People are often told by new employers, “Forget everything you learned in college!” The idea behind the statement is that “real world” applications are different.
 
A joke was posted on Reddit—Jokes on August 27, 2016:
     
(A person in the organization—ed.) ‘Forget everything you learned in college. You won’t need it working here.’
(A job applicant—ed.)‘But I never went to college.’
(A person in the organization—ed.) ‘Well then, I’m sorry. You are underqualified to work here.’
   
         
16 April 2000, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), “Tribune Editorial” Stance on Teaching Is Simplistic, Just Plain Wrong” by Nancy Ares, pg. AA4:
How many have heard, “Forget everything you learned in college; this is the real world!”
   
Twitter
FelliFell‏
@JohhnnoG
Forget everything you learned in school that shit don’t work here..
6:21 PM - 23 Mar 2013
 
Reddit—Jokes
Forget everything you learned in college…
submitted August 27, 2016 by kingsghost
‘Forget everything you learned in college. You won’t need it working here.’
‘But I never went to college.’
‘Well then, I’m sorry. You are underqualified to work here.’
   
Twitter
Neil S.‏
@neilsonii
Forget everything you learned in college, you won’t need it working here
But I didn’t go to college
Sorry you’re underqualified to work here
1:06 PM - 27 Aug 2016
 
Reddit—Jokes
Forget everything you learned in College….
submitted September 26, 2016 by dwbnerd
“Forget everything you learned in College, you won’t need it working here.”
“But I never went to college.”
“I’m sorry your not qualified to work here.”
     
Twitter 
Not Nick 🐺‏
@alexistalent
Forget everything you learned in uni you won’t need it here
But I never went to uni
Well then Im sorry you’re under qualified to work here
5:06 PM - 11 Oct 2016
 
Reddit—Jokes
Forget everything you learn…
submitted December 8, 2016 by trollhunters123
‘Forget everything you learned in college. You won’t need it working here.’
‘But I never went to college.’
‘Well then, I’m sorry. You are underqualified to work here.’
 
Reddit—Jokes
‘Forget everything you learned in college. You won’t need it working here.’
submitted January 8, 2017 by Matthew_A
‘But I never went to college.’ ‘Well then, I’m sorry. You are underqualified to work here.’
COMMENTS
Raiden395
The real joke is that he made it to the interview instead of having his resume instantly rejected.
   
Reddit—Jokes
Forget everything you learned in college…
submitted January 27, 2017 by chuchi-chai
‘Forget everything you learned in college. You won’t need it working here.’ ‘But I never went to college.’ ‘Well then, I’m sorry. You are underqualified to work here.’
   
Jokes Explained
Forget everything you learned in college…
June 09, 2017
(...)
This is a joke that makes fun of the requirements that recruiters make for performing certain jobs. If you don’t need to have specific knowledge in order to perform the duties of a job, then why require them in order to obtain the job?
 
The purpose of this joke is perhaps more social commentary than humor, however it is sort of funny in the “sad but true” way. I suppose that it is a form of irony.
 
Reddit—Jokes
“Forget everything you learned in college, you won’t need it working here”
submitted January 28, 2018 by TeqhZem
“But I never went to college.”
“I’m sorry, you’re under-qualified to work here.”