If you could go back in time, would you still take a degree?

Definitely!

Yes I will.

This is the part where Robert Kiyosaki influenced me a lot, and also the part where I love and hate him.

This is an incredibly personal decision as it depends on what you want to do in life.

Certain pathways like salesman and entrepreneurship may not need a degree, however, if you are into Sciences (like me) or finance or technology, you would need a degree.

When I was in university, I was exposed to Robert Kiyosaki, who trademarked the ESBI cashflow quadrant.

For his personal branding and sales, he has a biasness against highly educated people(A students) and/or employees.

It made belittle the importance of degree education in university, however, his teachings also exposed me to the dangers of relying on employers as well as the importance of personal financial management.

From his teachings and worldly experience, I also learnt that not all universities are created equal, in our world, there is something called "for-profits education" where universities will sell you courses much like how investment schools like 8i will sell you investment courses. They are not much different.

What really kicked me in my butt was there was a situation where I was appealing for a request to the school, and the director in charge of the request actually criticised me for not paying my tuition fees before the due date, hence, bad student.

I rebutted him, "It's my money, why are you trying to control how I use my money?" It goes to show that the university, quite a famous one in SG, is not really about providing quality education but it's about profits.

The degree turned out to be very expensive, totally not worth it.

Even so, I would say, depending on what your career path is, you can decide on taking a degree or not. For some career path, perhaps taking internship can be a better decision.

Of course, we must also factor in the fact that most people apply their degree at a young age, usually the 19-23 years old.

At that age, having to make a 20k+ to 60k+ decision, depending on the cost of the education, can be overwhelming. Adults can misappropriated those monies in bad investments, youngsters can too.

At that age, you may not know what you want and end up making a fairly negative decision, eventually ending up in a different job. Hence, you may feel that your degree is useless.

That is probably true, however, it's not the uni's fault, it's not your fault too, it's part of growing up.

Hence, I would say, I would still take a degree, but with my current knowledge, I would be able to make a better decision as to which degree to take.

Not all degrees are created equal, it's an investment of time, money and effor, hence, it's imperative to select the correct one.

Some career paths do not need a degree, but I would definitely avoid for-profits education. Paying too much for too little.

As Warren Buffett says, "Price is what you pay, value is what you get."

If I had the time to think about turning back time, I'd use it to try making more money for my future rather than ruing the decisions of my past...​​​

It's really tempting to think that you have the lower end of the stick when you can only see the struggle at the moment. I would love to challenge you to think, how will you do differently now, so that 4 years later, the older you will not regret where you are now.

A 4 year degree although claimed to be a necessity to a "good job", it is more seen simply as the hustle to attain a single(or 2) piece of paper to just get the ticket into employment. But, do consider the non-tangible gains of pursing degree such as the experiences, the bonds/friendships forged, the networks, the exposure to different knowledge which may not be possible if you interned. Especially if what you pursue requires the degree (example, medicine, nursing, engineering..) it will definitely be a necessary path.

For me, going back in time, I would still do a degree, but what's different is that I won't fill my 24/7 with studying forever. I would have take up hobbies, I would have started personal finance earlier, I would have learnt a new language. I wouldn't have made being a student as the only thing in life. And thats what I'm doing now. Not letting being a salaryman as my ONLY title and activity in my life but filling my days with learning and doing things I won't regret.

So, what will you do different now? :)