Spring Break Can't Come Soon Enough

Sometimes, I really wonder about college. Was it really a good choice for me to spend four years and $100,000 on a Strategic Communications major and Writing minor in hopes of gaining a good career within the next two years? Will this set me up for a fulfilling and happy life? I mean, I can see why it's important for an engineer, a doctor, or a lawyer to get a degree- their careers are rooted in objective facts and rules, and if you don't learn all of these rules you won't be able to function well in these careers.

In contrast, skill sets required of English and Strategic Communications majors are different. Sure, there are rules to follow, but everything's so subjective; learning to write and communicate effectively is really more of a process of trial and error rather than something you pick up in a lecture. With regards to skill development in my career field, sometimes I feel like college stifles my creativity and discourages me from taking risks more than it helps me develop my own unique voice.

If I wanted to learn how to flourish in my career, wouldn't a trade school of some kind be much better suited to that? Isn't practice and experience more highly valued than a degree? At least then I wouldn't be so hungry, frustrated and sleep deprived. It'd probably be less expensive and I'd have a lot less on my plate.

But at the same time, there's a lot that I've gained from college. I've learned from a ton of different perspectives, I feel more informed and well-rounded as a person, and I have more empathy and understanding for people different than me.

Maybe we're going about this whole college thing in the wrong way. We're so caught up in grades, credits and career prep, that we can't stop to appreciate all the opportunities there are to actually gain knowledge here. For example, I would love to pick up a minor in Gender Studies and bump Writing up to a major, but I can't because those degrees wouldn't be "marketable" to employers. Does anyone else feel like there's something wrong with that?

I can't help but feel like I'm missing so many opportunities here sometimes. Both opportunities to go out and actually do what professors talk about doing, and opportunities to expand my perspective and learn about things that I'm ignorant about.

Sometimes I kind of feel like going to school for a career robs me of both.