My college experience has been underwhelming to say the least. I was never one for formal education or academic institutions. Even at a young age, I didn’t see the point of it. I sensed that my dad shared the same frustrations when I talked to him about this at the time, and it made me feel seen. In my view, the only things that school did well was provide a space for kids to be around people their own age and go through the same struggles (sitting in class for hours, having to do homework, studying for exams, etc.), which allowed them to have a sense of community and bonding.

The actual learning part that school is supposed to be about never really seemed to make sense. I always felt like we were learning things that weren’t really relevant. And I say this as someone who is incredibly curious about most things. I love learning about the world and how it works but school just made things that I would otherwise find fascinating, boring (like history for example) by having us memorize information and test us on it, without delving into the aspects that made those topics interesting in the first place.

Now enough about school. What was my issue with college and why was it an underwhelming experience? First, college (at least in my understanding) is a place, you pay an exorbitant amount of money to go to, to gain knowledge and skills for the real world, aka jobs. Second, from that definition, you could assume that in exchange for that money, you graduate and get a job where you can use the skills and knowledge you gained to earn a living.

What’s interesting is that college fails on both of those fronts. You don’t gain relevant real world knowledge/skills and therefore are useless when you graduate. The stuff you do learn is often outdated and most professors don’t even bother making their lectures engaging for their students. I’ve honestly learned more from free resources online than I have from my classes, and I think most students share the same experience. If I can learn basically any skill for free (or in some cases paid courses that are still way cheaper than tuition), why am I paying so much for this piece of paper that won’t even guarantee me a job anymore. The times have changed and I think people need to realize that the college degree isn’t what it used to be.

Now that I’m only weeks away from graduating, I see things more clearly now, but in all honesty I stopped caring about going to class and getting A’s years ago. It never mattered in the first place. The only reason I’m going through with college is for my family and to some degree the Sunk Cost fallacy, I’m so near the end that I can’t justify quitting.

What’s interesting is that even in this economy and job market, where the Bachelor’s degree isn’t valued anymore, I’m seeing recent grads going back to college for their Master’s or Doctorate degrees just because they can’t get a job. I mean I’ve never seen this level of stupidity in my life. If you always wanted to get a Master’s or a Doctorate degree for whatever reason, you do you, but if you’re doing it just because the job market is terrible for new grads, I don’t see the logic behind it. You are just sinking in more money into something that didn’t provide you the returns you were promised in the first place.

My mom asked me if I was going to go for a Master’s because I didn’t have a job/internship lined up and I said, “There is no way I’m going back to college.” And I stand by that, I didn’t want to go in the first place and after 4 years my opinions have not changed. Which is why I’m taking matters into my own hands and starting a business. If life is about setting goals and working hard to achieve them, then why not set goals that actually motivate you and fill you with the energy to work day and night to strive to achieve them. Why try so hard to get a job that pays $80,000/yr when you know you’ll be miserable working there. I’m not saying quit your job, stop going to college and go be free, but I do believe that people should stop doing what society tells them they should do. Think for yourself and do things because you think it’ll help you get closer to your goal, not because you have nothing else to do.

I was listening to the Modern Wisdom podcast recently, and the host shared a quote from someone else who said, “In life, you must choose your regrets”, and that quote has changed the way I view decision making in my life. Think of yourself in 60 years. What would that version of you regret? Think of the answer and make your decisions accordingly, because we can’t rewind our lives and play it back a different way. We must live with our decisions and therefore our regrets, because there is no way we can change them.