5 Lies We're Told Growing Up: College Edition

By Marina Krivonossova on January 18, 2021

Growing up, much of the way we perceive the world is influenced by our families, teachers, and other adults in our lives. When we’re young, we tend to take everything they tell us to heart. After all, how could we not? Naive and inexperienced, we have no way of verifying whether the information they share with us is accurate or not. And much of the time, the information they give us is based on their own personal experiences which prove to no longer be relevant by the time we’re in the same position as they once were. That’s why I’m here today to share with you 5 of the biggest lies many of us are told while we’re growing up.

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1. “You need to go to college to get a good job.” I know you’ve heard this one, whether it be from a parent, a teacher, a counselor, or another adult in your life while you were in school. They told us going to college and getting that degree straight out of high school is the only way we’ll have good jobs as adults. Maybe that was true a few decades ago — I don’t know. All I know is that today, so many people are getting college degrees, that the value of a typical college degree is dropping. Meanwhile, the value people get out of going to trade schools, for instance, is rising like crazy. Plus, going to college alone won’t guarantee you anything. You need some work and volunteer experience, a quality network, and worthwhile recommendations to make your job application stand out. Long story short: you don’t need to go to college to get a good job, and going to college definitely won’t promise you any guarantees. Among these guarantees it won’t offer you is job security. This brings us to our next point…

2. “Going to college guarantees job security.” Yep, we’ve all heard this one. “If you go to college, you’re guaranteed job security once you graduate,” said the 50-year old high school counselor. I’ve been told that this used to be a reality. My grandma tells me stories of her life in the Soviet Union, where a college education meant a guaranteed job placement, as well as job stability to follow for the rest of your life. My mom’s stories are slightly different: while college helped her generation, there wasn’t that extreme guarantee of job security experienced by my grandma and those her age. And now, in our generation, things are totally different. English major graduates are bussing tables. Those who studied tech are working in marketing positions. Economists are working as freelancers, tutoring high school students in English. The majority of people are taking on work outside of their field, even if this isn’t work they’re necessarily passionate about. It’s a different time with an unstable and unpredictable economy. A college degree — no matter how much we believe in its power — cannot guarantee anybody job security today.

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3. “You’ll never make a career out of acting, singing, writing, or anything else outside of STEM.” I know I can’t be the only one who was pushed to study something in the STEM field. My parents both studied programming, and when I developed an interest in computers at a young age, it was kind of just expected that I’d follow in their footsteps. So, you can imagine their surprise (and, dare I say, initial disappointment) when I said I want to study writing. I never went through with that, but perhaps I should have. Some of my most successful and genuinely happy friends from undergrad are those who studied writing, dancing, or something else that didn’t make it into the STEM category. The reality of the situation is that art and the humanities are all around us — the entertainment industry is booming, and positions pertaining to studies of the humanities need to be filled. So if that’s what you’re passionate about, why not pursue it? We need to stop pretending that the only jobs that exist in this world are those pertaining to STEM.

4. “Getting good grades is the most important thing in school.” Yes, good grades are important. They’re the best evidence we have at an interview that we paid attention in school and learned all the required material. But honestly, grades aren’t the most important thing — balance is. As a college student, you need to focus on expanding your horizons and growing not just academically, but also personally and professionally. So, spend your time in college wisely. Take up a part-time job and get some real-world work experience. Join some clubs and see where your passions lie. Meet new people, go to concerts, attend the occasional networking event. Don’t let good grades be the only reason you wake up every day for 4+ years.

(Image via pexels.com)

5. “Your grades will follow you long after you’re done with school.” I have never had a potential employer ask about my grades in school, and most of my friends and colleagues I’ve discussed this with haven’t either. What interviewers have asked, however, is what my favorite thing about college was. They’ve asked what the most interesting thing that’s happened in my life is. They’ve asked how my time in college helped shape me to become the person I am today. When I was in high school, I thought the one B+ I got on my report card — the grade that seemed to tarnish my otherwise perfect record — would haunt me for the rest of my life. But you know what? I was the only one who cared about it. I’ve gone on to work a handful of different jobs in which my colleagues and I laughed about the grades we got in our past. Many of them got a handful of F’s, while others adhered to the mentality of “C’s get degrees.” And you know what? We all ended up in the same place. Even if your grades aren’t as perfect as you’d like them to be, you’ll turn out just fine. Your grades aren’t the exclusive factor that defines you.

Did you hear any of those lies growing up? Or are there some that you think I missed? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments down below!

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