Considering whether to go to college? Here I compelled a list of 8 reasons why you should go to college. Make sure to also read the 8 reasons why you shouldn’t go to college here.
Table of Contents
1. You may need a degree for your career of choice
Certain careers will require you to get a degree first. This include doctor, nurse, engineer, graphic designer, interior designer, lawyer, pharmacist, psychologist, etc.
Some companies may also require you to have a bachelor’s degree in order to apply even if your degree has nothing to do with the job. They may not even consider you if you don’t have a valid degree.
For these reasons, sometimes you have no choice but to attend college if you want to pursue a specific career.
2. A place to cultivate good interpersonal and communication skills
College is a good place to develop your interpersonal and communication skills further. You can certainly develop these skills are other places but in school, you are in many cases forced to interact with each other whereas at other places you’re not obligated to interact with anyone and that may remove the chance to practice your people skills.
The more people you talk to, the easier it becomes to talk to another person. I didn’t talk much in class growing up and thus I didn’t have a lot of chance to practice interacting with many people.
When I went to college, I moved out and was forced to find new people to befriend with. I was all alone in a brand new location. That experience made me a lot more confident in my interpersonal skills and communication skills.
I can now talk to anyone without feeling self-conscious or nervous (although I still prefer more introverted time). It’s a huge improvement from what I had been like as a kid.
I think there are certain things that you just can’t learn online. If I had chosen to get an online degree or chose not to go to college at all I would be a lot less confident now.
In college, your learning goes beyond what’s taught in class, you learn how to collaborate with another human being, you learn how to get your point across effectively, you learn how to read people, you learn what personalities you vibe with, you learn what characters you should stay away from, you learn how to interact with different individuals of different personalities and quirks.
It’s those interactions with others in college that make college such a unique experience.
3. Develop more well-rounded knowledge
Schools often require their students to take a bunch of electives to hit the credit requirement to graduate.
It gave me the chance to take courses in many disciplines including psychology, sociology, history, mythology, biology, geography, anthropology, environmental studies, health studies, art, music, etc.
I also learned how to do research, how to read scientific papers, how to read different graphs, etc. Having a person (professor) guide your thinking process can be very beneficial instead of just showing you a paper out of nowhere, summarizing a scientific paper for you, or telling you what each graph means. These skills cover different disciplines not just in sciences. You’d often see it in commercials, financial reports when picking stocks, flyers, etc. Such skills equip me with the confidence that I know what everything means and how to not be misled by visual data.
I’m often surprised by how much I know in different subjects compared to people who never went to college. I’ve yet to meet another person who is as well-rounded in the knowledge of different subjects outside of the university.
Not to mention how some things taught in class are not things that you can find on the internet easily despite what some may tell you — that you can learn everything taught in college online for free. In 90% — 98% of cases, that’s true but there are things that I was taught that can’t be found anywhere online. It’s hidden deep in scientific papers that no one ever reads and offers valuable insights on things (there are also things on YouTube that you can’t find in school).
I think I wouldn’t have been as confident about my knowledge of the world had I not gone to college. I pretty much learned all the basics of most major disciplines. I know there is still so much more to learn about and getting that degree gives me the confidence knowing that whatever it is, I’m smart enough to handle it.
4. Network with influential figures in your industry or gain a lifelong mentor
Depending on the school you go to, you may be able to meet influential figures in different industries that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to meet.
Many of my professors in uni were famous and appeared in many well-known shows such as National Geography.
They are some of the leading experts on the subject in the entire world for the past few decades.
It truly is amazing to think about who is actually teaching you.
Even if your professors aren’t influential in their disciplines, you may still gain a lifelong mentor.
Professors get paid much more compared to your high school teachers. You may be surprised to find that many of your professors genuinely care about teaching and making sure you have a good experience learning. They may also work to accommodate their students. For example, if many students in class have an exam from another class coming up, the due for the assignment may be pushed back.
Many professors are easy to talk to and it’s quite common to hear professors speak fondly of students they taught and still keep in contact with from years ago.
5. To meet lifelong friends or to meet a romantic partner
College is where many found their lifelong friends and romantic partners.
College can be tough and if you can endure all that together, it really can form some strong bonds.
I’ve seen so many people find their best friends and future wives/husbands in college. It happens more often than you may think.
6. To have a backup plan while you work on something else
Say you’re working on a side hustle. Many people do build up their brands on the internet while they were still in school.
It typically takes a few years to build a brand up from scratch to the point where you don’t have to get a job. During that time, if you have a 9–5 it’d be pretty difficult to keep everything up in the air. However, if you’re in school, you may be able to find more time to work on your businesses on the side especially if you can take a lighter course load.
Sophia Lee built up her blogging business when she was still in college. It took her 2 extra years to finish college I believe but it was worth it.
You can plan to make a living with your business while still at college and use your degree as a backup option in case your business failed.
If you want to learn how to start a blog and make money, click here.
If you want to learn how to become a content creator and make money this year, click here.
Want to learn how to make money as an artist? Click here.
7. To gain experience for your resume
School offers many opportunities for you to add items to your resume. You can:
- Join clubs
- Help out at school events
- Start a club
- Apply for volunteer positions that are affiliated with your school
- Be a tour guide for school
And in exchange you can list the following skills due to your experience on your resume:
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication skills
- Organizational skills
- Leadership skills
Many of those volunteer roles at school are easy to obtain. All you have to do is to apply. For this reason, I always have things to write about on my resume.
8. College is a unique experience that you’ll never be able to repeat again
You’ll never get to experience the same thing again once you miss that boat. To be young and in class with everyone else who is the same age as you, all working hard to build a career…
Sure, you can always go back to school but you’ll be studying amongst students who are a different age from you. It’s just not the same.
In a short 4–6 years’ time, your college experience would be over.
When I finished my last exam as an undergrad student, I felt a huge sense of relief and a strange bittersweet feeling. Soon after, I had a dream about being in class, doing presentations, taking notes, and talking to friends in class. I woke up in sadness and felt a sense of loss. You see, I wanted to get out of school so badly when I was in it but now that I’m out, I realized how I’ll never go back to that innocent time again.
To be young, in class with other students your age, all naive, innocent, and full of hope. You have your own little desk and you try your best to do well in class. You may develop close bonds with your professors and other students. You laugh at the same jokes in class, you leave class to hang out with friends in the library, form little study groups, the busy cafeteria during lunch hours, you head off to the exam room together and frantically quiz each other along the way, you run into more people from class and they join in, you exit the exam room at 10 pm on a Saturday and give each other the tired look, you dress up for a school networking event, the move away from home at 17 or 18, the first few grocery trips by yourself for yourself, you decide what to eat because no one else would cook for you anymore, etc.
All of that experience is just not the same if you were to do it when you’re not 18 anymore.
Maybe it’s the fear of missing out but you can’t deny the fact that there can be so much fun time in college. You won’t get the same thing if you attend an event as an adult where everyone goes their separate ways once it’s over. You’d still see many of the same people again and again on campus once the parade, party, club event, etc is over even if you aren’t actually friends.
There’s a lot of unspoken friendliness between people who share the same classes at school or even just the same campus and it may offer a feeling of familiarity and relief when you run into each other. One day, all that would stop. You’ll never run into the same people you used to see so often at school anymore and you’d probably never see each other again.
I still can’t believe my last day at school was a random Friday in 2020 before the lockdown happened. I could’ve watched the lecture online but I’m glad I made the decision to go there in person and ran into a bunch of friends I know for the last time. Many of us went our separate ways once we graduated.
It’s sad that you’ll never get the same people in a room together anymore because there’s no reason to. Sure, there’ll be school reunions but school reunions tend to encompass all the alumni from all the time in the past including people who weren’t in the same graduating year as you. There’s also the fact that most people would skip school reunions.
Final thought
I finished my 4 years of undergrad in 2021 almost a year ago and I often look back at my time in college with fondness despite the fact that I had my fair share of stressed-out moments in college that I wouldn’t want to revisit.
Some parts of me feel like the time I spent in college could’ve been used for something else more productive. I would’ve been further in life than where I am now but I don’t regret going to college.
I do wish I have more fun memories in college because I spent 90% of it at my desk studying but nevertheless just the experience of going to class, studying with friends, grocery shopping by myself as an 18-year-old, living by myself far from the family and feeling so much like an adult, laughing at jokes in class, etc all of that is unforgettable and I’m glad I have the rest of my life to make more memories with other people outside of school.
I also have counter-arguments for why you shouldn’t go to college, check them out here.
