👩🏾🏫 College 🎒
….Options Other Than College...
From a College Grad(TWICE😣)
Hold the phone….chillll bruh…..I hear you already!!! don’t come for me just yet!! NOW I am not saying DON’T GO TO COLLEGE…what I AM saying is that college is NOT for everyone and there are other options!!! Girl shut yo mouth!!!
**Disclaimer I am not a professional educational statistics analyst lol
I am simply giving you my OPINIONS** ok carry on
Now, where was I….🤓..Oh yea that’s right!!! Other options…. OK, I have TWO 📜whole degrees. A B.S. in Business Administration and Technology and a WHOLE MBA in Management and Business Development 📜! And guess what!!! The job I am currently in…. 🗣 I AIN’T EVEN USING NAAN ONE OF UM!!! 🤬 Don’t get me wrong education is something that no one can take from you and knowledge truly is power! The more you know the more you are able to do! However, what I am saying is if you are not absolutely clear on what you want to do, then get some life experience first, if you can. Travel, Try Community College, Volunteer, Pick up a Trade, Work a few odd jobs, etc. Try to find what you love to do!
If you are unsure whether or not you want to go to college, PLEASE talk to some people to learn what college is like and what potential job fields are out there do your own research, figure out if what you want to do requires you to even go! Can you work your way up without it? Can you get a certification instead? Do you REALLY need a four year degree?
NOW your next question is probably “well Jazz if you HATE the idea of college so much why did you go?….TWICE” ...First off slow ya roll...I NEVER said I HATED it, but, let me tell you what happened. It all started when I graduated from high school (Que flashback music). I knew that since I couldn’t stay home, or take a “gap year” (which, by the way was something I didn’t even think about), I knew I had to do something and college was that something…NO QUESTIONS ASKED…So that’s what I did! I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I liked, I didn’t even have any idea what major I wanted or what I would do with it! So, I pretty much winged it. DON’T BE LIKE ME!!
I started with Computer Information Systems because I LOVED, and still do love hardware, SOFTWARE is the SPAWN of SATAN’s babymamma and the GRIMLINS TOO, so CIS was my first stop!! However, that quickly faded into the background and changed because my university did not separate CIS from CS-Computer Science 🤮 and therefore I wound up taking a bunch of programing classes which made me want to claw my eyeballs out! So I switched!!
Then I said to myself "you like business, you like money, so why not try a major in business!!" My Peeps…. Let me tell you when I did this, I STRUCK GOLD!!! I LOVED every minute of it! I learned so much, I had fun, I even enjoyed the ever so daunting….dare I say it…..EXTRAAA CREDITTT. I felt like I had found my calling and I just KNEW this was for me and I could spend my life doing this!!
Fast forward 3 1/2 years later to GRADUATIONNNNNNNNNNNN🎓🎓…..YA GIRL DID IT!!!! I graduated and was ready to take on the world with my new fangled degree and whole buncha knowledge!!!……..
* SMACK,💥SLAM,💥 BLAM,💥 KABAM💥
the job market fails, not enough experience, no job openings, not willing to pay what I want….OK JAZZ take what you can get, and I had to start somewhere. so I DID. After I had been working in retail for this company for 3 years… now keep in mind I had about 7 years of experience prior to this!!!! And they didn't want to promote me because I didn’t have enough experience AFTER 3 YEARS….. yadie yadie yah!!! Anywho long story short… I have gone through FOUR jobs, ONE firing, TWO promotions, and now a BLOG and I am ❌STILL NOT USING MY DEGREESSSSSSSS.❌ I wish I would have had better guidance and I would have known what it meant to go to college!! I wish I had taken that “gap year” to find myself or at least get on the road to because NOW, ya girl is regretting not doing it!!
Knowledge can change the world!
“Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela
This is not to bash a college education because like I said, it is a great thing!! I just want y'all to know there are other options out there besides college! INTERNING! Did I say TRAVELING! ENTREPRENEURSHIP!!!->💸Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Bill Gates💸< MILITARY!! -Figuring it all out!! WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOUUUUUU!!!!!!
Now I know some of yall are like " But Jazz don't you got a Master's degree?", SURE DO!! how did that happen you ask????…chilleeeeeee it happened because I thought I wasn't "educated " enough to land THAT job and thought that if I went and started an MBA I could maybe find out what I am meant to do and how all of this life stuff is supposed to play out! and because I was bored...chiillleee, that was the most expensive thing I ever purchased because I was "bored"..... NOW I bet you're wondering “Well, Do you regret it?” and THE ANSWER IS, I regret not knowing what I was doing, I regret not having enough guidance or seeking out that guidance. I regret not doing the research on the employability rate of the degrees in which I chose, but, do I regret going to college, graduating from college, getting two college degrees, an education, and making a conventional attempt to better myself? HELL to the NO! I just wish I knew then what I know now….BUT don't we all…. I digress!!!
So, before you run off and say "Jazz told me not to go to college", slow ya roll big dog, pump the brakes and put that thang in park!!!! Jazz did not say DON’T go to college, what Jazz said was think twice! Make sure it’s right for you and YOUR dreams!!...NOT your parents dreams!!! BUT YOURS!!! Make sure you understand what you are doing! Make sure YOU do your RESEARCH and you know that you can’t just go in blindly and hope for the best! This is your future my loves, put the effort in to make it RIGHT!!!
Now that all the heavy stuff is over let me drop some fun on ya!!! MANNNNNNNNNNN VSU was THE BEST THING that EVER happened to ya girl! I met some AH-MAZING people! I had some BOMB AHHHHHH FUNNNNN!!! I learned what it meant to party all night and go to class the next day half sleep!!! I learned what it was like to be responsible for myself! I learned the struggle of eating ramen on a DAILY!!! I also learned that NOTHING in this world could have prepared me for the stress, the sleepless nights, the class load, the clubs!….😋THE BOYS 😋 and the loadddsssss of fun, memories, relationships,connections, and life long allies I would have!!
Your freshman year is a once in a lifetime experience and if I am being honest, your college experience is a once in a lifetime experience!! If you decide that college is the way to go for you, ENJOY it! Participate! Hang out, have fun, annnd 👏GO👏TO 👏 CLASS!!!
One mo’ time for the people in the back!!!
👏GO👏TO 👏 CLASS👏!!!
On the flip side if you decide college is NOT for you!! DO what’s best for you! Do what you feel is going to bring the most fulfillment to your life and help you find your purpose. Do not let anyone try and pressure you into doing what they wish they would have. Vicariously living through you, NOT THE MOVE OhKAYYYYYY!!!!!! Live your own life and have enough confidence to say that you will do it!!!
As always, thank you ALL for allowing me to share my passions with you and I hope that my blog inspires you to go after what you want and believe in yourself in every aspect, because I believe in you! Now strike your POWER POSE 🕺💃- We got this, NOW LET’S GET TO IT!!!
Spark interest.
“Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.” —Robert M. Hutchins
Keep Shining Loves
-💕 Jazz
