Not everyone who enrolls into college expects to be employed by a fortune 500 company after four to six years of study.
Rather, what you will find at many universities is that there are tens of thousands of students who seek to use what they learn in college to launch their own ideas, businesses or projects.
In fact, many individuals often point to creative geniuses such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg as evidence to suggest that college is never a prerequisite to success. But this is not what this article is about.
Instead, my assertion in this writing here today is that college is a great catalyst for anyone who seeks to gain even more success.
Not only that, but for those who are creative or innovative enough, college may only greatly increase such a person’s chances of success, and nothing lesser than that too.
With that being said, for many others however, college still is often pursued with the sole expectation of being employed upon graduation. So if that fits your standard, feel free to just read no further.
However, for the innovators, non-conformists, artists, or those of you who are just entrepreneurial driven; becoming a boss of your own making, rather than working for one, may be a pursuit that is just more seductive to you.
So for the people such as these then, what may be suggested for those that match such cases?
For one, ask yourself if you don’t want to work for others, then what sort of work do you expect to do yourself?
Then once you answer this question, perhaps it is next useful to make a list of all of the necessary skills or resources that you feel you must possess to meet your goals.
And only after you make this list will you review the majors or educational paths that your university offers; so you can select the one that is best suited for your vision.
Or if your university even offers you the option, perhaps it is better to just create your own custom major.
For example, many colleges such as Baruch University will allow their students to create their own individualized degrees, provided that the program is reviewed first by an ad-hoc director; and later approved by a Dean at the institution.
And if you dare, and aren’t in a rush to graduate, you may wish to look for minors that can expand your repertoire in areas outside of your main concentration, or at the very least cross-relate.
College is an excellent way to cultivate leadership and cooperative skills as well, since many courses at various universities mandate group projects as a requirement of the course.
Not only that, but having to get used to deadlines; either for course projects or exams; can train one to organize and structure their own lives with greater efficiency, even if under pressure.
And don’t forget to use your college experiences as an opportunity to weed out your inadequacies, so that you don’t miss out on your chance to shine because of an excess of incompetence.
For example, if you know you are uncomfortable with speaking in public, take more communication courses.
Last but not least; completing a minor or two may boost your gpa too, which is never unimportant if you are thinking of graduate school after completing your bachelors.
And for those who are a part of a non-conformist lifestyle, attending college might offer you a chance to perceive your society in much of a way which our majority culture might; but without having you to sacrifice entirely on your own values in the process too.
So by this point of reading, you might think to yourself but aren’t their more entrepreneurs or innovators that fail than succeed?
In fact, one of the biggest fears for many self-starters or those who are entrepreneurial driven is that success is never guaranteed.
But don’t let this stop you from winning anyway. Since life is often not linear, don’t fear failing a few times, or having to work thru your challenges. Because at the end of the day there are often hidden gains from failure anyway.
But even more importantly, after failing many times, you learn to think stuff thru better; and you may even become more versatile and adaptive as a result of failure too.
And remember this, college is as much as you make of it outside of your campus, as much as it is about the opportunities you seize at your university too.
So don’t feel that you are necessarily missing out dearly by the way if you can’t find the time to network or join groups.
Yet don’t make excuses if you find that you aren’t taking advantage of the many opportunities that your university might offer as well, such as with internships or student clubs.
And know as well that if you maintain enough hobbies, or commitments outside of your own university already; then for students such as yourself, just attending your courses might be more than enough to give you the mental boost that is necessary to enhance many of your non-academic pursuits.
And for those who are brave enough, college offers you a chance of completing a doctorate or master’s degree. Which might be worth it even if you don’t seek employment from outside bosses too.
For instance, those who go to law school might find that the skills which an attorney would possess would make one a better thinker, debater, innovator, or even a professional consultant. So reaching for a master’s might have enough merit of itself rather than just impressing new employers.
Draft notes,
Use quotes from interviews of those who became successful after graduation without being hired by somebody else.
Uses quotes from a faculty member such as a dean or director at baruch who may have experience with helping non-traditional students reach their goals.
The DAte of this post is Nov the eighth, but reALLy it is the seventh, so perhaps the BLog’s time hAsn’t Been Set for LAst weekenD’s DSt.