Life is about opportunities and choices. The more opportunities you create for yourself in life, the more options you will have at any given time. Gaining control of your options and opportunities is the key to personal and professional success. Simply put, if you want to become the master of your own destiny, you need to go to college.

Here are the top five reasons why you should choose to go to college:

1. Bachelor’s is the new high school diploma

There was a time when college was completely optional. Even today, smart, hard-working people can build great careers and stable lives without the help of a college education. College is by no means required, but when you’re ready to start building a career for yourself, you’ll increasingly find that a college degree is a prerequisite for many entry-level job opportunities.

Companies and organizations want to hire employees who demonstrate commitment and perseverance. A college degree will show your future employer that you are dedicated to achieving your goals in life. Whether justified or not, a job applicant with a degree will be more valuable to an organization than an applicant who is considering giving up college. If you want to possess marketable job skills, higher salaries, and the stigma of being smart and qualified, then choosing college is the way to go.

2. College will satisfy and expand your curiosity

If you have a general curiosity about how and why the world works the way it does, then you owe it to yourself to attend college. Education is a personal project. If you want to develop your mental faculties and increase your knowledge base, then you have to go to college. If you feel like you’ve learned everything you can in high school, if you think there’s nothing else you need to absorb, then don’t go to college. If you are passionate about improving understanding, then college is a must.

3. University is a process of continuous maturation

The university is freedom. When you attend college, you are free to live on your own, according to your own priorities. As you create your own personalized learning and living experience, you can’t help but grow as a person. College is a time for self-improvement and personal development, so if you want to grow and mature as an individual, college is the perfect playground for personal advancement.

4. College is all about networking

In college, you have the unique ability to create lifelong partnerships in a structured environment. Networking is important, but it can also be difficult. If you want to build relationships with students and teachers, you have to put in the effort. Unlike in the real world, in college, it’s easy to conflate your individual interests with supportive allies who subscribe to those same interests. Take advantage of this environment and build relationships that will help you in the future.

5. College exposes you to things you wouldn’t normally experience.

As you begin to choose your path in life, it’s important to remember that finding yourself is as much a process of elimination as it is a process of discovery. Just as you search for interests and identities, you must discard certain life options and mental frameworks with which you do not agree. College exposes you to new risks, rewards, people, places, ideas, lifestyles, eating habits, and career options. Exposure is critical. You can’t form a genuine opinion about something if you’ve never been exposed to it.

College is a place for you to improve yourself, to satisfy your curiosities, to mature, to network, and to be exposed to new things. College is an important and irreplaceable experience in life. Going to college is highly recommended.