Is College Worth It?
By: Nate Matos
Tags: Life, University, Students, Culture, College

In undergrad, I became a person who would chop it up with anyone. In my sophomore year, I even had my own nickname, courtesy of the freshmen class. I was “That Dude with The Visor.” I even made it into an orientation video. If you go to ASU, you might’ve seen me dropping a whole of books and a longboard in the intro holding a sign that read “feeling overwhelmed”?

Memories

The person I was at Arizona State was complete 180 from the person I was in high school.

Going to college exposed me to west coast and Mexican culture, which I had no idea about prior. If you ever watched Yes Man, my transformation felt like that. I tried things that I would have normally said no to. The first thing that comes to mind is EDM Festivals. If I stayed in New Jersey, I guarantee I would have never gone to one. I would have never caught Lil Uzi’s mic when he threw it into the crowd at Gold Rush 2017.

Staying miles away from my parents and not seeing family for sometimes a year at a time forced me to become way more independent than I would’ve become at a local university. There was no better feeling than at 18, going from my mom breathing down my neck about where I am going or who I am going to hang out with, to not having to answer to anyone. It also repaired my relationship with my parents a lot. Since at home, it was strained because of all the years of me not wanting to obey their rules.

For the first time, I had mentors in leadership positions that allowed me to make an impact on campus. These mentors helped me develop myself as a person and took someone who was super scared of public speaking and revealed to him that his story was important for other people like me to hear. This was the first time in my life where I had multiple sources of support from the faculty. One teacher telling you you’re a good person, student or whatever feels good. Having multiple actually changed my outlook of myself.

I was not a perfect student. I was still not a person who did everything right all the time. I messed up a lot. And they did not condemn me for it. For that, I will always be grateful to the staff of ASU’s Student Outreach Program. They helped me recognize what made me unique.

They made me believe I could be more.

I don’t know where I would be with the friends, professors, and faculty that saw the good in me even when my actions weren’t always in alignment with the person I was trying to become.

So how can college be worth it for you?

NETWORK.

You’ll hear that a lot from all corners of the internet because it is true. Through or chopping it up with people at school, I was easily able to replace my school job when I was fired from my other on-campus job. How do you get fired from an on-campus job? Get into an argument with the management and see how it plays out for you.

Anyway, I literally walked out of the office I was just fired from and walked into the office where I would be hired within 10 minutes. The woman who hired me there hired me to work for her student outreach program. Where I would then become a comfortable public speaker, learn a lot about myself and what I can become. It indirectly led me to write blogs. Through that program, I realized I have a story to tell. I spoke while wearing Jordan’s to Black and Mexican kids about my personal struggles in high school and how college is an opportunity to change that. I told them the truth about the person I was, my athletic aspiration that failed, and how I overcame it. I probably reached them better than hired staff. This opportunity also led me to get a scholarship.

As far as my professional career, I emailed who I would years later learn is a legend in the field of Collegiate Strength and Conditioning. His name is Coach Rich Werner. During this time, I was a student athletic trainer with the Football team, another job my friend hooked me up with.

I knew I didn’t want to be an AT but I needed some college football experience if I wanted to get into college strength and conditioning. I showed up at his office at 5 am to get information about how I make a career for myself in strength and conditioning. Read, intern, and stay around football if you want to coach football were big take-aways from that conversation. I also remember him asking me if I wanted to live in Arizona or southwest in general. I answered no, so he told me not to intern here at ASU because you’ll have a higher chance of staying here. I followed his advice

to start. Then I came back to ASU for an internship that would set me off on my path to becoming a full-time coach. He wasn’t wrong. Because of the internship in Arizona, I ended up in New Mexico two years later.

College can give you a chance at life you will not get again. As a college student, everyone wants you to succeed. I remember getting school discounts from just about anywhere around Tempe. Scholarships were potentially a conversation away. I created my own position on campus because I spoke to the dean of students and, she liked my idea. I went from being paid $8.50 to being one of the few undergrads earning $10/hour.

College is an opportunity for you to shoot your shot.

If you do it the right way, you’ll get benefits that’ll surprise you. College is not about grades. This is coming from someone who just finished their Master’s Degree.

For all those jobs that say 2–5 years of experience, you can get a jump start in college by working on campus. They might even give you some fancy title that overstates your position at work. Go to the career center, can get your resume looked over before you apply to jobs.

Use your resources on campus, and go all out on living and experiencing outside of campus.

That is how you can make college worth it.

What they say about a bachelor’s is true. It is losing value every year.

Anyone can get a bachelor’s degree.

Not everyone can put together life and professional experiences behind the degree that make them a better person and not just an employee. Remember, you can get hired because people like you. A job is more than about execution, just like college is more than grades. The person you become in college will make it easier or harder for you to stick out during interviews.

The person you are in college can set you up for the rest of your life. You can build a friend group that’ll be as close as childhood friends. You’ll experience things that may define you as a person and memories to look back on as stories to tell your kids about.

College is still an investment like any other type. The risk and reward vary depending on your school, degree, and the mindset you have going into school. Those factors will drastically impact the outcome of your time in school.

School may not be for everyone.

But taking out $40k and traveling the world being the person I was in high school would not have benefited me. My mind was not yet open.

College can be worth it.

It all depends on how and what you spend your time doing in school.