What I learned from not learning in college

When you make the mistake of choosing the wrong college course, does that spell out the end of the world?

Here’s the thing: I wasted my four years in college. That sounds like such a cliché, one that I thought would never happen to me. But here I am, a 25-year-old gifted with the power of hindsight, finally admitting that I could’ve learned more in college. 

My mistake was that I took the wrong course and made the even worse decision of sticking with it. The course, Information Design, had nothing wrong with it. It was a perfectly fine course that produced gifted and truly creative graduates who are making their names in their respective fields. We just didn’t belong with each other. We didn’t fit and to my discredit, I should’ve broken up with ID as soon as possible and done the whole “It’s not you, it’s me,” cliché.

I see now why I knew it was such a mistake. Back in high school, I started really taking an interest in magazines. I’d buy all sorts of titles and study them from their covers all the way to their last pages. I wasn’t an expert in any sense of the word but my curiosity for the printed page got me going. It was an interest that showed no signs of stopping and that’s about the time I considered being a writer and taking up Communications/Publishing as my course for college. I tried to prepare myself then and started taking English class seriously and offered to edit my friends’ papers and essays. I was pretty sure of what I wanted to do in college until my brother told me about this new course called Information Design. 

“Maybe you should go take up Information Design,” he said. “They have a class on comic books,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he said. Pfft!

Like Eve succumbing to the words of the snake, I listened to the silver tongue of my brother and ditched Communications and went with ID instead. 

It took less than a year for me to realize I didn’t belong. Nothing can really prepare you for finally accepting you aren’t good at something until you find out you are the worst in your course. I was ill-equipped and under-prepared. It felt like I was just learning how to count while everyone else was doing algebra. Most of my course mates already had a background in graphic design, matching years of interest with honing and developing their talents. I spent those four years trying to catch up to them as they kept churning out stunning work after stunning work. 

In the middle of yet another class project and attempt to be a visual artist/designer, I kept thinking back and looking over to that greener grass, the one filled with Comm kids frolicking around. I kept seeing them enjoying their work and always excited to talk about their latest assignment in class. At that time, I was a bit lost and disinterested in most things except for magazines. I became even more obsessed with them, particularly the local publications more than the foreign ones. I started writing again for fun and by sheer luck I got to write for a few magazines. I knew what I wanted to do and I wasn’t going to get it in ID. I needed to get out and switch to Comm as soon as possible. I studied as hard as I could that semester to make the grade needed to transfer. I spent sleepless nights and early mornings studying as much as I could to get out of my course. The semester ended and I got the grade I wanted but not the one I needed to shift. Through sheer stupidity and irony, I had studied everything I needed to except the rules for transferring courses. (Author’s note: If there’s one lesson you can take from this: know exactly how to shift courses.)

Not being able to shift that year was a letdown but it helped me realize: if I wanted to write and work in magazines then I shouldn’t wait until after graduation to do so. I continued writing either for fun or for work. I read even more magazines and books and got to know people in the publishing industry. If I couldn’t learn what I wanted to learn in college then there’s no reason I couldn’t get it elsewhere. I learned then that education should go beyond college. I can’t even imagine where I’d be if I didn’t say yes to opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten if I just stayed inside the classroom. Sometimes you have to cut class. You have to fail a quiz or two in favor of doing what you know in your heart you’re supposed to be doing. And maybe you have to go against what your teacher tells you to do and instead study things outside of your curriculum. It’s in that danger and uncertainty where you really test yourself and find out what you’re capable of. 

A couple of years removed from college and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’m the managing editor of a magazine I love more and more each month. I get to think of ideas and see them become reality on the printed page.  I get to learn from the industry’s best and experience things I never thought I would. I’ve grown so much from this job both professionally and personally that people back in college almost don’t recognize the old, insecure me. Sure, there are still things I need to improve upon, things I could’ve learned sooner if I had just picked the right course, but overall I’ve been able to hold my own because my love for what I do keeps me going. This is the best job I could’ve ever hoped for and I’ll always consider being a magazine editor a gift and a responsibility. 

I look now at some of my friends who took courses based on what their parents told them to get who have ended up being lost in their jobs and switching from one company to another. They were forced into a situation that’s now squeezing them dry. On the other side of the spectrum, I also see my peers doing more than I ever could. They’re the ones who knew what they wanted and chose the right course for themselves. They were able to hone their skills in college and are leading the next generation of publishing stalwarts. Even at such a young age, they inspire me the same way my older mentors do.

Your college course shouldn’t define what you’re meant to be doing. If you know in your heart what you’re good at and what you love then you have every reason to pursue it. They say college prepares you for the real world and sometimes that means letting you realize what you are and aren’t meant for. Find what your calling is, however easy or hard that may be, and once you know what it is, do everything you can to get it. College, society, and even your parents shouldn’t force you to be anything other than what you are supposed to be.