Transition To College Essay

In Generation Debt Kamentetz describes the typical college student as a twentysomething struggling to make it by at a low-wage job and juggling an academic career. This is all while students are simultaneously securing themselves a future of debt with the possibility of having to drop out looms overhead. She paints a pretty dark picture of how consequential choosing to go to college could be like in modern day America. She isn’t very far off from the truth though. Like myself and many of my friends we struggle everyday trying to deal with where we are going to end up in this debt consumed economy. Half of my friends decided right out of high school to skip college and go right into the work force, weather because they felt it was unnecessary

For me, and probably many of my fellow students, higher education always seemed like a foregone conclusion: I never questioned if I was going to college, just where. No other options ever occurred to me. After working 12-hour shifts in a factory, the other options have become brutally clear. When I'm back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy re-writes seems like a cop-out after seeing what I would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value of an education that used to sound trite now ring true."(Braaksma,

The article, Not going to College is a Viable Option, written by Lawrence B. Schlack displays the possible alternatives and outcomes of going to college. With the help of ethos, from a former superintendent, Schlack uses his own self as a credible source by providing examples of what he has experienced and witnessed throughout the course of his work. Schlack appeals to the audience on a personal level by exploiting the weakness of high school graduates, who don’t know what they want to study when attending college. Granted, Schlack uses logic to reason with the audience on why not going to college is a viable option. However, with the lack of credibility, facts, and statistics, Schlacks article is not effectively persuasive on reasons why

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

Advocates of this form of higher education contend “a college degree is certainly no guarantee of financial success, but it is nearly a prerequisite for moving up the income ladder if you're poor” (Rampell 1). While college has the ability to aid in the advancement of a person’s financial standing, it proves to be a fruitless investment for some students. Even with the accreditation a diploma offers, millions of graduates struggle to earn a salary that ensures the benefits of their major investment. Academic philosopher Gary Jason insists “the rising price of college tends to erase the potential returns of a college education for students of only average ability” (Jason 1). The essence of Jason’s argument is that with a multitude of programs available as an appropriate substitute, college proves to be a waste of time and money for students pursuing careers that do not demand a diploma. The financial burden of college is growing, and in some cases, it cancels out the benefits. Believers in the college dream’s claim rests on the questionable assumption that all students will successfully obtain a diploma and follow a career path that will result in profits from the

Although neither my parents nor my older siblings have college degrees, as a child, I don't remember ever planning my future using the phrase “if I go to college.” From a very young age, it was always “when I go to college.” For me, a postsecondary education is the logical next step in my life, the missing puzzle piece to get me where I want to go. For a long time, I believed that the only reason anyone would choose not to was because they were academically or financially incapable. In “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, Charles Murray refutes this belief, examining the increasing accessibility of a college education and how our culture pushes people who may not need it to attend anyways.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been questioned about your dream career, or what you want to achieve as an adult, or even now. Chances are you have, but, did you ever take the time to really think about that question and finally distinguish that you want to be an Astronaut or a Surgeon or maybe even a Scientist? Well, if you did then there’s almost no doubt that you’ll need to attend college to acquire the certain level of skills you need to become that person that you dream to be. Obtaining a college degree will almost guarantee that more and more opportunities will come knocking on your door because a college degree is a stepping stone to success and companies and businesses are very much aware of that. Success is what people are looking for and a degree verifies that you qualify to achieve great things. Oh, and did I forget to mention that that vast majority of people with a college degree make a lot more money than people with just a High School diploma or being a High School drop out for that matter. However, aside from qualifying for an immeasurable amount of career options, a College education has shown to help with communicating with others, which might not just help with job benefits, but also with relationships on another level.

A shift that tends to cause fear in individuals is that of transitioning from a secondary education and into a post-secondary education due to lack of awareness of what to expect plus having little or no knowledge about how to prepare for such drastic change. First-generation college students constitute those students that are first in their families to go to college, whose parents were unable to achieve any postsecondary education, bachelor 's degree, and had more than a high school education (Garcia, V. 2015; Garriott, P. O., Hudyma, A., Keene, C., & Santiago, D. 2015; Pascarella, E. T., Pierson, C. T., Wolniak, G. C., & Terenzini, P. T. 2004). On the one hand, first-generation college students have a challenging time adapting to the college experience due to not having any academic guidance from their relatives. Whereas second-generation students have the guidance and expertise of a family member in regards to post-secondary education. Thus, it is important to understand, which, among the two, takes an education more seriously, as well as whether the prior attendance of a relative or acquaintance changes the way an individual 's perception of education. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether the social economic status and ethnicity play a role in the success rate of first-generation individuals who have no previous knowledge of a post-secondary education.

The decision to obtain a higher education beyond high school is no longer a question of if, but when. This is the question that author Caroline Bird discusses in her article, “College is a Waste of Time and Money,” written in 1975. This text strives to convince students, parents, and advisors that obtaining a degree might not be in the best interest for those involved. Circling around the idea that college is a requirement and no longer an act of free will. Bird starts the article off strongly by building her credibility through her own personal research and other credible sources as well as appealing to readers through logical reasoning using numerous statistics, but fails to convince readers and discredits her ultimate goal through a disconnect in her use of analogies.

People today, myself included, have accepted this criterion and consequently, from the start of their child’s high school career, parents will continuously stress the importance of achieving high grades in their classes so that they will be ‘accepted into a good university.’ In high schools, I always heard my fellow classmates talking about their hopes of attending law school or med school in the future. In reality, it is likely that those may not be their actual hopes and dreams, but what they really want is a job with a good pay. In one paragraph, Jacobs recalls how her father was employed as a doctor and because of this, during the Great Depression, he was still able to get by despite the mass unemployment (54). Children are pressured to do well and earn promising credentials to ensure they are hired in admirable, steady positions in the future and have a decent income salary, such as Jacob’s father. It has become more and more frequent for students in high school to take a challenging course in a private institution, like many of my friends did, so they can obtain a higher grade to meet requirements for a university programs that they, in truth, have no desire to study in. Thus, some programs, such as business, have a great deal of applicants each year and many of those who are accepted and studying in their chosen field are not

The transition from high school into college is undoubtedly a very important time in the lives of many young people. It is a huge step, and a huge change. There are some who cling to their fading high-school life, reluctant to let go and move on. Many of my friends would fall under this category. Some of them seem more prepared for the increasingly near future than others, and they will have varying degrees of success in beginning their college experience, be it near home or hours away. But Natalie is different than they are. Rather than getting caught up in the sentimentality of it all, she is embracing the looming future with open arms.

Moving away from home has been one of the biggest challenges that I have had to face so far in the eighteen years of my life. Moving from my home town to the collge dorm was a difficult transition that was necessary for growing up both mentally and physically as an individual. The little more than five hundred miles that separates me from my friends and family has allowed me to become the person I am today, and the distance allows me to grow and become more familiar with things that are a whole new experience for me. One of the many new things that I have had to deal with was making new friends in my environment.

In today’s age, attending college is a rather large stepping stone in a young adult’s life. Society has a tendency to mark one who doesn’t attend college to be unsuccessful. Why is it that many young adults are choosing to not attend? Many times the reason one chooses to not go to college after graduating high school is because of the ridiculously high costs to attend, whether it’s for a four year degree or even just a two year degree at a community college. Why should a young adult’s future lay in the hands on whether they can afford it at that time or not? In January of 2015, President Barack Obama announced his free community college plan. If this bill was to pass, young American’s would be benefit greatly and get a head start to their future

When you take responsibility, you gain power; and it depends on you how you use the power to fulfill the responsibility. It is just the way things work. In my case, I have two jobs— both at the University of Houston-Downtown. I work as a peer mentor for the UHD Peer Mentoring program, and a student worker at the Gator Success Center. Seems like a lot of work for a full-time student, right? It actually is. However, I like working on campus. It gives me some authority to be involved in the university system. Since I work on the success center, I have the access to students’ information. I can search for their class schedules, phone numbers, advising history and much more. Obviously, I need to have their student ID number (900#) to look up

Johnny is a fifth grade student who is almost ready to graduate and move on to the sixth grade. Johnny however, can not multiply or divide. He cannot spell or read. Johnny fell behind in the third grade. His teacher overlooked his failure and promoted him so that he would not be held up socially. Johnny's fourth grade teacher promoted him to fifth grade hoping that he would catch up with his classmates. Johnny is now about to enter the sixth grade with the educational skills of a second grader.