A whole lot of teenagers go right on to college from high school for all the wrong reasons – when there are some even better reasons to buck the trend.

 

The number one reason NOT to go immediately to college after high school graduation is that it may not really be your decision. More likely, it’s one your parents made for you even before you were born. They may be well-intentioned, but they are not you. They’re basing a very important decision for you on their world view and some old studies showing college grads fare better financially in the long-term.

The truth is, though, that the world has been turned on-end since the start of their own careers. Today’s game rules are ever-evolving.

How we communicate has impacted every career on the planet and the global economy continues its nosedive into uncertainly. Although college right out of high school may have seemed a ticket to success for them, it doesn’t mean it’s a right choice for you.

 

It’s been a fairly well-kept secret for a long time, but students entering college straight from high school rarely graduate in four years. An abysmally low number (under 40%) get their diplomas on time.

Another alarming statistic that questions the universally accepted jump to college is the number of college grads in less-than-fulfilling jobs.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 315,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees alongside some 80,000 bartenders.

Hmm. So much for the financial benefit of that much-pushed-for piece of paper. In all, some 17 million degree-holders are holding jobs that don’t require degrees.

 

The reason it takes students so long to get out of college is that they may not belong there in the first place – at least not right out of high school. Kids heading into college straightaway often don’t have a long-term vision. They choose majors based on a maybe-fit and find themselves frustrated, lost – and ready to change out.

According to research conducted by Penn State and others, most students don’t know what major they should take and up to 50 percent wind up switching out before graduation.

No surprise, really.

 

Why is the world asking you to decide what you want to do for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE when you’re still a teenager?

Truth is, you just haven’t had enough experience or exposure to the thousands of paths you might take. Until you get out in the world, it’s hard to know where you might fit into it.

So instead of jumping from little school to big school, maybe you should take a year or two to find out what the world has to offer and what you might offer it in return. The people at the other end of their careers can shed a light on when they were really set to make life decisions.

Many of them lament –had I only known, I would have waited.