In April of 2016, I graduated from college. I listened to cheesey commencement speeches, walked across a beautifully adorned stage, shook the hands of the esteemed faculty of my school, received a paper with my name on it in fancy script, and ate a sinful amount of catered food at a reception in our school’s lobby.

It was a wonderful day that I remember with fondness and worked extremely hard to reach. However, when I tell with pride the gleaming story my graduating from college, I am often met with,

“...But not like… real college.. Right?”

This is the struggle of attending a two-year college.

I thought it was over when I convinced my high school guidance counselor to send my transcripts and give me a pass on my absence for the day of my campus visit. I was always a great student. I received shining grades, rarely missed a day of school, and stayed after classes every day for a myriad of extracurriculars. With this record, most people that knew me couldn’t believe it when I decided that I wanted to take the “easy” path to a degree by only attending two years of “fake” college.

Here’s the thing… my education was just as challenging as that of a public university. I just realized in my college search, that I didn’t need to take a lot of extra elective classes that would buffer the time until I could go out and begin my career.

When I committed to attending an acting conservatory, many people voiced their concern.

“How can you do that without any back-up plan?”

“You really aren’t going to minor in anything??”

“What if you change your mind???”

In hindsight, I really couldn’t see myself getting through it any other way, than by convincing myself that it was the only way.

There is nothing wrong with the course-load of a more typical college. I mean, if all those Gen-Eds you are forced to pay for are really going to forward you on your path... And there is nothing wrong with attending a school so that you can choose a minor study for a back-up plan, or even double major. I just have to say that in my situation, I think a two-year school was the best choice, and I think most of my graduating class would agree.

Every day, we all walked into our small school, greeted our class of 14-16 students, and attended numerous classes that were all geared toward performing. We took Movement, Voice and Speech, Dancing, Stage Combat, Dialects, and other things of that sort. Basically, all of the classes I would’ve taken anywhere else pertaining to my major were crammed into two years rather than spread over four with all the extra stuff in between.

I never had to worry about my grades in any other Gen-Ed type classes. Which was great, because I knew I wouldn’t have been fully invested in them if I had to take them anyway. Everyone in my school was always supporting and helping each other, or simply relating and commiserating because we were all doing the exact same thing. And everyone got the individual attention that they needed and deserved because our classes were so small and our teachers were so passionate.

It was pretty much exactly how I would’ve curated my high school experience if I was the one in charge back then. Because really, in high school I skated through every class that didn’t matter to me and counted the minutes every day until I could paint in art class, play tuba in the band, or rehearse for the school musical. And since then, I have not once required the necessary skills to graph a single parabola.

I don’t mean to put down university programs or those who decide to take part in them. They are also completely valid and no education is bad education. If you are learning and growing in any way, what you are doing is, without argument, worthwhile.

Personally, I just don’t understand why my friend, a music education major, really needed to take advanced calculus or geology. All these required courses seem especially silly to me when considering the cost of tuition, fees, and books for every individual class.

That might be one of the best parts of attending a two-year school, I only paid half as much tuition as one might pay for a Bachelor’s Degree. It feels pretty good to be able to go out into the working world with a little less debt on my back.

Vocational studies truly do not get enough credit. I am so glad that I found a school that would allow me to focus my time and efforts completely on exactly what I wanted to do. If someone goes into conservatory training, trade school, or any type of vocational study, it does not mean they are lazy. It means they know, without a doubt, what they want to do and want to fully commit to that. From what I hear, a vast amount of college students often skip class, sleep through class, or somehow cheat the system in order to barely get by in subjects that they will completely forget as soon as the test is over anyway. Just search “tips on how to survive college” and you will know what I mean.

If I was in charge, I would find a way to create the type of training I went through as an option for every feasible subject of study out there.