Top 5 Myths Every Girl Hears in College

In college, we all have strong ambitions and are willing to believe anything and everything that a professor tell us.

And we follow it as a rule.

However, most of the things that they tell us are myths or stereotypes. These things should be forgotten right now so that you’re not stuck in practicing self-denial and living for societal expectations rather than your future.

A-students achieve success.

When you enjoy math classes or writing essays, it’s not a problem to get high grades and be the best student in your classroom. You are proud of that, your professors are proud of you, and you all are happy in waiting for a better tomorrow. That’s a given: you are a good student with all A-grades on your diploma. Because of that you’ll succeed in life by all means.

But, there are those who would disagree! Remember Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg? Wait a minute, but they are all guys!

Does this mean girls can only succeed by hitting the books, writing tons of research-based assignments, and striving to get A-grades to succeed?

Anne Beiler is a multimillionaire and the co-founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. Barbara Lynch is the owner of a group of restaurants worth over $10 million. Mary Kay Ash is the founder of Mary Kay Inc. cosmetics. Rachael Ray is a Food Network cooking show star and food industry entrepreneur. You know what? They all have one thing in common: these ladies dropped out of high school or didn’t attend college at all.

This doesn’t mean that your education will equate to nothing, because that is simply not true. The point is, you shouldn’t consider your high grades by themselves as a measure of your success in life.

The longer you work, the better you are.

Your age and work experience are not the sole criteria to consider when it comes to success. Still, so many college graduates are afraid of applying for jobs with companies where old-timer specialists have been working for years already.

In reality, have you ever met a 40-year-old employee who got the position based on nothing more than their age?

We still believe a stereotype that if a person has been working for 5-10 years, she is more skillful than we, young college graduates with nothing but diplomas in hands, are.

“One of the things I tell people is that experience is overrated. I still sometimes find myself falling into the trap of thinking when I’m trying to fill a role, “Has the person done the work that the role requires?” That’s the wrong question. It should be, “Let’s find a person who has the right chemistry, the right intellect, the right curiosity, the right creativity.” If we plug that person into any role, they’re going to be successful.” said Jeff Fluhr, CEO of Spreecast.

You must follow the rules to succeed.

If this was true, I wouldn’t be where I am now; a writer for blogs like Bid4Papers, Top MBA, Elite Daily, and others.

This doesn’t mean that you can drive on the wrong side of the road or ignore college disciplines and everything your professors say. After all, you want to graduate and get a diploma, don’t you? Still, we’re not attending college to learn frameworks that professors believe and try to impose; the point is, we should learn how to form and activate our rules of success based on knowledge and understanding of what is worth following.

Put simply, shape your opinion by reference to common sense, not everything others try to teach you.

Professors are always right.

Despite its archaic nature, many college students still believe the myth, “professor is always right”. Times change, concepts and dogmas are being revised every four or five years, and your ability to research and analyze things becomes more significant than implicit faith in everything mature professors might tell you.

It’s not about ignoring everything they say. It’s about respecting them, recognizing their research and works, but not considering them the only absolutes.

All of your skills can be measured and estimated.

Many of us concentrate on learning theoretical parts of subjects, as we earn grades for it and consider these grades as a measure of our knowledge and skills.

But as we all know, theory and practice are far from the same. You may be good in theory, but know nothing when it comes to practice. So, develop your practical intelligence and it will help you become a better student and more professional woman than all of the A-grades together.

Remember: they can measure your skills on math, physics, or academic writing; but they can’t put you A, B, or C for your leadership, communication, planning, motivation, or desire to succeed.

Who are they to judge us?

“I think; therefore, I am”, Descartes said. Listen to your college professors, learn from them but think on what they say. After all, they teach critical thinking to us, don’t they?

---

Lesley J. Vos is a graduate from the University of Chicago. She is a passionate blogger sharing her writing experience with readers of many publications on education, college life, and career. Internet marketing is the interest of hers. Currently writing blog posts at Bid4Papers, she is also an active guest writer at many websites. You are welcome to follow Lesley on Twitter!