What I Wish I Had Known About College

            After dropping out and returning to classes, I am happy to say that I have just finished my final week of classes in my undergraduate journey.* Though this year I often felt out of place and questioned what the hell I was doing here, I’m very happy that I decided to go back to school and finish what I started. I’m not 100% positive what I’m going to do next. In my heart of hearts, I want to continue my studies and get my MFA. I hope to spend the next year applying for various programs, but I’m not optimistic about being accepted. I decimated my GPA when I dropped out, and that will be hard to look past in a multitude of applicants who haven’t royally fucked up in their academic pasts. Still, all I can do is apply, so I will in this next year.

            In the clusterfuck that is my academic journey, I really wish I had been told a few things, and that I had been mature enough to understand some other things. College orientation normally discusses campus living, student organizations, safety, and that sort of stuff. It doesn’t, however, discuss how to make the absolute most of your time in college, issues with student loans (why would they? That’s where their money comes from!), studying abroad, and other things I wish I had known as a bright-eyed freshman in college.

            If I ran college orientation, here are some of the things I would include; things I had to learn the hard way. If you’re still in college—especially full time—this might help you quite a bit. Hear it, learn it, live it!

1. You will never have better networking opportunities than you have right now.

This was one of the biggest mistakes I made: All I did was go to class, do my work, do the end of the semester evaluations, and finish the class. I did my work and got the hell out of there. I know that might sound confusing—isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Go to class, do work, and pass the class? Yes, but hear me out. This fall, nearly 50 million people are going to be enrolling in college for the undergraduate degree, according to the IES website. The more graduates there are waving their degrees around the workforce, the less that little piece of paper matters to an employer. Everyone and their mother has undergraduate degrees right now. That degree alone no longer guarantees you a job. Just ask…well, most people who have just graduated and find themselves unemployed or flipping burgers.

Ladies and gentlemen, the aesthetic paragraph break. Hold your applause.

It’s a hard truth. A degree alone just doesn’t cut it anymore. The relationships and contacts you have the ability to forge during college have become a far bigger factor in finding a job in your desired field. I wish I could go back in time and talk to my professors more, throw myself into the lit mags on campus, sign up for tons of internships. Kids, if you’re in college full time right now, your only job is to shape your future career. Immerse yourself in it. Don’t compartmentalize your academic journey in the couple hours a week you’re actually in the classroom. Participate in organizations. Start an organization. Chat with your professors after class about the class, working in your field, or any opportunities they might know about. Grab up any internship they throw at you. The people you meet in these “extracurriculars” might be the ones who offer or find you a job when you graduate. Also, having all of those activities on your resume will make you stand out from the hoards of other applicants with similar qualifications.

2. You may disagree with some of your professors, but listen to them anyway.

You’ll always have a professor or two who seems to stand for everything you’ve ever despised about your field of study—a hardcore Freudian when you’re into neuropsychiatry, an anti-Stratfordian when you worship Shakespeare—and you’ll want to shut down every single word they say because they offend you to the very core. But don’t close the door on everything they say. Remember that they’re in their position for a reason; they’re in a field that you want to be in. Even if you don’t agree with them, you can learn something from them. You don’t have to agree with the things they say, but no professor is useless to you. Yes, even the assholes. At the very least you can learn what not to do.

3. Your syllabus is the cheat sheet for your entire semester, and your breaks can get you ahead.

Every semester, I had a plan to “get ahead” in reading or assignments by using my syllabus, and my lazy ass never did. Do it! At the beginning of each class, you are given a piece of paper illustrating EXACTLY what you’re going to do and WHEN you’re going to do it. Seriously, do it. Can you imagine a semester closing when you’re not scrambling to catch up, overwhelmed with stress? That utopia can be yours! Getting ahead, even by a few assignments, is one of the smartest things you can do for yourself.

4. Take full advantage of gen eds.

Gen eds are the subject of hot debate, but they seem to be here to stay, so it is best to bend over and take them. But be positive! The creative and academic world is open to you in a way it never will be again. At BGSU, you are forced to take a ridiculously high number of gen eds; higher than the requirements of many other colleges. If you have to do it, at least do something you’re interested in. Take full advantage of the multitude of classes available to you; dance, ceramics, drawing, a subject in philosophy or pop culture or film that has always interested you…the possibilities are endless. Some of my favourite classes were gen eds that had nothing to do with my major or minor, like yoga and ceramics (both of which have ended up being a big part of my life now). Though be warned—the classes you take are not always the equivalent of an introductory class you’d take at a community center. These classes are taught at the collegiate level. Before this past semester, I’d never touched a hunk of clay in my life, but suddenly I was in a Ceramics 1 class with a bunch of people who decided to make that their college career. As a result, the class was at times too fast-paced for me, and completely overwhelming. I made 100 pounds of clay from scratch in a big industrial machine, I mixed glazes using substances that could be dangerous if inhaled, I had to throw 11 bowls in two weeks on a machine I’d never touched in my life (and God damn, I hate the wheel and the wheel hates me.) And, like most art degrees, they fully expect you to spend every spare second of your time out of classes in the studio, working on your various projects. I don’t regret it for a second, but I would think twice before adding such a demanding class to a busy semester for you.

The tons of worry stones I made in ceramics.
I can't wait to see them finished!

5. STUDY ABROAD. (and GO ON TRIPS!)

My single greatest regret in my college career, even greater than dropping out for two years, is that I never studied abroad or went on trips that were offered in my classes. As I said before, college is a unique time in life where you are living solely to learn and experience new things. Most full time college students have no job or a part-time one with very forgiving schedules. If I could again go back in time, I would spend a semester abroad in a heartbeat. You might not yet understand how hard it is to save up for a trip in the real world, and to get the time off to actually make that trip. In college, you have it. Go on the Arts Village trip to Chicago, or the AWP trip for your campus lit mag. Go on Geo Journey (these are all BGSU opportunities, but you get the picture). Participate in a touring theatre show over the summer. Spend a semester in Europe, even if it would only count for six credit hours. Who cares? You’ll be in Europe, learning about something you love! I think I will always kick myself for never having taken advantage of the travelling opportunities that were everywhere in college. I will always regret it.

6. Student loans are, in fact, flesh eating sirens.

Oh, student loans. So seductive, so deceptively secure. There’s little more exhilarating than being able to pay off six months of rent with a single check. And oh, the rush of not having to worry about utilities because that fat refund check is sitting in your bank account! Student loans provide the joy of living on your own (or with a roommate)without the stresses of living from paycheck to paycheck, without the worry of how you’re going to scrape together enough cash for groceries, or having to decide whether heat or electricity is more important for the month. And the illusion of security is so strong that you often forget there’s an end to it. I bought Stella while basking in the warm glow of student loans because hey, I was doing well, I made rent and bills with plenty to spare, so why not get the puppy I always wanted? Friends have similarly gotten pets, cars, electronics, and other big expenditures with long-term financial consequences while living off of student loans.

But here’s the dirty little fact that we all forgot: We have to pay them back. With interest.

Honestly, it’s not that we forget. We know. Just this semester some dewy eyed freshman in a class of mine were joking about how they’re going to “live in a box for the rest of their lives” because they pursued a degree with no career prospect (like me) and had to take out student loans to do so. Acting majors joke about being waiters for the rest of their lives. We all have the “starving artist” motif planted in our brains.

Yet another aesthetic paragraph break. Woo!

However, most of us don’t truly understand what it’s like to live with a mammoth student loan bill slithering into our mailboxes every month until six months after graduation (or dropping out), when it finally comes. Then it hits us like a freaking battle axe to the face. “They want me to pay $300 a month**?! But I haven’t even found a job yet!/The entry level job I just got can’t possibly cover that!” Sallie Mae gives no fucks. She’s a fucking mob queen, ready to break your post-college dreams’ kneecaps to get her money. She doesn’t care if you have to get a full time job that isn’t in your field just to make ends meet. She doesn’t care if you’d planned to move to NYC or LA or Chicago to make your dreams come true. She doesn’t care if you got pregnant and want to be a stay-at-home mom. Can’t make a payment? Well, you can defer for a couple of months…but we’ll have to add nearly a grand to your overall balance as a consequence. So sorry for the inconvenience.
                                    

Now, I’m obviously not warning those brilliant students who went into college paying out of pocket, or signed up for student loans actually knowing full well what they were doing and having a long term plan. I’m warning the countless students I see like me—who were way too stupid at 18 to have any clue what $25,000 in student loans means for their futures, and who didn’t truly understand that they’ll have to pay back every cent of their semesterly refund checks, and that paying all of that back will take years and change the course of their lives. I’m speaking to the musical theatre majors who dream of Broadway but can’t afford the rent to live in NYC with Sallie Mae knocking on their door every month. I’m speaking to the art grad who had to take a job at Walmart instead of a low-paying but amazing fellowship opportunity with one of their favourite artists. I’m speaking to the acting major who had to turn down a foot-in-the-door film or stage role because their full time job won’t give them the time off to live the dream they went to college for.

Student loans lure you in with a four-year sense of financial security and comfort, but you will be paying for that security for a decade afterward. I know I’m sounding very dark and pessimistic right now, but this is an ugly future for so many graduates, especially of non-lucrative degrees. Student loans don’t always mean the end of your dreams, or that you’ll be in debt forever, but that depends on how you personally handle them.  Before you take out another student loan, do your future self a favour: Do your research. Know how much you owe (it’s remarkable how many of us have no idea how much debt we’re in until that first statement comes in the mail after graduation.) Make a plan for the first few years of your post-college life and how paying off student loans will fit into that. And for the love of the deity of your choice, don’t ignore them. They will grow into bulbous titan-like beasts who will devour your soul…and they’ll garnish your wages.

Sorry to end on a sour note, kids. Honestly, though I wish I had done quite a few things differently, I wouldn’t trade my college experience for anything in the world. If you’re a college student, you are in a beautiful time in your life where the world is open to you. You have experts in your field at your fingertips just waiting for you to talk to them, you can experience new things, you can travel, and you will probably never have opportunities like this again. Take full advantage of it, kids. Take all that you can from it, and enjoy it.

*Pessimism dictates that I must add hopefully to this statement—I went through the last two semesters I had before I dropped out with my advisor continuously saying “oh, sorry, you have one  more class to take because bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.” I would be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting that to happen again.

**Average student loan payment a month. Mine will be more like 500. Yaaay!