Is college essential for success?
Tags: college, research, entrepreneurship
Published: 2021-08-08 07:47:53

---
title: Is college essential for success?
published: true
description: 
tags: college, research, entrepreneurship
cover_image: https://uci.nus.edu.sg/suu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/12/DSC_3238.jpg
---

The learning experience in college experience is very different from the learning experience in schools. You have more flexibility to choose the courses related to your major as long as you meet the degree requirements. 

## Learning "hard" and "soft" skills

College is a fantastic place to not only learn hard skills related to your discipline, but also develop soft skills like communication, time management, team work and critical thinking ability that are critical for success not only within college but also later on in life.

## Pursuing research

Colleges offer many avenues for students to discover their interests and follow career paths that align with those interests. One of the primary activities that colleges are renowned for is research. That is why, one of the major factors that decide the ranking of a college is research output. If your goal is to pursue a career in the academia, then college is the best path to achieve that goal. As a college student, you are able to get access to the resources you need for your research such as journals, research papers and books much more easily. It is also much easier to attain a research assistant position while you are in college than if you were to look for such positions in the industry.

## Becoming an entrepreneur

You can also pursue entrepreneurship when you are in college. One of the ways to do so is to take up a minor in entrepreneurship. If that does not fit your schedule, you may want to take some elective entrepreneurship classes instead. The best way to get into entrepreneurship, however, is to work on your own project and secure funding to turn your idea into a startup. Thanks to incubators and startup accelerators supported by many of the universities, students can also get access to a network of professionals who have been involved in their own startup journeys. They can give the right kind of advice or the motivation for the students to become entrepreneurs.

## Is college for everyone?

At the same time, there is some merit to the idea that college is not an absolute prerequisite for career success. There are fields where there are ample opportunities to self learn and you can in fact thrive better if you are an auto-didactic learner. For example, to pursue a career in programming, you don't really need to get a degree in Computing and IT related fields. However, getting a degree becomes necessary to virtue signal to employers that you have the required skills to do well in the job.

Even then, going to the college is still not a waste of your time and resources. You never know when the knowledge you gain through your courses proves to be useful in your career. This is the view shared by Naval, the co founder of AngelList who is also recognized as a thought leader, in a podcast episode that I've personally come to agree with: if you don't have a good idea about what you wish to do later in life, then college is your best bet. However, if you have more surety, you may want to look into alternate options that align better with your personal goals.