As a kid, if I didn’t do my homework, a teacher was there to remind me. If I had a dentist appointment, my mom would be there to remind me. When I had a job in high school and my dad was filing his taxes, you guessed it. While I don’t exactly consider it “the real world” just yet, there is definitely a pivotal shift in your level of freedom and responsibility in college that requires a certain level of adaptation on your part. I knew of really smart kids in high school that couldn’t get it together or stay motivated enough to make it to class and failed out of college their first semester. While you still have plenty of time to figure it out, the earlier you develop your own discipline, the better off you’re going to be.
Combined undergraduate/graduate admission programs are worth it
I didn’t decide on going to PA school until my 3rd year of undergrad. At that point, I was nearly halfway through a clinical athletic training program and had to compete with the thousands of other applicants each school gets, for roughly 50 seats per program on average. Had I realized how competitive and stressful graduate entry to PA is, I would’ve strongly considered a 5-5 ½ year program straight out of high school that guarantees admission as long as you maintain a certain GPA. While these programs are often more expensive on a per-yearbasis; the year or two less of school, and the opportunity to start making a great wage a year or two earlier more than makes up for it from a financial perspective. Even if there weren’t direct financial benefits, I still think it’s worth it to avoid the costs, time, stress and uncertainty of the graduate entry application process.
The power of compound interest
Let’s assume you start working and are able to put away $10,000 a year starting at age 25. At a relatively conservative 7% return annually (the last 30 years we’ve seen the S&P 500 return 9.89% or 7.31% adjusted for inflation) you would expect to see the value of your savings grow to $138,109 in 10 years, $409,790 in 20 years or $1,995,552 in 40 years at your approximate retirement age of 65 (although if you’re reading this I hope your goal is to retire early a lot sooner than 65).
What if instead of assuming we will invest $10,000 a year until retirement, or $833.33 a month, we plan for the amount of our contributions to increase with a conservative 2% increase year over year as we would hope our salary would increase by at a minimum(for example in year 2 we invest $10,200 instead of $10,000). If our contributions increase by 2% year over year, we would expect the value the retirement account to be $2,944,026, or almost a million dollars more than what was expected in the previous scenario.
Refining the way you study will pay dividends in the future
I personally didn’t learn how to properly study until about halfway through my didactic year in PA school. I learned that what worked for me was actively listening taking notes during lecture, re-reading those lecture slides later on and handwriting notes on anything that I possibly thought could be a test question. I then would go back and read my handwritten notes and repeat and refine that process until I knew the material well enough to be tested on it. Had I known that method of studying in undergrad or even high school, I know I would’ve done a lot better and had a lot less stress about whether or not my grades were good enough to cut it
Nobody cares what you drive
I was pretty frugal growing up and always had this idea that one day I’m going to have enough money saved up to buy a nice car. I fixed up my Dad’s beat-up hand-me-down car in high school, drove it a few years in college to and from jobs that allowed me to save a decent chunk of change for a 20 year ago. Finally, I was ready to spend it on what I thought at the time was an “adult purchase” of a 2005 Ford Mustang for $10,800. In my young and dumb brain, I had this idea that all the years I spent sacrificing more than my peers to work hard and save money were going to be worth it once I could flex with a cooler car than them. It felt good for about a week and ended up being a huge money pit.
You’ll never regret putting yourself out there
Whether it’s joining the club, going to a networking event, or even asking out the pretty girl, I haven’t ever regretted doing the thing that at the time scared me the most. If I could give myself in high school one piece of advice it would be that you only regret the chances you didn’t take.
Graduate schools don’t care where you went to undergrad
In high school and on college tours you’re going to have advisors, teachers, tour guides etc. tell you that a schools reputation is paramount to your future success. While I wound’t recommend going to a school with a specifically bad reputation(not that I can really think of many anyway), this couldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth when it comes to getting into PA school. I contacted, interviewed and spoke with dozens of programs and not one ever mentioned caring about the undergrad you went to or perceived level of difficulty. The thing that matters most is GPA. Programs are comparing thousands of applicants at a time and whether its fair or not, they would rather you have an A from a community college than a B from Harvard.
Tough times don’t last, tough people do
I consider myself fairly privileged in having a strong support system from my family growing up, but whether it’s breakups, deaths in the family, or anything else that can distract you from your studies, these are inevitable during your time in college. Minimizing its effect on your grades and how you respond to adversity is what matters.
Good things often don’t last either
Certain opportunities are here today and gone tomorrow. When I got out of high school, real estate was at rock bottom prices. Everyone was fearful because the 08 crash was still on everyone’s minds. The people with the fortitude to realize that many properties were cheaper to buy than they would be to completely rebuild knew that at some point, values had to go up. Once enough people caught up to realize the market was recovering, they missed out on a lot of opportunities. Keep your eyes open, get as much information as you can and don’t be afraid to make a leap.
Money isn’t everything
Money is a tool. Tools only have so much utility to accomplish a task or reach a goal. If I want to create a life where I live life on my own terms, support a family, and give back to my community in a meaningful way; I have to accumulate a certain degree of wealth. With that being said, no amount of money can bring back the time or the people that matter most. Understanding what money can and can’t do is crucial.
