I went to college once…. for three months. Here is what I learned.
Years ago, I went to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico to obtain my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. I lived in the campus dorms with a roommate from my hometown. I maintained solid A’s in all of my classes and stayed physically active by going to the gym, going on bike rides, and long boarding from time to time.
Unfortunately, I did not socialize well there. A majority of the other students were extremely into video games and Dungeons and Dragons. They spent their weekends getting together for video game tournaments and the like. A few had started some type of investor group, but that sounded like multilevel marketing in the making to me. I am sure there were other students who shared many of my interests, just not in the Computer Science field. It probably did not help things that I had a girlfriend living a full five hours away.
After making friends with the teacher assistant leading my MathLab classes, I stopped attending. It consisted of all automated online courses and so I began completing them remotely. He caught me walking around one day and asked how I had been and if I had been showing up to the MathLab class. I told him no, to which he replied, “No worries. I’ve been marking you there anyways.” I liked that guy; I still like that guy.
One day, I woke up, looked at my roommate and said, “I’m not going to class.”
“Oh? Not feeling well today?”
“Feel fine. I’m just not going anymore.”
Every second I was at college felt like an hour of wasted time. I already knew how to program and was confident in my ability to further my knowledge via the internet. Besides, I did not want to program computers the rest of my life. I wanted to build a business.
I stopped going to class, but did not officially drop out until I absolutely had to. The goal was to get as much use as possible out of the dorms. When time ran out, I left New Mexico Tech.
Not even in the slightest. Besides, at this point I am making as much as I would have had I gone to college… and I am doing some really cool shit.