Achieving Academic Excellence Wanting to Get a

Achieving Academic Excellence Wanting to get a good job is an important factor in my decision to embark upon a college education, although a college degree does not guarantee a student a 'good job' upon receipt of his or her diploma. This fact is manifested in the many recent college graduates who have prestigious degrees from top universities, who have had to move home with their parents because they cannot find work, or who are working in positions vastly below their level of capability.

However, despite this fact, I am still persevering with my college education. Although college cannot guarantee me a high-paying job, I do believe that when I find work, the employment I secure will be more meaningful than what I could obtain, if I did not graduate from college. In short, I seek a career, rather than 'just a job.' I would hate to have to go to an office everyday for the rest of my life, where I merely performed rote tasks, rather than have employment that seemed meaningful.

Ideally, I would like what I do everyday to seem enjoyable and to feel as if the labor I did genuinely made the world a better place. Of course, every job has its dull moments. But with a college degree, I feel that there is a greater chance that whatever work I perform will be interesting and engaging. I know that work after college is not guaranteed. Even many graduates who do find work have to work in entry level positions in jobs where they do not use their degree.

In 2011, 1.94 million graduates under age 30 were employed in jobs that did not require a college education (Cancino 2011). However, once the economy improves, college will give me the necessary, critical thinking skills to find work that challenges me, rather than simply is fills the hours between eight and five, before my real life begins.

And "experts say earning a college degree is still the best way to avoid unemployment...The value of the degree is still there, it is just not returning as much in investment as it would a few years ago" (Cancino 2011). Like all investments, the value of a college degree can go up and down.

I believe that the 'stock' of a college education will ultimately yield a profitable result, even if there are some rocky patches ahead, in terms of my 'investment.' And my prospects are likely to be much better than someone who did not go to college.

I also think that college will give me the emotional resources to endure whatever I have to face in life, from my beginnings in the working world during a difficult economy, to much later on, when I have to learn new skills and cope with new technology. Technology changes constantly, but at very least college will help me 'learn how to learn.' This way, I can be flexible to the needs of working world, and if necessary, retrain and regroup.

So I must respectfully disagree with one discontented graduate who stated: "It [college] just seems like it was just a big waste of time...And I'm $20,000 in debt" (Cancino 2011). Ten years from now, when he compares his earnings with his fellow high school classmates, who did not advance on to college, he is likely to disagree. And despite the recession, "according to a 2011 survey done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the average.