Is university the only way to success?

[bennyptnk]

“University is the only way to success?”
University is an ideal environment that give people a good condition to study and improve themselve. However, we must admit that it’s not everybody can go to the university. That’s because of a lot of reasons: such as the financial problem, illness or learning ability (in my country, we must pass an examination to go to college). That led to the result that when people can come to univesity, that’s a big fame for them. Therefore, some people extremely think that university is the unique path to succeed. Personally, I don’t agree with them. There are so much evidences to cut that opinion doubt.
Firstly, university is just the environment, it cant give people the tip to success peak. In practice, the student who learn in university don’t success at all. There’s still some people have a negative thinking, got a bad studying result and even stuck in social evil.For example, I have a friend who learn in a famous university. How ever, he joined gambling and was expelled. So tired, he quit their life and leave a big burden for his family. That just one of a lot situations. It make a clear point that university is not the way to take everyone to success. It’s still depend on many other factors.
Secondly, it’s so obvious there is a large number of people who success without going to university. Some of them both of us will never forget: Thomas Edion, Bill Gate, Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg… Because of a big effort, they can overcome the difficulties and get accomplishment. I have a cousin who fail the exam and can’t go to college. He follow his father and become a sale man. In this time, his income’s event bigger than the wage of an engineer! If he had thougt that: “Oh I fail the exam, my life is end now!”, he wouldn’t got achivement like that. Explicitly, “University is the only way to success” is just a supperficial statement.
In brief, success will not appear just because you go to university. I do agree that university can give you a better condition and the path to success seem to be easier, but if you don’t try your best, you will lost at any time. Otherwise, if you don’t have a chance to apply to university, never give up and success will come to you one day.

[cafolini]

I agree.

[Joreads]

I agree also. I got a job straight out of high school and went to Uni much later and I have done OK for myself. There are many roads to success that uni can not teach you. One of them is drive you have to want it.

[The Comedian]

Didn't Gates and Zuk drop out of Harvard because they were too smart and too driven for Harvard? How many people does this describe?

[OrphanPip]

Of course you can be successful without going to university. Although, statistically people with university educations tend to be more successful, in terms of income. Although, I don't think the sole purpose of attending university should be to get a high paying job. We also might consider what a person's goals are. If you want to be a doctor, you have to go to university.

[Shevek]

I don't really buy the story that because Bill Gates dropped out and became successful so can you. It's just another extension of the self-made man myth. My parents dropped out of high school and gained some success in business but after many years of gruelling work they are still struggling. It is likely that if one of them gained some credentials, whether in college or university (the two are separate in Canada), they could have gotten a job and maintained a steady income instead of worrying during every slow patch about keeping the house, the car etc. They started off with a pretty good amount of money too -- they didn't come up from nothing. Their experience is fairly typical in their industry, and few businesspeople actually gain the "success" they envision.

That said, I do think our system of credentials is a mess. A lot of universities are downsizing and streamlining programs, while professions like librarianship which *require* university education are demanding more and more certifications.

[hellsapoppin]

I have two degrees and got nowhere. But in this I am hardly alone. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't.

Best to just get a trade and stick with it for life. College isn't worth it.

[Rainyhawaii]

Of course it's not the only way to success. It is the most reliable, but that's because there isn't much else you can do without a good education. If you choose a trade you still have to go to trade school and they are bumping up what requirements you need for certain trades. You need more qualifications now than you did say ten, even five years ago. So although you may not need university, getting a better education is the safest way to go. Hey, I still believe I'm going to become a rockstar and all, but I's rather be safe and get some higher form of education, whether it's trade school, college, or university.