How much does highschool/ college matter in finding stability later in life?

19 comments

1. Just about all jobs require at least a high school education.

2. High school definitely matters. College helps, but you can still find jobs that pay livable wages with just an HS diploma.

3. I would say it matters a ton even if you don’t necessarily need it for fiscal reasons. It matters to better yourself and to have a better understanding of the world. To appreciate the Arts and culture. To learn how to critically look at the world and analyze it.

4. It’s pretty tough to find a job that pays a livable wage without a high school diploma or GED these days. Having a degree makes finding one a bit easier. Neither guarantees a stable life down the road, but not having to scramble to come up with the cash for bills each month makes life a hell of a lot easier.

5. It matters a lot, but it isn’t a deal breaker/guaruntee. The more education you have, the more you understand yourself and the world and where you may want to fit in. It makes getting jobs easier, especially some of the more well paying ones. But again, a highly intelligent and hard working person can go far, while a lazy unreliable person will flouder no matter their education.

6. Depends on what you want/need in terms of stability. My academics were very important to me because education was the ticket out of a dead end location, lack of opportunity, and poverty. Without performing well in high school and college, I couldn’t be in the happy, stable lifestyle I have now.

7. Literally no one has ever asked me for my GPA, HS or college. Started working in offices in 1996

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9. Imo, simply going there will not matter when it come to finding stability. What matter is what you do with it. They are just doors, you still have to put efforts into opening it and walking through them.

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   I personally found college to be super duper helpful. At least in the US anyway, most internships require you to already be enrolled into a university to be eligible for one. I was able to graduate with 2 internships under my belt, and thanks to my internship I got a job even before I graduate. But I was able to do that because I put a lot of effort into making sure I get the most out of college – I was working toward a double major in 4 years (cost doesn’t increase after you take a certain amount of credit to be considered full time a semester), joining academic clubs (things like Association of Women in Computing etc), go to career fairs, making friends with other (who can be my referral/connection to other companies if I ever need to change job), etc.

10. It depends a lot on what field you want to go into. You need HS grades to get into a good college. You need good undergrad grades to get into a graduate school. No one will ask if you got a D in chemistry at a job interview, but if it gets you rejected by a good program, that matters.

    Your career isn’t just about what you know, it’s about who you know. Some schools have very robust networks and active alumni. I have never gotten a job just because of where I went to school. But I definitely got interviews because the higher up was an alum. Think about things like alumni networks, intern programs, and study abroad when looking at schools.

    Of course, plenty of jobs don’t require college. Though You should get a good education, including critical thinking skills.

11. Grades only really matter insofar as getting you to the next stage of your education: so from HS to undergrad, then undergrad to a masters or whatever. If you’re not pursuing further education they are essentially irrelevant in my experience. I’ve been working for 7 years since university and have never once been asked for a transcript for any job I’ve had.

    Education is pretty focused on being book smart and the real world can be quite different, I’d say soft skills become far more important when you start working and so there are tons of people who probably weren’t the best students but have a lot of success in their careers. Also some people are just late bloomers. So your grades can be a testament to your work ethic and ability and they could not be: I wouldn’t worry too much.

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13. I feel like high school is just a social experiment to try to teach you how to be a person, but that is failing right now with the world around it. I could give or take high school. I’ve also raised two children into adulthood so I have a grasp on this. College I feel gives you the discipline to be able to work an intense job and at times the knowledge if you are receptive to what is given to you in class.

14. Grades aren’t as important if you are not going to college. As long as you have your high school diploma/GED. If you are planning on college you might want to consider the degree and what kind of jobs/career that degree actually opens up. There are a lot of degrees that don’t open up many/any jobs/careers. If you aren’t planning on going into STEM, medical, law or education careers then definitely consider not going to college.

15. Highschool minimum. You limit upward mobility without a Batchelor

16. I think it really depends, and there are different aspects of the experience, some of which matter more than others. I do see in a later comment you meant more the grades, so, I’ll answer with a focus on that.

    Most jobs require a high school diploma / GED, to the point where if you manage to get a job without you end up lying about it for the rest of your life. So I feel like going and at least getting the minimum passing grade is important.

    That being said, high school grades really only matter on your college application. Depending on where you want to go to college, you might need some really top tier grades. But this opens up a whole lot of secrets about college which I’m about to share…

    And that’s that college…doesn’t really matter all that much.*

    Yes, some jobs require a college degree. And so depending on what you want to do, you might need to go, and that means again getting passing (and possibly better-than-average) grades in high school and passing your college classes to score that degree as well.

    But there’s all this pressure to do well, and to perform your best…and again I find that only matters to continue your educational journey. If you want an advanced degree, expect that you’re going to need good grades in college. Want to become a doctor or a lawyer? Prepare to be retaking classes until you get a perfect score every time.

    But for most people in college, you just need to get a grade high enough to pass. You get the degree. And that’s it. People sometimes care about the school you go to, but often they just care about the degree. And I’ve only ever had one potential job, ever, ask me about my grades in college…to which I immediately withdrew my application.

    And that means you can go to any school, get any degree, take any classes with a minimum passing grade…and your life can turn out to be just as stable as someone’s where they went to a top tier school and pulled perfect grades all throughout college. Sometimes even more, because depending on how you are paying for college, if you have to retake classes too many times you’ll end up with more debt, and the amount of student loans you have can impact your stability quite a bit. So saying that first C is “good enough” can save you a lot of money.

    And if you don’t feel like going to college? Your life can be awesome and stable too. And you skipped a whole frustrating chapter of life. You don’t need the grades…you need the degree that matches the life you want to live. If your dream job doesn’t require college, good for you! I’m a little jealous. I wish I could have skipped it.

    How good you are at budgeting your money and living within your means, and your own personal motivation and drive, plus your attitude towards anything life throws at you are the most important factors to stability in my opinion.

    ** I live in the United States and acknowledge this might differ in other countries. I also only was accounting for grades/degree in my answer, and not the quality of classes, other students, teachers, etc that could come with choosing a more or less competitive college – all of which has the potential to contribute to your stability.*

17. Grades don’t matter in adult life, but the discipline and drive does. Working towards a goal, like good grades, teaches you valuable lessons in time management, organization, critical thinking and communication, which will take you very far in life as a successful adult. It will make you a great coworker, manager, employee, whatever you decide to do.

18. I would say my education has contributed a lot to the stability in my adulthood. I did very well at school which got me into a top university. Now I have many more employment opportunities because of my degree and I’ve never struggled to find good paying work. That’s allowed me to be financially stable, I don’t worry about my day to day spending, I have significant savings which act as a safety net, I have a house so I don’t need to worry about landlords or getting evicted.

    I don’t necessarily think you need to have a good education to achieve stability…but I do think it helps and improves your chances!

19. I’m a union pipefitter. I barely tried in high school, passing was my only goal. The only thing for qualifications they needed was a high school diploma and to pass an interview. After 5 years of apprenticeship you’re making 50$ an hour. To conclude, highschool doesn’t matter if you’re not going into post secondary options afterwards. A diploma is good enough.