College surfing

This is the right advice OP. Listen to this man.

 

I don't have any of those ailments, but one thing I will always regret, is not getting to the surf sooner. I went to a school that game me an academic scholarship and allowed me to play D1 soccer... When you are 18 years old, planning out your life, you don't know what is what anyway....

It's easy to say, ohh go to Rutgers, or go here. Spend 4 years grinding out... Then when you graduate, take a job on the North Shore in Hawaii...

If you start your life only thinking about where the "safest place is" or the "best job" you will probably be in that mind set for the rest of your life....

So as easy as you could become the 40 year old waiter, living by the beach, enjoying their life, you can also VERY quicly become the guy who graduates at 22, takes the highest paying job in Chichago, swears he will move out to the beach someday, then in your early 60s you retire and can barely walk when you finally find time for surfing....

Im not telling anyone what to do with their lives, but I had an opportunity to go to a few schools that were by the coast and was told my counselors, parents, coaches and everyone else to do what "made the most sense" for my future. Well, Im not a professional soccer player, and I barely use my COMP SCI degree anymore or ever for that matter.... So I am just saying that the most "Calculated" decisions of your life can sometimes lead to a miserable future... Not saying that it will....

But do you know how many times I have heard that story: Ohh, I am going to go to school, ace everything, get a sick job, move to the North Shore and just spend money, surf and work... You know how many people actually do it that way? NONE. It SOUNDS good to talk like that. But everyone I have grown up with, or went to school with, especially my friends that grew up surfing, all have said that... Someday... Once I get through school. Well then came a job. Then came a family, now they are fat, enjoying their jobs, but never followed their dreams...

Dont pick the wrong school or pick a school at all based on us knuckleheads on a surf forecasting website, but be careful not to become the guy who forgot what really mattered to him. If I could rekindle and enjoy the things that mattered to me when I was 18, I think I would be a much more balanced person. You will sought after those things for ever if you never get a chance to touch them.

I am just saying, those guys that "work on wall street all week, and spend all their vacation time traveling on surf trips on mega vacations"... Well, that guy doesn't exist. Cause when you grind all week on Wallstreet, you aint never going to find time to surf, much less get any better.

 

I just re-read my comment, and it sounded bitter, but that wasn't the intention. I don't miss a thing. The day I graduated, I left for CA immediately and followed my dreams. Enjoyed EVERY second of. I just regret not getting there 4 years earlier. Had I been in San Diego through college and not immediately after, I would have been that much happier, day in and day out, four years sooner....

A chance to go to Rutgers, or UCSD to me is a no brainer. I mean, do you want to live a miserable lifestyle for 4 years, or a not so miserable one filled with beautiful women, weather, waves and a proper education while networking yourself through the entire westcoast and HI to ensure your job out of school? That's what it's all about, networking. Why not get out there, living where you want to end up anyway? Taking that internship your Junior year with a company you want to work for.

Carpe Diem bro. Not tomorrow. Today.

 

I couldn't agree with this more. For my first 3 years of college (2008-2011), I went to a school where I basically lived slope side on one of the biggest ski resorts in the US. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I got basically no work done. It was just too much of a temptation. I had to move home and go to school at ODU. If I had just done the work and gotten better grades, I could have easily transferred to CU Boulder (my dream school, and now city where most of my friends live). Instead, I ****ed up my GPA and had to move home with my parents...

I will also offer you this little bit of advice OP... If you want to make big bucks, and basically work for yourself, major in Finance or Commerce. I trade for a living, and believe me when I say that this is where the money is. A successful trader/broker can make tens of thousands of dollars A DAY (I'n not there yet, but I will be). The best part is, you can trade from anywhere with a fast internet connection, and your hours are completely up to you.

 

I am the guy that got the good degree, made the connections and has a great job paying over $115,000 a year. I take off and go surfing whenever there is good waves in NC (not that often) even tough I am 2 hours inland and have money to go to HI, CR, PR and wherever I want. I am not bragging just sayin that those high paid financial job guys do exist and they do go on surf trips. Now my buddy that lives in Wilmington and works an hourly job can't even take off when there is a good swell in his hometown to surf. Last month there was a good swell on a Friday and I was there but my buddy who was local was driving around in his truck delivering plumbing supplies to job sites. Only the OP can decide which life he wants.

 

no doubt. but you kinda screw people all day. your boy Lloyd blankfein was on Charlie rose the other day. dude clocks 50 million a year. goldman sachs makes around 9-10 billion gross revenue a year. and then the employees donate to democrats. phonies.

don't encourage people to be phonies who work for banks. not good.

 

I agree with you 100%. I just think the "paradigm" people have about these students at the surfside school is waaaay off. All the kids I knew from UCSD were either asian genius' in science or math, or privledged kids who got great grades, came from money anyway and already had jobs lined up by their junior years.

I am just saying at least at UCSB and UCSD, there are some many kids that become successful out of there. I think just saying, ohh, you are a loser if you go to a school on the ocean, that is just short sighted.

The best surfers I knew out there, were also the smartest, had the hottest chicks and got great grades in school, all while being pro-am surfers... Not a bad deal. The whole, stoner, surfer, loser thing is not what is really going on in the places with the best surf. Its the smartest kids, that are setting the rest of their lives up that I see...

To each their own... But for me, taking a few trips every year to get in the water, that just aint enough for me. Thats all.... Thats why you pick a place like LA, SF, SD, HI. Live in a huge economy, with high paying jobs and just ball out....

You can have both... I am just advocating that you don't have to "suffer" through college to get a good job. You can in fact have your cake and eat it too....

You know how many people in SoCal make 6 figures plus, and surf all the time?.. Hundreds of thousands, if not Millions. I knew guys making half a mill a year running their own contracting company. One was actually, "Never when the surf is up Construction"... The money people make out there in damn near every field is sickening. Bartenders are making 75-80K easy in a lot of places, and surfing all day... Life is all how you look at it.

 

Lol... Ya, I don't work for a bank, right now I'm just in business for myself. And I kinda feel you on the "screwing people over" thing, but I'm not really a big enough player to intentionally "screw" people. That kind of market manipulation takes millions of dollars, and I don't trade with that amount of capital.

I fell into trading by chance. I was out of school and couldn't find a job, so I had a lot of free time and no income. I put all my life savings into the stock market and started playing with it a lot because I had the time. Eventually, I realized that what I was doing is a job, and have just stuck with it.

I honestly have pretty much the same opinion as you do about it. I think its pretty messed up what some big firms get away with, and what they will do for/with their money. Its just hard to go out and look for a "job" when I can make twice the money in half the time at home on my computer. I've only been doing this for just short of a year now, so who knows where it will take me, but as of right now my goal is to get a killer portfolio going and hopefully start a small trading business within the next few years. Sorry for the rant ...

 

bonertrades?

sounds gay

 

Bruh. Now every creep lurker on here just went after your SSN. When you start getting credit charges for truckloads of Indian food you'll be sorry.

C'mon Bruh! Self-preservation!

 

its just too hard to pass up.if u come from a regular eastcoast town where we only have a few good days a year,then u go out to a place like ucsd and theres perfect waves every other day your gonna constantly be in the water,i would.its the temptations lol.I know too many people that blew their college education away and I know a few who actually did good in school and got a scholarship and they are doing well.

 

Very true man. I just have seen way too many threads on what college should I pick so I can surf. I just think that should be pretty low on the list of what to look for in a school. But you are right that many people go to a great school only to never use that degree and many people with no degree do very well for them selves. I would venture to say that those that do well regardless of college or not are typically very motivated people so they will do fine no matter what.

 

I ain't scared! I work for a financial institution and review my credit report at least once a month as does the company that provides fidelity bonds for me and the other employees.

 

The more "successful" you become, the less surfing you will do, don't fall into the trap of chasing the "American Dream", it don't work the way it use to, a degree is a dime a dozen in most cases, experience is more valuable.

 

Some good advice here.
Sacrifice now or sacrifice later.

 

I know I've posted in dis tread a couple times already but I gotta say it - I'm still waiting to click on the tread and see that it's about organized NCAA Surfing because that's what I thought it was about when it debuted on here. Beats the hell outta that double-elimination CWS baseball/softball crap that is on ESPN from now til September 25 hours a day. Damn.

Schollies for surfing would be sick!

 

Although, IMO surfing should not be a critical factor in chosing a college (especially one out of state), you might want to check UC Santa Cruz and Cal State Monterey Bay. I don't know much about either. CS Monterey Bay wasn't even around when I went to college in the 70s. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is about a half hour from the ocean.
Bear in mind that out of state tuition is very expensive. Being from out of state, you might be better off checking out private universities in CA, if CA is where you choose to go.

 

Hey kid, I'm skeptical of your self-proclaimed scores. Reason being, if you did notch those numbers, you're a whale playing in the pond, i.e., you're setting your sights way too low with the schools that you posted up; with your scores you should be gunning for top 20 universities in the nation. For real. The fact that you're not going for at least one top university tells me that either your scores are bogus (likely) or whoever is advising you is spineless (also likely).

If surfing is your determinant, you have no common sense. And we all know that, these days, common sense ain't common. The combo platter that you should be looking for is to graduate from a great university that doesn't leave you in debt when you graduate.

You've got it all twisted: you're looking for a basic school where you can wank off & go surfing. Is you stoopid...?

Skip Pepperdine: the home of conservative Christian religious admin types & students who are very wealthy daddy's girls who are looking for their millionaire to marry to 'sustain their lifestyle.' Yah, I do know about Pep, having lived in the 'Bu for two years, right up the road from Pep.

As for career: that's your other determinant, seeing as how you're not going to be on the WCT. So, pick a university that has great tracks in some of the things that you're interested in doing in the great game of Life. Make sure the school has a solid year-abroad program, and do that, i.e., do a semester or a year abroad. Who cares what it does to your gpa. What it will do is expand your currently pea-sized perspective, and you desperately need that.

Finally, career: unless you know you will be a doctor or engineer or some such profession, and you've known this since you were 10, then guess what....? You don't know. College is a great place to **** around (literally) & figure out a few things, career-wise. BTW, you can take all the finance courses you want, but the great traders are forged in the Big Game in NYC, Chicago, London, Malaysia & a couple of other places. If making money is your raison d'etre, those are the top-tier places you'll have to do time in. Then you can come out & join the evil parsons of GS & become part of the vampire squid on the face of humanity. Yah I know whence I speak of trading, too, having worked with Kovner & PTJones in Princeton. Then, with Michael Marcus in the 'Bu. Lived bi-coastally large, flew private & alla dat shiiiite, until I woke up & blew out of it.

What else can we help you with, sparky...?

 

If you want to surf for a career dont go to college.

If all you care about is surfing, parties, and loose women, live in a college town, and youre not ready for college

If you want a career, don't mind missing swell, enjoy your one week vacation in (surf destination) every year, go to college.

I went to college and found surfing/travel/adventure meant more to me then cutting a hefty pay check, driving sweet cars in rush hour, and paying off a mortgage with kids running around.
College is a good place to go regardless of your age, do it at the right time, when you wont waste a ton of money.

Sure theres people that make 10gs an hour and get 57 new boards a month with the same education as the dude that drives a rusted out van to check the surf every morning, both are equally as happy, both probably get to surf as much as they want, both have different goals/wants in life.

There is no right way to do it, pick a school based on where your at in life, if you **** up the first time, there is always the second time.

 

Good job yank, but for dude that wants to go to college man bro you need to do it like this. If your going to college go to the university of alantic city New Jersey make sure you pack clean rigs to shoot up while shooting the pier. Remember jersey is a dog eat dog world and the surfers are among the best in the mid alantic and hold the worst literacy stats in the country. Man one time I was there I saw some one in the line up with kassers vodka and a pizza on his surf board. Don't go to Hawaii or Cali go to the jersey, the beaches are clean like the women, I've herd the dope is to. Look bro I'm telling you want to do don't listen to these people saying get a good job,go to a Ivy League school. Live life to da max, banging women and benching is the key to happiness and life.