The Disadvantages of a Full Time College Experience

Giving anything your undivided attention in this day and age is a challenging task. We live in a world so full of constant stimuli, action, and momentum, the days of doing one thing and one thing only are almost completely eradicated. The same is true for a college education - it's becoming less and less common for individuals to focus on academics alone. And in many ways, this is a good thing; devoting yourself exclusively to a college education can in some ways be rewarding, but there are undeniable disadvantages.

At the heart of the mater is the simple fact that the competitive landscape has never been so congested. Many of the individuals vying for your dream jobs are just as educated and intelligent. For those people who focus solely on an undergraduate or graduate degree, avoiding the workplace until the degree is achieved, you're missing a competitive advantage. It's a simple fact that the sooner you enter the workforce, the faster you can climb the ladder. Longevity is an absolutely critical factor on anyone's resume, and it may not bode particularly well to potential employers if your resume starts after your college education is completed.

Furthermore, no matter how much a college campus attempts to mirror the experience of the so-called "real world," it's absolutely just not the same. By denying yourself the chance to even pursue a part time career while focusing on college, you're creating an even larger learning curve to conquer once you're free of academia. It's a simple fact that there are so many life-skills a university isn't able to teach you. Such traits must be learned first hand, through experience, and those that live on a college campus, isolated from the ebb and flow of the world outside of academia, rarely have the chance to truly integrate until after the degrees are achieved.

Finally, it's also a fact that many college students shift gears and change their majors multiple times during their educational career. If you're pursuing a full time medical degree, for example, and decide to shift to something more artistic like a writing career, you'll have a lot of ground to make up, and our university tenure will expand. A part time student has a tad more flexibility for change, since they're moving at a slower pace. Anything you devote all of your time to becomes an all-consuming prospect; unless it's truly an endeavor that you love more than any other aspect of your existence, a full time focus isn't as much of a problem. But for the rest of us that crave variety and diversity, studying full-time can lead to an inevitable burn out.

While it's true that a full time student can certainly make their way through an academic landscape faster than the part time student, there are many disadvantageous to focusing all of your time and efforts on our educational career. Delaying your entrance into the workplace can be hugely detrimental in the long run, and denying yourself the chance to integrate into the real world of working individuals can also hold you back. The ideal life is often a balanced one; maintaining some type of employment, education, and personal life is usually the ultimate key to success and happiness.

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