Students who seek higher education after high school and potentially college for grad school are told to go to college to get a degree and to better themselves as knowledge is power.  The college experience is the time and place where students grow into adulthood as professional men and women once graduated. 

The college experience is one that could change people and their mindsets as lessons that are academic or social. Strategizing and connecting with others to get ahead is the growth that comes from being a highschool student in their late teens to an adult in their early twenties. The transition is not an easy one as sacrifices in socializing, academic, and time management are learned to be juggled. Once juggled the amount of stress and trial and tribulations due to confusion doesn’t last long as these struggles only occur during finals season. Libraries and lounges are full to capacity and studying is what makes or breaks a students semester and entirety of their academic year. The sooner discipline is taught the better as staying on top of assignments and due dates can keep students on top of their studies.

“I believe college is a scam. Half of my classes are being taught over presentation slides and have made me believe that I could have taught myself.” says a student who wished to be anonymous. 

The curriculum in which students learn depends on their major and what their major intends for students to learn that will help them succeed in the future. “College is full of people with experience teaching students. The experience and knowledge of most professors  is why students attend and pay colleges and institutions.” Says a history professor. Knowledge is powerful and a step toward a brighter future in what students wish to pursue and be successful. 

“Students don’t know that they are here just as long as they are at a part time job. The assignments add on to the amount of time they spend in an hour to three hour class.” Went on to say “Except the college/ colleges don’t pay them, they pay the college.” students were shocked to hear this fact be brought up when mentioned in their class session. The thought of going to college seems all high and mighty when students apply to colleges and the experience in which they bring after a letter of acceptance. The time and effort spent on homeworks and assignments can go unnoticed depending on how much time is actually spent on assignments can feel endless. As most students and staff know, nothing worth meaning comes easy as the amount of work put into something is the amount of work you get out of doing that something. The endless hours and late nights that go into assignments being done is potentially rewarded with an exceptional grade. 

      Sometimes college isn’t what it’s cracked up to be as shows and movies dramatize it and make it an experience you could wish for yourself to have. Any experience portrayed on tv or in shows is barely realistic. Students have the opportunity to make the best out of their college experiences as the experience is their own. Life after college and student loans comes quicker than students realize as well as the realization of the next step for life after college, but they know that they are prepared. Some students are lucky to have scholarships and full rides, but it doesn’t seem fair when students work and do extracurriculars to put on their applications for colleges to stand out and hopefully earn themselves a scholarship. Maybe that’s where the problem occurred for most people who didn’t receive a full ride scholarship or any kind of scholarship to begin with. Maybe students didn’t apply themselves to such opportunities or maybe students were not given any knowledge of how they could’ve gotten one or the chance others were given. The system of going to college and institutions doesn’t seem fair to everyone, but the applications many fill out and spend time on as most students get a chance to try for their dream school.