Students pursue college degrees expecting to learn skills necessary to navigate adult life. While this is the expectation of most students, there is a lack of research examining the perceived effectiveness of real-world applicability in undergraduate degrees. Objective: The purpose of this phenomenological and constructivist study was to explore how college alumni perceive their educational experiences in terms of real-world preparedness. Methods: Eight participants in their mid-twenties (5 females, 3 males) were selected using purposeful sampling. Participants participated in informal, semi-structured, one-on-one Zoom interviews and demographic questionnaire responses. Results: Emerging themes indicated that alumni felt the relationships formed had a greater contribution to their life-readiness compared to their real-world curriculum. Other emerging themes revealed alumni believed they developed valuable skills through hands-on experience and group work. Recommendations were made by alumni for curriculum changes, including smaller class sizes and inclusion of more practical courses. Conclusions: Based on these findings, future research should aim to replicate this study using a broader range of alumni to further investigate this phenomenon, as well as studies that investigate various college types and student experiences.