university
Short version: left school at 17-1/2, living in South Africa, where University was (and still is) for geniuses or the rich. Parents said "you want to live here, pay rent", so I went straight to work, and moved out on my own a bit over a year later, after they got divorced.

Fast forward 20 years: I moved back to London in 1991, and have lived in Dublin since late 1999. My lack of a university degree has really held me back, career-wise, since it's taken for granted in Europe, to the extent that employers have "a degree - any degree" on all job specs, and people think there's something wrong with you if you don't have one, forgetting that it's not the same everywhere in the world.

I seriously wondered if they were right, but then I went and scored 680 on the GMAT, and get offers from half the MBA schools in Europe, so I know it's not me. I'm probably going to be laid off next year, and hopefully do some full-time study, just 22 years late.

My message? All you FUCKWITS who got free tuition, or now get zero-interest loans for the subsidised fees you pay: if you take it for granted, or piss it all away in the student bar, I have no sympathy whatsoever. The next time you will be able to properly study ANYTHING will be after you retire, at 75, if you make it that far with your brain in one piece.
( bnt what, me worry?, Mon 9 Oct 2006, 23:46, Reply)