College is awesome; no doubt about it.
Drinking, freedom and individualism stand out the most in college. For the first time in many students lives, they can truly find their element, especially at a big school such as USC. Plenty of people forget where they are and don’t realize that college is the first step in their future lives. After all, the major you graduate with typically decides your work field for the rest of your life.
“College was the best time of my life.”
It would be surprising if you haven’t heard this statement from a relative or on TV. The statement itself may seem okay, but within perspective it can sound pretty depressing. Generally, you as a student have goals you want to accomplish after college.
You also gain more insight as to how life works to make more informed decisions. These decisions should make you appreciate your life more; after all, reputation, family and money are the main motivating factors for people. Each of these things listed typically can only be accomplished after college. Stating “college was the best time of my life,” leads to thinking that frames life in the past and eventually burdens people’s success in the future.
It is hard to feel successful professionally or personally in the present if you feel that you accomplished more in the past.
Students tend to forget that the main point of college is to accomplish prerequisites to apply for jobs. A college degree is only a piece of paper, not a set of skills, nor a golden ticket to set you up in life.
A growing majority in the United States have college degrees and while the benefit of going to college can be argued, the status and potential gained from having a degree cannot be argued. However, when you apply for jobs, a degree isn’t everything. What you do outside of classes helps you stand out among crowds of people with the same qualifications applying for the same jobs.
Believe it or not, after college you will not have much free time until you retire. The time spent in college should hold some value to you, and you truly should be doing what you want to do. If your goal in college is set yourself up to succeed in your career, then you should be taking every opportunity you get. If your goal in college is to party until the sun comes up every morning, then you should do that. However, keep in mind that after college, it is difficult to continue this lifestyle.
Lots of time in college is wasted complaining and contemplating about class work and tests. If you are in a major-related class and can’t pay attention, then how are you going to succeed in your career path? Alternatively, if you are having a difficult time motivating yourself to do work in college, be it study for an exam or finish homework, then how are you going to succeed in your career path?
If your goals in life aren’t career-related then this doesn’t apply to you much, but this perspective can be viewed for any type of goals, professional or personal.
Like it or not, college has to end sometime. Unless you want to become a professor and, in that case, you definitely won’t have time to enjoy college.
Look at what you appreciate in your life and in other people’s lives and use that to drive yourself forward. If you want to watch a movie every day for the rest of your life, then make sure you can set yourself up with a job that allows you to do that. Time in college should be spent figuring out who you are, so you can put your future life in perspective and become the person you want to be.