Failure to Launch: Going Through College Without A Plan
Hindsight is 20/20 is one of the more painful truths of life, we really only know what to do, when, where and how, after it has all happened. This could not be more true of my college experience. I entered college with rose-colored glasses on, naive and hopeful I bought into the image of college as advertised in popular culture: the place where you learn new things, meet different people, try out various options and ultimately work towards picking a career path. Unfortunately college no longer lives up to that reputation, if it ever did. Studies and surveys have started to show a growing epidemic of young adults "failing to launch." Children who drop out or graduate college and move back in with their parents, many failing to enter the workforce or even when they do failing to attain a career in the field of their degree. I have read a number of articles on the subject that have postulated a number of causes of this phenomenon and presented some ideas at solutions.
For my part I believe a large portion of the problem is that precious few students leave college with a solid idea of the career they want or a plan to achieve it. Career aspirations are too often seen as something to work out in college, instead of something planned before-hand and realized through a college education. We need to reinforce the latter perspective, not the former. College is expensive and only likely to get more expensive, faffing about for two years completing general education requirements while dabbling in various fields of study looking for inspiration is just not an effective way to find a career, let alone complete the education necessary to succeed in that career. If I could roll back the clock a decade and given advise to my younger college-student self I would hammer-home that very point. I should have identified a career I had an interest in, even if it maybe wasn't perfect, committed to it and worked to achieve it. I should have pursued a double-major, I should have focused on career applicable fields and avoided the liberal arts. I loved nothing more than studying English, Anthropology, Sociology and History but those classes have proven utterly worthless post graduation.
The simple reality is that some degrees have more economic value than others, while I doubt everyone is going to suddenly jump at the chance to become a petroleum engineer, even though that is one of the highest paying careers. Even so art history, English, and many other liberal arts, just don't command a very high economic value, nor are they likely to provide much in the way of career prospects outside of education. Only so many people can make it as successful writers, or achieve a profitable art career. Degrees in business management, accounting, communications, computer science and information technology, nursing, engineering, these command a much greater economic value and much better job prospects after graduation.
I also think that we, as a society, need to stop pushing the idea that everyone is meant to go to college. Not everyone is college material, nor is everyone well suited to the college environment or likely to benefit from the degree they are seeking. Yet our modern culture has placed great emphasis on higher education being attainable for everyone, seemingly based in the idealized dream of low income students getting into college and through higher-education attaining wealth and status. However instead of a torrent of rags-to-riches stories we have an endless tide of student debt, unemployment, and moving back-in with parents. So much emphasis has been placed on college while trade-schools have been all but forgotten. Yet an entry-level pipe-fitter commands a much greater starting salary than my English degree is worth.
I cannot help but believe some of the blame for this situation falls on popular culture and public education. Not once did any of the public schools I attend feature visiting master tradesmen and women, no welders, no contractors, electricians or woodworkers. Not once did I hear a trade-school mentioned nor did anyone show us the prospective salaries of various careers. As a nation we seem to have forgotten the value of the trades in our pursuit of an ivory tower education and the results are plain to see.
The TL/DR is this: If you are going to college, pick a career ahead of time, make sure it has the job availability and salary prospects that you find acceptable, and direct your education specifically towards that career and little else. Make the most of the expense of college and work towards a plan. Start with a community college to save money and transfer to a four-year school after finishing gen-eds. This is the advise I wish I had been given when I was 18 and heading to university for the first time. Three schools and thousands of dollars later and I have a degree I am not using and am no closer to identifying a career, let alone attaining it, oh and I am now literally living in my parent's basements. So take my advise, and don't become me!
For my part I believe a large portion of the problem is that precious few students leave college with a solid idea of the career they want or a plan to achieve it. Career aspirations are too often seen as something to work out in college, instead of something planned before-hand and realized through a college education. We need to reinforce the latter perspective, not the former. College is expensive and only likely to get more expensive, faffing about for two years completing general education requirements while dabbling in various fields of study looking for inspiration is just not an effective way to find a career, let alone complete the education necessary to succeed in that career. If I could roll back the clock a decade and given advise to my younger college-student self I would hammer-home that very point. I should have identified a career I had an interest in, even if it maybe wasn't perfect, committed to it and worked to achieve it. I should have pursued a double-major, I should have focused on career applicable fields and avoided the liberal arts. I loved nothing more than studying English, Anthropology, Sociology and History but those classes have proven utterly worthless post graduation.The simple reality is that some degrees have more economic value than others, while I doubt everyone is going to suddenly jump at the chance to become a petroleum engineer, even though that is one of the highest paying careers. Even so art history, English, and many other liberal arts, just don't command a very high economic value, nor are they likely to provide much in the way of career prospects outside of education. Only so many people can make it as successful writers, or achieve a profitable art career. Degrees in business management, accounting, communications, computer science and information technology, nursing, engineering, these command a much greater economic value and much better job prospects after graduation.
I also think that we, as a society, need to stop pushing the idea that everyone is meant to go to college. Not everyone is college material, nor is everyone well suited to the college environment or likely to benefit from the degree they are seeking. Yet our modern culture has placed great emphasis on higher education being attainable for everyone, seemingly based in the idealized dream of low income students getting into college and through higher-education attaining wealth and status. However instead of a torrent of rags-to-riches stories we have an endless tide of student debt, unemployment, and moving back-in with parents. So much emphasis has been placed on college while trade-schools have been all but forgotten. Yet an entry-level pipe-fitter commands a much greater starting salary than my English degree is worth.
I cannot help but believe some of the blame for this situation falls on popular culture and public education. Not once did any of the public schools I attend feature visiting master tradesmen and women, no welders, no contractors, electricians or woodworkers. Not once did I hear a trade-school mentioned nor did anyone show us the prospective salaries of various careers. As a nation we seem to have forgotten the value of the trades in our pursuit of an ivory tower education and the results are plain to see.
The TL/DR is this: If you are going to college, pick a career ahead of time, make sure it has the job availability and salary prospects that you find acceptable, and direct your education specifically towards that career and little else. Make the most of the expense of college and work towards a plan. Start with a community college to save money and transfer to a four-year school after finishing gen-eds. This is the advise I wish I had been given when I was 18 and heading to university for the first time. Three schools and thousands of dollars later and I have a degree I am not using and am no closer to identifying a career, let alone attaining it, oh and I am now literally living in my parent's basements. So take my advise, and don't become me!
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