School or SKYDIVE?

[tdog 0]

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Wait until you injure yourself jumping with no insurance and the bills start coming in. Getting bills of $1000 here and $5000 there suck enough when you have insurance to pay 90% of them, with no insurance it takes one broken leg to be equal to a years worth of student loans. Get the medical bills of some one thats broken a leg or two recently and imagine paying them off with no insurance on a skydivers pay and you'll see bankrupcy protection is about the only option.

My self-employed friend who installs networks and server farms for large medical practices has a Kaiser Plan designed for catastrophic needs... We were mountain biking at Aspen Mountain. We were doing very technical stuff we should NOT have been doing. Think a student flying a Velocity. Well, we lived, and lived well... But, on the easy stuff we stopped to read a map. He lost his balance while stashing gear from the standing position and tipped over on a rock. The rock was like a razor blade and opened his kneecap...

He lost 1/3 of his blood on the way to the hospital, and we had Aspen Mountain summer Ski Patrol helping (there happened to be a race one trail over, so we only had to go 100 yards for a medic.)

Well, the knee required a scope and cleaning... $45,000 in medical bills AFTER Kaiser applied their scheduled fees. He had a 20% co-pay with a $10,000 limit... Well, do the math. 20% of $45,000 = $9,000...

He STILL is trying to pay that off...

Lesson learned... If someone does not have health insurance, they are risking a lot of $$$ by walking across the street, not including things like snowboarding, mountain biking, or skydiving...

I am not very political, but I am in for health care reform big-time. This is a great reason to get a "real" job and skydive as a hobby... You are right Phree!

[Linas120 0]

I'm 22 right now & I have already done half of my master's degree. I also work & I'm financially independent from anyone. Since 13, when I started jumping, I really had lots of time to think about whether to make my living out of skydiving or not. I chose the latter option. Why? Two things:
- What if I injure myself really bad and had to quit the sport? Be packer for the rest of my life????
- One of the reasons why I enjoy this sport so much is that I have to work for 5 days and then get the maximum amount of pleassure on the other 2 while jumping. When you have to wait for something, it makes you enjoy the moment so much as it comes.

School is shit, but life cannot be good 24/7

PS. If you haven't sold your Stellar reserve yet, I still might consider buying it.

[Kimblair13 0]

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ENLIST

Uh, did that already. Joined the guard anyway, when I was 18. I'm in ROTC at the UofO too. Skydiving is just sooo much more fun.

Anyone know how in need the Golden Knights are for a female skydiver?

[azureriders 0]

It may be long, but please read, I have been where you are at and I dropped school. Just my experience

Stay in school, it is the logical answer.

Now with that said, I dropped out of college in my third semester. I worked for a few more months and then opened my own business at the age of 20. That was 12yrs ago, I still love my work and make more $ than 'most' of my college friends. I hated college life more than anyone you have ever met and I do not regret quitting because I hated that part of my life. Now, when sitting at a business metting with 10 other business owners all talking about where they got their 'first' degree, they are amazed at my ability to not only stay afloat, but be competitive in the business world with no degree. You do not have to have a college education to make it in this world, but it is still the logical thing to do. Its only four years of you life. The reward is something that nobody can take from you. It may just give you what you need to fall back on. Everybody here keeps saying to get a degree and jump off the money you make with it. I say get a degree and put it in your pocket, go do the things you love and if you can make it doing these things why would you consider doing anything else. If you learn that you can not make it or if you get injured, then pull out that degree and go from there. Now some will tell you that a college degree must stay current just like a USPA license, if you stay out of the field too long you can't get a job with the degree anyway. This is not totally true. Talk to your advisors and they will help you find a major that you can sit on for a while and still find a job.

Also, people with college degrees are biased and say that is the only way to go. Well how do they know, they have never went any other way. Just because they felt insecure about making it with out a degree doesn't mean that you can not make it. Although a degree is probably the safest route.

This is kind of like investments. You have low risk investments that will almost always provide a yield, although it will most likely be a small yield. Then you have high risk investments that have risk of no yield at all but also a chance of a very high yield. Investment firms teach us to invest enough of our money to retire on in low risk funds so that we will atleast be able to retire. After that it is wise to invest some money into higher risk funds in the hope that they will pay off big and we can retire wealthy, but if not we still have those low risks to fall back on.

Your life is the same. Get your degree first, that is your low risk. Then go do the things you love. You will enjoy life like most can only dream and you may even make more money, but if not, you can always fall back.


Ask around and you will be amazed at how many college grads get up every morning strike off to a job they don't like just to make that secure money that mom and dad said they had to have to exist, but the amazing part comes when you see how many of them work for some high school drop out that loves life.


Conclusion:
1) get a degree
2) do what you love to do and let no one stop you
3) have the degree to fall back on

After reading this post I hope anyone can see that I dont think a degree is a MUST in life nor do I regret quitting college, but read it carefully and ask yourself if I wish I had a degree?

[skybytch 259]

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say skydive. With a couple of caveats, though.

First off, if you're going to be working in skydiving medical and disability insurance are not optional, they are must haves. As is a savings account containing enough to pay your basic living expenses for at least a couple of months - call it "fuck you money" (so you can always tell an asshole boss "fuck you, I'm outta here").

Second, set a time limit on how long you'll do this - one season, two years, whatever. You don't have to go back to school or join the real world at that point; just look at where you're at, where you want to go and if you're still happy with what you are doing.

Third, be sure you can deal with not making a lot of money. You probably won't be driving a nice car, owning a nice house, traveling first class and having lots of material items while you're skydiving for a living. Some people can't imagine life without those things; be sure you aren't one of them.

I'd be a lot better off financially if I'd made different decisions along the way (going to college, not quitting a decent paying job, etc), but I also wouldn't have done and seen and experienced what I have if I'd taken the "traditional" route. I feel that what I've done, seen and experienced make up who I am, and I kinda like me this way.

Regardless of what you choose, the other will always be there.

[migliore 0]

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See that's the thing. I know people with 4 year degrees and I've made more than them skydivng than they do at their job!

That might be true right now, but it's a bit short-sighted. What about 30 years from now? The other people will probably all be making 6 figures and have plenty of benefits and savings. I am sure most on here will attest that making 6 figures is skydiving almost unheard of. (There might be a few exceptions for some DZO's or world champions, but not many.)

I will also back up some others by saying if you truly don't like what you're studying (not just that it's hard), change fields or schools. College is so much better when you like what you're doing. And I'm not just rambling about something I know nothing about...I'm in my 10th year of college (BS + MS + PhD).

Good luck in your search!

Shane

[Andy9o8 0]

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Regardless of what you choose, the other will always be there.

I respectfully disagree with 50% of that.
The sky will always be there.
With a mountain-ful of responsibilities that come with being a bit older, the opportunity to get that degree may not always be.

[SwampGod 0]

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More Education = more options
Less education = well, you get the picture

I'm all for keeping one's options open, but I don't believe school will necessarily deliver the options you desire. School might be part of the right path for you... but then again it might not.

I have a four-year degree, and don't feel I wasted any time (as I had a lot of fun), but didn't further my professional development.

See... I haven't used my degree once. Not once. I dabbled for a bit after graduation, and quickly realized how out of place I was in corporate America.

Instead, I've spent my post-grad life figuring out how to work within a sport I love and be responsible enough to get self-employment health insurance. I even sometimes wish I had started working within skydiving earlier, not wasting time on an Ivy League education that is meaningless in the world of skydiving (which I love about the sport, by the way).

Making a living within skydiving isn't always easy, but neither is staying happy in cubicle-land. At least for me. (I'd spend the extra money I make on higher rent and therapy, anyway...)

Maybe I'll use my degree someday. But will the material I learned still be relevant then?

I can guarantee one thing -- school takes time. Years even. I'd call them wasted years if they're miserable. And people don't believe darkwing when he says he'd rather not see young people spend years unhappy?

Here comes a generalization: I would think that skydivers would appreciate that life is short. I'm not suggesting we should all abandon all future planning, but why is school and corporate-sponsored health insurance the only smart way to go? Why are we pushing someone to endure something that is not truly the only path?

There are some jobs that require a degree, ANY degree as a qualification for hire. There are also jobs that require drug testing. Over time, I've found myself staying away from both. Not just because of what they require, but what they tend to mean about the job itslef, and the people I'll be spending half my waking life with.

But that's just me...

-eli

[airtwardo 6]

Maybe I'll use my degree someday. But will the material I learned still be relevant then?

***

You do use your degree, you just may not realize it....

As I was told in an interview once, the sheepskin, if nothing else shows prospective employers that you can stick with something until completion.

I always vowed, while I was in school...that I would NEVER let my schooling interfere with my EDUCATION!

I was on the 6 year plan...made a lot of skydives, a lot of 'connections' got a couple of degrees and no felonies....

I too have never used my degrees in the way they were probably meant to be used...but I have used them...and don't regret a moment of the time I spent earning them!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[bob.dino 0]

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There are some jobs that require a degree, ANY degree as a qualification for hire. There are also jobs that require drug testing. Over time, I've found myself staying away from both. Not just because of what they require, but what they tend to mean about the job itslef, and the people I'll be spending half my waking life with.

I don't feel I have enough experience to reply to the rest of the thread, but the above sentiment is something I will second.


Apropos of nothing, there's an saying in Ireland: "Americans live to work, Irish people work to live." It was in common currency when I left in the late nineties. Life is all about balance; how you achieve that balance is up to you...

[skybytch 259]

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With a mountain-ful of responsibilities that come with being a bit older, the opportunity to get that degree may not always be.

I'll be a forty year old college freshman in a couple of months. School will always be there too.

And who says you have to take on more responsibilities as you get older?

[Witelli 0]

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See that's the thing. I know people with 4 year degrees and I've made more than them skydivng than they do at their job! I can guarantee they're not having as much fun either!

Remember, skydiving is a luxury for newbies. Although business has been good lately, it is likely to take a nose dive, real soon. People's houses have doubled in value over the past 4 years. Interest rates have been at an all time low. I'm sure many have refinanced and taken out all the equity they can. That's why you see so many $40,000 cars on the road. Well my friend, rates are going up and property value is now going down. Reality is setting in. People are going to be broke real soon. I don't think you'll make much money in 2 or 3 years from now as a TI. Just my $.02.

Also, I'm 32 and have been going back to school part time and I have a wife and 3 kids. It's going to take me 4 years now to finish up my B.S. degree and I already have an A.S. under my belt since I was 21. It kills me to sit in class instead of being at the dinner table with my kids. Get it over with. 2 years aint shit!!!

[Squeak 17]

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I am on the faculty of a university, and I hate to see people wasting time and money being in school when they don't want to be. Quit school and do anything else rather that being in school and hating it. Go to school when you want to, not sooner. The large majority of faculty I know feel similarly.

I took an 8 year break and ended up being a 26 year old freshman. I still got a PhD though, and I have no regrets about my path.

i HAVE TO AGREE HERE TOO
I'm a teacher and would recommend not staying aT COLLEGE DOING STUFF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN.(lap top keyboards suck)
Defer for a year and work or travel and try to figure out what it is you want to do at college. At the end of that year re-assess your situation.
BTW I finished school at 15, then went back at 30 and started Uni at 31, there is ALWAYS time to learn

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Guest 1010]

>>
I'd like to go somewhere warm and live the dream.
<<

There's lots of good (and varied ) advice in this thread.

If the thought of transferring your ROTC scholarship to San Diego State University next semester (where it was sunny and 85 today) perks you right up, and you'd expect to be happy as could be going to school, getting tan, and doing jumps/tandems on those warm weekends and evenings, then IMHO you are at the wrong school. Head someplace warm and go to school close to a dz. (btw SDSU apps for Fall 2006 have to be in by January 17th, next semester is probably out.)

If that doesn't sound attractive, most else I could say is covered up thread. Me? I have a 4 yr degree which I finished when I was 28, and prefer to hire people with them now, but I don't think it is at all a necessity to do it right out of high school. The major makes a difference: sociology (not worth much), or business? My wealthiest friends are construction contractors, high school and bookkeeping courses were enough for them, as entrepreneurs.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[Eule 0]

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Dudes, dudets! I'm 20. I'm 2 years into school at the University of Oregon. Don't have any good
reasons why I'm going. IT SUCKS! Should I stick with it, or go have some fun while I'm young and
SKYDIVE!

I'm in my early 30s. When I got out of high school, I started going to college for an engineering degree.
Three semesters into it, I figured out that I didn't really want to do that. I took one semester off, then
went back to college and got a comp sci degree. Every "real job" (i.e., comes with insurance and/or
pays enough money to make a serious dent in the rent/mortgage/bills) that I've had for the past ten
years has been as a result of having that degree.

One thing I noticed, particularly after I switched to the comp sci degree, is that there were some people
that really seemed to be struggling. In talking to a few of them, one thing seemed to be common: they
had decided on the comp sci degree by looking at some list of "Degrees that will make you a lot of
money" and picking one. They didn't really care about computers one way or the other - they just
wanted the cash - so they couldn't bring themselves to really get into the studies. The people (like me)
who had been playing with computers since they were in grade school and who would probably play
with computers whether they were getting paid or not seemed to do a lot better in the program.

Since then, I have worked at a different university as an adjunct professor and I see the same thing. I
mostly work with mechanical engineering students and the ones that swap car engines on the weekends
for fun seem to do better at it than the people that are there only because "engineering == big bucks".

My "standard" advice to somebody just out of high school or early in college is to figure out what you
_really_ want to do, and study that in college. Sometimes you think you want to do something, then
you start to study it and figure out you really don't like it - when that happens it's OK to change your
major. Over half of the college graduates I know didn't get a degree in the same thing they were
majoring in when they started college. Changing your major twelve times is probably not a really good
idea, but changing it once, twice, or maybe even three times can work.

Something else. When I was in college, the placement office would give seminars on how to write up
and send out your resume and things like that. One of the things they said is that whenever a company
places a job ad, they'll get a huge stack of resumes, and they have to filter it down somehow. I sort of
believed this, but I never experienced it for myself until a year or so ago. The small company I was
working for needed to hire someone for a fairly specialized technical position. The ad ran once in the
paper on Sunday. The salary wasn't in the ad, but anybody doing some basic web searches would have
figured out that it was a small company and probably not able to be completely competitive with some of
the "big name" companies in town. Despite all that, we got a stack of like 25 resumes. My boss looked
through them and handed the whole stack to me, because I understood a little better what kind of skills
the company was looking for. I didn't filter by degree; I went through the whole stack and tried to see
who had relevant experience. On the other hand, my boss made it clear that I could take my time to do
that; he wasn't expecting quick answers. Once I read through that, I could see how some HR person
at a large company could put out an ad for an entry-level job, get a stack of 100 resumes, and either
spend a week going through them all, or figure out a way to get rid of some of them. Having a degree
or not is a quick way to do that, since that's usually prominently shown on a resume.

Something else that has already been mentioned: the "f-ck you" fund. This is absolutely the right thing
to do IMHO. Once you're working, as soon as you can, get some money stashed back that's enough to
live on for a few months. Usually this will be at least a few thousand dollars. Don't spend this pile of
money on a new rig or on a Vegas weekend with lots of hookers and beer or whatever. Just keep it in
the bank, maybe in a CD or similar. At some point in your working life, you'll probably get into a job that
isn't exactly what you want, but the people there will try to force unreasonable things on you, because
they believe that you _have_ to work there. They'll try to convince you that if you pull that cutaway,
you're gonna die. When you do pull it and fall away, they'll say, "See!!!" Then you pull the reserve money
(that they didn't know about) and float on down. The look on their faces when this happens is really
great - try to get video. In a further analogy with jumping, if you find yourself pulling the reserve money
handle often, you might need to sit down and consider why that is. But pulling it only when you _really_
need it can save your sanity and is usually fun as well.

I hope this helps!

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[peregrinerose 0]

School is only lame if you haven't figured out what your place in the world is and found that major that really makes you happy. You may want to consider a different school/major, but definitely finish.

I have 2 graduate degrees, love my 'full time' job, but still make a few extra bucks as a packer on the weekends which keeps me at the DZ every weekend. You really can have it all.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[riddler 0]

What's your degree?

Engineering? Finance? Law? Tough it out and get the degree. You will be able to buy a rig and do more skydives, spend time in tunnels and got to boggies with the extra money. Trust me on this one.

Art History? Liberal Arts? I say drop it and go to the DZ. You will make more money as a skydiver

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[wmw999 2,170]

I started skydiving in college, 30 years ago. I finished college while skydiving little. But I was interested in finishing college. I'd also taken a year off college in the middle.

As long as you don't make life steps that make it impossible to go back to school (e.g. nice car with a car note, buying a house, expensive apartment) there is nothing wrong with taking the scenic route through college. If you're 30 and just setting on a career, then you can spend 25 to 35 years in that career and retire at a normal age. That's a long time.

The keys are to get a variety of experiences while you can, and to make sure that you don't encumber yourself financially so that you can't go back to school. If you're skydiving, then you have to face the insurance spectre. If you're on your parents' insurance, you can only stay on it as long as you're in school at least 12 hours probably.

Maybe transferring somewhere close to a DZ and taking a class or two that's fun while you also have a couple of "real" jobs. There's nothing wrong with real-world experience. You'll probably get to 50 (or whatever) regardless of what you do. Make sure that what you do in the meantime is worth the time it took.

But, again -- don't buy a lot of expensive shit that you have to maintain. That's how you can afford to go back to school when you do have a direction. Really. Honest.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[kelpdiver 2]

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I'll be a forty year old college freshman in a couple of months. School will always be there too.

And who says you have to take on more responsibilities as you get older?

That's always true, yet few of my friends that left school ever went back. I certainly have no interest being in school again. The nice thing about the 'real world' is that for most people, when you leave the office, you're free to do whatever. Mid semester, there is always work to be done (or blown off).

It does seem like Kim would benefit from taking the spring semester off and reevaluate at that point. Having a diploma from U of O will be beneficial in introductions to future employers, but worth the time is a different question.

(And the Ducks better find a running game by Saturday)

[Jackpunx 0]

I didnt go to college.. I have a great job.. and skydive,race boat, race cars.. for fun.. Not for work.. I would love to quit my job and do one of my hobbies for a living.. but..
Then it would be a job.. and not a hobby..
Can you do both in moderation?
also...
My point..
I worked very hard to get where i am.. and have lots of people that went to college working for me
Enjoy your life.. but create balance....

[Casurf1978 0]

Yeah I know school can blow big time, but trust on this in the future you want options. A degree gives you these. It sounds to me like you're bored. Have you looked at maybe studying abroad for a semester or year. You think skydiving is fun try spending a year in Europe as a student. Hell take your rig along too.

[kelpdiver 2]

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I worked very hard to get where i am.. and have lots of people that went to college working for me

So you too see the value in the college education.

There are plenty of people who succeed without it, most typically as self employed. But the average incomes show a clear benefit. Owning a business is hard work - I prefer using that excess energy for play.

[Ron 7]

Go to school.
Get a good job THEN
Skydive as much as you want.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Jackpunx 0]

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I worked very hard to get where i am.. and have lots of people that went to college working for me

So you too see the value in the college education.

There are plenty of people who succeed without it, most typically as self employed. But the average incomes show a clear benefit. Owning a business is hard work - I prefer using that excess energy for play.

I agree.. Although I don’t work for myself.. I work for one of the top 3 ISP's in the world. I’m a global business administrator and in charge of our applications world wide... to add.. I’m no where near a nerd.. Just very resourceful
If I had gone to school.. I would have more choices..
I’m not saying not to go to school..
I’m saying that its not everything..

With all that has been said.. You should go to school.. Your almost done.. then you can take a break from it.. Teach skydiving for a while, decide what you want out of life and if working as a skydiver will provide that..

It has been said here already.. But school will give you more choices.