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Brianna
Woman in Tech| Alumna @MichiganStateU| #blacklivesmatter

What I Wish I Knew Before College

If you hang around me enough, you know that I always say, if I could do college all over again, I would have went to a 2 year community college first and transferred over once I got all my pre-requisites out the way. I feel like when I first went off to college, I wasn’t ready.

And if I had a TRADE, I would have went to trade school.

Let me tell you why….

When most of us go to college we have NO idea on this earth what it is that we actually want to do with the rest of our lives. Asking someone to pick a major or occupation when they are 17/18 is a HUGE decision that most people are not able to make at that age (I know I wasn’t). No matter what people say, college is immediately forced on you as soon as you make it to your junior year in high school, and sometimes before then. As soon as you get to high school, the main question people ask you is, “What college do you want to go to?”. Wait, COLLEGE? I just got to high school, how am I suppose to know?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”, these are the words that most of us hear as soon as we start kindergarten or even pre-school, all the way until we reach junior year in high school when the answer to that question actually starts to become real because it’s what we have to write down on most college applications. This is another moment where people force decision-making upon you, they make you feel like if you go to college “un-decided” (meaning you haven’t chosen a major) then you will just be wasting your time.

I remember when I was a junior in high school, I had a list of 10 colleges that I wanted to apply to, all the big name colleges were on my list. From Michigan State University, to Spelman, all the way to Harvard (I was optimistic about this one). I didn’t have parents whom were able to invest in my talents at a younger age, so I didn’t even know what I was good at. All I knew was that I wanted to be a doctor, at least that’s what I thought I knew.

I got to Michigan State University (the first school I was accepted into, I was to lazy to apply anywhere else) and confidently put down “Human Biology” in my major category, I just knew I was about to be the biggest and best doctor there was. And on top of that, I was placed in the Lyman Briggs College, a special college for the brightest and best science students (I don’t know how I got there, I was just average in high school AT BEST).

FAST FORWARD, 3 years of college went by and I believe my GPA was sitting somewhere around a 2.5, I had never seen grades this low in my LIFE. Between organic chemistry, microbiology, and calculus 2, I was in a fight for my life, and I was losing. I always would say to myself after I failed a class, “Oh, I’ll just retake it” or “This won’t matter for med school” or even better “I’ll just do a masters program before I go to medical school, no biggy”.

BUT never once did I say to myself, “Let me explore my options” OR “maybe this just isn’t for me”. I was blinded, by what OTHERS would think of me if I was to not live up to the standard that I had personally set for myself. The reality was that, I set so many standards for myself that it wasn’t other people that was the problem, I was my own enemy.

After 3 years, I finally changed my major and the universe aligned to make sure it was the perfect major for ME. As soon as I changed my major, life started looking up for me, the opportunities started flowing, I was doing something that I KNEW I was good at. I’ve seen nothing but success since that moment, it took me 3 years, thankfully I had already taken classes that applied to my new major, so it only took me 4.5 years to graduate.

From my experience I just want to spread a word of advice for those getting ready to go to college, have been to college, have dropped out of college or those thinking of going back to college. These are some things that I think would have made my college journey a little bit smoother.

  1. It’s YOUR journey- It’s not your parent’s journey, not your friend’s journey, and not your siblings. It is YOUR journey, and YOU will be the only person that is either going to suffer, OR enjoy the process. Don’t let others talk you into things you don’t really want to do, do it for YOU or don’t do it at all.
  2. Research, research, research- People force the occupations of being a doctor, lawyer or a dentist upon us so much that we actually forget how many other occupations there are in the world. If you don’t like school, maybe you need to pursue something that won’t include going BACK to school after 4 years. Take a couple of classes within each major, whatever feels right for you, pursue that.
  3. INTERN- I can not stress this ENOUGH. Internships are what MADE me. I would have no idea what I loved or what I actually wanted to do if I didn’t intern, I interned at 4 different places until I figured out what track I actually wanted to take.
  4. It’s okay if you are NOT ready- If you aren’t ready for college following high school, that is completely understandable. While you’re waiting, read some books, work, and keep your mind stimulated. This is so if you do decide to go back, you won’t be to far out the game.
  5. The money WILL come- Trust me when I say, the money is going to come honey. It’s more important to make sure you are good at whatever it is you decide to do. Because, let’s be honest, if you aren’t good at it, it either won’t last that long (as in, you’ll be fired), OR you will be miserable for the rest of your life.
  6. College is NOT the only way to make a way- If you listen to a lot of activists, they tell you to EDUCATE yourself. Education doesn’t always mean college. It means picking up a book, stimulating your mind, challenging yourself. College is not the only way to educate yourself, some of the richest people in this world, didn’t even attend college.

These are just SOME of the things I wish I knew, but I gotta get back to work now before I lose my own job.

Of course I have my bachelors degree now, so it’s too late for me BUT I hope this advice helps you or someone else as you navigate your way through college.

Be strong, we are all rooting for you. -B