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Nighthawk117 on 18 October 2016
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Going to college does not guarantee you will graduate and get a good paying job.

However, not going to college will guarantee your job prospects will be limited for your working life.

That said, here's my two cents.

1. If you are gifted, i.e. you get good grades in high school and study hard, then go to college. Chances are you will get a scholarship to help pay your way and you have a good chance at being recruited for a job and not have to go through the shitty ass process of searching and interviewing for a good job.

2. If you get shitty grades in high school - consider joining the US Armed Forces. Yes, boot camp sucks, as does wearing a shitty uniform, but at least you can get a security clearance pretty easily which will help you get a job in the private sector, especially with a defense contractor.

3. If you got good grades in high school, but hate to study, and know you will party your ass off in college (like myself), consider joining ROTC in your freshman, but no later than your sophomore year. You will be commissioned as an officer upon graduation. Make big time cake. Get that important security clearance. And position yourself to have great employment success.

To finish with my own history....I went to college at the University of New Hampshire. My parents split the cost with me 50/50. I majored in Political Science. I didn't want to join ROTC as my father had spent 23 years in the USMC and I was naive enough to think that I could do better and graduate and get a job with the CIA.

At graduation time I learned that the CIA was recruiting more heavily at schools like Harvard and Yale, and little UNH was forgotten. I did try to join the US Air Force at the last minute, even took an exam to try to get into Officer Candidate School (OCS) but they told me that even though my exam score was great, the available openings were extremely limited, but that if only I was a minority, my chances would be much better.

To conclude, in hindsight, I wish I had joined Air Force ROTC during my college years. I would have made my MOS as intelligence. I would have graduated as an officer - and I would probably be working today for the NRO. Which is the agency responsible for the reconnaissance satellites of the USA, as I am a huge fan of America's space program.