As I find myself in my fourth year of college and no closer to graduating I wonder: what is the point of college? As a high school senior I did not want to join the masses of kids graduating and going towards higher education, but I would not be alive today if I had chosen otherwise. Trust me, I could survive in the real world, but surviving my mother’s reaction was another story.

I asked a small group of people, including many students in college, a few recent college graduates and a high school junior. I also asked someone in community college, one who is taking the semester off, and one who dropped out a few years ago. The range in ages was 17-23. Higher education has taught me that when taking a survey and trying to prove a point that diversity matters in getting accurate results. I ignored this fact and stuck to my guns. My results were still diverse enough.

To Get Educated?

This was my favorite answer to get. I think my point was proved in the fact that most answers were answered in the form of a question. It proves uncertainty, or maybe who I asked was unsure of the answer I was looking for. Whatever the case it still matters that most people don’t seem to know why they’re in higher education.

My friend Megan who graduated just this year said that the only point to college was staying in while the economy was bad. I watched my sister graduate this last July only to find no jobs available to her once she was done. This is a depressing fact that almost everyone is dealing with that is graduating from college currently. I have no basis to back this up, but the fact is people weren’t finding jobs with a degree before there was a recession. The long running jokes among art and English majors is that if you don’t teach you’ll probably spend your life starving. Or you have to cop out and starting working at JC Penny’s taking people’s family photos or writing movies for the Lifetime network. We could go to college and get involved with a major that will lead to success and a pleasant future, but at the cost of what? Who chooses to be a business major because they actually enjoy it? They’re thinking about the money. [Not that there are not people in business who are happy, I’m sure they are. This is just a bad generalization].

So if philosophy makes me happy I should be able to major in it right? But what can you actually do with a philosophy major? So when going to college to get educated we can either choose what makes us happy or choose what is going to get us a job when we graduate.  For some these categories are one and the same. For most of us these are two competing forces.

I need to for my major

Higher education is necessary for certain jobs. There are tons of stories of people who worked hard and did not go to college but are still successful at what they do, but on the other hand I’d really hat to know my doctor learned everything he knows from the internet. I think I know a lot of people who went to college going “I’m going to be a Doctor!” and within a few years they found themselves studying for the MCAT and having a serious change of heart. I believe there are many professions that require higher education totally and completely. I feel like a vast majority of us are spending time in college doing things that we could be learning in the real world.

Because you’re supposed to

Someone put it right by saying because of social norms. It’s true. Parents these days are pushing down necks about GPA’s, SAT’s and any other three letter acronym they can think of to make their kids understand how important their futures are. There are a vast majority of us in college who will be the first people in our family to graduate from college. There is a big value on higher education and that is evident by the giant price tag that goes along with it. Most of us are expected to go to college after graduating from high school because that is the next step in life. Some people last a few semesters, some don’t go, some go only to graduate and still be going nowhere in their life. A degree is supposed to be your ticket to go anywhere and everywhere in the world. These cases are few and far between. Most of us end up stuck at the same part time job trying to work up our way in a company that we were so ready to be done with.

To grow up

This was my favorite answer by far. The fact that people believe that you grow up and mature in college and that you get “exposed” to all these great things cracks me up. Maybe it was because the people who sent these answers are underclassmen this matters. The future is still bright ahead with graduation being far into the future. I think most of us get to college and are less mature than ever. I did not drink or smoke until college and I was way more reckless and prone to trouble. I think most of us experience this with our first taste of freedom, but some of us don’t grow out of this. I see those girls in my classes with those X marks on their hands, still reeking of the club and smelling a little like vomit and false hopes. I got to a small, private, women’s college, but I’ve been to big campuses. Partying doesn’t happen every day of the week like they show in the movies, but some things about the movies don’t lie. I saw a kid get hit by a car, another punched in the face, and I heard a story about a girl who got so drunk she face planted onto the pavement. Alcohol poisoning, drug usage, it’s all a part of college right? There’s a lot of things that offend me about needing to do all these things now while “you’re young” because you can’t when you have a real job when you get older. The fact that remains is some people don’t grow up and continue to do these things while they move into jobs. This might lead to harder issues like alcoholism and drug abuse, but these are just all possibilities not things that happen to everyone.

To put off Reality

I lied. This is my favorite answer, because it’s so true. Most people go to college because they are not ready to grow up and be in the real world. Most of us aren’t preparing for life after college. We’re just enjoying the ride.

While most of these things don’t apply to the people who know exactly what they want to do and where they want to go, they probably only make up 10% of the people in college. The rest of us are undecided philosophy majors, knowing that are futures are filled with ramen and living in our parents basements. Higher education isn’t helpful to many of us. It’s just something we will spend the rest of our lives paying off and wishing our degree actually meant something in the world.

Just don’t get me started on the people who go to grad school right out of college. They’re the ones to watch out for. They’re really putting of reality.

So as you wonder why am I in college? Why do I want to go to college, you should also wonder to yourself what is the point of college? If you find yourself in doubt, find another road. College isn’t always necessary right out of high school. I say it’s time to figure out what you want to do before you go to college, not go there and be more lost than ever, overwhelmed by general education requirements and the pressure to choose a major.

College isn’t meant for everyone and it certainly isn’t meant for me.

You’re down with the team. You’ll do whatever it takes.

The pressure’s on and you’re on top of your game. Deadlines are your thing and you meet every one of them.

You think ahead. You invest in yourself. What you do today will pay off tomorrow.

You’re a hands–on kind of person. School is OK for others, but for you the best way to learn something is just do it.

You like being part of the crew. Your friends, your family, your people, you win, you lose — together.

You’re on point, anticipating anything that could happen. You’re a planner — you’ll never be caught off guard.

You’re into living life and doing your thing. Going places, meeting people, trying out things you’ve never done before…

You don’t like to compete — you love to compete. Competition brings out the best in you.