We all start as younglings

The real value of college and beyond

Let’s rewind the clock and return to origins.

Most of us go through a pre-determined education route before we turn 18: pre-school -> kindergarten -> grade school -> middle school -> high school. Afterwards, some people choose to immediately enter the workforce while others go to college/university or a trade school/apprenticeship. For most people this will be the first major fork in life. Rising high school juniors/seniors should seriously think about whether or not college is right for them. If this is you or you have a child at this age, you should check out my ACT / SAT math course because good scores on standardized tests means admissions to competitive schools and scholarships up to full-rides in an era of explosive college tuitions. How do you know if college is for you? Here’s some food for thought from a nerd that did well in school with a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University, and a Masters in Finance from FIU.

Society seems to forget that college is an institution for higher education. The main reason you should go is if you are genuinely interested in learning in an environment surrounded by peers with the same academic interests. College is not a pre-job/professional center though schools often do fulfill this with career services. Given the existing ~$2 Trillion in outstanding student loans, many people eventually find out that it isn’t worth $50,000+/year for just any degree. If you’re attending college to increase your earning potential, then you need to be strategic in what you study. Majors such as accounting or engineering offer more streamlined professional pathways. As Ben Shapiro likes to point out, there isn’t exactly a hot job market for people with a degree in lesbian dance theory. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong if this is your academic interest, but you should probably not bank on this as your professional pursuit unless you recognize it will be difficult for you to achieve due to financial constraints.

I submit the real value of college is

1. people you meet

2. opportunities you find

3. broadening your world view

These three reasons are the true value of college and more than makes up the annual tuition fee.

People you meet: there will never again be a time when you are surrounded by so many of your peers within the same age range and similar academic achievement. This may not be readily recognizable as a high school student because this isn’t much different from moving through the grades. Once in the real world however, friends aren’t going to be able to all get lunch at the drop of a hat and it’s much more likely to find a room of all adult age ranges.

Real life example of an opportunity I found: what getting placed on the fast track looks like. I signed up for a Psychology class my first semester that I really liked. I went to talk to the professor after class and he invited me to work with a grad student in his lab. After being a lab assistant for a ~year entering hundreds of data sets into SPSS, the professor took the time to personally mentor me. We published a chapter in a book. He encouraged me to write an honors thesis that won an award. He invited me to conferences around the US meeting other professors that wrote the very articles that I read in class. I got to meet other renowned professors that ran their own labs for Graduate Schools. When you get to meet the very people that will later determine whether or not they will accept your candidacy into a prestigious program, you are literally placed at the top of the list as they will feel much more confident in accepting people they have met and personally recommended by their peer. This professor (who I still keep in contact with to this day) literally laid the paved road for me and is a shining example of what good mentorship looks like.

Broadening your world view: in pre-school through high school you are only surrounded by people within the same school district, a small region. College will have students from all over the country as well as international students in a singular location. I grew up in the suburb of Chicago and went to New Orleans for college. I immediately became exposed to more of the world just from being surrounded by people from all different kinds of backgrounds and also found the joy of charbroiled oysters & gumbo.

Explore what the world can offer you.