To be successful do you have to go college

Hi Marc,

You are asking the million dollar question that a lot of individuals tend to ask in addition to yourself. Everyone has there own definition of success. Therefore, you have to think deeply about what success means to you and what do you want success to look like for you. Success can mean a whole abundance of things. For example, success could mean following your passion; working at a job that you enjoy doing; earning a good income; getting a college degree; getting along with your colleagues; job security/stability; benefits; job location and job advancement, connecting with people, etc. Think about creating a vision board or a written plan where you are able to visualize your goals and where you see yourself within the next year or 5 years. Also, it depends on what you desire to become. You must make the best decision that works for you. Where do you see yourself within the next year or 5 years? Do you see yourself attending college?  Continue to ask yourself that question often as possible. Begin to explore your desires and your interests in order for you to decide your educational and career endeavors.

On another note, college is important for many reasons, including long term financial gain, job stability, career satisfaction and success outside of the workplace. Obtaining a degree is priceless because no one can't

take your education away from you. Going to college can be a life changing process because it gives you an opportunity to broaden your career path. It is a tough decision to make on whether.

to attend college or not. But if you want to have a lucrative career, then you may want to consider going to college. College opens a lot of doors for you to make life transitions; to climb up the ladder; pursue other opportunities; to establish growth; to

learn and network with other people. The career world is very competitive today so it is good to go to college because most careers require a degree.

I am not making the decision but I am just trying to give you helpful insight to think about your future plans.

First explore your true passion and interests. No matter the decision that you make, you can still learn, grow and create a great life for yourself and be an inspiration to those around you.

Also, you can talk to people who support you such as your parents or a family friend

or a career/college advisor, etc.

Good luck to you!

Hello Marc:

Thank you for your question. I agree with Ms. Jackson's comments; she's right on point. I'd like to provide additional comments to your question in a different area of success. Being successful isn't always about how much money you'll make or have, or how much you have materialistically, etc. Here are a few points to consider; especially when you go off to college:

1. Maintain low debt ratio. What this mean is NOT signing up for all the credit card offers that you'll receive while in college. I recommend tossing the offers in the trash when it comes in the mail. Trust me, you will be getting all types of offers for credit cards; the offers may even get sent to your parent's house. FYI, I tossed every offer that my young adults got while in college. No need to get in debt frivolously and unnecessarily
2. Save your money. If you have a job, start now at least putting aside a certain amount of money in a savings account, or any particular financial vehicle that works for you. TRUE STORY: My daughter worked part-time while in college. She was able to save a considerable amount of money over the years. She didn't spend her money on the latest fashions, etc.
3. Educate yourself on financial planning. Here's a very good site to help you with financial planning from college to home ownership to wedding, etc: - -> https://onupmovement.suntrust.com/

These are a just a few nuggets to help you start thinking about what success means overall from my perspective.

I wish you much success on your career journey. Best of luck to you!

~ Sheila

Hi Marc,

Great question! During my time in grad school, I had the opportunity to work in the position of an academic advisor for Accounting and Finance majors as apart of a fellowship program I was accepted to. In that role students would come to me and often pick my brain on questions such as this and there was always one common theme that my answer seemed to revolve around and that is:

Take advantage of every opportunity to get experience

Regardless of whether you intend on pursuing a degree in Finance or Nursing as just two hypotheticals, I would suggest taking advantage of any clubs/ organizations your school offers. From there, many doors will be unlocked through relationships you may build. For example, you may find in joining a finance club that your and a friend may also be interested in planning a focus group where your school gets involved with bringing in alumni who work in the area you considering concentrating in that have had unique experiences you may consider trying.

To that end - I also advise just trying new things to learn more about things you enjoy even if you don't know anything about it. For example, you may sign up for a volunteering experience that you may not fully understand before trying but through your involvement, you might decide that post graduation, you may want to continue your involvement with that organization or even to go work for that organization.

These are just two very high-level examples of things you can do to make the most out of your college experience and be successful. Bottom line - I always found the best advice was try new things, get involved, and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Best of luck!

Pat

I bet the success refers to career success. The usefulness of college education for career success highly depends on the kind of the job.

• whether the skills required can be well learned in college

As mentioned above as sales, the skills to be a good sales is hard to learn in college; while there are other kind of jobs that can be well prepared as medical doctor, engineer.

• whether the people in that industry having college degree

According to my experience, lower degree leads to less opportunities or expectation at least at the beginning. If the majority of peers having college degree, one don't have will need more efforts to get an opportunity to grow the career.

I think in this day and age with the pressure of going to college or not can overshadow a lot of people's decisions on going. College is an investment, and at times can be a very large investment. The return on investment for college has to be something that makes it worth it for you. If you want to specialize in a trade, then college may not be for you. If you want to enter the corporate world eventually or become a doctor or nurse then college may be an option for you. It is all about the investment you're planning on making and whether or not the investment aligns with your potential career plans. College can also be helpful to making the decision on what career path you do want to take.

A lot of successful people have not completed college, but I do recommend some classes to improve any field that you decide to go in