Should You Apply to College?
Before diving into the how and what of college applications, I’d like to devote some time to discuss why you should apply to college. To be direct: not everyone should or needs to apply to college. One major factor is the cost of college - tuition prices have soared and student loans aren’t fun to have. So it’s a choice that must be made with much consideration to one’s personal goals and how college would help achieve those goals. That being said, I’m a huge advocate for college for most people. While I’m biased by my own very positive time at UC San Diego, I think there are compelling reasons for why college is generally so highly encouraged - and the evidence shows that the benefits of higher education often outweigh the costs. At the end of the day, it’s a personal decision you will have to make yourself; but hopefully, the information provided here can help guide that decision.
Benefit: The College Earnings Premium
Perhaps the most touted benefit of going to college is the undeniable earnings premium a college degree provides. What I mean by this is that the average income of college graduates is much higher than those without a degree, even among those in comparable jobs and industries. As the chart below shows, college grads today can expect to earn 50% more than their high school grad peers! In 2017, this equaled an average earnings premium of $25,000.
This is primarily due to two factors: higher-paying jobs are often only open to those with a college degree, and a college degree can help one advance up the career ladder, receiving promotions or getting hired to higher-paying positions such as in management. You can debate over why these two things are true, or if they’re fair, but the truth still stands - all else held equal, a college degree will earn you more. A degree can also entitle a person to negotiate a higher salary for the same job as someone without a bachelor’s degree.
An asterisk to this is that the choice of major does have a big influence on the size of this earning premium. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) majors have a very high earnings premium, while other fields such as the arts or social sciences may have smaller earnings premiums. While the amount of money you’ll make shouldn’t be the only factor in deciding your major, it is important to be aware that the earnings premium is largely dependent on the major you choose.
Cost: Tuition & Student Loans
As I mentioned in the introduction to this map, tuition costs have been soaring in recent years.
Unless you are fortunate enough to have parents covering your cost of attendance, you’ll need to find some way to pay for tuition and other expenses each year. While getting a job is always an option, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to pay for all your living costs and tuition with a job while also being in school. So unless you obtain enough scholarships and grants (which is definitely possible!), you may need to take out student loans. I wrote a breakdown of student loans before, but the short version is that you want to be careful with using them. Being saddled with debt is a big responsibility, and soon enough you’ll need to start paying back what you borrowed.
Of course, how much tuition costs is also very dependent on what school you go to. Private schools can cost north of $50,000 per year in tuition alone. Meanwhile, public schools typically have much lower tuition and state schools can have generous grant/scholarship offers, especially for in-state students. Community colleges are also a great low-cost option, especially with how many states have recently guaranteed them to be tuition-free!
Benefit: Classes, Knowledge, and Soft Skills
Shifting gears from the money talk, another reason to go to college is to simply become a more knowledgeable and skilled person. Colleges offer a major advantage over most jobs in that your role as a college student is entirely to learn, and you will rarely find an environment more conducive to your personal growth. Classes can teach advanced and specific topics hard to replace with just the Internet or books, schools typically provide a massive toolbox of learning resources (including, my favorite, 24/7 libraries and study lounges), and office hours with professors are opportunities to discuss subjects with the world’s top experts on them. The wide range of class offerings allows you to gain everything from technical skills (such as computer science or data science courses) to expanding your creative abilities (such as arts and writing courses). The only limit to your learning is what you set for yourself.
UCSD’s Geisel Library - a great place for learning • image by Belis@rio
In addition to the traditional learning that comes from the classroom, colleges also have dozens (or even hundreds) of student clubs. Many focus on setting up their members with head starts on their desired careers or providing academic support. Joining such clubs, whether professional or volunteer organizations or something else, can also be fast tracks to gaining “soft skills” - things like public speaking, leadership, networking, teamwork, and more. Even if you aren’t a member, free events teaching these soft skills are frequent on college campuses. Having such qualities can make a big difference when competing for job opportunities and for succeeding in the workplace later in life. Plus, they’re generally useful skills to have in one’s day-to-day life.
Cost: A Challenging Environment
College is by no means an easy or stress-free experience. Higher education is a challenge, and much more will be expected from you compared to your high school classes. Courses can be difficult, and there is much less hand holding - you are expected to figure things out yourself much more often. Outside the classroom there is less guidance too, as many students experience living on their own for the first time. So you will be facing new experiences and obstacles on several fronts all at once. The unfamiliar environment and high expectations can be stressful for many, and you will probably struggle at times and have anxiety about your grades, your life, your future.
However, this cost can also be turned into a benefit if you have the right mindset and grow from the experience. Challenging environments are also the ones that encourage the most personal development. Nor do you have to face these obstacles alone. Many colleges provide resources for students to de-stress, receive help with the challenges they face, and improve their mental health. From school counselors and therapists to fun social events and therapy fluffies, there are many ways to handle the stress that comes with college.
image from UCSD News
Benefit: Friends & Professional Connections
Earlier, I mentioned that student clubs can be a great way to gain soft skills - but that’s not their only advantage. Even more direct is the opportunity to gain friends or a professional network by meeting like-minded people. A college campus is a unique place, in that for several years you will be surrounded by thousands of other students around your age, often looking to make friends of their own. Finding peers who share your passions or interests will never be easier. And whether due to the challenging and stressful environment or the formative age in which college takes place, or something else, lifetime friends are often made during the college years. It’s also a great place to meet mentors or advisors who are happy to help you guide through a difficult and uncertain time in your life. You’ll be in contact with professors, school faculty, older students, and a diverse array of people from whom you can learn from. The opportunities to develop both friendships and professional connections that will guide you through the rest of your life are plentiful.
Cost: Opportunity Cost
Of course, there are many other ways to spend your late teens and early 20s. Staying in school for 3-5 years more after high school means those extra years of education is time spent not earning a wage from a full-time job or doing something else. If you already know what you want to do after graduating from high school, and that job or path doesn’t require a college degree, then going straight into that occupation is great. And there are certainly still many jobs that don’t require a college degree. Others may choose to take a gap year, or several, to give yourself time to figure out what you want to do with your life. You can travel the world, work/teach abroad, volunteer, or do any number of things that help you achieve your goals. So even if you do decide that college is right for you, it’s useful to know what options you are forgoing by deciding to continue your education for several more years.
Benefit: Opening Doors
College degrees provide more opportunities for careers than just making more money. For one, if you ever wish to go to grad school or eventually be a doctor or lawyer or professor, you’ll likely have to get your undergraduate degree first. As I mentioned before, bachelor’s degrees are required for most white-collar jobs nowadays - the ones that pay well and aren’t physically demanding. College doesn’t only teach you certain subjects and skills but also the ability of learning itself, helping you grow even after graduating. And in a whole host of measures, from health to happiness, those who went to college rank higher than those who did not. This isn’t to say you won’t be happy or can’t become rich if you don’t go to college. But in today’s world, college grads typically have more chances for success and more options available to them than high school grads. Through these additional opportunities, college grads are typically healthier, have higher chances of owning a home and being married, and simply have more choices with what to do professionally with their lives. So even if you’re undecided about what you want to do with your life, going to college is generally a good way to keep your options open and plentiful.