12 Things A College Educated Person Should Know and Value

As college campuses continue to graduate and place more diverse individuals into the workforce, chances are you'll need to know how to effectively work with individuals different from yourself. Keeping an open mind and heart to other cultures makes logical (and humane) sense.

Whether you're making it rain every weekend or living that Ramen life, managing your finances is a life skill every college graduate should possess. Add on the reality of student loans, and it becomes even more of a necessity. Your institution offers personal finance resources? Take full advantage while they're readily available. Have a financial aid counselor break down those student loans and what they mean. Attend campus finance workshops and seminars. Whatever you can to get and stay ahead.

*P.S. Becoming more literate in financial matters will go smoother if you have a handle on foundational math operations. A digital calculator or Excel sheet can help, but you don't want to leave the fate of your money solely in the hands of technology.

Once you ascend to graduate school or the workforce, gone are the days of memorizing information and regurgitating it onto a final exam. The ability to take in information, process what you're learning, and rendering logical and rational judgments become paramount. Absorbing and analyzing information deeper than the surface helps to develop transferable skills, making you more marketable to a variety of positions.

If you spent most of your undergraduate career trying your hardest not to interact with other people, you're in for a rude awakening. Aside from the ever-popular independent research of penguins in Antarctica, learning to interact and work with others is a life skill you'll need to be successful in any field. Unfortunately, not every colleague or coworker will mirror your working style or personality, so knowing how to maneuver these relationships is key. Don't care too much for Dan's working style? Tough. The show must go on.

Speaking of interpersonal skills, having the ability to effectively and efficiently exchange thoughts and information through oral and written communication is a basic expectation of almost every graduate program and career. This skill connects us to others within our professional endeavors, and if you severely lack in this department, you may find yourself sitting on the sidelines instead of playing in the game.

As you approach others with humility and learn to work through your differences, you'll be exposed to worldviews and perspectives you may have never considered. Realities such as institutionalized racism, poverty, sexism, and other normalized atrocities can be found at every turn within our society. Use your college education (a privilege in its own right) to improve upon the life experiences of others.

This value is not to give the impression you need to be president or CEO of every job, social organization, or activity in which you're involved. "Leaders" are those who take initiative in a given situation/environment and make the conscious effort to rise above their current level of personal expectations. New challenges that improve the status quo are created by forward thinkers and doers, whether you're apart of a team or venturing out on your own.

It's almost a given a college graduate will be exposed to technology at its fundamental level (i.e. how to send an e-mail, how to open and type in a word document, how to use an internet search engine, etc). Graduate programs and employers don't have the time nor patience to bring you up to speed on these matters, so college is the perfect time learn these skills through information gathering and practice. Technology will continue to be a driving force in our world, and you either hop aboard or get left behind.

"Taking time to take care of you." This is a conversation receiving more attention in higher education and our society, and with good reason. The college experience is stressful in its own right, and learning how to manage these situations and use coping mechanisms (i.e. meditation, reading, exercise) will aid you in your journey post-graduation. Stress can be a good thing, as it forces you to elevate your thinking and develop new strategies to meet new challenges. However, biting off more than you can chew and mismanaging stress can have a negative impact on your personal health and relationships with others.

Learning isn't limited to a classroom setting. Some of the most brilliant, creative, and influential minds in history and present-day had a limited "traditional" educational background. The key is to intentionally place yourself into environments that shake up your intellectual and social foundations and present the world in a way you've never experienced. This could be enrolling into a doctoral program at Harvard, or learning about the lived experience of Hurricane Katrina directly from New Orleans residents. Learning is relative, not restrained.

This personal value may be the most difficult to develop and maintain, simply because our society moves in high gear and expects you to do the same. You have to land your perfect job NOW, you have buy a home NOW, you have to develop the next big idea TODAY. But as European History teaches us, Rome wasn't built in a day. Some things take time to develop, and you must be comfortable with taking each day as they come and working within the moment.

While your family/support system love and care for you deeply, things such as washing your clothes and cooking your meals are life skills you should work to develop during your college years. Unfortunately, post-college life does not come with a dining hall, laundry services, resident advisors, financial (aid) counselors, or career advisors to help you navigate life. Take advantage of the exploratory nature of college and develop these skills before real life smacks you in the face.