It is the end of high school senior year and you are at college commitment day. Its t-minus four seconds to the big reveal.
In no time everyone discards whatever garment used to protect their new collegiate pride shirt. Next thing you know everyone now is professing with big smiles, their new home for the next four, maybe even six years. Then there is you, probably annoyed and confused about why you are even in this predicament. Not so much the setting, but why you are even having to pay this much for an institution that won’t even guarantee employment after. Then it hits you, “is it really worth it?”
I was advised to go to a two-year college because not only would I be paying less but, additionally would be taking the same prerequisites if I was to go to a four-year college. That was the plan but then my father kept on nagging me and asking me, “Why are you not going to a university? Why are you settling for less?” When in fact I wasn’t trying to settle for less, just less debt. I decided to go to a four-year and although it was a great experience, it wasn’t for me. That’s the thing with college it’s either hit or miss. You either really like it or decide it is not for you. In my case it was for me, just not the one I was attending.
That’s a problem with most individuals they do not know what they are getting into especially when under pressure from said parental figure. If I knew what I know now I probably would not be in debt or in this current stress of transferring to a better and more affordable institution for my major. For others like Mahir Ahmed feel “overwhelmed by the fact that people spend thousands of dollars plus, an ample amount of time in their specific major and end up unemployed after.” Harris Interactive conducted a survey on behalf of Career Builders underling whether or not graduate college students obtain work in their field after school. Among the results a whopping “61 percent of the respondents believe they still haven’t found their dream job” and “nearly half (47 percent) of college-educated workers reported to have never found a job related to their major." Although there are some fields (I.e. doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) that guarantee work after, it is almost uncertain how close after graduating you will work in said field. The demand of the field may skyrocket as you enter college but may significantly decline as you approach your senior year. Demands on your major in some cases, may be leery of how many people you are competing with foresaid job.
The best advice if you are thinking of going to college for the first time, whether it be straight out of high school or have taken a few semesters off, do your research. Not only in your major but how will you be paying for it? Will you be guaranteed a job? How competitive is your major? Will you wake up every morning dreading going to this job? No seriously, you have to ask yourself that. There is nothing worse than waking up to a job you hate. I know I keep referring to the word “job” but your goal should be to aim for a career. Jobs are temporary, careers are substantial. The best thing you will read from this is: not to give up if it seems hard at first, nine times out of ten the harder you work the more it pays off in the end. Just because you are not seeing results does not mean you will not see them in the long run. For the people who believe college just is not for them, that is okay too. You still have to make money though so, open your own business. We are not talking about one of those get rich quick schemes. Most certainly nothing illegal and can end up making you face time in prison. Find something you like that you know you are good at, invest in it. Most importantly do not do it for the money, but because you have a passion for it. That alone right there will make you wake up happy to go to work.
Now whether or not college is for you that is your choice, just please promise me just because you are not going to college doesn’t mean you waste your life. Do something you love, then success will follow.
By Chloe Ridore
