Every year, approximately 2-3 million students enter college full of excitement and apprehension, with a mutually shared expectation that college offers a gateway to success and happiness.  But there is a gap between a student’s expectations and what academia actually delivers.  The disparity is compounded by differences in perspective.   It is a well-known fact that about 75% of college graduates end up in careers that have nothing to do with their major.

The typical college student’s concerns center on the mundane, including logistics, housing, class schedules, tuition, and the anticipation of meeting fellow students, parties, and gaining acceptance to a fraternity.   They fail to appreciate the planning and strategic aspects involved in extracting the necessary education that can compensate for a student’s lack of confidence, perspective and preparedness.

Many college students passively go through the curriculum, waiting for inspiration or some signal to give them direction.  This doesn’t work, and if you passively submit yourself to the college curriculum, it won’t and can’t deliver on your expectations.

Rather college should be viewed as an opportunity for self-exploration to advance personal understanding and discovery of aptitude and career passion.  It can offer a student an opportunity to develop a clearer vision and better understanding of oneself and personal attributes, and thereby help to further eliminate the fog of post teenage development and allow the student to begin the transition into adulthood.