The college years are the best time in a person’s life. Agree or disagree?

What's the prime time in your life? Ask ten people and you will probably receive ten distinct
answers. To name just a few, childhood, teenage years, college years or even retirement. In my
opinion, however, college years are definitely worth the title of "prime time".

Perhaps the most crucial role college years play in our lives is to help us set a determined goal of
the future. It is misfortunate but true that most teenagers enter college without a real purpose in
their mind. However, entering the university does not indicate the achievement of the ultimate
goal. It is in the college years that students learn to develop their true interests, talents, and
hopefully set a goal for their career path. Take myself for example. Like many teenagers, I have
nothing particular in mind upon entering. Through taking various general courses, I decided to
take up architecture as my major, because I gained deeper perspective of my weaks and strongs,
which lay the foundation of judging a possible career.

Apart from the tremendous influence on career choosing, college has huge impacts on a student's
interpersonal relationships. Compared with the real society, high school resembles more of a
"controlled environment", where students face less threats and obstacles from interpersonal
relationships. The college years, in turn, act as a critical transitional period between the two stages.
In college, we learn to communicate with people from different regions and social classes. We
learn to tolerate others' religious beliefs, living habits and even different races. Cases like these are
rare in high schools, most of which admit students on a regional basis.

Besides daily communication with students and professors on campus, college internships also
teach the students a lot. The most obvious advantage is to gain practical knowledge in a real case,
which helps the students determine whether the goals they set earlier suit them or not. If so, the
students learn to cope with the possible challenges laying ahead in their future career. And if not,
they can make appropriate adjustments accordingly. Another significant advantage to internship is
learning to cooperate with others, which essentially has nothing to do with career choice, but a
desired quality of a good employer in any given field, where the students learn to work together
with supervisors and peers.

To determine the future career path, to develop interpersonal skills and to acquire the fundamental
quality of a good employer are the three reasons for my holding that the college years are the best
time in a person's life.