It Doesn’t Matter That Much Where You Go to College

Throughout my senior year, I have had to tell at least 100 people where I’m going to college, why I chose to go there, what I’m majoring in, what I plan to do with that major...etc. I know that all of my fellow seniors have faced the same annoyances these past few months. While I am excited about going to college next year, I abhor this type of questioning because of the evident judgement of my choices. I’m not going to an Ivy or anything close to it (which I am very happy about), and it seems that many people have something to say about that. I’ve gathered that people, adults in particular, think that my choice of college is practically the only thing that will affect my future success in the workforce and life as a whole. I made my decision based off of how I felt about my school, and the fact that it was very affordable. Even though this school may not give me the absolute best education, I strongly believe that I still have equal opportunity to be successful.

I’m not trying to make myself feel better about not being Ivy-material; there is actual research that refutes the idea that good jobs are only given to students who graduate from top-tier schools. The author of the novel, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, Frank Bruni, interviewed multiple job recruiters to find out what they look for in an employee. Bruini told Jeffrey J. Selingo, columnist for the Washington post, “Many recruiters [say] they are much more focused on the experience of a candidate than where they went to school” (Selingo). It makes sense that job experience is more valuable than where your degree comes from; actual practice for a job prepares you way more than traditional education does. As a resident of a suburban area right outside of New York City, I will not have trouble finding opportunities to add experience to my résumé, so I’m confident in my decision to go to an affordable public college. I feel that instead of investing most of your energy into getting into an Ivy League school, where you might have to work incredibly hard just to catch up to the other students, you should go somewhere that better suits your learning ability and use your energy on getting internships and other job experience when in college.