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Do you feel that college is necessary to have an successful career?

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Kim’s Answer

Hi Destney

Ken has given you some excellent advice and guidance. One additional thought to consider is to augment your understanding of your personality traits with some insight into your true strengths. My favorite assessment is StrengthsFinder. The resulting report will provide insights into your true strengths and how they are aligned to educational and career options. This information along with the information on your personality traits will provide a well-rounded guide to your decision-making process. Your educational and career path tends to be fluid so keep your mind open to opportunities that you may not have originally considered along the way. Best of luck.

Kim recommends the following next steps:

Research the StrengthsFinder assessment to determine application to your need.
Take the StrengthsFinder assessment and review the resulting report for insight into your potential educational and career options.
Retain the report for reference as you continue on your path to help keep you centered.
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Ken’s Answer

No. The important thing for you to do is to get to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to various career areas - many of which do not require college and provide for a very good lifestyle. Here are some good sites to visit followed by some tips from my many years in Human Relations.


Should You Go To College

https://medium.com/the-mission/high-school-is-over-should-you-go-to-college-b5b6db6f6712

My Biggest Regret: Going to College

https://medium.com/the-mission/my-biggest-regret-in-life-going-to-college-ef2068f179cf

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Djaja’s Answer

Yes for me.

My college degree help me landed my first job at a bigger company (Sprint PCS). One that job, I was competing with other candidates that also had a college degree. I do not think they will offer me a job if I did not have a college degree.

After my bachelor degree, I did my Master degree without experiencing a working life first.

My advice is not to do your Master degree immediately. After you finish your Bachelor degree, go to work first. See if you like the field you study. You can always go back to school later if needed.

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Rama’s Answer

I am happy to add a few things on top of some great answers from everyone. College degree used to be requirement for many companies. Lately companies are dropping that requirement and focusing on aspects like curiosity, interests, aptitude and passion one can bring to a specific job or a role. College degree is never a waste and if you want to learn the fundamentals of subjects, it is great to learn in a classroom setting and solve some solutions. Later on working realtime the knowledge is always useful in applying our analytical, critical and problem solving thinking. For me, I am in a job that I did not learn anything about in college but looking closely, there were many aspects of certain subjects like People management, employee relations and marketing management that helped me advance in my career. So it was very useful.
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John’s Answer

Destney people who lack college degrees are more likely to be limited to basic jobs in service, manufacturing and construction industries. While employees with a high school education may secure jobs with good benefits, college graduates typically fare better, entering higher-level careers with greater salaries. They are also more likely to receive promotions, earn raises and develop reasoning and communication skills that can be applied to their jobs.

BETTER LIFE SKILLS
During your classes, you'll often develop the reasoning skills needed to make life decisions, ranging from buying a home to helping their children choose their own college. In fact, college graduates are more likely to have children who also complete a college education. Other advantages of educational degrees may include better study habits and so-called 'soft skills' which spells out into communication and collaborative and cooperative behaviors that enables humans to not only de-escalate dangerous and potential fatal situations, but also negotiate for advantageous placement of self and those close to oneself even in the face of overwhelming obstacles or unfair disadvantage. When others react with anger or despair, those who have a broad palate of interpersonal skills and coping mechanisms, will be successful by persevering, analyzing and assessing the status quo and strategizing towards a new outcome. These are all skills taught in college in various courses such as Algebra, History, Sociology and Philosophy for instance, also known as General Education, or the Humanities.

HIGHER SALARIES
A college education may be one of the best investments of time and money for a person's career. A 2018 report produced by the American Community Survey that was released by the U.S. Census Bureau stated that those who held a bachelor's degree were expected to earn a 40-year lifetime salary of about $3 million dollars on average, while high school graduates only took a lifetime salary of about $1.5 million dollars (www.census.gov). On average, those who held master's degrees earned $3.8 million dollars. Holders of professional degrees could expect lifetime earnings in excess of $5 million dollars.

Good Luck Destney
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Katie’s Answer

College is necessary for certain careers--engineer, lawyer, doctor, teacher, etc. College is NOT necessary for all careers.


There are many career fields that require certification that can be gotten through other types of education. If you don't think college is for you, I suggest checking out the programs at your local technical school to see what best fits with your interests.


College doesn't always have to be the next step after high school. My parents both went back to school while I was growing up. There are lots of non-traditional options for college including night classes and online programs.

Katie recommends the following next steps:

Check out your local technical school to see if they have a certification/degree program that fits your interests.
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Deena’s Answer

I don’t believe that you must go to college in order to be successful but I do believe it’s kind of like trying to bake chocolate chip cookies without sugar they still taste OK but they taste really great with sugar. College makes working life more manageable

Deena recommends the following next steps:

If offered the choice would you rather have no cookies or cookies without sugar
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GABRIELA’s Answer

Yes as a career will go with you anywhere you go and will make you more competitive.
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Arjun’s Answer

College is important but not necessary.
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Kimberly’s Answer

There are many definitions of success and ways to be successful. Depending on the career you choose, college may not be required. People choose many different paths to success and if college is not an option for you in the immediate future, you may choose to enter the work force to get some experience before you decide on your next job. If you find that you desire a career that requires a college degree, you may look for an employer that offers some tuition reimbursement that will allow you to work while you go to school and provide assistance covering tuition. The most important part of being successful is finding work that you enjoy and that allows you to continuing growing your skills.
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Simeon’s Answer

There are many successful paths outside of college. I'd recommend looking at some of the trade jobs like plumbing, electrician, HVAC tech, or welder. You could also consider doing work in the military depending on what your interests are.
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Boopathy’s Answer

College is not necessary for a career when you hard work, will come up in a career sometimes you are wasting year spending time in college. College is required when your studies are very relevant to your career and it demands so that you can shape and sharpen your career.
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Tina L’s Answer

Honestly, 20 years ago I'd say without a doubt but today.. It depends on the career. You obviously can't become a doctor without having gone to college but if you're willing to take an entry level role, work hard and build a strong network, you can carve out a great career in banking, retail or the automobile industry, just to name a few.

Whatever you decide, remember completing a college degree takes discipline and dedication and those are life skills that you can use once you graduate and start a career. So....it's leverage and can't hurt, although it can be financially taxing.

Weigh your options..pray about..and follow your heart..

Best wishes
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Louise’s Answer

Destney,

A college degree is a great asset. While we've heard of people succeeding without a college degree, it is not necessarily true for everyone. Many of those who have succeeded professionally without a college education ended up enrolling in college later on. They realized that their success did not guarantee certain knowledge (i.e. business management or law) that could be beneficial to their line of work.

Most importantly, knowledge is power. Material possessions can be taken away due to mismanagement or what have you. However, nobody can take away the knowledge and skills one acquired through a college education.

Finally, success is not only measured by accumulated possessions or accolades. A person is equally successful when they follow through on what they are passionate about, thus fulfilling their goals in life.

Best wishes to you!

Louise recommends the following next steps:

Find out what you are passionate about, as this will lead to a successful and fulfilling career.
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Anny’s Answer

This depends on the career you seek. For some professions: teaching, law, medicine, engineering, the added education is absolutely necessary to build a career. As well, if you look into the future of work, more and more jobs will require creativity and innovation, flexibility, having a problem-solver mindset, collaboration, communications, ability to learn. When I look at my own career, some of the "content" of what I learned is largely no longer relevant. However, the skills that I've picked up: curiosity, logic, analysis, and teamwork continues to serve me well.

When I started college, I had ambitions to work in banking. However, mid-way through my undergraduate, I figured out that I did not want a career in Economics. However, I took enough courses in other fields to identify that Marketing was my true passion - college helped with that.

Note that if your desired field of work does require a degree, your investment in your college studies will likely pay off as college grads (on average) earn more over their lifetime vs. non-college grads.
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Michael Ivelin’s Answer

It all depends on what you want to do in life. Certain careers require an education as their professional licenses are tied to it. For example, if you want to become and auditor or a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) you will need 150 college hours of which 30 need to be in accounting. It's the same way for lawyers, dentists, doctors, and etc. However, if you want to become a plumber, electrician, or mechanic, no education is required. You can learn a lot of these jobs by just taking an online course or starting a job at a company that would provide you with training.

The first step that you need to draw down some ideas of what you like to do and see what jobs correspond with that. Then do some research and determine what the requirements for those jobs are and what kind of money are earned for them. A lot of times you might want to do something, but when you realize that you will be making close to minimal wage doing it, you reconsider your options. For example, my friend wanted to be a firefighter because his father was. He did the one-year training and when he finally became one he realized that he was making only about $1,800 a month which was not enough for him to pay his bills. Therefore, he started a second full time job as an ambulance driver. However, even with that job he still could barely make $3,000 from both jobs a month and he did not had any free time as he was working over 80 hours a week. Now he is a truck driver and he makes over $4,000 a month working 5 days a week as a local truck driver. He is home every night and has all of the necessary benefits.
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