Last week, my thoughts on whether college is worth it received a fair bit of notice. So, I thought I’d follow up my experience with some actionable advice. How do you know if you should go to college?
7 Reasons College Isn’t Right for You
- You have no idea what you want to do. An unfocused liberal arts education can help you figure out what you love–but it’s an expensive gamble. You might find your passion, you might realize (like me) that what you want to do doesn’t require a degree, or you might come out with no idea of what you want to do.
- You know what you want to do, but you don’t need a college degree to do it. Enough said. Whether you feel like you should go because it’s what society expects of you, or you want to go just for the social experience (both of which I discuss later)–don’t waste money and years of your potential career at school if you don’t need to.
- You think you know what you want to do, and it doesn’t involve higher education. Want to learn a trade or start a business? Go for it! You can always go back to school later if things don’t work out, but you can’t get back the time and money you spent in college if you realize it was a waste.
- You’re just attending because you think it’s what expected of you (and maybe it is). Personally, this was my biggest reason for attending college–and that’s pretty sad. There are other options available to you, post-high school. Consider trade school, shorter degrees, gap years, work experiences, and entrepreneurship, as well as 4-year colleges, and pick the option that’s right for you. Don’t spend your life living someone else’s.
- You think that a degree will guarantee financial stability. College will make you more employable in a variety of fields, from business administration to marketing to software development. However, without relevant work experience in your field + good grades + the willingness to accept unpaid/underpaid/stipend work straight out of school, you’re still a dime a dozen. Simply having a college degree isn’t unique anymore.
- You have to take out massive loans to pay for college. Unfortunately, here in the US, we don’t have good loan payback plans (like Sweden’s or Australia’s plans). I’m lucky that I didn’t have to take out many loans to attend college. I also graduated early so that I could immediately pay them back. However, many of my friends who took out massive loans regret it, no matter how good their college experiences. A good 4 years is not worth your financial stability for the next 10+ years!
- You’re just in it for the social life and “college experience.” College life is fun, exciting, constantly changing and helps a lot of people break out of their shells post-high school. However, if it isn’t a good fit for you otherwise, those are some pretty pricey good times you’ll be paying for! If you choose not to attend, there are plenty of other ways to meet new people: work, church, non-academic classes, the gym, online, through friends and family, etc.
College Might Be Right for You!
Of course, a college education is absolutely the right choice for many people. I have many friends and family who would never have been able to pursue their careers without their educations.
For example, my husband, who is a software developer, uses his math and science degrees every day on the job. He knew he was interested in math and the sciences going into school, didn’t take out loans to attend, and had a good studying-social life balance. It paid off with lots of job offers before we’d even graduated.
I would never discourage my future children from attending college if they chose an affordable, career-focused degree. However, as I said in my previous post, I would also encourage them to consider all post-secondary options once they graduate from high school–and to start thinking about what they want to do even earlier.
Like last week, I’ll ask: what are your thoughts on the attitudes towards post-secondary education in your country? And when you think back on your high school or college experiences, what would you do differently?