Why is College Important? by Jamie

Why is College Important? by Jamie - October 2024 Scholarship Essay

College was created to better someone's education. I was raised that College betters yourself, your education and enriches your job opportunities later on in life. After 13 years of school, why would someone want to continue their education? You work hard towards your high school diploma and then realize that the best way to get the best career you can have is by continuing on to college.
College is not just having a degree just to see that you have made, yet another, achievement in your life. First, you complete your high school diploma, and then, you conquer the college degree. A college degree is not just some paper for you to hold on graduation day. You did it! You graduated college and fulfilled and had the educational training needed for the career you have wanted all through high school. You have made something of yourself.
You made the choice when you finished high school that you did not want a career at McDonald's flipping burgers for the rest of your life. You wanted to make more money than that. You may want to go to college for training that your parents' have done. Maybe your father is a doctor and you want to be just like him. Or your mother is a teacher and you love kids and want to teach just like she did. Maybe your grandfather was an engineer and you want to be half as good as he was. These are all options on the career path that we choose to take. But is it really just about money? Sure, Money is very important in choosing your career, but is it the only reason to go to college? I disagree.
Another reason that you can go to college is to enrich your life skills. You learn to study harder, work harder and do your absolute best. In high school, you are just a kid that goes to school just because your parents sent you there. College is when you go as an adult, whether it be fresh out of high school or a seasoned adult. You go because you choose to. You go because you want to make yourself better. For me, I have started college several times but, since I am much older now than when I started out of high school, I have much more respect for the amount of hard work it takes to get to the finish line and the meaning of it means so much more now than it did when I was just 19 years old.
So in conclusion, College does not have to be forced. It does not have to be the job that you are following in your family's footsteps. And it certainly does not have to be ruled out just because your family could not afford college. There are tons of financial options to make college an option for you. You go to college because you want to, because you want to be better and do your best. This will define who you are for the rest of your life. Go the extra mile for your career because in the end, you are in control of your own destiny.