Why College Wasn’t For Me

I’m an 18 year old highschool graduate. I have never submitted a college application, never toured any campuses, and I never spent time researching possible majors or degrees. I have been told that I’m making a mistake and that I need to go to college If I want a successful career. However I have ignored those comments, because I decided to take a different path in life, and here’s why.

This decision all started with advice from my father, who spent more than 10 years paying off his student loans. He told me that if I had my heart set on a career that needed a degree to get into, then I should go to college. However, if I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life or if the path I wanted to go into didn’t need a degree, I shouldn’t waste my time and money. My plans for my future have changed a couple times in the last couple years. For a while I had my heart set on being a lawyer, when that dream changed I decided I wanted to go into psychology. However, I eventually decided that none of those options were for me, and that I wanted to go a more entrepreneurial route. I’ve always looked up to my father and his advice means a lot to me, so when I realized I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, I decided that college isn't the right choice.

After making my decision to stay away from college for the time being, I started to panic wondering if I was being smart. I decided to do some research and some of the statistics I found were shocking. One of my favorite comedians and talk show hosts Joe Rogan talked about college on one of his shows. In this show he talked about a few college statistics, some of which really enforced my decision. A study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed that only 27% percent of college graduates actually use their degree in their career. What stands out here is that 73% of grads out there don't even use the piece of paper they spent upwards of $100,000 on. Beyond that, statistics show that during their first year, 80% of college students will change their major, and 35% will drop out entirely. When I see these numbers it speaks volumes to me about how broken the college system is. You spend anywhere from 2-12 years of your life and hundreds of thousands of dollars for something that may not even be beneficial to you.

College has been hyped up as being necessary for success. High School students are told that if they want a promising career, they need to spend an obscene amount of time and money chasing a degree even if they aren’t sure what they want to do with their lives. With the rising costs of attending a university and decreasing usefulness of a degree in the evolving economy, I didn’t see college as a worthwhile experience. If want to go into law, or the medical field, or maybe be an engineer, go to college. However, if you aren’t sure where your life is going or you want to take an alternative route, take some time to think about if college will work for you. I hope to see universities work on their flaws in the coming years. Between high costs and low value, they have many things to sort out. I don’t think college is a bad thing, it just wasn’t for me. However, maybe it is for you, just make sure of that before making your decision.

-Braden Schmidt 11-30-2019