College...College...College...

[Owen]

Well, it's my junior year in high school and it's time to look at colleges. The only issue is...I have no idea on earth what I'm going to do. I know for a fact I'm going to be going into business, like I really don't want to do anything else. I love the stock market and all that stuff. When I'm not doing business stuff 24/7 I feel so empty. Anyways, I have been looking at a lot of successful entrepreneurs and investors. Most of them have like liberal arts degrees for their bachelors. I want to be an entrepreneur, I love starting companies. I understand I should go for a bachelor's degree in whatever I want to pursue in business whether it's engineering or science in whatever, but what about an MBA? I heard you really shouldn't get one especially for entrepreneurs, but is that true?

[vangogh]

Don't worry about what other people did. You don't have to major in the same thing as some of the entrepreneurs you've read about. I'd guess the reason you see liberal arts come up in their backgrounds is because they're people with a lot of interests and people who are well versed in a variety of subjects. What you should take from that is the idea that you should learn about a lot of different things. They don't all have to be in college, though. Learning never stops.

You have a few years before deciding about an MBA and I promise by the time you have to make that choice you'll have a better idea if it's something you want to pursue. I would think the people you read about decided that they were ready to start out in business after a few years in college and didn't feel the need to spend more time earning more degrees. I'm sure there other entrepreneurs who did get an MBA.

My point is everyone is on their own path through life. You have to find your own. Go to school to learn something you want to learn. Don't worry whether or not some other person chose to learn the same thing.

Some majors like engineering will have classes you need to take as early as your freshman year if you want to keep up. Most (like liberal arts or business), will have more flexibility in the classes you take and when you take them. You'll probably find there are a number of classes that you'll be able to apply to a lot of different majors. Why not start with those classes in your freshman year? They'll probably help you know better what you want to major in.

Also know that you aren't limited by whatever you learn in college. You'll have plenty of opportunity after to learn different things.

Having said all that, I think liberal arts degrees are more valuable than a lot of people think. Unless you do want to become something like an engineer where you have to get started on the schools program from day one, a variety of courses can help make you more well-rounded in your knowledge. The variety can also help you better understand how to learn on your own after school.

The main thing is to choose to learn something you want to learn and you think will be valuable to you throughout life. That and don't worry too much about the decision, because you'll have plenty of opportunities to learn other things after school.

[tallen]

A liberal arts college should, regardless of your major, teach you something about critical thinking, problem solving, writing and communicating, how to learn for yourself, and understanding the human condition as well as natural world around us. These represent skills and knowledge that are applicable across a broad range of endeavors. More narrowly focused professional programs will emphasize specific skills and knowledge essentially useful only within that profession (as it has been practiced up to the present, but not necessarily as it will be practiced in the future...). In either case, it will still be up to you to sell yourself and show that you can solve the problems a potential employer is hiring to have solved.

I believe that there are MBA programs that are dedicated to entrepreneurship, but in any case an MBA comes later, after college -- it is a graduate degree. You still need to get a Bachelor's degree first.

[turboguy]

You are still young and as you go the direction you want your life to take will become more clear. Keep in mind as well that it is very common for someone in school to envision their life going one way and out in the real world they may make a major change. An MBA will be a plus but that is way down the road.

[Harold Mansfield]

You have to do what's right for you. An MBA would certainly help you get your foot in the door in a start up or to get some corporate experience.
It would also help you know how to run a start up of your own.

A lot of people without degrees will tell you that you don't need one to be successful, and for SOME people that CAN be true.
And then they'll bring up all of the college drop outs like Gates and Jobs (which is like bringing up Einstein and Edison). But what they don't tell you is that those 2 (exceptional genius) people may have been drop outs, but when they got going they hired people with degrees to run the thing, market it, design it, raise money, protect their intellectual property, and take it to the next level.

In any successful organization today there's only room for very few people without degrees and those are usually the founders. Everyone else (with the exception of a few bad ass programmers) has degrees or at least significant college or experience.

Whatever you decide to do in college make sure learning how to program is on your list. If you learn nothing else, come out of college with programming skills in as many languages as you can learn. Given your interest in technology, software and application design you would be well served learning how to actually do that so that you are the top dog in your own start up and know what you're talking about in order to manage and direct others to do what you want.

[WPCarer]

I'm 22 and just out of my undergraduate degree so I'm not sure how qualified I am to give you advice... BUT....

In Ireland things are a little different in our third-level system, you choose your 'major' before you apply to college so you spend your time in college studying one subject (I chose English Literature, because i wanted something employable... NAAAT i panicked and chose the subject i was best at in school!) A liberal arts degree in the American college system sounds great, because you get to study things you enjoy/were good at in school alongside skills you see yourself using in your working life (I also recommend learning code, I'm trying to get into a Masters in Digital Media for that reason right now).

Anyways, I don't have enough life experience to tell you what to do (and I don't think anyone can really tell you what to do!) but just my experience!

Iseult

[Owen]

Thanks for the advice! I would like to do computer engineering and learn software development and start my own software company. That would be so cool! What are the best schools for that?

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks for the advice! I would like to do computer engineering and learn software development and start my own software company. That would be so cool! What are the best schools for that?

Can't help you there. Wasn't a lot of that offered when I went to college. You're going to have to do some foot work with your parents on your best options. Maybe talk to your school guidance counselor or any career help that they offer. In your area of the country you are surrounded by schools with great technology curriculums.

[billbenson]

IMO schools don't matter that much. Particularly when the odds are that you won't end up doing what you went to school for. I have a strong belief that higher education teaches you how to learn, particularly at your age. You can do that on your own. School is good though.

I suspect that most of the regular members on this board have degrees. I have an engineering degree. I'm a career salesman, albeit technical stuff.

If you can afford it, go to college. My advice, though, is to study those courses on your own that are important. Business stuff, accounting, statistics, programing, etc.You can do this on your own.

[tallen]

You are still in high school, though, so you can't just let that slide while focusing on the future -- working hard and getting the best grades you can in the toughest honors-level courses you can take while still in high school will open many more college doors for you than coasting along in the general-level courses.

[Freelancier]

I would like to do computer engineering and learn software development and start my own software company.There's a difference between learning how to do a particular skill and running a company where that particular skill is put to great use. An engineering or software degree will (by necessity of trying to cram a lot of information into four years) be limited in what you learn about how to start a business. You'll have electives, use those for that knowledge.