Hey folks! I just graduated from undergrad in May 2021. In my first summer after college, I was met by a new challenge at the conclusion of one of my internships. After four years of education at a highly regarded research university, I realized that the piece of paper on my wall doesn’t mean what I originally thought it did. My major did not teach me how to do the project asked upon me, and I realized all of the lessons that passed me by since freshman year. Today, I’m going to talk about four big things that I didn’t learn in college that are really important in the real world.
1. How to be brief and concise
I earned my Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology, which required classes on abnormal psychology (i.e. mental illnesses and disorders) some neuroscience (how the brain works on the cellular level), learning and behavior (where and how we develop our behavior and habits, also how to study better), personality, research methods (how to ethically and thoroughly conduct research), and more.
In this research-heavy major, I have written more research papers, literature reviews, and empirical papers than I have the patience to count. The key to writing those types of papers?
LEAVE NO HOLES.
Be thorough. Leave no gaps for interpretation or questions in your procedure. Respond to any counterarguments by being able to predict what the counterarguments could be. This typically calls for papers so thicc that the staple is holding on for dear life.
Outside of academia, though….. this isn’t always the case. I analyzed unidentifiable demographic information of clients at my internship and created infographics and a presentation for the leadership team (in English: I made a pretty flyer of data I found) and for the first time ever, I had to condense a 12-page Word document into short, “eye-catching”, bite-sized info.
Booooiii, when I tell you I struggled. And I was very honest with my boss, as well. “I’m fresh out of college. I’ve never turned in any report that was less than 4 pages.” Of all this work I spent weeks compiling, what do I leave out? If I choose to leave something out, will the leadership team call me out on missing information? What if they ask questions like “how did you come up with that?” or “How are you sure of this conclusion?”
Essentially, the products you are used to making for a grade in college may be the complete opposite of what is expected from you in the workplace. Academia likes to go on pretentious, long-winded rants, meanwhile, businesses and companies may like it short and spicy.
Be able to do both.
2. A degree is a proof of skillset, not mastery
I can admit that four years of studying psychology proved to me that I actually don’t know that much about psychology. I can psychoanalyze people, play therapy with my friends, read peer-reviewed papers, and stuff, but compared to licensed clinicians at a mental health clinic? Felt like starting on chapter 1.
This doesn’t mean that I didn’t take school seriously or learn anything. My GPA says otherwise.
But it does mean that I have sharpened my critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, oral and written communication skills,… the list goes on.
These are skills that can translate to many types of jobs.
On the theme of psychology, I can obviously take the skills from this degree to a masters program or medical school to become a psychologist/psychiatrist. Or I could work in education with my understanding of the human brain + learning, I could go into business with my understanding of the human brain + productivity or marketing, even go into law and study criminology and/or psychopathy. The possibilities are endless.
I used to mentor younger students and they never believed me when I told them you do not have to study Biology to get into medical school or English to become a writer.
Unless you earn a terminal degree, think of your degree as a toolbox to build your next reality or a checkpoint to obtain a certain job and enter certain rooms, not a stamp of mastery.
3. A degree is a HUGE accomplishment
Being a child of Cameroonian immigrants, getting a Bachelors’s degree was the minimum of the expectations people had for me. On top of having a sad excuse of an online graduation this May, graduating from undergrad didn’t feel as grand as I would’ve hoped. It kinda felt like a
“as you should”
instead of a
“you did it!”
moment.
However, having a Bachelor’s degree is actually a big deal. Despite all of the grad pictures you see down your Instagram timeline around May, folks in the U.S. with a bachelor’s degree or higher are a minority in this country. We get stuck in this mindset of comparing ourselves to other people “in our league” but we rarely take a step back and look at the bigger picture. If you finished college, this academic achievement puts you in a better place than millions of other Americans.
I also want to drop a disclaimer: having a degree does not make you better person or more worthy than anyone else. That is not the point I’m trying to get across.
Just know that 3-5 years of suffering for a piece of paper is worthy of celebration 🙂
4. A degree without community and connections is just a literally piece of paper
I don’t think my college emphasized the importance of building community, connections with peers and faculty. The people that believe in you can and want to help you, yet we learn to be so “self-made” or self-sufficient.
Or, we just call it “networking”, which can feel very disingenuous.
Yes, having people that can help you land opportunities can help propel you forward, but the people you meet and the bonds you make are the only way to truly enjoy your time there. Yes, make friends in your college dorms, student groups, and sports teams, but make friends with your professors and staff, too.
I did, and I never expected to feel so much love and support from people lightyears ahead of me in their careers. It really allowed me to feel more connected to the heart of my university.
There are so many more things I recently realized I didn’t learn in college that I could add, but I’m interested to hear what you think!
Recent college graduates, what would’ve been nice to know back in college?
– Manyi
