Some students know they will enroll in graduate school even before they enter college. This may be because individuals wish to enter certain fields that require a graduate school education or because they have an academic interest that they wish to pursue beyond college. In any case, grad school is more important than college in many instances, and individuals may wish to lower their undergraduate student debt to prepare for borrowing for graduate school.
In my experience, grad school is more important than college in many ways since individuals are generally older and more mature when they apply for and attend graduate school. In many ways, college admission is reflective of how someone acted when they were a teenager. Indeed, colleges usually make admission decisions based on the academic performance and extra-curricular activities of people in high school. Few people probably wish to be assessed on who they were in their teenage years because this is a time during which individuals are still exploring themselves and do not know much about the real world.
However, graduate school admissions is often based on the experiences of individuals later in their lives. Indeed, graduate school admission usually depends on how a student performs in college and the activities they are involved with in their 20s. This is a period of your life when you are more mature and have a better sense of your mettle.
Employers also understand how grad school is more important than college since this is where you receive more professional training. When people are in college, they usually do not study professional subjects. Many students rather study liberal arts fields like history, politics, and other matters. Such classes can be important to learn skills like processing information, writing, and other abilities that are important in a number of professions.
Grad school is more important than college in that students usually learn skills that are more connected to their profession. Of course, some professional schools like law school do not teach students the practical information they will need in the practice of law. Such schools may teach students some of the skills that may be helpful in the profession without teaching specific practical information. Nevertheless, such schools may have a bigger impact on shaping a future professional and employers may respect where you went to grad school more than college.
Since grad school is more important than college, it might make sense to attend a lower-cost university to pursue undergraduate studies. Students can approach this in a few ways. For instance, students can attend state schools that have lower tuition costs as a college student. This is especially true if the student is a resident of the state in which the school is located because state schools typically offer in-state tuition discounts for students who reside in the same state as the school.
Moreover, since grad school is more important than college, students may accept scholarships to attend lower-ranked colleges to hold off on borrowing. Schools offer scholarships for a variety of reasons, including academic merit, athletic abilities, and other grounds. Sometimes, students forego scholarships in order to attend the best school that admit them. Nevertheless, accepting such money may be important to set yourself up financially if you wish to attend graduate school.
I was able to minimize the amount of student debt I borrowed to attend college and this empowered me to borrow money to finance my graduate school aspirations. As discussed in several prior articles, I received generous need-based financial aid and other awards in order to finance my college education. As a result, I graduated college after four years with a B.A. and M.A. degrees for around $20,000, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the boatload of money I needed to borrow to attend law school.
Of course, you should only operate under the assumption that grad school is more important than college if you are absolutely sure that you will attend graduate school after completing college. If you make decisions about where to attend college based on your graduate school aspirations, and then you do not attend graduate school, you may be at a disadvantage later on in your career. People who do not attend graduate school can only show their undergraduate record to potential employers and as a result, the caliber of the college they attend in such situations is important.
As many people can attest to from firsthand experience, it is difficult for high school students to make predictions about their academic and vocational pursuits. Students are encouraged to explore their interests, and their aspirations and academic pursuits may differ over the course of their college career. Indeed, I originally intended to be a teacher and I took education courses in college before focusing more on history and politics classes in anticipation for applying to law school. Nevertheless, some people have deep-seated professional aspirations, and if you absolutely know you will enter certain fields, you may wish to save money on college since graduate school is more important than college.
All told, students need to consider their total student debt load when making decisions, and this not only includes the amount of debt they need to borrow, but loans that are needed to pay for graduate school as well. And if you know that you will enter certain fields, you may pick cheaper colleges in order to be in a better position to finance a graduate school education.