‘It’s your last first day! Aren’t you excited?’

The familiar voices of family and friends asking this question repeatedly on the first day of classes of my senior year of college still echo in my head.àAm I excited to be graduating? Absolutely.

The thrill of it all is immeasurable. I will finally be considered an adult.√†People will take me seriously. I’ll have a degree and I’ll finally be able to escape this educational system I’ve been a part of since I was four. I was growing more and more excited each minute until reality set in ‘ I still have three more years to go.

My dream of being free of academia in just a few short months was shattered upon this realization. I had forgotten that I’m going to law school after this. Another three years toiling inside the walls of classrooms at some university I’m paying far too much to attend. I wanted to cry.

The level of education required to make a decent living has increased dramatically. When my grandparents were my age, it was common to not finish high school. When my parents were my age, a bachelor’s degree was preferred, but optional. Now, not only do you need a bachelor’s degree to ‘go somewhere’ in life, but you quite often need a post-graduate degree as well.

What’s changed? Are we smarter than previous generations, or is society simply demanding higher levels of education?

As a nation, we appear to be constantly wanting more. A family, a dog and a house with a white picket fence is the American dream of a previous generation. Now not only do we want a large house, we lust for vacation homes, fast cars, live-in chefs and designer clothes.

Dreaming bigger is not a problem. It’s only natural to want better than what you already have. But how do we manage to get it? Do we really think that going to school for a post-graduate degree will guarantee us a more lucrative career? And will a better job ensure happiness, let alone nice things?

The U.S. Census Bureau has concluded that most people with advanced degrees earn more than those with just a bachelor’s. But this doesn’t mean that further schooling is necessary. Don’t forget that the quest for a post-graduate degree is both expensive and limits the opportunity to gain real world, on-the-job experience ‘ which in some fields is more valuable than another degree. There are also situations where people have been turned away from jobs because they are simply overqualified.

Of course, sometimes a degree is necessary. I e-mailed my mom a section of this to proofread (very high school, I know) and she was upset by my suggestion that higher education might not be as valuable as on-the-job experience. My dad, with no college education, has been working in management since he was 16 and has owned his own business for more than 25 years. True, he was lucky and managed to make a decent living. But now, he’s on the hunt for a new job and his lack of a degree is making his job search difficult. So degrees, both undergraduate and graduate, are often very important.

Whichever path you decide to take in life, whether you choose to seek further education after your time at Binghamton or opt to dive head-first into the job market, be sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Not everybody will be able to afford a garage full of Ferraris, no matter how much you may wish for them.

But a higher degree may open doors in ways you never dreamed possible. And to those seniors like me, hang in there. Only a few more years until you can join the job hunt and become free from academia forever.