Here is my story.
I hated college life for the most part. The education given to me by college did not justify the price. Every year, I would always list the number of times students were being ripped off by the college faculty such as the cost of books and room and board. The lectures were boring and it wasn't teaching me practical skills. I felt lost and confused and dropped out in 2018. For a couple of years, I worked some jobs in retail paying $15-17/hr. It was nice to put on my resume but I still wasn't learning valuable skills that could justify a salary increase. In 2021, I stumbled upon a digital art studio and fell in love with the atmosphere. My skills in photoshop were very lackluster but I met a mentor who would push my skills to a higher level. It was a Chinese guy and he offered to teach me. I am an African American male and the place was filled with Asians. I didn't care because this guy wanted to make me a karate kid in concept art. Fast forward to today, my experience so far in the mentorship program helped me find purpose in life. Our goal is to apply for jobs in 1 year of rigorous study. I learned Anatomy and photoshop, next month I will be doing character design and environment design. Sometime in the future, I may even pick up Zbrush (3d sculpting) as a soft skill. It is so fun, definitely can do concept art for the rest of my life. My mentor doesn't even have a degree so he can relate to my needs. He tell me how students who go to college return lost and confused because their skills are not industry-ready. He told me college grads suck at concept art…like 8 times, lol damn. I truly believe college is America's most overhyped product. Definitely, the degree is not worth it for many people and yet they have buyers remorse to convince themselves it was a good decision. If you spent 4 years doing something, it should at least qualify as work experience because you are supposedly getting trained for your field of work. Apparently, that is not the case, and we need to promote other opportunities to prepare students for the real world. Currently, I am 25 years old and very optimistic for the future. For the first time in my life, I am confident in my own education. Student debt owe: $15k