Subject: Re: Perceived Importance of College Hits Record Low 35
We my kid sister WendyBG, I was taught advanced value investing when I was about 11 years old by our grandmother.

I am jealous of that. While we knew our folks did some investing, mostly via annuities and the occasional off beat investments that inevitably failed, like the orange grove acreage in FL, we did not speak about money in our family. Taboo. I took a different approach with our kids, hoping that I could at least offer them some possible ways to bypass some of my errors. They had their own to make, so why duplicate mine? One thing in particular that I noted as a kid was that it rather took my parents by surprise when they realized they could retire early. At 19 I figured if they could stumble into it, maybe I could actively get there faster by paying attention to retirement funding. Spoiler alert...we did.

I always liked science, and went to a STEM high school school on steroids.

We were rarely exposed to science, and I discovered Chemistry in College when I started trying to understand nutrition based remedies for heart disease, when Dad was facing the need for a triple bypass. It was so cool that someone could finally provide me with ways to answer the eternal WHY something happens, instead of just telling me to memorize it. I was raised very focused on foreign language education and had little concept of other possible career choices. I did not ever want to be responsible for truncating the curiosity of a child of mine, thus the recommendation to explore all when you can and it's free to do so. Make good use of your electives!

I absolutely believe that the broader the field that you are exposed to, the more likely you will find an analog as a novel solution in a different field.

YES. If you live in a box, how will you ever learn to think outside of it?

While there may be an advantage to getting a job by acquiring the appropriate college degree, your success in that job is more likely to be dependent on you previous experience.

Just getting a degree isn't enough anymore, in this day and age when graduates also have to prove they are able to function in an adult world. It's no longer a given. Why not give yourself an advantage in the career search by providing direct experience in the field you are looking to enter?

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