Your personal drive and your work-related experience is more important

The recent University of Southern California’s (USC) admissions scandal has some of America’s elite schools under investigation for something we’ve all known for a long time: wealth opens doors.

In most cases, the amount of money your parents have in their bank accounts greatly influences your future.

Shocking, right?

At the heart of the admissions scandal, parents took extreme and illegal risks because they wanted their children to attend competitive colleges like USC.

Hollywood actresses Lori Loughlin (Full House) and Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) were among some of the parents who were criminally charged by federal prosecutors for bribing their children’s way into prestigious schools. 

Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid $500,000 USD to alter test scores and make it appear as if daughters had been athletic recruits in order to secure a spot at USC.

Was this really necessary? Of course not.

I’m sure they could have been accepted into many other colleges across the country on their own academic merits.

Would these have been Ivy League or other elite, competitive colleges? Probably not. But chances are that wouldn’t have deterred their success.

While there is no Ivy League in Canada, graduating high school students struggle between choosing the best post-secondary option for them. 

And after they’ve completed their education, 77 per cent of Canadian graduates have regrets about how they spent money in school, according to a 2017 study conducted by debt firm BDO Canada.

Universities in Canada are traditionally viewed as more prestigious than colleges. 

However, there’s been a 40 per cent increase in the number of university graduates enrolled in colleges over the past five years, according to a 2018 report by Colleges Ontario.

In today’s competitive job market, the practical experience and the soft skills you have outweighs the influence of your alma mater.  

According to LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends report, 91 per cent of talent professionals agree that soft skills like creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management are very important in the future of recruiting and HR.

So it’s less about the name of your school and more about what the school has to offer you in working towards your career. 

One of Loughlin’s daughters, Olivia Jade, is a beauty YouTube vlogger with almost 2 million subscribers. She partnered with lucrative brands like Amazon, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs Beauty and Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics.

Olivia Jade didn’t need to be a student at USC in order to be a successful YouTuber. 

“I do want the experience of like game days, partying. I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know,” she said in an August 2018 video about her college experience. 

While we can’t all be Olivia Jade, the school you choose to attend is a big decision, especially when you consider the amount of time and money students devote to a formal education.

Schooling isn’t limited to the classroom and when it comes to buying your way into school, the investment isn’t worth it.  

No matter who you are, your drive to succeed is what shapes your career. The school you attend is only one part of the equation to success.