Why we go to college...

Transformation inside and outside the classroom.

Several articles over recent years have advocated NOT going to college, stating that time and money is wasted on it. Yes, college IS a lot of time and money but as you can imagine as a college professor, I disagree that it’s wasted. Not just because of the obvious, of gaining an education in a discipline that can propel you into a career, but for the transformation that happens while at college, the growth to adulthood, inside and outside of the classroom.

Welcome to another installment of the college bound countdown series here on The College Insider, your source for getting the most out of your college experience, accountability coaching and transformative strategies for managing your workload.

Transformation through shared successes and challenges

Practically speaking, most people attend college for the long term goal of furthering their learning and launching themselves into a career; it makes sense. On the flip side though, for years I’ve been fortunate to witness the less talked about benefits and outcomes of the college experience, the growth and transformation of students into young adults inside and outside the classroom, it’s what keeps me wanting to teach.

Lasting transformations occur from the shared successes and challenges, and even failures. I know from my own college experience, sharing that journey into adulthood with friends at college, is what transformed me into a more fully formed version of myself.

Knowing that you are not alone and that others are on a similar journey is a huge benefit when you’re a college student. For a lot of people, college is a time of figuring out who you are, who you want to become, what your beliefs are, what you value, what you don’t value, and where your moral compass guides you.

“Transformation through defining what success means...”

On that shared journey, many students going to college want to be successful, get good grades, a decent GPA. But for some, college is also the beginning of figuring out what success means. A lot of student transformations and growth come from challenges and failure, realizing that success is not necessarily tied to the outcome but to the process endured to get there

For me, success is defining what my core values and guiding principles are and trying to live my life in alignment with them. To focus on the process of becoming who I would like to be. I don’t always do it well, I mess up, but I reflect and keep trying to do better. (I’ll share a separate post on digging deeper into developing your own core values and guiding principles later)

Whatever success means to you, be sure to measure the journey, the process you go through as well as the end results.

Why we go to college

The reasons we find ourselves at college is as varied as humans themselves. We may have been guided into the decision for career reasons, we may be escaping a life we’ve outgrown, we may have always set our sights on a college education for some unknown reason and not questioned it. We may have external expectations from others in our life, having been told or expected to go to college, we may think it’s the right thing to do, we may not want a job just yet, we may not be sure of what to do next…..or a combination of any or all of these.

It doesn’t matter as much, which reason we find ourselves at college, what matters more is using a little self-reflection to understand some of the reasons for being there, and using them to navigate the journey and ultimately becoming better versions of ourselves.

Personally, college was a ticket out of a town with limited opportunities in what I loved doing, (building scenery for theatre and live events) it was a thousand open doors, it was possibility beyond measure. I had no idea what lay ahead of me but I had the strongest gut feeling that pulled me in that direction. Listening to my intuition, and cultivating the process by which I use it, has been a valuable asset at pivotal times in my life and career. Even if you don’t have answers yet, tune in to yourself… ask yourself insightful questions; what do you value, what do you believe, what does success means to you?

If we are going to invest the time and money in a college education and experience (and it’s a considerable amount of both time and money) then surely it makes sense to get the most out of it. Whether it’s one, two, three or four years of your life, you want to make them count.

Why are you attending college and what do you hope to get out of the experience, both inside the classroom and outside? What will your college transformation be?

Beyond the practical, college is possibility; the doors that lead to the next chapters of life. It’s a time that is full of excitement and hope, shared challenges, failures and successes.