Let’s be real here, you completed high school but since college comes as a choice and whether you go or not is completely up to you. If you find yourself in this spot to make a decision whether you should go or not, ask yourself this questions because you don’t have to go! It really all comes down to what you want to do in life.

In this post I want to share the questions you should ask yourself on whether you should go to college and some pros and cons of not going to college.

If you are still under 18 and reading this post, check out 13 things I learned when I turned 18 I Wish somebody Told Me.

Before we dive in, I want to share some quick facts of going to college:

  • The most talked about statistic is that on average, a person with bachelor’s degree will earn almost $1 million more over the course of a lifetime than somebody with just a high school diploma.
  • On average, college graduates earn 55% more per year than those with a high school diploma.
  • On average, college graduates earn 32% more per year than those with associate degree.
  • A college degree is required for many entry-level jobs, see this study from Georgetown University, by 2020, 65% of all jobs will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school, and 35% of the job openings will require at least a bachelor’s degree.
  • Building connections in college will highly contribute to your job search outlook. About 75% of jobs are not advertised publicly and you really need to know the right people to score that job.

Now, those are just facts I listed and I am not saying that you need money in order to be successful in life, prompts to you if you don’t care about money! But having higher salary will land you more opportunities and allow you to support a family more easily.

Let’s dive into the questions you should ask yourself if you should go to college:

What do I Enjoy to do or my Life Goal?

Everybody is different which makes this world go around. Everybody has their own set of skills or purpose to do something in this world, or in other words we are all unique. You must of heard of this: “If everybody else is doing it, doesn’t mean you should do it”. College is not for everyone, it all comes down to you to decide.

We change throughout life and our ambitions change as well. You might still be undecided just how I was before and took some time off after high school (read bio about me). What is more important is how do you want to strive in your life, figure it out today.

Building your life goals is crucial in development, and don’t be afraid of high goals but what matters is you actually working towards them. You could have a few, or you could have dozens of goals, that is totally up to you.

If you haven’t yet, read this book called “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets or America’s Wealthy” that has everything that you need to know about life in America comparing education levels and how people live where some decide to spend on cars and not their retirement. You seeing that fancy car? Well know that, everybody’s needs are different and majority of people buy expensive cars just to make them feel better about themselves unfortunately.

Once you have all your life goals on a list, you need to determine the importance of them in your life:

  • What is absolutely something that is necessary to you?
  • What could you do without?
  • Determine need and want for each one?

After you have determined your goals, ask yourself:

Will a College Degree Help Me to Break Into That Field?

So, after you have your goals figured out or a career that you want. Now you just need to determine how to break into that field. What is needed to get there?

Sometimes a real-world experience will help you, sometimes it will be having a college degree, and sometimes it will differ for other reasons.

Start with LinkedIn and explore the people that are in that career or a field and thankfully by having LinkedIn you will be able to explore so much about professional world. You can see or talk to them on LinkedIn whether they went to to college? You can even go as far as lending internships through LinkedIn in that field. This gives you such a great experience to explore that field because maybe it’s not for you after you get in it.

Not having a college degree will not disqualify you from getting jobs, some jobs require on-the-job training and high school diploma to work for them. Technicians for example don’t need to get education, they need to have experience.

Other jobs will require a college degree like lawyer, Professor, Financial Adviser. These professions require you to have education. It all comes down for you to decide.

Will this Career Allow Me to Do That?

Another question is when you are done choosing your goals, you need to find what career will allow you to do what you want to do. Can you think of careers that will let you do that? if you can’t think of it, thankfully we have internet for that reason, so dive in and research. Trust me you will be surprised that some companies doing things you never thought of existed.

No worries if you just can’t find that career you have been dreaming about. You need to know that things will not always work out. Instead, find a position that will allow you to grow towards that dream occupation you have set for yourself and move toward it.

For example: Do you want to travel? look for airline positions. or maybe you want to blog about traveling, well by having airline job you will be able to travel and you can start a blog by the cities that you visit and see from there. So it is really coming down to you in the end again.

Do you want an uplift to continue your education? See our top selected quotes to continue learning.

College might not be for you and here are some facts that you don’t need to go:

  • You don’t need to go if you are already successful – If you are one of the rare people that have achieved professional success, then going to college won’t really benefit you. If you were recruited by a large sports company or took over your fathers small business and know everything, then nobody will care if you went to college, you can always come back and get your degree.
  • You might be academically inclined – If you just can’t focus or change your habits on studying then it is not for you and no reason to waste your time. Just remember in college you can avoid courses that you have no interest in.
  • Cost – This is another reason. Colleges this days are businesses and are pricey, but remember in this case you need to do your research on financial aid available. Starting with debt from school will most likely leave you in debt or you will be paying it off through your 40’s
  • You’re an Entrepreneur! – Entrepreneurship is becoming popular, people are hating the job and I’m sure you thought of it, working for yourself and doing whatever you want. The current education building us employees and not employers.

Bottom Line

College is not for everybody and I do not want you to be struggling trying to go through college because your parents told you: get a degree and you will secure a great job! Well, this was 30 years ago, you will be guaranteed a job, now-a-days the system has changed.

College education pays off for itself in the end for majority of people that graduate.

If you are still thinking about attending or not then know that you can be successful without college degree and with college degree but college graduates tend to do much better than those without a college degree.

Make a decision that will benefit YOU the most in the future.

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