I need your guys opinions please
 

Alright, In August I started my first semester at college. Going in I had no idea what I wanted to study, and still have no idea; I am kind of thinking about doing either Political Science or Business, but neither of those interest me a whole lot. Before I got accepted I briefly looked into WyoTech in Blairsville, Pa; and now im really starting to wonder whether I should have done that instead. I really love cars, but I never really had the time and resources to work on them when I was in high school. So my question is should I drop out of college and go to WyoTech to find out if cars,etc is really what I want to do, or stay at college and just get a business major or something. Thanks a lot guys.
Derek

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

Do you like to get your hands dirty or not?

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that is probably the best question you need to ask yourself. With a business degree you will be doing something at a desk or on a computer for the rest of your life, with the opportunity to work on a car on the weekends. If you go to Wyotech you will be working on cars for the rest of your life, but I dont think you would have the opportunity to be a manager on the weekends. My vote would be college. most people here do something for a living other than work on cars, but they still get to put time in on cars when they find it. Plus, you are already in college, so you should jsut stay there and get a degree. Start your own hotrod business and learn from the top notch mechanics you hire.

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Yea, my friend just bought a rex and this weekend im going home to help him work on it and I cant wait :). It frustrates me because getting a business degree or another degree doesnt really appeal to me.

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I'm in college and I seriously want to walk in front of a bus every day. I love working with my hands and I hate paperwork. I've always said I'll never get a job sitting behind a desk but right now my life consists of nothing but sitting behind a desk. :-\


Whatever you go for make sure your serious about it or you won't get far. Go for the degree you want. Its tough to know what you want to do for the rest of your life...

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Its a great idea to work on cars if you love it, but remember when its a job and you HAVE to do it, its looses its fun factor. I have done both desk work and wrenchin and desk work doesn't take a toll on your back! I actually still work with my hands as a tech but I do lots of different things not related to cars.

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it sounds like you want to work on cars, because YOU SAID it interests you, and you also said that the business group does NOT INTERESTS YOU. so drop it and go for wyotech.

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I'd never pay money for a tech school like wyotech/UTI... This ---- can be learned in your backyard. I have had no formal training, and I am the 2nd highest producing flat rate tech at my work.

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whats going to make you happy in life? if you do what you love, the money will follow

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Yeah but how did you get there? Did you know someone who got you in than climbed the ladder?

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damn im all for you dropping college and going to wyotech because I just dont like the fact of going to college for three more years than you have to. Im going to chattahooche Tech to get my auto technician degree and then get ASE certified (1year of schooling only) work for honda and various other car makers save a little money to open my own shop and to build a prof. drag car. These are my plans you can do what you like but if it was up to me ill work on cars and own a automotive business the rest of my life.

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

On the job training. That's what I did. I started off as a 16 year old drugee with no car. Now I'm second highest at my company and drive the most expensive company truck. 8) I get more work done than other crews of 2 by myself.

There is no way I could sit at a desk everyday and do paperwork. Where is the thrill in that? How ------- boring would life be? My handwriting sucks anyways. ::) I hate going to the same place everyday for work. If I have to drive to the same spot more than a week at a time, I get pissed. I need variety. Who wants to see the same scenery day after day? :-\

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Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

My boss saw that I had mad skills washing cars, so he knew what was up ;)

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The only thing is if I go to WyoTech, get a job working on cars and get sick of it for some reason, I wont have anything to fall back on. So I dont know, why the hell does this have to be so difficult >:(

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

Go to college unless you absolutely love cars. Its better to be caked up and not have time to play than play all the time and have no dough....feel me??

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Stay in college. These days it doesn't matter what degree you have. The important thing is that you have one. If you have a degree in basket weaving, you will have shown that you can be taught, and that's all companies want to know anyway. Trade schools have always sucked, and probably always will. Stay in college. ;)

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This is a classic "does the man make the money or the money make the man" thread. I know plenty of people without college degrees who make good money, couple of them are millionaires. On the other hand, you'll never get anywhere in corporate America without a degree. It just depends on what you like to do. If you are self motivated and you aren't interested in the degrees you're thinking of pursuing, you would probably be happier and possibly make more money pursuing an interest in cars. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you need a degree. Period. But I can't really see how you'd be happy doing that. :-\ IMO being happy with your job=way more money than somebody who is only in it for the pay.

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That is very true, but I was only given two options for this guys life. :D ;D

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This is very true, even if I didnt make as much money working on cars, I think I still would be happier. I'd rather be excited to go to work every day rather than making more money and hating my job. This is such a hard decision though, I wish i knew what the hell to do :-\

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Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

stay in school.

I like cars, but it's called a hobby.

I'd rather go to school get a degree and do a job that I rather not do but get PAID. Hell that's why I am in school now. I go to UC Irvine, passing up the chance to go to UC Riverside. UC Riverside woulda been a whole lot easier, but people like the title so I go to the school with a better rep.

To me it's all about the money, when you have the money you will be happy cause then you will be able to afford what you want.

School is very important.

And just to tickle you a little, my pop's friend's daughter graduated from UC Riverside with a BA in business and before she even graduated she had job offers the most being a 100k a year ;)

So think about where you want to be in life, living at home with mom or owning you own house.

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

By the way i'm not saying that you can't make it in life without a degree. I know people that do. Tough desicion yes, I think about it too, but I'm still in school :)

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

they`ve said it all:

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

i was faced with a similar dilema recently. about 9 months ago i quit my job at a more corporate company to take a pay cut and work at chopperworks building custom motorcycles. problem is, i am working more for less money, in the same trade as i was before. i love the product that i produce, like the people i work with, but i have zero funny money. i can't even afford to take my wife out for dinner. this is why i am continuing my education towards my ba in mechanical engineering.

when it comes down to it...loving to work on your car and your friends' cars and working on cars period can be two totally different things.

if you don't like your current situation then change it until you are satisfied. just don't expect ---- to get handed to you.

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I worked in a body shop all the way till the day I left for boot camp. the day I left, i still went in and finished my last project. :P

I have been workin on cars for as long as I remeber, and dam, do i miss it. i help work on a few cars, projekteg's and a few of my other friends...but nothing like I used to.

so i said ---- it. workin on cars is alot more than a hobby to me. now, im signed up for wyo tech i will be in wyoming in october.

there is alot of money to be made in the industry. and like jeff said, you dont need an edcuation to get into the industry. but its alot harder to get into it if you dont have some kinda proving background.

you just cant walk up to a shop and say hey, ive rebuilt a few motors, im the shadetree mechanic in the neighborhood, can i have a job. it just doesnt work that way.

something you should know about wyo tech though, is they dont specialize in 1 type of auto like some of these other schools. you get an overview of the automobile, from bumper to bumper.

other places will train you in one specific area. if thats what you want. although, i couldnt find a school in the states to offer honda. i even emailed honda.

ok, this is enough, anymore and you wont read it. but, its my $.02

Re:I need your guys opinions please
 

If you wash my car will it make the turbo stop smoking? That's the kind of mad skills I would like to see in a car wash technician ;D

ps - on topic, I went to a computer school and I'd trade my degree in any day for jeff's knowledge. I just get tired of working on my own car...

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I went to the local community college auto department last year and it sucked so much ass I couldn't believ the pure level of ass sucking. I slept most of the time, yet I answered more of the teacher's questions than anyone else in the class. I went in there and taught the teacher some ---- because he was so ------- stupid. I learned so little in that class I feel like I would have done better staying at home and working on my car rather than sitting in class forever then using the left over time to work on my car. I really really hope wyotech isn't the same as that since everyone is all on its jock and ----.

statistically you'll do better getting a degree, but statistics are for people that rely on things other then themselves. if you have the confidence to do something then go out and get that ----, if not then do what people say is right.

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This is too ------- much, I feel like since nothing at college really interests me I have no motivation. ---- even if I did go to WyoTech I would come out of it knowing a lot even if I decided it wasnt anything more than a hobby. I figure if I go to WyoTech and decide that I dont want to work on cars for a living i could always go back to college ???

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Thats no ---- Jeff, 3 years ago i couldn't even tell you what a dipstick was. Now i can fully rebuild Honda engine know what bot and nut goes where and name everything and what they do with my eyes closed. I thank my exbest friend and all the people on this website. But it's amazing in this town i live in they hire people like my sister to work at a carquest(shes so ------- stupid when it comes to cars i bet she couldn't even show you where the steering wheel is on a car) also can't forget my brother, didn't even know what a crankshaft looks like and he works a car maintence place and i can't get a ------ job at any car parts/maintence/mechanic place. This town sucks thats why good thing im moving down to Texas in acouple months.

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I don't really understand this...you don't need a degree to work on cars IMO. It's simple....if something comes apart it HAS to go back together- I don't know much about cars but i know that...
I really don't know too much ---- about cars but i'm sure anyone with some motivation, time and books(maybe) could tackle any type of car problem.

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I understand this but it would be a lot easier to get a job in the field with the degree than just telling them you have rebuilt some motors and done this and that

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alright, let me saw your car in half, then you can put it back together.

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do what you love to do, but keep in mind that being a mechanic is hard work, and lots of skill. if it's alot money you're after, then get ready to put in 6 years of school and basicaly having no life in those 6 years.

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if you want to be an ase ceritified mechanic, all you need to do is pass an exam and write down a reference (could be a fake reference) that you've worked as a mechanic for 2 years. that's it! but the test would be rather difficult for you since you haven't been a mechanic for 2 years, but you can study and if you fail you can take it again in 4 months. check with your community college, or city tech school about the testing, or the ase certification people themselves, search on the internet.

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Depends you can make alot of money being a mechanic, my friend down in Huston, Texas is going to UTI and he said that at this BMW dealer the electrician makes 120,000 a year i think thats good enough pay for anyone, ---- my dad makes 60,000 a year and we live just fine, i can't image 120,000 a year damn.

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you have to remember that the cost of living is different in different places. you could live fat off of $50,000 if you're single and just have an apartment where I live, but take that same $50,000 a year to southern california and you'd be lucky to survive living in your car.

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So your telling me in califorina 10,000 a month isn't enough to support a family of lets say 3 or 4? I think that would be some decent living almost anywhere cost of living isn't that big of difference. I'm not saying it won't be more expinsive i believe that but come on how many can of you here can say you make 10,000 a month.

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my example was hugely disproportioned, but the idea is that cost of living differs in different areas.

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well, its 12:23 am and i still have a ------- half of a 3 page paper left to write

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True, True. ;D I was just stating 10,000 a month is good enough for me, i'd save up and buy a Skyline after having some really awesome decked out Honda's.