That's why my parents pushed me so hard when I was younger right?
But when I did my research, I realized that this was far from the truth.
A survey conducted in 2015 asked a large group of kids who were about to graduate, how much
money they thought they were going to earn 75% of them said, that they were definitely
going to make more than 30,000$ a year right out of college with the most common answer
being about 60,000$.
But when you look at the graduating class 2 years prior.
People who already graduated for 2 whole years - the sad truth starts to seep in.
More than 56% of college graduates make less than 30,000$ right after college.
Only 15% of all college graduates will make more than 50,000$, 2 years after college.
My next thought was well ok.
Maybe the pay isn't that great.
But at least I'm guaranteed a job right?
The media will often say things like – college degree graduates only have an unemployment
rate of about 2%.
And what they're referring to is actually this chart right here.
They'll say look – the moment you get that degree, your chances of getting a job doubles.
But if you look closely.
What does it say at the bottom?
Data for persons age 25 and over.
Which means #1 they aren't considering all the college graduates from the age of 21-24.
So if you just graduated and can't find a full time job for 3 years you're not even
included in this data.
And #2 they're considering EVERYONE over 25, so of course if you're 40 years old you probably
have a job cause you had 20 years to find one.
This graph doesn't give you an accurate assessment about what having a college degree means right
out of college!
Right now in 2019.
I did some more digging and found a graph that is a far better representation.
A study conducted by Rutgers University found that only 51% of recent college graduates
have full time jobs.
Are you kidding me?
That's like investing 4 years of your life and then flipping a coin to see if you get
a full time job.
And to make things even worse, out of this surprisingly low % of college graduates who
have full time jobs 50% of them are underemployed - meaning that they are working in jobs that
don't even require a college degree.
Like being a barista at Starbucks, flipping burgers at McDonalds, or being a secretary
in an office.
So that means only about 25% of people who graduate from college get a full time job
that actually required that degree to begin with.
Only 1 in 4 people.
Think about that for a second.
You're investing 4 years of your life, taking out tens of thousands of dollars in loans
just so you have a 1 in 4 chance of actually getting a job that needed that degree to begin
with.
And even if you're lucky enough to get that job – chances are you're not going be to
making much.
When I discovered all of this, I came to a conclusion.
See I did learn one thing from all my years in prep school and attending the top schools
in the city.
I learned how to look at data and make educated conclusions.
College from a logical standpoint, from just looking at the numbers - does not make any
sense.
It may have made sense in the past, but as it currently stands – there's no point in
going to college unless you want to be a doctor, nurse, engineer, teacher, researcher – etc.
If you aren't 100% absolutely sure what you want to do with your college degree – don't
go.
This was my belief back then, and it's still one I maintain today.
Now you might be thinking – well Improvement Pill...if college isn't the right path to
go down, what is?
A lot of people worry that if they don't go to college they're going to end up dirt broke
living on the streets.
And that's simply not true.
If you invest even just a year learning a valuable skill – a skill that is actually
in demand right now - you will most likely make just as much and probably even more than
you would have if you were to go through all 4 years of college.
And you don't have to take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans in order to do so.
In fact you can even do it for free or for just a couple hundred dollars.
Don't believe me?
Well about a year ago I started promoting a program run by a good friend of mine Seth
Hymes.
He teaches something called digital marketing which is essentially helping businesses grow
their online presence.
This isn't something that's taught in school at all - and it doesn't take a genius to realize
that this is a pretty valuable skill to have.
I mean just look around you – everything is online nowadays.
And ever since I started promoting this course, we've received dozens of testimonials from
people as young as 18 who managed to land jobs in the digital marketing field.
And on average it doesn't take 4 years.
Not even 2 or 1 to get the experience needed to land these jobs.
In many cases, these students are getting jobs just a couple of months after completing
Seth's course.
Some even get hired literally a month after they start the course.
And to top that off - most of these people are making anywhere from 40-60,000$ entry
level right out the gate.
That's right we've had 18 year old kids who went through the course, landed a job, making
more money than recent college graduates.
Seth himself personally went down this career path before making the course and was making
around 100,000 a year in just 4 years.
If this is something you're interested in, if you're looking for what I truly believe
to be a safer – and smarter alternative to college, you can learn more about by checking
out a free video training series we put together on Digital Marketing by clicking on the link
in the description box below.
I highly recommend you to check this out if you're someone who likes the idea of a career
path that often lets you work remotely from wherever you are in the world and make a decent
living at the same time.
Full Disclosure, this is an affiliate link so I will be getting a small commission if
you do decide to join seths course after going through the entire free training.
But I'll be honest the only reason I like promoting his course is because, I truly believe
in what he teaches.
I mean look at what I've built with this channel.
I'm living the life of my dreams, making more than any of my peers – traveling the world
most of the year - because of digital marketing, because I understand how the internet works.
Now before we go I do want to rant a little bit more about how much I dislike college.
It's been many many years since I dropped out of college and I still keep in touch with
a lot of the people I met back then.
And out of all of my friends, acquaintances, and classmates - I can only name a few that
actually make a decent amount of money with their college degree.
The majority of the people I know from back then are still making less than 60,000$ a
year – which is barely enough when you're living in a place like New York City.
And not a single one makes more than 6 digits a year.
NOT A SINGLE ONE.
I have friends that spent over a year just applying to jobs trying to get something – anything.
Eventually having to settle for a job far below their standards.
Disappointed because they gave up 4 years of their life and because they will still
be in debt for years to come.
There are so many other alternatives out there that are better than college.
I recommend you do your own research and find out more about your other options.
But again if you're interested in learning more about digital marketing and would like
a career that allows you to work remotely while still making more than most college
graduates do.
I highly recommend you check out Seths free training by clicking on the link in the description
box below.
Besides that guys stay tuned.