Am I wasting my time?

College is a complete waste of time and money, according to the degree-holding people I was talking to at the coffee shop on Friday.

I’m seriously considering picking up a second major, and I was discussing this with them. One holds a finance degree from PUC and an associate’s from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute in Chicago. The other holds a marketing degree. I talked about how I want to make myself as marketable as possible since I’ll be lucky to find a job when I am finished anyway. Pouring mounds of money into a college degree isn’t easy or fun, but I want to get somewhere with it.

While they agreed that I should try to make myself marketable, it was apparent that they both would have done anything else but put money into school if they were offered do-overs.

Of course, this got me thinking. Why do we kill ourselves in college just to come out of it with a piece of paper? Regardless, I’ve put at least four years and a ton of money into this already so I’m going to finish. But why? I have at least three friends who graduated last year and are doing nothing related to their fields.

The success stories exist too, even if they are harder to find. I’ve found, however, that many of those success stories are from people who did every little thing they could possibly think of to make their lives what they wanted. They got the grades, spent quality time in student organizations, made connections with important people, worked outside of just going to class. Most of all, they had a desire for learning whatever they could about anything they could get their hands on.

College should not be solely about sitting through classes to come out with a degree. Learning is much more important than that. For me, it’s not about the money (though maybe it should be a bit). It’s about learning and connecting. It’s about people. It’s about sifting through everything I hear and see for truth and meaning. I spend thousands of dollars on college so I can continue to grow. This is where I belong right now.

I believe that the path to my desired career is a long and challenging one. I’ve got to work as hard as possible to make connections and be involved in myriad things throughout college and I’ll get there.

I just hope I’m right.