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consider this statement:

I have always been a loner, trying to be someone I am not and as I am too soft and empathetic, I get taken advantage of a lot.. spend my Uni years on the net talking to people far away from me to have a 'connection' and thus, blew my degree so it's really a useless piece of paper.

What's the meaning of blew in this statement?

I'm kinda confused. I thought he said he has made connections there on the online university, but he blew his "degree" -- it's his 'degree' that he blew? but at the same time he is saying, by my understanding, he has gotten his degree, but it's just a "useless piece of paper"? I'm very confused.

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It essentially means that the speaker did not make interpersonal connections at the university, and thus missed out on the opportunities there.

informal

To completely lose or miss (an opportunity). "the wider issues were to show that politicians had blown it"

synonyms: spoil, ruin, bungle, mess up, fudge, muff; More expose (a stratagem). "a man whose cover was blown" synonyms: expose, reveal, uncover, disclose, divulge, unveil, betray, leak "his cover was blown"

definition: look at the fifth definition in the dropdown

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    I'm kinda confused. I thought he said he has made connections there on the online university, but he blew his "degree" -- it's his 'degree' that he blew? but at the same time he is saying, by my understanding, he has gotten his degree, but it's just a "useless piece of paper"? I'm very confused.
    – Theo
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 4:01
  • I believe that it's implying that they were at a physical university, but instead of networking, they spent time on the internet and talked with people there. A significant component of getting jobs is who you know, which is one thing that going to a university is for. Therefore, even though the speaker may have gotten a degree, it's not very useful without the connections made to go with it. Does that make any more sense?
    – fyrepenguin
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 4:06
  • Even though he received a degree, he spent all his time chatting with people on-line instead of concentrating on studying. He does not explicitly say why it's a useless piece of paper, maybe his knowledge was not very deep or his grades were not very good.
    – Peter
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 4:07
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    In this context, "blew my degree" is basically an abbreviated way of saying, "blew (or squandered) the many opportunities that should have come along with earning a degree (to the point where my degree doesn't help me now)."
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 8:47

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