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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Student Loan Debt and Unfulfilled Expectations: What my College Degree Brought Me

I confess to going to college under a false pretense. I thought that earning my degree from a great college such as Gettysburg would easily translate into a nice job after graduation. That's why people went to college after all, so they can land a sweet, nicely paying job afterwards. What I've learned is that the reality of it all is that a college degree alone doesn't mean shit. So many people have BA's and internships and experience far outweight your school's reputation barring Ivy league degrees and graduate school admission.

High SAT scores, reputable grades and coursework, a bounty of extracirrulars and here I am. Almost eight years after high school. Still living in the room I slept in when I was six. Going enjoyment check to enjoyment check. A shit ton of student loan debt and nightly nightmares where I can't seem to graduate from college. It's a mother fucking jungle out there and homeboy has a resume that demonstrates lack of loyalty to his employer, a couple of disorderly conduct charges, and a google search which could easily raise red sirens...(up all night and bipolar disorder come up in high volume). 95% of the jobs I apply to do not land in interviews and usually don't even warrant a response. When I do get a response it's usually some tritely worded paragraph or two that essentially says no thanks but has to drag on about the highly competitive applicant pool and other nonsense that makes want to chokeslam a stranger. I've had to develop very thick skin as an evolutionary measure but the blows to my ego that stem from not evening getting an interview for the Baltimore City Teaching Residency, hearing from a professional screenwriter that his agent wouldn't even bother to finish my Up All Night script which is fucking hilarious, original, well-crafted, and absolute money, still feel sting very much.

The game has changed. We're still in the 2nd great depression. Your college degree will not make you stand out. The pragmatist in me knows that extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and, trust me, I'm trying various avenues from recruiting angel invesors to make my dream of making a truly marvelous Ocean City film to applying to every teaching residency program I can. But the realist in me is very aware of the last three years and the fact that most people do not have the foresight to recognize how much creativity, innovation, and intagibility I would bring to any occupation. I have to blaze my own path. That is certain. My college degree and life experience have born many jewels but an easy pass to a decent job is definitely not one of them.