Your Future Is In College

by EduGuide Staff
Topics:
Choosing College

This is where the rubber meets the road. Nine-in-ten students come to high school saying they want to go on to college in some form or another. And who wouldn’t?It could mean a cooler job, a better home and an extra $1,000,000 in lifetime earnings.

But here’s the catch: only about half the students who want to go to college make it. Some drop out in high school, some never get into college and others go but don’t finish. What makes the difference?

It’s not grades, it’s not test scores and it’s not being head cheerleader, though all those things help. The biggest ingredient in who makes it to college and who succeeds are the courses you choose to complete in high school. Yes, that’s right, the courses.

The more challenging classes you complete, the better your odds are for success. Take all the university recommended Core Courses and you’ll be ready for just about anything. That’s because employers have said that the challenging courses required for college are also the best at helping people prepare for jobs that don’t require a college degree.

Think these courses may be too hard and hurt your grades? Believe it or not, you’re better off taking them anyway.

Students who get Cs in challenging courses tend to do better in college than students who get As in easier ones. Those taking the easy classes are only fooling themselves. They’ll have to make up for it in college, where about half the students are required to pay more money to retake high school level classes for no credit.

Clarence Pitchford from Wayne State University states “You can’t just graduate from high school and work at your dad’s company and you know, be successful in life. You have to have a degree…you have to obtain knowledge. That’s the purpose of college.”

Brian Mazzaferri from University of Michigan says “To me, college is all about personal growth because it gives you an opportunity to expand your horizons, really get yourself out of your comfort zone, and rise to the challenges that are presented to you. You meet people that you never would have met if you just stayed in your hometown, and even just getting out of the environment you’ve grown up in your whole life just pushes you beyond your limits as a person.”

Christina Wilkins from Lake Superior State University adds that “there are just so many different opportunities that college has given me to choose exactly what I want to do.”