To be a high schooler, and be told that you need to plan your whole future out. To be told that your classes shouldn’t be “fun” but should feed into whatever career or career path you want. To go to bed as a kid and wake up having to pick your college.

Is college even worth it? 

Well, college is necessary for some careers, like a doctor, lawyer, science paths, teaching or finance. Is college necessary for people who are going into culinary arts, acting, art, or music?

There are schools to go to, to receive higher education in those career paths, but are those schools even useful? Do they teach you something you can’t learn online?

The internet seems to think that art school can be a waste of time and money. Especially with a growing source of online art courses, some free on Youtube, other online courses far cheaper than college. This kind of pattern is common for several different careers where a typical college path isn’t effective.

College can be a great opportunity for meeting people, doing fun things and learning to branch out from your family. These are wonderful things, and if you don’t feel ready to jump straight into adulthood, college is the perfect stepping stone.

I personally think that college can be a really good environment to develop one’s adult personality. But, college is expensive, and is only going to get worse over the coming years. 

Why is that? Well, thebestschools.org says it’s due to “growing demand, rising financial aid, lower state funding, the exploding cost of administrators, and bloated student amenities packages.” And in a study done by CNBC, they found that private college tuition had gone up 129%, and public tuition had gone up 213%, this study even adjusted for inflation.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about college, such as the price, experience, and what you want to do afterwards, and all of these factors can be overwhelming. 

I’m just a sophomore, but I think way ahead, and that tends to lead me into spirals, where I panic over what I’m going to do after senior year. That may sound odd to some of you, but we are not all the same. I have friends who picked their colleges when they were 8, and others who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up when they were 5. 

If you’re struggling, that’s normal. College and your career path are huge decisions. You’re bound to have a few second thoughts every now and then. So take a deep breath and remember: love what you do, do what you love.