For generations, college has been viewed as the bridge between graduating childhood and stepping into the realm of adulthood. It is imagined to be this in-between space, where teenagers escape the confinements of their home and begin to develop into true adults alongside their peers as they prepare themselves to enter society. Families emphasize college and the education that their kids receive, making it their priority to push them to the best of their abilities to land them at an elite, reputable college.
However, as tuition prices continue to increase, and as the job market becomes more competitive and as the introduction of artificial intelligence and technological advancements hinder jobs, the traditional college story feels less grounded. Students end up graduating just to find themselves back under the roof of their parents, in the very space they worked through high school to leave. From this, students begin to question whether college is actually a stepping stone into their adulthood or if it is serving as a waiting room for the unpredictable future ahead of them.
Even at UCLA, a highly-rated public university in the United States, there are times where students have mixed feelings about their own futures and if college is truly beneficial for them.
Second-year studio arts student Suah Oh said, “I don’t think attending college can always be seen as the pathway to becoming an adult. It doesn’t guarantee maturity, but it gives you the opportunity to grow and figure out what you want to do.” Oh explains that her college experience has been eye-opening in terms of learning more about her passions but it still leaves a space of uncertainty about what she hopes to pursue career-wise as an adult.
Another student, Brian Son, a second-year music industry student, stated, “College serves to be a more social environment for me and I like to think of it as a place to meet people and figure out what I want to do. Even so, I am still not fully set on my career choice and I feel like that feeling of uncertainty will always remain. I feel like certain majors have the uncertainty feel more daunting than others.”
When asked if their college journey feels fulfilling, Oh and Son noted that college provides them with the opportunities to meet new people, build connections and learn more about themselves, compared to their teen years where they felt confined to a tight-knit group of friends. The question is no longer whether or not college is a stepping stone to adulthood, but what kind of stepping stone it is labelled to be. Even though college continues to be generalized as the transitional space where young teens enter and mature, the economic and social environment that surrounds us has changed, leaving some students with unclear thoughts on the purpose of their college experience.
Bruins continue to wander in this ambiguity of college, navigating through the tension between childhood and adulthood in their day-to-day life. Students’ college journeys show how attending college may not necessarily guarantee adulthood stability in its traditional value, but it is still seen as a crucial experience for young individuals to sift through their interests and determine what they are truly passionate about.
