I 100% disagree. If you THINK you are an above-average athlete, go for it. who cares at what level (DII, DIII), since this is your only chance in life to see how good you can get. if it's not pro material, who cares, many people are afraid to go after a goal and you will learn many things in "failure". not trying is 100x worse. having fun means being lazy and maybe having zero identity. since you will not be pro in your field, likely, and will likely not know what it's like to be in great shape, part of a team, competing, and having a little stress. great for confidence.
I have never seen trading being taught at a UK Uni. Perhaps in the USA though ?? Surely they don't charge so much for an online course, do they ? There was talk of free online Uni courses but I don't know if it came to anything.
Maybe the problem is me calling it "early admission". More accurately it's referred to as "early decision". And, yes, you do have to sign a contract when you put in your early decision application. You are bound by that contract if accepted. You do not, at the time of your application, know your financial aid package. I talked to a guy just last night about his kids. He's also a journalist. A writer pal of his in New York charges $2000 to brush up a student's application essay - a very important part of the application. Also said parents and colleges are getting cynical about the whole process. A good online degree may be only 70% as good as "regular" college. But it may cost 10% as much. That's not a bad trade-off when so many kids are just coming back to live with mom and dad anyway, or, are waiters and waitresses, like some recent grads I know - and they're good kids.
Kids are getting financially raped by "higher education". You can read a book (50 bucks) and take a test to "prove" you learned the material. The cost would be under 100 dollars. You sit in a classroom, buy the book and listen to an instructor drone on and on about the stuff it your book and pay 2,000 dollars. You take a test to "prove" you understood the book. You add in "Room & Board", Activity fees and an extra 10,000 dollars a year because the school is "well known" and pretty soon you are talking 40 to 50k a year for something that should cost under 2,000 dollars. Employers should want to know ONE THING. Does this employee KNOW what they need to know for an entry level job. SHOULD the employer CARE if the prospective employee paid too much to learn the basics? Education is a scam in America. Too many idiots being conned into spending hundreds of thousands for an opportunity to "buy" a J.O.B. paying lower middle class wages.
Oh, don't get me started about the bullshit "social sciences" courses people are required to take. I ask you this- If an accounting major is required to take " Social issues of the 60's" or some other such nonsense WHY IS IT that a "Social sciences" major is not required to take "Cost Accounting"? Higher education should concentrate 100% on relevant coursework. I don't give a rats ass about unrelated coursework. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
the funniest part is most teachers are democrats, talk about helping the poor, saving the planet.....kids get drunk all weekend (or all week) and think they will save everyone......or create the next iphone while high... then they get their first bill.... and then the second bill... FORGET THE POOR, I'm going to be a capitalist!!! then schools send them letters asking for money from alumni.. LOL then you root for your team on TV in sports... LOL
I apologize for the abruptness of my response, your post was essentially correct. My "nonsense" was a reaction to the preposterous presumption by colleges and universities that they can compel enrollment. (They can't even do this with student athletes who formally commit to a university.) However, your friend is correct in that a deposit toward tuition is required by a specified deadline for admission under the early decision program. Once the deposit is made it will not be returned if the student fails to enroll. Furthermore, although generally speaking financial aid decisions will be made before the deposit is due, in the case of a student not submitting their financial aid request documentation in time for early decision, they may not know the amount of financial aid offered by the time the deposit is due. Schools adopt language in their early decision programs such as: " Early decision admission is binding, meaning that if we admit an applicant and if we make the education affordable, the applicant must pay the admission deposit and enroll that next fall." Obviously, from a practical standpoint the vagueness of "... and we make the education affordable" makes the arrangement nonenforceable. The easiest way to exit, somewhat ingloriously, from this "binding" agreement is simply to not pay the deposit. Many good private schools are dropping this kind of scare tactic language and are going to programs like "early action" instead. I know Harvard has. The student does commit, if admitted by "early action," to attending that specific institution. The penalty for not following through on their commitment amounts to being barred from regular admission at any of the cooperating institutions. The student is still free to apply to non-cooperating institutions simultaneously with their early action application. By the way, that's a very expensive school your friend's kid wants to go to. Surely he can do just as well at a much lower cost elsewhere.
Its waaay to early in the game to call online learning useless. Like all other things it will take many iterations to get it right. I learn online to gain knowledge, not for credits or degrees. This may be the ultimate end game of education in the future. The testing may come when you apply for a job. Just my "speculative" opinion. Someone once asked Albert Einstein what the speed of sound was. he said he had no idea. He said why would I keep that information in my head when I can look it up in a book anytime.
You just put into much better words what I have been trying to explain to friends for some time. Thank you!