John Legend “Glory” Academy Award Winner Gives University of Pennsylvania Commencement Speech: Rapper Common’s Collaborator Cites Lauryn Hill “Everything is Everything” as First Break

College isn't always as fun as it is in the movies. The thought of the future can be a frightening. That's why John Legend recently opened up to struggling students and gave advice to all those who feel like they're caught in a rut between the land of academia and the rest of their life.

"If you're going to take your passion into something beyond just something for fun on the side, you got to spend a lot of time on it to be great, and then you've got to make smart decisions about who you collaborate with and where you live to put yourself in the right situations to meet the right people to catch those breaks," Legend told MTV.com.

If there was ever a person who understands success it's Legend. This is why all us youngsters should listen to these words. Before becoming a multi-time Grammy winner Legend was an English major who sung in the University of Pennsylvania's acapella group. Of course, that was after he turned down scholarships from Georgetown and Harvard.

Below is a commencement speech legend gave at the University of Pennsylvania for the Arts and Scienes Department. It was there Legend gave a speech on living an honest and soulful life.

Legend's college life is definitely one all students should attempt to strive for when dreaming big. It was there he found the type of opportunity that made him realize he's on the right path.

"My first big break was playing on Lauryn Hill's album back in 1998, when I was a junior in college. She was working on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and I knew her through a friend of mine who was a friend of hers...We went to the studio one day to visit and I kind of auditioned for her, I played a couple songs and she asked me to play piano on "Everything Is Everything."

Seventeen years after being on the Lauryn Hill track, Legend was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score with "Glory" – a song from the Selma soundtrack he worked on with Common.