By Max
I was totally unprepared.
I didn’t know what to expect when I started college. There’s no 100% perfect way to prepare for college, just like with anything else in life, since we’re all different. So, let’s start with the main question I had:
Why should I go to college?
This is a totally valid question. Not everyone needs to – or even wants to – go to college. The answer here varies depending on what you want to do as a career, or if you just want to know more in a certain area of study, etc. If you know what you want to do as a career, ask yourself if it requires a degree. If it does, you should consider it. If it doesn’t need a degree, does it require any certificates? If it needs a certificate, you should consider it! A certificate is like a degree, but much smaller and requires less schooling. Some degrees may require or even offer certificates along the way depending on your school and your field of study.
If the career you have in mind doesn’t require any schooling, degrees, etc. that you know of, then you’re totally free not to go! That said, there really is a ton of experience and skill that you can gain. Say you want to be an artist. You just want to post your art online and enjoy it, maybe you make your main income from commissions, maybe even a few ads from art supply companies later on down the line. There are zero college degrees or certificates you need for this. However, if you take college-level art classes, you can help improve your skills and maybe learn some new techniques, or even new mediums like sculpting, oil paints etc. You can also take online marketing courses at college, or even some cool budgeting classes, which can really benefit you as an artist online and help you learn how to best share your art with the world.
Community college vs university
The main differences between community college and university are the price point and the level of degree offered. Community colleges usually are much much cheaper, but only offer up to certificates and associate degrees. Universities cost more, but they can offer you a bachelors degree, a masters or even a doctorate!
As far as choosing between these two, it’s similar to the previous question. It really does depend on what you want to go to school for and what your dream career might require. I do want to add in a personal note that there is nothing wrong with going to a community college first to get all of your basics and pre-requisite classes done, to save money. This is exactly what I did to get my associates degree. I also went to community college originally instead of a university because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for school. Having cheap, accessible schooling to test my options really helped me make that decision.
Other information to know
Keep in mind tuition prices and location when choosing. Some colleges will charge you more for tuition if you’re from out of the state. If you apply for grants or scholarships or even student loans, it can help cut those costs down.
Another thing to look at, and all of this can usually be found on Google, is to the school’s acceptance rate and graduation rate. If the school has a low graduation rate, it might be spooky, but its also good to note that a lot of low graduation rates are because of first-year drop-outs. Niche.com has good resources for choosing colleges based on certain criteria.
Transportation! Look and see if your school offers on-campus transportation, off-campus transport, or if you need to look into your own form of transportation. It seems unimportant at first, but when you have to walk across your whole campus at 6am, you’ll regret not checking sooner.
Helpful links:
This post was originally created by Max, on September 25th, 2022 in The Homeschooler’s Chat Discord server, and edited by Anne. Learn more about Max and Anne on our About Us page. Cover photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash.
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