All my friends and I have been complaining for years about our college debt and have dreaded repaying our student loans. Every once in a while in our conversations, the point will be brought up that it would have been so much cheaper just not going to school, and that the time spent in class could have been spent getting a start on a job. Through my personal experiences and those of my friends, though, I can tell you that you are not better off staying out of school.
We all know how expensive college is, but there are so many more advantages you will gain by going through school than the single disadvantage of another payment for so many years after you graduate. First of all, possibly the most underrated aspect of college is education. What you learn in college (or at least from some type of post-high school educational institute) is invaluable. That education is not always directly translatable into exactly what you will be doing when on the job, but the experience you gain in a variety of aspects of your major is a huge benefit. Also, many colleges and universities don't just have professors - they have experienced professionals that have worked in the field for so many years and held so many positions. This is huge, too! I know at DeVry University (where I went to school), every single professor I had had been a full-time professional for at least 5 years in that field sometime in their life. My psychology professor was a full-time psychologist. My public speaking instructor was originally a public speaker and corporate trainer for some of the biggest companies in the world Those are just a few examples, not to mention the countless programmers and business analysts that taught me.
Outside of the education, universities want their students to succeed (it looks good on their record, too!), so they will do everything in their power to make sure their students get the correct education and get placed into their desired field of study after graduation. I learned this first hand with my career services advisor, Veronica, whose number I even have in my cell phone. I worked closely with her (mostly because of her desire to help in my job search) not only with job search but also picked her brain for the unique knowledge she had of hundreds of companies that had hired from DeVry in the past. She knew managers and presidents, she knew hiring and interviewing techniques specific to each company, she knew what companies had awesome reputations, average ones, and those which she flat out told me not to pursue. She was a huge help in the development of my career, and I am thankful. Every school has career services advisors, though, even high schools. Use them!
Your work experience and job search doesn't start when you graduate, though. Some people, before they go to college, say "I think I might look for a part-time job on campus when I'm at school to earn a little extra money." Unfortunately, that's not how it works at a lot of schools. Almost every school for which I have examined their educational processes actually forces their students to engage in an official, professional internship in their field of study. First of all, this helps encourage kids to get off their butts when in the dorm and look for the right internship instead of getting what's left when the time comes, and it also adds the #1 most precious item to your resume: Work Experience! Though all my experiences (worked in my field of study at an Internet Service Provider, Software Company, and where I'm at now as an Applications Developer/Programmer), I have been reminded over and over again how important relevant work experience is for your resume and ultimately obtaining a real job. And this internship (and any other relevant) work experience will raise your entry level pay quite considerably! One note I must add, though, is that finding the right internship, making it work, and then participating adequately in your post-college job search takes lots of effort on your part. I never said it was easy!
Relevant work experience is the biggest advantage of internships for your career/resume (along with the potential to stay with the company full-time after the internship is over), but it isn't the biggest part of your interview. What is the most important part of your interview? Relevant work experience? No. Hard skills in the field? No. It is your personality! It may be hard to beleive for some of you, but it's true. Maybe not back in the day, but it is really what companies are turning to in today's working society. The better the person, the better work that person will do. They can be taught. (Some companies' specialty is proving training.) At IGC Software in Columbus where I used to work, there were three others interviewing for the same position. After I had gone through my second interview, I was still in the office taking my tour when another guy, who came in after me, had interviewed and left before I got back. I asked about that, and the employer said the following: "He was as stale as a bag of crackers. No personality. He sure knew his stuff, that's for sure! But he would not fit in here, working with us." Never forget that!
That's about all I have to say about college at this point. There are so many other advantages - living on your own, developing even more responsibility and discipline, re-recognizing your values and beliefs (not changing, but strengthening), and so on. Many have had negative experiences at college, and many times it's the result of a combination of a run of bad luck, a professor or two that got you off on the wrong foot, family problems, and so on. So many variables... but in the end, I wouldn't trade my expensive, distant, uncomfortable college times for anything.
May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum
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