As someone in their mid-twenties, I have learned that a college education must be used differently than they once were by older generations. While a STEM degree is highly employable, there's much more to college than just that piece of paper for the sake of being employed by someone. Modern college students have to creatively use their time in college to reap a return on their investment. This includes networking with both peers and faculty, community engagement, taking advantage of university resources (the allowance of borrowing expensive equipment for free, which can include anything from a professional camera, outdoor equipment, or lab equipment), and taking bacc core classes that give you a marketable skill to peddle that either contributes to your Plan A directly, indirectly, or equip you with another skill to fall back on if Plan A takes longer than one anticipated. If you begin your career after you graduate, then unfortunately it's too late. Developing one's career has to begin the moment you enroll in your first college courses (regardless if one is fresh out of high school or not), because half of one's later success is knowing somebody who knows somebody, not just the skill your degree says you have. This is how you get ahead of someone that might actually be "better" at what you do than you.
My husband (10 years my senior, but also Gen Y like me) is only a high school graduate. So is my dad (Gen X), and my mom (Gen X) didn't even graduate high school. Yet, all three are pulling in more than 6-7 figures today. Both my parents are established entrepreneurs (my mom waited to start her career until all my siblings and I were adults), while my husband and I are still budding ones. What I've learned from both my parents and my husband is that no matter what deck of cards you're playing with (in other words, whats skills or pieces of paper you have or don't have), it's how you use them that determines if you're successful or not -- just like the Parable of the Ten Talents. Big successes come with big risks, albeit calculated ones, but risk nonetheless. My parents and my husband took big risks in other things that cost a lot of money up front, mine just happened to be in a college education.
My reason for sharing all this is that I feel that a lot of young people like myself need to know how to navigate today's economy, yet many don't have access to this kind of information because it's just so new. Typically those in advising positions (whether in the home or in the public education system) are older individuals, who only remember how things "used" to be. Being a modern college student -- being a modern, American college student -- is all about ingenuity, not being a worker bee. As long as one has the mindset of the latter, they will fail in whatever they do, college education or not (and I know plenty of whom I went to school with).
My husband (10 years my senior, but also Gen Y like me) is only a high school graduate. So is my dad (Gen X), and my mom (Gen X) didn't even graduate high school. Yet, all three are pulling in more than 6-7 figures today. Both my parents are established entrepreneurs (my mom waited to start her career until all my siblings and I were adults), while my husband and I are still budding ones. What I've learned from both my parents and my husband is that no matter what deck of cards you're playing with (in other words, whats skills or pieces of paper you have or don't have), it's how you use them that determines if you're successful or not -- just like the Parable of the Ten Talents. Big successes come with big risks, albeit calculated ones, but risk nonetheless. My parents and my husband took big risks in other things that cost a lot of money up front, mine just happened to be in a college education.
My reason for sharing all this is that I feel that a lot of young people like myself need to know how to navigate today's economy, yet many don't have access to this kind of information because it's just so new. Typically those in advising positions (whether in the home or in the public education system) are older individuals, who only remember how things "used" to be. Being a modern college student -- being a modern, American college student -- is all about ingenuity, not being a worker bee. As long as one has the mindset of the latter, they will fail in whatever they do, college education or not (and I know plenty of whom I went to school with).
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