Main content
College admissions
Course: College admissions > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Importance of college- The college experience
- Student story: College increases confidence
- Student story: College expands opportunities
- Student story: College offers exposure to diversity
- Student story: College brings new friends, learning, and freedom
- Financial costs and benefits of college
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
The college experience
Want to join the conversation?
- I really want to go to MIT but am afraid I won't get in. What should I do?(9 votes)
- You should not be discouraged by the fact that MIT is a world-class university. Rather you should choose what you want to major in MIT and start researching for what they require and they are looking for. I guess it is best to go beyond the requirements since that is the minimum standard that everyone who is applying for it has passed. Also don't focus on academics only but make sure to do extracurricular activities too, for sometimes they will pick students with significant leadership activities or extracurricular activities over someone with high academics. As for me I am trying to get into UPenn in dentistry major and I guess all we can do is have confidence and do your absolute best!(18 votes)
- What are the pros and cons of going to a community college, a private university, a for-profit school, or even not going to college?(7 votes)
- Pros Community
1. Less expensive in California if you are a resident.
2. Gives you time to decide on your major or best college to go to for your degree(7 votes)
- well im applying to college too but im scared i might not be accepted with a scholarship although my friends and teachers say i can do it. I am just feeling terrified. What to do?(3 votes)
- Apply and see what happens. Your sense of fear is just that. What will happen will happen, but if you don't apply you are guaranteed to fail. If your name is not in the hat, you certainly won't get it picked out of the hat. Life has no guarantees, but people need people to do amazing things. If you have a desire to make the world a better place, someone will want you to work for them or on their problem. There is a shortage of hard working focused people in this world. Your GPA and other credentials are just an indicators, they matter less in the real world then you might think. Don't ignore them, but just know that the difference between someone with a 4.0 and a 3.4 is not very great in the eyes of a college professor, researcher, or employer. Do your best with the application, but send it off with confidence. Spread the net wide and do at least three schools, but if you have time I would do about seven (I did six). I hope it goes well with you.(10 votes)
- It is almost time for me to start applying to colleges but I am still trying to decide between two fields which I am interested in pursuing during college. Is there any way for me to apply for scholarships without having decided on what I want to do yet?(5 votes)
- I have really big problem right now with choosing my future career; can some give any idea how to choose your future career or something that will help me to understand where i have to go ?(4 votes)
- In order to go to college, what should I do?(3 votes)
- To get into college just make sure you have a fair GPA (unless if you are going to apply to selective schools aim for a high GPA) and your standardized test scores for the ACT and/or SAT have to be good. If you need help with SAT, Khan Academy have a lot of free practice with that. More importantly, you want to have a stellar Common App entrance essay and have good letters of teacher reccomendations. If all of the things I mentioned are good, then you will have no problem getting into a 4-year college! Best of luck!(4 votes)
- Going to college seems stressful.... Any tips??(3 votes)
- Instead students enjoy going to colleges more than they enjoy going to school as they get more liberty, more exposure, get to meet new friends and thus their knowledge and horizon expands.(4 votes)
- This is sort of an out of the topic question, but I am in the middle of 8th grade and want to apply for scholarships. Are there places where I can apply for it no matter where I live in the US without certain verifications if that makes sense?(3 votes)
- i would start with a hobby and make that what you what to get a scholarship with.
and wait until freshman year to start looking for scholarships.(3 votes)
- I want to go to college but I don't have a set- in stone idea of what I want to do as a career. I stuck between doing a career that I have been thinking about ever since middle school and career that I have just have started thinking about pursuing. Which career should I pursue? The middle school one or the present one?(3 votes)
- "career tracking" while still in high school may be advised if you are REALLY clear (like, I want to be an engineer because that's the family business, or I want to be a doctor, lawyer or member of the clergy, etc.). But there is so much out there that you should explore widely. That's what the first two years of college are about. Or maybe, just maybe, spend a few years in the Army first. That'll help you mature and focus.(2 votes)
- for getting admission in a good college you need achieve good grades from high school.
Am I right?(2 votes)- To my knowledge, while good grades certainly help, being involved with groups like Student Government, NHS, etc. Having work experience, and getting involved with AP courses are just some of the things colleges consider.(2 votes)
Video transcript
- In college there is so much freedom in terms of time, scheduling. - You're not only choosing
your own schedule, but you're choosing what
classes you want to take, what classes you don't want to take. - Around the time of freshman orientation we were given these booklets
with hundreds of courses that you could take from
dozens of different departments and programs and I thought
it would be a good idea to just grab a highlighter and
go through every single page and mark up every class that
sounded remotely interesting and at the end of this, when
I got to the end of the book, I probably had about
60 courses highlighted. Concepts of the cosmos,
sociology of the school, race in American, U.S. education. - The cool thing about college is that any given point, in any given day, you're going to run into
a really amazing person who's going to blow your
mind about something that you haven't thought about. - The support system is amazing. All the kids here are so passionate and they're so into their learning. I think that's what I find
different than high school. I'm not the one that's pushing and pushing and everybody else is just satisfied with doing what they need to graduate. - The students actually want to be there. That's a big difference
than high school to college. Everybody is really friendly. There's not as much cliques. Everybody is just cool,
nice, you can talk to anyone. That's the best thing about college. - Just being exposed to
new ideas, new people, new cultures. It's completely mind changing. - I work three jobs. I work at the admissions office, I work for my cultural center, and I work at my residential college. I studied abroad twice. Once in Madrid and once in London and I've had two internships, one in Minneapolis and one in Alaska, and over the course of
all these experiences there have been several instances where I'm just like I cannot
believe how radically different my life is now than it was before. - Because it's fun to look at Shakespeare when you're actually in London or it's fun to be able to dream something and then work for it
and then see it happen. - I cannot believe,
everyday I am so surprised by how much I have grown
since I was in high school. When I was in high school and
I was looking at colleges, I had no idea how I was going to fare. I didn't know how I was going to succeed. It seemed like this big thing so far away that everyone else was
in on except for me. I really found myself and I know who I am and I'm just so excited by continuing this intellectual journey. It's just something that's
very exciting to me. - Basically, it has allowed
me to dream much bigger, and not only dream much bigger, but also realize that those dreams are very possible as well.