Do you need college in order to be taken seriously and earn a real living? Conventional wisdom says yes. But true success relies upon self-knowledge and entrepreneurship: two qualities that you can obtain effectively and inexpensively without traditional college.
If you’re thinking about skipping or leaving college, be sure to read about Gap Years and College Alternatives first.
Better Than College
I dedicated an entire book to the idea of purposefully skipping college: Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree. You can read the first few chapters here and find the full book on Amazon or as a free PDF download. Zero Tuition College is the social network associated with the book.
Related articles on the Huffington Post:
- How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree
- 12 Ways to Educate Yourself Without College
- Rethinking the Promise of a College Degree
Sean Ritchey on Learning Through Work Instead of College
29-year-old grown unschooler Sean Ritchey talks about his discussion to skip college in favor of starting his own design/build company. We discuss the challenges of building community and exposing yourself to new areas of knowledge, working to learn, and what a young person needs to successfully skip college.
Steve Krouse on Dropping Out of College to Live the Silicon Valley Dream
22-year-old Steve Krouse, co-founder of The Coding Space in New York City, talks about his decision to leave his Computer Science major at the University of Pennsylvania to enter the world of tech and startups. We discuss why this path worked for Steve, whether it works for other young people, the role of privilege in quitting school, and practical advice for convincing parents to support the decision.
Carsie Blanton
Carsie Blanton, a singer-songwriter, blogger, and lifelong unschooler (carsieblanton.com), talks with Blake about making a living as a musician, the virtues and drawbacks of college, and lessons that unschooling taught her about building a career.
Ben Paul
Ben Paul, founder of the German social movement Anti-Uni (anti-uni.com), talks with Blake about his decision to leave a prestigious law school at age 20 to travel in Latin America, his blog that encourages young people to build self-knowledge before starting college, the pluses and minuses of the free German higher education system, and building a social life without college.
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