Most college students attend school so they can get a high-paying job after graduation, but is college necessary to become successful?Eddie Albriega is the lead singer and guitarist for the local pop/rock band the Proms. The 22 year old is also an assistant system administrator for Wyatt Networks in Columbus. He is trying to become a success without finishing college.Albriega started playing the guitar when he was 17 years old. Not long after, the Cleveland-based band was formed in November 1996.Two members of the Proms are currently attending Ohio State. Bassist and backup vocalist Josh Yakunich is majoring in electrical engineering. Drummer Nick Sabo is majoring in management information science. Nate Linek, graduate of Baldwin Wallace College near Cleveland, rounds out the band on guitar.Albriega said he is not looking to become an MTV superstar.”We want to make a decent living at it and be called musicians,” he said.They will be releasing their second full-length album on Jan. 15 on the independent record label Imperfect. Meanwhile, the Proms’ first album is available at World Records and Used Kids Records on High Street.The band was excited to record the album at the Water Music recording studio in New Jersey. “It’s the first time we got to use a semi-professional recording studio,” Albriega said.Albriega said their second album will have a more diverse sound than the first one. “The first one was very Ramones – straightforward. On the second, we slow it down a little and show a different side,” he said. Jeff Fernengel, Albriega’s roommate and a student in journalism and communications, said if Albriega wants to get rich, he should stick with computers instead of music. However, Fernengel does not think Albriega will be fulfilled if he gives up music.”Music will make him happier because he is doing it for his heart,” Fernengel said. He hopes the Proms have a future in earning a living off their music.”They have already had two albums that have been paid for in production, and they just have to get out there and get a little dust on their boots,” he said.Adam Anderson, former bassist for the Proms and drummer for the local band Tree of Snakes, said Albriega needs to decide between women or money.”He could get more money with doing computers, but he is not going to get as many girls if he is doing computers,” Anderson said.Lisa DeLeonardis, long-time girlfriend of Albriega, also said he should focus more on his computer skills instead of music for the sake of his future.”He should stick with the Proms for another year, and if nothing happens, he should focus more on computers,” DeLeonardis said.The Proms played at Bernie’s on Tuesday night with the bands Dirtbike Annie, the ProTeens and the Bedrockers.After earning his GED, Albriega attended DeVry Institute of Technology to learn more about computers. He then decided to attend OSU after his former girlfriend moved to Columbus and started attending the school.”I was dating this girl, she broke up with me and decided she was going to go to OSU – so I went to OSU to chase after her,” Albriega said.He started to major in computer information science in the College of Arts and Sciences but he did not like having to take all the prerequisites for his computer classes.According to Albriega, taking all the these classes are not important for your future in the computer industry. “School basically teaches you syntax and they don’t really teach you anything you need to know,” he said.Albriega said people expect to get a job after graduating from college, even if they don’t know that much in the computer field. “You jump through hoops for four years, and you say ‘Hey give me a job’ and basically you don’t know crap,” Albriega said.Albriega attended OSU for a year-and-a-half. “The classes didn’t challenge me,” he said.He then left after getting put on academic probation and messing up in one class. “I would rather go out and drink instead of going to class, and I fell behind in one class, so I just ended up dropping out,” Alrbiega said.Albriega went back to DeVry but stopped going just recently and doesn’t plan on going back anytime soon. He is a big advocate of self learning, especially with computers.”People that are really into computers didn’t learn in school, they learned it on their own. And those are the people that are excelling at their jobs, not the ones that just finished college,” Albriega said.Fernengel, too, believes that Albriega can succeed through self learning. “Some of the best have done it on self learning and maybe he is one of the best,” he said.Albriega added that some jobs, like teaching, require a college degree, but others such as music and computer programming are based on skill.”It is what you can do – not what you have done,” Albriega said. “I’m not a master programmer but if I wanted to program something, I could sit down and figure it out just by looking at a book,” he said.”(If) you take a class in programming for 10 weeks and you sit down to try and program something, you will be looking at the book anyway,” he said.Albriega has been guaranteed a position in management at Wyatt within a year.”I plan on working at Wyatt for a while, then doing this band thing full go,” he said.He is also working on starting up a Web design company for something to do on the side. “I am designing our band Web site and will be doing Web sites for other bands on our record label,” he said.Albriega wants the Proms to become his main focus in the future because his ultimate dream is to be a professional musician for the rest of his life.