Growing up, most of us were encouraged to walk a similar path. Starting in elementary school, we are conditioned to think that college is the best option after high school. When we get to high school, most of the focus is on getting us into college, and not just any college but, the college of our choice! No one ever really talks about waiting to go to college.

We hear about the gap year, but are told that people who take a gap year are less likely to actually end up attending college in the future. We are discouraged to first get a job and pay for college later, and instead told to take out student loans. We are discouraged from community college and pushed towards big prestigious universities. We are told by our teachers, counselors, and in a lot of cases our parents to begin college immediately after high school. So that's what I did.

Honestly, I felt that I had to. I had been taught to think that if I didn't attend college immediately, I was setting myself up for failure. I was scared of the consequences if I were to walk the path less traveled. The problem with pushing students into college is that not all of us are ready, even if we think we are. High school is a wonderful place where you can take classes for free, get books for free, and learn about yourself. You get to explore extracurriculars and electives, and learn about what you like, what you're good at, and who you are.

College is different. College is the real world where you better have everything figured out or you're going to be wasting time and money. That's what no one tells you. No one tells you that you better know exactly what you want to major in before going to college or it will take you forever to graduate. Here I am as a junior and I'm just now somewhat figuring out what I want to do. I've changed my major three times and my school once since I began my college journey, because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I'm in 100 level classes when I should be preparing to graduate next year. I've also changed deeply as a person which has greatly affected what I want to do with my life.

If I had waited until I was ready for college, I most likely wouldn't be in this mess. I'd have most likely gained a better understanding of myself and what I was passionate about. If I had waited to go to college, I wouldn't have had to deal with the stress of transferring because I started at a school that wasn't a good fit for me. If I had waited to go to college, I might've been able to graduate in four years instead of the five and a half it will likely take me.

Here's the reality of it: if I had waited, I still would have ended up in college. In fact, I would've gone to college feeling better prepared and more confident about my academic choices. If someone wants to do something, they'll end up doing it -- even if it's one, or two, or five years later than they had originally intended.

There's nothing wrong with waiting to get a higher education until you're ready and have a better idea of what you want to study. There's nothing wrong with getting a job first and saving up to attend school later; you'll likely be happier down the road when you don't have a pile of loans to pay back. There's also nothing wrong with starting at a community college. In high school, we're told that we should go to a four-year university if we want to be successful. But you can be just as successful starting at a local junior college. If you truly want to be successful, you should do what is right for you as an individual.

Not all of us are the same, and that means not all of us should have the same higher education experience. Students should be taught to do what is right for them, rather than being pushed into an education mold that doesn't work for everyone. If it worked for everyone, we wouldn't have so many students taking extra time to graduate. If it truly worked, we wouldn't have so many students in horrible debt. The college mold didn't exactly work for me and if I could go back and do it again, I would've waited to go to college.