College vs No College?

[BingHua]

Hey everyone, right now I'm a junior in high school. Over the last year, I've developed a strong interest towards the field of finance, and have decided that that's going to be my career path. Lately, I've shifted my interests towards quantitative finance. My question to you guys, is should I attend college?

I've always decided that I didn't want to go to college. I feel there are many arguments against going to college. I don't think that (most of) the skills learned in college are applicable to the real world, or even relevant. Also, I think that if I learn on my own, not only will my curriculum be more practical, but also that I will learn more efficiently. I trust that I have enough discipline to study on my own, since I pretty much spend all my free time right now (which isn't that much unfortunately) reading about finance/trading etc.

My main two worries are that:
1. I recently have started to read some quantitative finance books, and I'm having a hard time understanding many of the formulas and the concepts behind the formulas, so I'm worried that this will continue and I won't be able to teach myself the curriculum.

2. Jobs. Considering our current unemployment, and the fact that so many people have college degrees, I'm worried that employers won't even consider an employee without a college degree.

So what do you guys think I should do?

If I should go to college, do you guys have any recommendations (which college, and what major)? I was thinking of a mathematics/computer science double major and here is my college list (it's based completely off of rankings so I have no idea if this is a good list. I haven't looked at any colleges myself).
1. MIT (doubt I can get into it)
2. NYU
3. Berkley
4. Ann Arbor

My GPA: 5.18/6.00 (hopefully going to rise this year)
My Rank: #17/727 (hopefully going to rise)
SAT: I haven't taken it, but I think a good estimate would be around the low 2000s

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joe Ross]

I think you should go to college. Your first job will most likely rely on having the degree.

If you get halfway through and invent something (like Microsoft), then you have an excuse not to finish college.

 

[BingHua]

I think you should go to college. Your first job will most likely rely on having the degree.

If you get halfway through and invent something (like Microsoft), then you have an excuse not to finish college.

Hey are you the Ross Hook Joe Ross?

 

[Joe Ross]

No, I am not. But good job on picking up on the name.

http://commodities.about.com/od/commoditybookreviews/fr/ross-hook.htm

 

[TBeas]

You haven't gone to college, so I don't think you have any argument about whether what learned in college is relevant/practical/whatever.

You're right that you will have trouble teaching yourself the required material. You're right that you would be instantly denied for any position that you actually are striving for because you didn't go to college.

Go to college.

 

[Yike Lu]

Treat this decision as a trade.

You are exchanging four years of your life and tuition (which may or may not be trivial to you) for.... well you should figure out what you would be getting in return and if that's important to you.

You should also figure out if you could potentially do something earth shattering in those four years had you not gone to college.

For most people (who have no idea what they want to do with their life and aren't going to start the next MSFT or AAPL) going to college is a no-brainer trade.