Higher Education for Polymaths

[glem]

For any polymaths or those who aspire to be, what degree in academics would suit you the most in terms of expanding your skill sets?

I am wondering because I am at a point in life where I can go to university for free. I am not necessarily interested in future job opportunities, but the self-sufficiency aspect of learning new skills and knowledge to make myself less reliant on money.

[jacob]

For any polymaths or those who aspire to be, what degree in academics would suit you the most in terms of expanding your skill sets?

If I could only pick one(-size-fits-all) college degree, I'd pick mechanical engineering for those who lean towards hands-on practice and electrical engineering for those who lean more towards theoretical/programming. Both degrees provide a solid foundations for "applied thinking" as well as the option employment opportunities should you decide on a career-life rather than an ERE-life.

Both of these degrees will give you the mental tools to "figure out out practical solutions to known problems".

For the more bookish/enneagram5 type thinker, I'm slightly tempted to suggesting educations that are more oriented towards thinking-about-thinking such as philosophy or physics, but keep in mind that this leaves you hanging/up to you to fill in all the practical [self-education] details later on. Are you the kind of person to do that? If yes---that is, you're the kind of person who is compelled to spend a lifetime on self-education, I'd suggest aiming higher on the meta.

Conversely, if your to-read-list is limited to "just the books you read in school", like the average person (who basically reads ~1 book per year or less)(be honest here!), maybe aim for something practical like electric/veterinarian/HVAC/plumbing/machining/mechanics!

My more generalized suggestion is to
1) make a list of professions that match your talents (like e.g. good at math, logistics, sales, humans, ... etc.)
2) out of that list, eliminate the ones that are not in demand and which would be hard to find a job in (art history, astronomy, anthropology, ... )
3) out of what remains, pick the topic that you're most interested in .. because that is what allows you to graduate.

ERE is primarily about "skilled creativity". Creativity = useful, new, non-obvious.

Skilled can go in anywhich directions. My recommendations above are mainly towards technical (STEM-type) capital because that is what is currently valued by society at large. However, you could also choose a foundation of some of the other types of capital (see ERE book chapter 4) if your talents are more in others directions.

Overall, I think, the journey towards becoming a polymath lies in going deep in one direction (see Stoa2 talk) and then going wide in other directions. Alternatively the other way around. I think valuable insights are generated by using a deep framework on another field. Physics on personal finance in my case.

[glem]

Thanks for the input, Jacob.

I was leaning towards the theoretical side like you mentioned, however, I was hesitant because I find it difficult to picture the knowledge of pure mathematics, physics, philosophy to be applicable to our day to day lives. I am not afraid to pick up a book, and my current occupation requires welding, gas/plasma cutting, plumbing, and carpentry skills to begin with. However it is that these more advanced topics fit into the puzzle really intrigues me, but I am willing to give it a chance.

[DutchGirl]

Glem, in your case you could also consider learning skills / obtaining knowledge that will allow you to build your own company around your already existing skills? Business management and the like...

[jacob]

I was leaning towards the theoretical side like you mentioned, however, I was hesitant because I find it difficult to picture the knowledge of pure mathematics, physics, philosophy to be applicable to our day to day lives.

They're useful because they change (or may change) the way you think about things. For example, someone who goes to chess school might wonder what rooks and bishops and pawns have to do with everyday life---it's just a game---but once they start thinking in terms of pins, x-rays, openings, positions, ... they might approach everything else in life differently. (Kinda like how value investors like to play bridge and traders like to play poker.)

It was my background in physics that allowed me to reframe the retirement math of FIRE in terms of savings rates. This (what you see in chapter 7 of the ERE book) was a perspective that---as far as we can tell---nobody from the finance or business world had thought of doing although someone from engineering (Giolio, SP?) came close.

It is on the other hand very easy and very common to go and get an education and file it in a mental box where "thinking like a physicist" is only applied to physics problems. The prototypical example is the unhealthy doctor, who knows about how to make people healthy but fails to apply it to themself.

[glem]

Glem, in your case you could also consider learning skills / obtaining knowledge that will allow you to build your own company around your already existing skills? Business management and the like...

Yes, that would be my main goal. Except I would like to be self employed. I have my reasons for not wanting to have employees, coupled with the fact that I am not aiming for deep riches, just survival for my family and I.

[white belt]

I'd be curious to get the perspective of those who are already semi-retired/retired and decided to go back to school. I could get a "free" masters degree from pretty much anywhere in the US, so every so often I get delusions of returning to school* (I studied computer science in undergrad). It seems that usually advanced degrees are acquired for purposes of career advancement, but I'd be more interested in pursuing it for purposes of learning skills/knowledge that I find interesting. Not entirely sure if that's worth putting up with the inevitable administrivia and other BS that are associated with all higher education. I do think structured higher education provides more opportunities for networking and other interesting connections compared to self study. On the other hand, I think a lot of the networking exists around future full time job opportunities, so it might be of dubious value to someone who may not be interested in salaryman work.

* = Something like a MBA from a M7 school does seem appealing at times but I'm also skeptical it'll open that many doors I'm interested in

[Western Red Cedar]

I'd be curious to get the perspective of those who are already semi-retired/retired and decided to go back to school.

Brandon from the Mad Fientist talks about his experience on one of the radical personal finance podcasts (I can't remember if it is the first or second one - # 7 or 8): https://www.madfientist.com/podcast/

He wanted to get a free masters degree and took a job in IT at an Ivy League (Brown?) so he could get a MA for free. It sounded like he enjoyed it, but it added a lot of work and stress to his life at the time.

I had the opportunity to get a Masters or PhD at a state school with my last job, but could only attend classes at half time. I already have a Masters, and considering I was focused on FI I didn't really feel like it was worth it. It would have taken a long time for a PhD at that pace. I was probably working on more interesting problems with real implications at my job, than I would have through more coursework in a different field.

Some of the discussions on the forum about the realities of PostDoc work and life also dissuaded me from pursuing that route.

[birding]

I have a free university option similar to glem, but not open ended - it’d have to be related to my job.

So, Jacob mentions mechanical & electrical engineering - does anyone have an opinion on civil engineering? My job’s in this space but in a non technical role - I could likely use my brain more on technical side. I have time available on the job for civil engineering classes. Or otherwise time for rogue self study reading Jacob’s book lists To be serious though, I think knowing the technical side of civil, skill wise (ex. storm water management, water treatment), could be valuable in future society. Tangentially related and of interest to me, people here have written about living near deep water ports as good strategy. Being able to work on this critical infrastructure could ensure resilience if retirement doesn’t work out and with this, the skill to study in civil is port construction and operation. Getting into waterfront structural design and diving inspection could be an easy sell with my employer. I don’t know - maybe these are good ideas for the skill building aspect while I save “enough” cash. Then again maybe I’m still in the careerist trap.

[Jean]

Material science is a good mid point beetween physics and engineering.
I'm very confident that I could learn anything.
Also, it gives good option careerwise. All my cograduate have good careers.

[jacob]

I'd be curious to get the perspective of those who are already semi-retired/retired and decided to go back to school.

The way I read the OP was which "branch" of knowledge offers the best foundation for "learning anything". In my response I presume that some fields are more fundamental or offer better models of thinking than other fields. For example, I believe it's easier to take a good physics student and teach them history than it is to take a good history student and teach them physics.

Schools offer three things that are difficult to DIY:

1. A three letter combination after your name.
2. A structured curriculum.
3. A possible network, but that very much depends on the social meta-game(*).

Having a good foundation mainly touches on the second item of the list. If you're self-educating as a polymath (actually there's no rule that says you have to) the most important epistemological question is how you know what you don't know (so you can go and find out). The ability to know or at least have an effective hunch is really a meta-skill. Whereas undergraduate courses mainly serve to teach the skills per se, the don't teach how to think about those skills. I don't think that a "general intro to everything" (like an MBA) necessarily helps in practice. I believe it's better to go deep in one field in order to see how "deep thinking" works as all fields converge on the same ~hundred deep models once you go deep enough (latticework); the same idea just has different names in different fields.

(*) This is where I'd worry if I were to go back to school 30 years later. I wouldn't connect in the same way to my fellow 20yo students as I did when I was 20 myself.

PS: Recommended https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Mas ... 1591845572 .. This book came out when I was writing the ERE blog. I read it and remember it being pretty novel/famous/notorious/groundbreaking. Apparently, he made a career out of it.

[Jean]

@white belt
I went back to school 4 times, i never stayed more than a semester.
I usually start because i want a job that uses my skill, and i usually stop because i remember that my first degree didn't help and i fail to convince me that this second degree would help.

[Sclass]

I can go to university for free. I am not necessarily interested in future job opportunities,

Just curious. Why are you not interested in job opportunities? Have you early retired/FI?

I’ve found it interesting when I see stories online about financially free people returning to college for a degree. The one I commonly see is an entertainer who decides they want to go to college at 27.

Just curious about your backstory and how it brought you to this place where you’d like to educate yourself presumably to understand the world better but not necessarily make a living.

[chenda]

I'd be curious to get the perspective of those who are already semi-retired/retired and decided to go back to school.

I started an MSc but quit after a few months. Although the subject matter was interesting, I feel like I am too old to write assignments. I've become more of a dilettante in learning, and nowadays its so easy to self-educate yourself online that I would argue that the way many degrees are taught is becoming outdated. That said @white belt if I were in your position I would be tempted to get a free law degree.

[thai_tong]

When I have the time I'd like to (without enrolling) walk into random 1st year lectures and see what I learn