---
title: Does College Train You for the Workplace? Or for Life?
description: It's not necessarily an either/or situation.
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published: '2015-12-21T17:20:31.000Z'
modified: '2015-12-21T17:20:31.000Z'
section: Education
tags:
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![Screen Shot 2015-12-16 at 1.15.40 PM](https://img.money.com/2015/12/screen-shot-2015-12-16-at-1-15-40-pm-e1450289903145.png)

Jamie Merisotis of the [Lumina Foundation](https://www.luminafoundation.org/) discusses how colleges prepare their students for "real life," as well as for the workplace. Colleges have traditionally advertised themselves as institutions for life training, rather than job training. Moreover, colleges have homed in on various threads of student's lives, so they can be successful adults upon graduation.

However, Merisotis explains, employers are looking for candidates with the skills that make successful adults—for example, critical thinkers, problem solvers, and good communicators. These skills are developed, both in and out of the classroom, throughout the college experience.

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