Everyone knows a college degree does not equal instant professional success. Some of the world's biggest success stories – Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates – never finished college after all.
And in today's world of start-ups and multi-skilled workers, for a lot of industries, a candidate with just a college degree is simply not enough.
So why bother at all? Why work for four years just to be told it's not enough in the end?
Well this advertising chief executive disagrees. Though Ogilvy and Mather's worldwide chief executive, John Seifert, has spent more than 38 years at the company without a college degree, he believes the next generation need to stick with higher education.
"I'm a college dropout. Much to my mother's great disappointment.
"I think today kids are so much better prepared and more qualified than I ever was.
"It's a much more competitive and demanding environment today. So I think the better prepared you come in, the more likely you'll succeed."
Seifert has a point according to the numbers. Last year it was estimated that employers would be hiring 5% more graduates than the previous year. While 21% of last year's graduates had already accepted a job before graduation, up from 12% in 2015.
Speaking to CNBC in an episode of Life Hacks Live, Seifert started his career at Ogilvy and Mather as an intern and counts himself as "lucky" for the chances he got.
"I had amazing mentors who really developed me as an apprentice in the business, were very generous in what they helped me learn."
Seifert says he "didn't get enough out" of his educational life and that he just wasn't suited to the academic world.
"I was bored in school like I guess a lot of young people and I just wanted to be in a completely different environment."
Seifert's home was never in the classroom, adding that instead, he got his "fair share of academic development" in the boardroom.
"I loved the agency business from the minute I stepped in the office at Ogilvy in Los Angeles.
"They've (Ogilvy and Mather) taught me hopefully more than I would have gotten in university."
Life Hacks Live is a series produced by CNBC International for Facebook, where tomorrow's leaders get to ask some of the world's biggest influencers for advice. You can watch the full episode here.