Former President of the United States Barack Obama attended a tech conference in 2013, “I have no idea where most of the people who worked for me went to college. I just know: Did they get stuff done or did they not?”. He brings up an interesting point. High-achieving people can excel whether they have a college degree or not. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates, all titans of the tech industry, dropped out of college because they saw no need for it.
Is the decision you make now really a life-altering decision? Not entirely. College is important, and it will be the first stepping stone in any of your future prospects. An undergraduate study is massively important when taking your first steps into a new career. However, a degree will not single-handedly pave the road for you, because your degree or alma mater does not matter as much as the work and experience you gain outside of your studies.
Firstly, your undergraduate study doesn’t have as much of an impact on your final job earnings as you might think it does, according to “Six reasons why your college degree doesn’t matter” by Ashley Stahl. A history major who pursued a career in business usually has the same wages as their counterparts with a business degree, according to Stahl’s article.
When looking for employees, hiring managers interview many candidates, almost all with the same college degree and similar education. It is each person’s unique skills that they developed outside of their education to distinguish them from the competition and land them the job, according to MIT career counselor Lily Zhang. Managers care about the attributes that make you unique and you can’t learn at school, such as work ethic, interpersonal skills, and communication. They consider how your past has shaped you into the person you are today and how willing you are to excel as an employee. If you attend college, your degree will open up the door to opportunities such as internships you have undertaken, student organizations you joined, and/or volunteer jobs you partook in, which will be massively more impactful for your hiring prospects than that degree will be, which will eventually matter more than the degree that got you those opportunities in the first place. That undergraduate degree is going to afford you some opportunities at first, but the extracurricular experience will quickly replace that degree.
“It’s true that a degree alone may not be enough to set you apart from the thousands of other graduates applying for the same set of jobs — that’s why you need experiences,” lawyer and entrepreneur Christie Garton said in a recruiter article. “While in college, students need to pursue internships and study abroad trips, join organizations, and go to conferences. These are the things that provide you with a well-rounded and complete education.”
Another huge job-hunting advantage that a college degree does not offer is networking within a student’s industry of choice. Many people get their degree, but find it impossible to break into the workforce because nobody in their field knows who they are. It is crucial to build connections with already established members of your profession so that they can vastly increase your odds of landing a well-paying job.
“Networking is essential since it will help you develop and improve your skill set, stay on top of the latest trends in your industry, keep a pulse on the job market, meet prospective mentors, partners, and clients, and gain access to the necessary resources that will foster your career development,” career coach Amanda Augustine said in the article “Here’s Why Networking is Important to your success.”
None of this is to say that what college you go to is not important. It is relevant if you go to a school that has a strong program in the field you’re pursuing, and a degree is important if you are attending graduate school. A degree will open doors for you, but it won’t allow you to pass through those doors. Your character and experiences will provide you an advantage, more than your bachelor’s degree.