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Celestial Traveler
Random Observer



Registered: 03/03/11
Posts: 7,639
Loc: Idaho
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How feasible is it to acquire university-quality education on a subject without formally enrolling?
#23963147 - 12/28/16 04:04 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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There are certain subjects that I am eager to learn more about, despite not having studied these subjects at all in college. I would like to learn a lot about these subjects without paying for any classes.
I think there are many reasons why many people would want to obtain an informal education in a certain subject/field without receiving a degree for it. Subjects whose value is purely in the knowledge of that subject itself, and not in the formal diploma that declares said knowledge (such as art or entrepreneurship), would fit this bill I believe. In these subjects for example, it would make sense for someone to obtain an equal education through a cheaper, alternative means if one were available, would it not?
In college, most of my classes were pretty much structured around some textbook, and all the class material was centered around the book. So basically, it seems one could learn most (if not all) of the class material of any class by simply reading books.
The real questions are, which books should one read to master a certain subject (or mimic the knowledge of someone who obtained a formal education in that field), and how can you figure out which books are best to read?
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PatrickKn


Registered: 07/10/11
Posts: 20,614
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Re: How feasible is it to acquire university-quality education on a subject without formally enrolling? [Re: Celestial Traveler]
#23963201 - 12/28/16 04:23 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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It depends what you're trying to study. A lot of universities have videos of their classes open to the public. You just need to acquire the books, if there are any. I'm doing it with a few introductory math classes right now so that I can CLEP out of them, but more advanced courses are available as well.
https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
That's a good site. Lots of universities offer similar stuff as well. Just look around. What you want to study is really up to you as long as it's not lab based.
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pirate-blues


Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,710
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Re: How feasible is it to acquire university-quality education on a subject without formally enrolling? [Re: PatrickKn]
#23963222 - 12/28/16 04:29 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Simply depends on the subject, depends on the type of person you are and how you go about this.
If you're interested in a subject professionally if you can find a way in where you can learn through actual experience, I would personally take that everytime and balance it out with self-study on the side or at least enrolling in public courses(which are available from many ivy league schools, sometimes for free.)
The resources are all there. You certainly don't need to be enrolled at Yale to go through a course at Yale, you just won't recieve the credit or access to the professor beyond their lectures(though if you are looking for a mentor there are many outside of that realm as well).
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nooneman


Registered: 04/24/09
Posts: 14,612
Loc: Utah
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Re: How feasible is it to acquire university-quality education on a subject without formally enrolling? [Re: Celestial Traveler]
#23963348 - 12/28/16 05:23 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Like everyone else has said, it depends on the subject. In general though, it would be difficult. In terms of which books to read, you'd want to start with the same textbooks that are assigned in the actual classes, and ideally you'd watch classes on youtube plus buy the textbook plus doing the exercises it has.
Edited by nooneman (12/28/16 05:24 PM)
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CookieCrumbs
Fucked off to the pub


Registered: 12/10/11
Posts: 14,159
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Re: How feasible is it to acquire university-quality education on a subject without formally enrolling? [Re: nooneman]
#23963515 - 12/28/16 06:27 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Free time is the only time
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