University is a place where one learns their advanced skills. To be successive on their career, one must be full of the knowledge their career acquires. As the saying goes, knowledge is power. So in my opinion, most people attend college or university in order to learn more knowledge and gain experience in the career they will enter in the future. In university they will have a totally different experience on what they had during senior high school, because professors in university are all experts in their own area. The knowledge they learn will therefore help them tackle obstacles they might meet when they enter their career in the future, if they get stuck in a hard problem, then it`s time for all their hard learning during university to kick in.
On the other hand, some people see college and university as career preparation centers. The reason that they view it as career prep centers is because universities sometimes did get their students prepared for their career. For example, students who study chemistry might get classes in the science lab, while professors teach them about the using of equipments, while students in biology class may have some lesson about animals.Professors may also share their life experiences,which can be extremely helpful. Also, a university degree provides you with the specialist knowledge of a specific career, making the change from a college student to a freshman not so terifying to us. And their knowledge let them gain advantage over those who did not study for this particular subject, which means they can take a step bigger than others.
To sum up, I think people go to college and university in order to prepare themselves for their future career. With most people changing career several times throughout their working lives, the skills you'll gain at university will be valuable in a variety of job and life situations.