Is it possible to think like, and come across as, a college educated individual if I have never been to college...

Is it possible to think like, and come across as, a college educated individual if I have never been to college? I was able to get a decent job without a degree, but now I'm wondering how to be a well-read, intelligent individual. Can I accomplish this on my own? Or is engaging in academia a vital part of the process of learning how to be a good thinker? Any book recommendations on what thinking like a college educated person is like?

yes

people who just study their undergrad are glorified highschoolers

>humanitard tries to justify wasted years
wew

Of course?

Most college graduates don't sounds like college graduates these days

college has nothing to do with anything
its just a piece of paper that says you're a certified widget

Have you read Youth in Revolt, OP? I'd recommend that book if you're worried about sounding smart.

Your method of thinking evolves with maturity and experience. College can give you the latter in spades, but the former is up to your own physical composition/upbringing. A lot of the stuff taught in college is absolutely bogus too, but you only realize it after you've been out in the real world. I think this is the rationale behind Peter Thiel's movement to get people to drop out. Not only do you learn a great deal just by getting older, but college can actually be worthless from an academic standpoint too.

I got an economics degree from a big state party school, but if I could do it all over again, I would just get the cheapest and fastest bachelor degree I could find. A four-year degree is a requirement for many professional certifications, but it is definitely not a requirement if seeking respect. Many of my highly 'educated' colleagues become glazed-eyed retards if you try to talk to them about anything other than work, their hobbies or sports.

You're on the right path but I'd argue the opposite--specifically go for the highly elite non-applied major(no CS, no Econ). Even there you'll find people who certainly aren't in for any reason other than the paper slip. You'll still be able to get a job when you get out, but you'll also be able to communicate with a select group of people about whatever it is you studied.

For real life the majority of people you interact with won't be able to tell the difference unless you're a mouth breather but it's super satisfying for the occasional time when you get to converse on a higher level.

You'd be surprised by how dumb college educated people can be.

College fag who did some doctoral work before giving up on academia.

90% of college grads are still functioning on the high school level.

Education is a lifelong commitment.

You don't need an 8 year degree to be smart, well read or informed.

Most majors are a waste anyway so unless you want to get into hard sciences or mechanical engineering you don't need college.

Read everyday and you'll be able to outwit professors.

What is the easiest "hard science" to get into? Do you mean something like Dentistry or Optometry?

You're conflating two unrelated categories.
"College educated individuals" aren't "academia."

In particular I can't thing of any traits or characteristics that would describe "college educated individuals" as a class. Even thinking of such a diverse group of people as a class just shows status anxiety on your part.

Academia is an entirely different world. Those are the lifers, and no, you cannot be academically credible unless you have participated in that environment.

Hard science refers to:

Chem, Bio, Mechanical Engineering, Math, Medicine, etc.

Light science is Econ, neuroscience, business etc. (These are largely worthless, some throw psych in to this category). Neuroscience is worth it for premed or if you want a phd in it... aside from that it's a meme degree.

Easiest hard science on the Bachelor's level is probably Bio. Biochemistry and Math are hardest. Certain types of chem are insane too

>business
>science

>business
>worthless

>how to spot an assblasted lab rat

It is worthless. Business schools are a joke and most major companies want math or engineering over business/econ. Not to mention the most successful CEOs are mostly dropouts or graduates of real sciences or humanities.

People who study the sciences that matter actually get things done, business, econ and humanities babies spend all day wondering why they wasted 4 years.

CS should also be paired with light science.

This.
For the most part of my two years in uni, I studied differently than all my peers. Instead of trying to memorize things I first saught the history of the topic, and its implications afterwards. This helped to not only learn material but apply it too.

There's a large difference between someone who thirsts for knowledge and someone who plays the role of a robot to maybe get a job.

Long story short I lost faith in myself because I couldn't connect with anyone on the social level I wanted, so I just began trading options and smoking weed. Dropped out, enlisted (after detox) and made it to SF. These fuckers make me feel like the dullest in the room.

>Business schools are a joke and most major companies want math or engineering over business/econ. Not to mention the most successful CEOs are mostly dropouts or graduates of real sciences or humanities.
This is delusion par excellence. Your wet dreams have nothing to do with reality. C-suite execs without some sort of business/management degree are a rare exception. Saying this as a math major. Grow out of your teenage elitist naivety.

Not being elitist, just being realistic. History/Bio grad here with many friends in math/engineering.

If you're delusional enough to believe a business major means anything that's your problem. There's a reason why every major university encourages their varsity sports players to major in business so their GPAs don't tank, it's a field of study for literal babies.

I work in management consulting and we hire a fuckton of people from both backgrounds. While natural science grads are very well valued, a top school MBA with some work experience has on average much better prospects than a 'to smart' physics PhD. Industry is not academia and aside from research positions nobody really cares just how infinitely intelligent you are - they care about real life skills and achievements.

these guys get it

the majority of my experience has been with

a)undergrads who have no real passion for anything (or at least anything related to the humanities and cultures) and expect to be spoonfed information because that is how they were treated in high school

our academic institutions don't really help with this: 1. getting an arts degree is, pedagogically considered, still a matter of narrowly or broadly specializing in a subject or two without really developing any capacity for general critical thought. most undergrad students in my experience (which is very location-centric, not sure how it is in other countries) expect to be spoonfed information and do virtually no independent research, 2. humanities seems to be the de facto position for stupid, vapid and vain young adults unfit for STEM, economics, etc subjects who think trade or service industry work is above them (i.e. many people who are still "trying to figure out what they are doing with their life").

b) academics who are basically broken insufferable human beings apart from their research abilities, whether it's the younger ones who are too caught up with their work getting published and licking ass to be normal, social human beings, or the older ones who have some sort of tenured position and are comfortable parroting the same couple of lectures year after and who basically ignore any and all argumentation because it doesn't fit with their 20 years of research

c) have also met people who are out of academia or never went and have inferiority complexes (e.g. the "original thinkers", the "good will huntings" and "original artists", the special snowflakes)

d) and then I have met and am friends with people with an exceptional capacity to think critically in general, not subject-specific. Most of them have college degrees, some are in academia, and some are in normal work. Some of them come from highly prestigious schools, but not all of them. When I think about them, I think that they would be intelligent and smart people whether they had the degree or not.

How to be a well read individual: Read a lot.
How to be intelligent: Understand and solve problems dumbfucks can't
How to appear intelligent: Temperance and refinement in speech mixed with impersonal, abstract posturing. Levity and decisiveness in social matters.

so true