5 Skills College Students Learn Outside the Classroom

Your college and university experience will teach you countless things that don’t show up in a textbook or lecture.

You’re going to take several steps toward maturity (with a few steps backwards along the way) before you graduate. Here are some skills you’re going to pick up without realizing it.

1) How to Drink:

Silly as it sounds, you should learn how to drink while you’re at school. You will learn how much you can handle and how to drink somewhat responsibly. Chances are you’re going to drink too much during your postsecondary career. This should teach you how much you can drink and when you should put the brakes on.

2) How to Park:

If you’re driving to school every day, you’re going to experience the frustration of parking in the student lot every morning. Michael Moore said he dropped out of college because he couldn’t find a parking space.

You’ll quickly learn how to find the best spot and squeeze into any space.

3) How to Fail:

You’re going to fail at something. Learn how to learn from it. You’re on your own now, so you’re going to have to learn some things the hard way. You might fail an exam, or get fired from a job, lose a friend, go broke, or gain weight. Something.

What you learn from failure is the very essence of maturity. So take your medicine and move on.

4) How to Talk to Strangers:

You will probably be exposed to more people than you’ve ever met before. It’s going to be a diverse range of people with different backgrounds.

You’re going to have to learn to talk to them, and find common ground. This is going to help you later in life, socially and professionally. This comes naturally to some. But other people have to practice, and college and university gives them that chance.

5) How to Procrastinate:

You’re human, so you’re going to clean your room when it doesn’t need to be cleaned. Or you’re going to go on Facebook or call your mom. Anything but write that damned paper.

This is a habit you might not break, but at least you will know how you procrastinate, so you can start factoring that time in when you budget for time on future projects.