2899, Like a license to drive... Posted by Nettrice, Fri Nov-14-03 07:43 PM
That's what my mentor told me when I was 16. I likened it to getting a free pass into the playground because I was determined to get a merit scholarship...full tuition scholarship because my parents announced that they would not support me at all if I went to college, so I busted my ass to keep my grades up and create a competitive (art and computer graphics) portfolio. I schlepped to every local portfolio day and my teacher took me to colleges in three different states.
It was important for me to get my ticket to ride or fly and college was the choice I took and I never regretted living on my own, hundreds of miles away from home and subsisting on scholarships and loans. It was an investment in myself and I had to cut loose from my parents who were still trying to claim me on their tax forms.
So where did this get me? Well, I feel like I have real credentials and by the time I was 30 I was teaching my own college classes (recent adjunct faculty). People seek me out not only because of the degrees but the knowlege I've gained. Employers use the degree, as well as experience, as the prerequisites to positions with upward mobility. Of course, I could have sought success as an artist without college but that was much riskier.
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