Everything I Wish I Learned in College, I Already Know

There are a lot of things I wish I learned in college. None of them are academic, and most of them I already know. All of them are those “life lesson”-type things you learn (sometimes painfully) outside the classroom and are certain of only about 12% of the time.

We may have more technology at our fingertips than any generation has before, but it’s made us an active generation. We seem to always be doing something. And I believe – and I think most of my generation would agree – that has carried over into our learning style for both academics and necessary life knowledge.

I believe that to really learn it, you have to do it. I believe in trying everything once. And I believe in making mistakes, as long as you learn from them (and don’t cause too much damage along the way).

It would be great if there were courses for all those lessons. We could take Psychology 101: How to Make Hard Decisions; Business 203: How to Know Your Career Choices are the Best Choices Without the Ability to See into the Future; or International Relations 309: How to Balance College Life, Home Life, Work Life, and All the Friends from All Those Places.

Those classes don’t exist, but life as a recent college graduate might be a lot less stressful if they, and others like them (“Finance 405: How to Not Blow Your Savings Account on Shopping, Friday Nights at the Bar, and Food, But Still Have Fun – and Eat!” would be pretty helpful even now), were actual course options.

My diploma would show that I majored in journalism and life skills. Ladies and gentlemen, with this $160,000 piece of paper, Angela Stefano can now enter the real world and be confident she will be prepared for whatever comes her way.

But life doesn’t work like that. Despite the fact that we’ve proven ourselves proficient enough to graduate and (attempt to) get a job and live on our own, we’re still going to face a lot of tough decisions and strange situations. That’s just the way it is.

Then again, life would be a lot less interesting if we didn’t get to learn some of those things on our own. Sometimes I enjoy finding out that boxed Kraft Mac ‘N Cheese isn’t exactly like Easy Mac, so if you were to accidentally add the noodles to the water before it boils, you’d be left with a goop that will leave you starving and laughing as you throw it out a third-story window.

Or that spontaneously buying concert tickets for a show the night before you have a final won’t actually make you fail.

Or that, despite your fears that your boyfriend and all your friends are going to forget about you when you’re away, the best relationships survive distance and don’t really change at all.

And I think I’m going to enjoy the next many years when I learn about life with a full-time job, with a family, and (finally) life retired in a beach house somewhere.

College prepared me well, both in and out of the classroom. Some of the most important lessons weren’t from classes.

What do I wish I’d learned in college? I wish I’d learned that a professor can’t teach you the most important things, and that a diploma isn’t the best proof of wisdom.

Photo Credit: adobemac

Author: Angela Stefano – You can tell a little something about a girl based on what’s in her purse. I have my iPod, a planner, a notebook and pens, my camera, and the “Cocktails for Dummies” pocket edition. Oh, and a lint comb, gum, and a lot of makeup I never use.