The Ultimate Guide on How to Make the Most of College Starting Today

Are you looking for information on how to make the most of college?

Do you want to know everything today without searching anything else on Google or paying someone else for the information?

If that’s you, you’ve come to the right place for that information.

Now why is this the right place?

Well, this post has over 5500 words in it and it contains a whole lot of information that will give you extreme clarity on how to make the most of college life, what to get out of a college education, and how to make the most of your educational venture, whether it’s college or not, to get what you want out of life itself.

In fact, this post could change your life starting today.

So read it, print it out, and go all the way to the very end because if you take action on this post, you will never lose with college and you will come out on top in life.

So without further ado, let’s get right into it.

Know WHY You Are Going

 

This one is the key to your college success and the number 1 mistake that students make when they are considering and/or go about college.

If you don’t get this one right, you will never get college right even with a 4.0 GPA.

Let me explain.

Many students go to college thinking that it is the only thing to do and that if they just go in, they’ll come out ok on the other side.

The reality is that this claim is far from the case.

Most of the time, students end up going to college with no purpose as to what they want to get out of it and as a result, their results come up WAY short of expectations like they did not get the job that they desired, they are saddled with debt and no job, they got bored, etc.

The list of underwhelming results goes on and on.

But the other reality is that this does NOT have to be you.

You just need to research, plan, commit, and take action on what you want to get out of college before going and you can avoid all of those pitfalls that come from poor planning and not knowing what college TRULY is, which I will explain more in detail in this post so be sure to read on for that.

So in a nutshell, here is how you should go about college before you go:

1.      Find yourself and what you want and look up the job market for many majors

This one is super important.

The thing in the job market is that it secretly rewards those who are extremely passionate about their field of study and put in a lot of time into making the most of their experience.

Employers NOTICE that very clearly like a bright lighthouse over a dark ocean.

However, you can’t just pick a major that has zero value in the marketplace like philosophy, in which case you are not employable with solely that degree.

So the secret ingredient in a successful college venture is knowing your interests and combining it with a degree that will be in demand in the marketplace and supplement your drive and energy to achieve what you want.

Let me give you an example to show you what I mean.

Let’s say that your interest is in concrete and you have an extremely deep obsession with it.

You go to college for civil engineering, you participate like hell in the extracurriculars for civil engineering and you do internships.

As a result, you’re getting a job.

Now why is this the case?

It’s because the employers in the civil engineering sector have an extremely high demand for those who are passionate about anything related to civil engineering and as a result of exposing your passion, you can place yourself ahead of everyone else who is just doing civil engineering for the money or job security or whatever else it might be.

Do you see where this is going here?

You need to combine passion and market demand for college to be successful.

You can’t have just one or the other or college won’t be worth it, both financially and for your soul; at least here in the United States.

Of course, if you are not from the US, the laws are different and I can’t speak for that.

Now let me demonstrate this scenario with going to college just for passion and just for market demand.

Let’s start with just passion.

You might be SO obsessed with psychology and you put your heart and soul into doing well in your psychology classes, participating in extracurriculars, and doing a bunch of internships.

However, because there is no market demand for it, you are jobless.

Now let’s switch gears to just market demand.

Let’s say that you are SO intrigued with the demand for software engineers that when you sign up for a major, you say “Show me the money! Let’s do CS!”

But little did you know that when you signed up for it, you did not take into account for the fact that you ended up hating it and you feel miserable with your life.

Because you did not have enough passion to develop your skills, you did not stand out from the crowd and you were actually left jobless, completely different from what the data told you before you went to college.

So what do these stories tell you?

Write it down somewhere so that you can see it.

You need to balance your passion with market demand.

One or the other is WAY too risky since you have a high chance of wasting your time and leaving college without a job, regardless of what the job prospects tell you.

So please take note of that.

Now you might be asking “Should I go to college if I don’t know what I’m passionate about?”

That’s an understandable question, but the answer is no.

The reason for it is because it involves a huge time and financial commitment on your end and there is A LOT of competition in every field of study, regardless of what the data tells you.

So because you don’t have that passion to noticeably stick out from everybody means that you are playing Russian Roulette with the job market since you are not actively controlling it.

You need market demand and passion to control the job market and to control college.

Understand?

If you still don’t understand, watch this video here for more clarity.

And for some perspective if you are thinking about liberal arts, click here.

Do you understand now?

Please, know your WHY before you go to college.

Your future self will thank you for it and you’ll save a lot of time and money as a result.

Now, if you thought about it for a few minutes and you realize that college just isn’t for you, do yourself a favor and go to the third section of this blog post and I’ll give you some alternative options to help you out.

If you have identified that you need college for your goal, the market clearly demand it, and you are COMMITTED to making the most out of college as a result of your FIERY, INTENSE passion in your field of study that you can CONTROL AND OWN the job market, then read on the next section as I will tell you EXACTLY everything that you need to know in order to go about it.

Know How to Play the Game of College

 

This might just surprise you, but the reality is that college is a game.

Read that sentence again so that you understand it clearly and thoroughly.

You need to manipulate it as if you are playing against enemies in a war.

There are pieces and advantages to the game and there is a score that you must achieve in order to “make the cut” in the eyes of employers and grad schools.

We’ve already covered the research part of things, so you should have that squared away by now.

We are now going to come to the planning phase of college to know how to go about this “game.”

Let’s start with academics:

The reality is that your professors will, for the most part, not teach and will not give a crap about you.

Otherwise, everybody would be getting A’s and getting jobs.

However, there are ways to combat this obstacle.

The big secret that everyone is missing is that the internet has almost everything that you need to succeed in your classes.

The first thing that I would do is see if you can find a great internet source for your class and use it to your fullest advantage.

To save on outrageously priced textbooks, ask someone in your class to take a snapshot of the problems that you need to do and have them send it to you somehow.

Believe me, they’ll do it, but you need to be persistent.

By the way, healthy habit #1 = Be EXTREMELY persistent. You won’t get anywhere in life without it.

For example, if you are in a calculus class, the best internet source is absolutely 100% Professor Leonard.

You definitely don’t need to buy the book if you just watch his videos.

To get the problems that you need to do, either buy a cheap version of the book OR ask a classmate for the problems and the solutions manual.

You can access Professor Leonard’s videos here and read my blog post about him here to know how to use his videos further.

Another way to combat the obstacle is to actually get the book and read it.

However, textbooks are extremely expensive.

So what should you do then?

I know, GET A LIBRARY CARD!

AND GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY!

You’ll definitely pass with that and save hundreds and thousands of dollars in the process!

And by the way, for most of you, it’s free.

I want you to refer to this video here again if you haven’t.

You are welcome.

Another resource that I recommend to combat this professor problem is to utilize your classmates.

Your classmates want to help you.

They don’t want to see you suffer.

They want to see you succeed as much as they want to see themselves succeed.

It’s very different from what the school culture wants you to believe, but it is the truth.

At the end of the day, you guys are a team helping each other out to achieve a common goal.

There is no reason for them not to help you (provided that you do your part) since they lose out on refining and perfecting their knowledge from teaching others.

I would suggest that you form a study group or join an existing one of no more than 5 people so that you guys can discuss the ideas together and you guys can figure things out from each other.

Even if you don’t have a concept or question nailed down yet, you can discuss it amongst your study group and more often than not, you all will find the solution together.

When you leave the group, you will be able to do your problems as a result. I can guarantee you that.

Another great option for you to combat the professor problem is to utilize the tutors at your University’s Center for Academic Success.

This is a fantastic trick that almost NO student utilizes even though it is included in your tuition.

Now what makes this unique?

Not only is it included with your tuition, but these tutors are hand-picked by the university because of the fact that they have demonstrated mastery of the material AND because they have proven ability to explain the material better than the professors.

I can give you countless testimonials from students using the Academic Success Center at my university for getting ahead in their classes and countless testimonials of the tutors explaining the material way better than the professors, even the best professors.

It’s a resource that you cannot pass up on if they offer your class.

You will really get the best tutoring.

After all, there’s no additional charge!

So to sum up the academic portion of things,

1.      Utilize the internet

2.      Use your local library

3.      Form a study group with your classmates

4.      Utilize the Center for Academic Success

And that should do the trick regardless of what major you are in.

Now for extracurriculars:

This is extremely important for most of you going to college because your ability to get a job can really depend on if you participate in them or not.

Please note: I am not going to advocate for you to join an extracurricular if it doesn’t help you get a job.

That is a WASTE of time.

Extracurriculars need to be constructive for your goals, not take time away.

Only participate in extracurriculars where your participation in them will get you a job.

Additionally, if participating in extracurriculars forces you to compromise your grades in a negative way, DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THEM!

Read that again.

Because your goal in college while you are a student is to get a job/career and you can’t have that job/career without good grades.

Period, regardless of what anyone says.

It’s a combination of everything on here that can bring you to the top.

But never sacrifice your grades.

EVER!

Now, for extracurriculars, the key is that you want to join the main club related to your specific career and you want to at least have a leadership position in that club.

If you can be the president of the club, great, that will look really good and you should shoot for that position if you can.

For instance, say that you want to become a civil engineer and you want the best shot at getting a job as one when you graduate.

Assuming that academics won’t get in the way of this, you would join the American Society of Civil Engineers and you would immediately start participating in the main competitions and helping out like no other.

When you help out a lot, you will be elected into a leadership position as a result of gaining your classmates’ trust and at that point, employers will start to notice who you are.

As you continue your involvement with additional responsibility in the club, you will start crafting a story about what you bring to the table for employers.

And if you do extremely well, employers will notice your name immediately.

You are in the door.

And you’ll keep adding value and adding value and adding value to the point where everybody will recognize you.

That’s when you know that you have home court advantage and you have everybody else on the ropes fighting for attention.

If you become president, it’s a knockout punch to everybody else since you already define your brand as a leader and as someone who can take responsibility.

In a nutshell, that’s how you would go about it.

Again, not in the bowling club drinking beer with the buddies.

A club that you can actually use to achieve your goals.

No more than 2 clubs though so that you don’t stretch yourself too thin and hurt your prospects.

Now for internships/research:

In any discipline that you enter, you are going to notice that every employer or grad school is looking for some sort of experience in the field from work experience or research experience.

This is one that you need to really be on if you want to get anywhere in the field.

Now you might have heard that everyone is asking the question “Well geez how do I get experience if the employers are only looking for experience?”

The answer are internships and research depending on what field you are entering.

In case you didn’t know, these are positions that are intended to train you to learn the skills to enter the job upon graduation.

Now internships and research positions are extremely competitive and as a result, you need to manipulate the circumstances to get them.

The best place to start is definitely in the clubs where you can network with classmates and professionals in your desired field.

Think of the clubs as a training camp where you will prove yourself and your passion to your classmates and the employers.

If you do well enough, you’ll get drafted high in the first round.

Your classmates will help you out if you prove yourself capable and they’ll at least hook you up with interviews and/or introduce you to important people in the field.

That is your foundation for home field advantage in school.

If you are familiar with sports, school works the same way as professional sports in that the students are prospects and must prove themselves to the employers/grad schools, who are like the teams, that they are capable of helping them win.

As a result, the better that you do in school, the higher you will get picked in the draft upon graduation.

And like I said before, doing in well in school is more than just doing well in your classes.

It’s a combination of things that you do in school that determines your value in the labor market/ grad school admissions.

Now for grad school:

You need great grades for this one and great test scores.

End of discussion.

Now depending on what type of grad school that you need, the GPA cutoff might vary.

For instance, for medical school, you need at least a 3.7 GPA to give yourself a good shot of getting in.

For law school, you need at least a 3.5 GPA in order to give yourself a good shot of getting in.

For any other type of grad school, you need at least a 3.3 GPA.

A 3.0 might get you in, but your options will drop as a result.

Definitely not below a 3.0 for grad school; you’ll be heavily disappointed in the end.

Additionally, you want to have very high test scores for whatever program that you are trying to get into because that is a major component of getting in.

If those scores are low, you’re out.

Now for a lot of grad school programs, even great grades and great test scores alone will not make the cut.

You need a combination of things to really stand out and to show your dedication to the field and to correctly display that that is the field that you want to get into.

Take a look at this Reddit thread here for some insight into this topic for medical school and this post here to truly understand the nature of going to law school.

Even if you are not planning to go to law school, I highly recommend that you read that law school post.

He does a great job of explaining what you need to do before you even commit to ANY field, not just law school.

And that about does it in a huge nutshell for school.

Consider Other Options Depending On Your Goals

 

If you are not 100% committed to school or you are looking for other options, fear not.

There are plenty.

In fact, if you can’t afford school right now in cash in full or with a scholarship or a combination of cash and scholarships, this is the section that you need to be reading.

I will show you every possible option that I know of that does not involve school, but at the same time, will be extremely beneficial for you in finding yourself, launching a brand, and gaining experience in the real world from finances to learning useful skills.

Here are nine useful options for you explained in great detail:

1.      Work a Launchpad job/Apprenticeship

A Launchpad job is a job in which you learn the skills to advance further in a particular field.

An apprenticeship is a position in which you work under someone else who is a master in their filed to develop the skills to succeed in that field.

Examples of these types of jobs can be a real estate agent learning under an experienced real estate agent to learn how to sell more properties, a car salesman using the position to sell more cars, a welder working under a master welder to learn the trade efficiently, etc.

These on the job training jobs are extremely useful when you need work experience in a particular field and you will get paid to learn.

On top of that, you’ll be learning from masters instead of some random supervisor who doesn’t know what they are doing.

That’s a pretty great deal, especially if you are on the fence about college.

Remember, in this world, work experience > degrees.

If there is one thing that you learn from this post, it should be to work first in a variety of fields and then go to college once you have the money in cash and you know exactly what you want.

Apprenticeships and Launchpad jobs are a GREAT first step towards that!

2.      Start a business

For those who want a taste of entrepreneurship, this one is for you.

Compared with college and depending on the type of business that you run, this option is an extremely great idea for a multitude of reasons since:

A)     You’ll learn how to sell

B)     You’ll learn how to market a product

C)     You’ll learn customer service when you HAVE to know it

D)     You’ll learn the legal game of business

E)      You’ll learn finances

And much, much more.

On top of that, you will instantly gain the respect of employers if you need to get a job.

Now although it might seem that you are uncommitted to their company, this move will instantly separate you from the crowd since it proves that you are capable of at least trying things on your own and that you are a self-starter.

That is REALLY what employers are looking for out of candidates.

Yes, in a lot of cases, they will look for a degree.

But sometimes, that won’t be the case since the position doesn’t entail it.

Hence, you come out on top.

Now are there any guarantees when it comes to a business?

No.

There aren’t.

A lot of successful people will tell you otherwise, but that is not the case according to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).

But still, the experience that you get from at least trying to run a business is impeccable and extremely respected.

As long as you don’t go into debt for it and you are careful with how much money you spend, definitely do it.

It will be a decision that you won’t regret.

Remember though, don’t buy any course without that magic document that the FTC requires.

3.      Freelance

This one involves using your talents and offering your talents to the market place.

This is like starting a business except this option involves you trading your time.

In fact, freelancing is a type of business, but a special kind of business without passive income.

But instead of trading your time for a salary, you are trading your time based off of the value that you provide to the marketplace, which is a good thing since you’ll develop the confidence to get money when you absolutely need to.

An example of a freelancer is a graphic designer who makes Pinterest graphics for clients.

If the value that he or she provides is great, he/she can command a high rate without being bound by a job market as is the case with a lot of jobs requiring a college degree.

That’s a great thing to pursue especially if you need money now.

You can find freelance gigs on websites like Upwork and Fiverr and go from there as you develop your skills.

Of course, you always have YouTube and the library to learn them.

Don’t buy courses though.

I can tell you that they are ALL scams.

You are welcome.

4.      Network

This one is as old fashioned as it gets.

All the ingredients that you need are some good old fashioned hustle, good old fashioned entrepreneurial drive, and a desire to help out.

Getting far in ANY field definitely requires this step.

If you can do this before you pursue any type of education, you are WAY ahead of the game my friend and the world will LOVE YA!

And you can do this in any field so that you can get a glimpse of what it’s like in certain professions before you dive in.

Think of networking before you pursue any education as your free trial into the professions and giving them a spin.

This will let you really find out whether you like them or not.

And who knows, you might just get a no payment required option for working in these professions without paying for an education!

No guarantee on that though, but still something to consider!

5.      Read books and take action on them

This is the secret to any successful person.

They read the classics and apply what they have learned.

They don’t go out and buy a bunch of courses that have little to no value.

It’s the books that they go after.

A few books that I can recommend personally and that these successful people use are “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

Think and Grow Rich is for mindset and How to Win Friends and Influence People is for knowing how to deal with people.

With mindset, you will redirect your sexual energy to what you desire all of the time.

With knowing people, you will at least understand how they work and what you need to do to get them to want to work on your agenda.

Both are excellent books to read and will absolutely get you started on your path to finding the right path for you and be successful in life in general and can be bought here for “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and here for “Think and Grow Rich” on Amazon.

Please note: Both are affiliate links and I will receive commissions from your purchase through those links if you do buy through them, but the price that you pay won’t change.

If you want a brief intro into the concepts of mindset and people, I highly suggest that you read my blog post about redirecting your sexual energy to what you truly want here and my full review of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” here.

Now as for other books to read, I highly suggest reading any book that is in your professions of interest and dive really deep into them.

In fact, that is the secret of geniuses on this planet.

They’re not really geniuses; they are just called that because people couldn’t do what they did.

Remember, the library is free my friend.

So use it well.

6.      Trade Schools

Underrated, underrated, underrated.

That’s all that I can say and then some.

Here’s the then some.

The trades are in such high demand right now because there are a lack of real world skilled workers.

These trades include plumbers, welders, electricians, etc.

Basically the people that come into your house to do repair work and give you a big fat bill once the job’s done.

 The big bill is for a reason.

The shortage is the reason.

You could literally go into any high quality accredited trade school and with some careful due diligence, come out with a skill that will get you food on the table, you don’t have to consistently worry about bills since you have the skills to go out and fend for yourself, and you don’t have to go $50,000 – $100,000 into debt to go to trade school.

I bet that you could place a group of typically university bounds kids in university and another group of the same kind go off to trade school and the trade school folks will come out ahead.

The shortage is that big.

Now you might be asking about coding bootcamp.

It’s true that it can get you an entry level developer job, but I’m not particularly sold on that to give you a solid recommendation on coding bootcamp.

Sure, if you position yourself well, you will get a job.

But I’m not sold on that shortage unlike what the data says, especially since we are now seeing computer science enrollments going through the roof and unemployment going up there.

I actually heard that there are more graduates than there are jobs in that field, specifically in Orlando, Florida according to one Reddit thread that I read one day.

And if that’s the case there, I always wonder if that’s the case in other cities.

You can read about computer science employment trends here.

This should make you REALLY think twice about college.

7.      Learn and Master Sales

If you learn and master this, you are set for life.

Read that sentence again.

Sales is necessary for every company on the planet.

It is by far the number one most essential and the most sought after skill on the planet.

Everybody needs it and everybody needs to know it.

If you become the best at sales, you will never be broke and you will never be without money.

Everyone MUST do business with you and your rate can go through the roof!

Keep that in mind when you go through the mysterious waters of the real world.

Become the shark, not the krill!

8.      Learn about finances starting today

This one is a no brainer, but is still extremely overlooked.

If you go out into the real world, you need to know everything as to where the money is going and everything about your income and expenses.

In and out.

No negotiations.

Additionally, you must know how to have a budget regardless of what anyone tells you otherwise.

You need to keep track of what you are doing and you need to use it to effectively strategize what you are going to do with the cash that you have.

Two things here:

Cash flow and the cash that you have are the two biggest weapons that you have.

Your cash flow keeps you alive and it grows your position in life and your cash can be used for many tricks to grow your position and to conquer the world like you have never seen before.

But don’t keep the cash forever or else you will pay.

Sit on that for a second and think about all of the possibilities that can come out of it.

It’ll arouse your curiosity fast.

9.      Learn how to tell/show a good story

This is extremely useful for many things like learning to sell your product, dominating a job/gig interview, convincing a girl to go out with you, etc.

Basically any sale that you make involves storytelling.

I want you to picture the best memory that you have and what it meant to you.

Was it the memory itself or the concept behind it?

It was the concept/arousal of good feelings that came from it.

This is when you know that something sold you.

If there is anything that you learn from this section, let it be this:

People don’t buy products and services, they buy stories.

The story that arouses the concept the best will win.

Know that line extremely well and you will go very far my friend.

And now for the grand finale!

Don’t Take Out a Student Loan

 

Whatever you do, don’t take out a student loan.

This is the only type of debt that you can’t discharge in court and it will never go away unless you pay it all back.

The worst part about this debt?

You need to trade your time to go pay it off.

It is 100% AWFUL debt, regardless of what anyone tells you.

This type of debt might cause the next recession in the USA.

It also doesn’t make any sense to take out student loans because you don’t even know if it is going to generate you income 4-5 years down the line.

The job market can be so bright when you enter college until all of a sudden, it is not bright at all.

You can’t predict your income, regardless of what those statistics tell you about college grads making more than non-college grads.

If you borrow for it, you are bound to circumstance and you are bound to trading your life/precious time away.

That is the trap of school.

Understand that very clearly.

Now I am not saying that going to school is a bad thing, but the system behind it is set up for you to fall into this trap and you need to be aware of it.

If you happen to be under 18, do yourself a favor and stop doing kids stuff and go get a job today.

Also find other ways to make money on the side because if you don’t, you’ll fall into the trap of paying for more than what you can afford.

That’s a horrendous situation to be in like so many Americans.

Don’t do that to yourself.

For school, it comes down to these things here:

A)     Know exactly what you want and know how to play the game of college before you go

B)     Don’t go into debt for it

C)     Don’t do anything stupid

And that’s it pal.

Use this post as your guide throughout your educational endeavors and I guarantee that you will come out on top.

May the force be with you pal and if you liked this post and got a lot out of it, make sure that you subscribe to the blog right down below where every new post will be sent to your inbox the moment that it’s published.

Also comment below with what you will do as a result of this post and the action steps that you will take to succeed in whatever you want to pursue in life.

You CAN do this friend.

Just take massive action.

Until next time,

This is Chief Islander Evan signing off.