Pixellated Projects

Daily writing prompt

Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.

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As a college student who recently graduated from high school. I wish I had understood the importance and value of college before going into it blindly to graduate as soon as possible. To get this out of the way, college definitely isn’t for everyone, especially since things like trades and the military exist. Although there are heavy drawbacks to each non-traditional point. Most kids, including me, go into college thinking to take some classes, get a degree in a high-paying field or whatever, and then get a job that pays well. A normal, smooth yet simple path, but in reality, most of the time it leads to being unable to find employment and not being able to get a job. Then they end up working a lower job completely unrelated to their field of study, and that’s pretty much the most common cycle, leaving people frustrated and thinking they have wasted their time. The biggest mistake, though, is not building a resume during one’s time in college. Trying to make connections, network, study the market, and do internships. All of this stuff makes a bigger difference than one thinks and can lead to opportunities that those who passed them wouldn’t have otherwise. College is essentially an investment and a sacrifice. Not only is one spending money to receive education, but they are also essentially sacrificing on average four years of full-time job income in hopes of getting a better job down the line that provides better income. Just going through college to get a degree with nothing else will only take one so far. If they are betting and relying on luck or just easy circumstances to get a job after graduating, it will most likely not end up in their favor, and again, to unemployment or a job that has no relevance to what they studied. Not to mention, college tends to lack practical application as it provides tons of theoretical application. Therefore, it’s up to the person to get that practical experience elsewhere before applying for jobs. College is definitely not a scam in a sense, as long as jobs exist, it will maintain its relevance, but nowadays it’s a lot harder to get tons of value out of college just by floating and going through it to graduate. Not impossible, but not ideal anymore either. Knowing this, I still have time to turn things around, but I just wish I had understood sooner that college is not just about studying and getting a job. It’s more so using all that it has to offer to build your resume, network to succeed, and create job opportunities.