I proudly graduated high school and made my way to college back in 1988. I was driven to get a college degree, but it wasn’t my priority at the time. Wrestling was.
Wrestling enabled me to not only go to college but to graduate with a degree. But because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, I didn’t get the degree I truly wanted. My degree in geography/education was great, but I didn’t really want to be a teacher. At the time, my focus was on winning the Olympics. I received good grades, but now, I realize that if my mind hadn’t been so focused on wrestling, I could have easily gotten straight As.
Maybe if I had gone to college just 4 years later than I did, I would have earned straight As and gone on to become a doctor or lawyer. Maturity plays a part in knowing what you want to do in your life and how well you do in school.
My advice to young people who are planning to go to college would be to wait. Get a job first. See the world. Or even serve your country for 2-4 years. Mature a little. There might be other life commitments to consider, such as getting married and/or having children. Or maybe you have a job flipping burgers that leads to a management position you feel like you should take. Or you have served our country in the military and decide you want to continue. These are all commendable things, but here’s my suggestion. Make an agreement with yourself that you will get a job after high school and see a little bit of the world and meet people. Then after a few years, apply to college. I can almost guarantee that you will get much, much better grades. And you will have a clearer mind about what you want to become. Because the last thing you want to do is settle.
If you can’t afford college and can’t get a scholarship, or don’t have the grades that will get you into college in the first place, consider going to a trade school. But above all, strive to do something you truly want to do with your life. These are just suggestions, but I promise you that you won’t regret it. Oh, it’s true!
