Dropping out of college again. What should I do?

[Instinct Blues]

All I can say is you need to commit to something because six years at college and still not having a degree in something is a bit messed up. It seems to me that you just need to pick something and just do it. I don't know if you're the type of kid who tried to find the easiest major and just take it because it was easy then it got hard and you switched. After six years you have to have at least one major that you must be close to finishing. So finish up one of them and get a degree then go off and do you're writing because if that doesn't work out at least you'll have a degree to help you out.

Plus I just can't believe you'd spend all that money and then end up not getting anything out of it besides a bunch of debt. I couldn't even withdraw from a class because of the amount of money that would be wasted on books, supplies, etc. Not to mention all the time wasted doing assignments for it.

 

[Prince Regent]

First advice was best, get a job and start looking for a better one. Also if you want you may be able to find an institution that offers part time education so you can still get your major.

Oh and why don't you consider biochemistry. The world never has enough biochemists!

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Learn a trade, maybe go to a trades school.

 

[Kahunaburger]

1. Finish college.
2. Get better jobs than you would get without a degree.
3. Profit!

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

So do you just literally piss money? Because that's the only situation I can imagine someone being in where they can go to college for 6 fucking years only to drop out twice.

Anyway, my advice would be to NOT drop out, but rather to just get a business degree. Should probably come in handy somewhere, and it sounds like you've wasted your chance to find something more interesting.

 

[mental_looney]

I got a job over the summer holidays that was far better than my course and didn't go back to university but that was just to get the honors part of the degree still got the basic one, so no matter how long it takes you to figure out what you want to do you still need money so best advice is get a job you can tolerate as soon as possible. 6 years of college is a lot of debt to have if you have not even got a degree at the end of it or anything useful.

If you really want to write you will have to go into it knowing you may not be successful or make a lot of money from it at any point while having to work at other jobs to actually pay the bills. Which sounds tough but I've had several friends who sadly gave up on the idea of being writers full time once they could no longer afford to pay the bills or live alone anymore.

 

[Olivia Faraday]

Okay.

With authority: you're making both a good and bad call.

I dropped out of university to get a day job and focus on writing. It was a SHITTY SHITTY CHOICE and nobody should ever do it. I had a good job lined up and a plan and now six years later my life is pathetic and I wish to god I'd not dropped out. The thing is, the second you get a day job and work full time, it sucks you dry. You get home from work and you look at your manuscript and suddenly all your dreams don't seem half as worthwhile as just fucking around in WoW for five hours and then quitting after six years and having wasted all that time, too. It's a bad call. Don't do it.

But my advice isn't stay in school, because a degree from a university is useless. It's a waste of money and it'll get you nowhere. You'll just graduate and do exactly this same thing, but be poorer.

Advice is: go to a ... whatever you call them in the states. We call it college here as opposed to university. A school where you learn skills instead of theoretical academic knowledge. As a writer, your best call is to find a creative writing school and go there. Use your time and money to learn practical skills and make connections in the publishing and editing world. Surround yourself with other people who are writing. It's worth seeking out a program like this. In this scenario, by the time you graduate, you'll have connections, knowledge, and hopefully an actual manuscript you can shop.

It's been a long time since I dropped out in my third year of a four year program and I only now feel like I'm starting to recover from that monumentally stupid decision. Don't be me. Find a college (... TRADE SCHOOL MAYBE? IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL THEM??) and go there.

 

[boag]

After six years of misery and aimless meandering through major programs, I've decided to quit school and persue writing. This isn't a "don't quite college or you're fucked" thread though, so I'd like some advice as to what I should do next. What does one do after dropping out? Anyone out there been in a similar situation? What did you do? I've already taken a year off from school before, but how is life different when you don't plan on going back?

How did you spend 6 years and college and NOT qualify for a degree in anything? Really? How many credits short are you in finishing a degree in anything? If you are close you might as well get the piece of paper.

Writing in particular is a hard industry to crack. Most people fail at it. I'm not saying don't try, but you better have a plan B ready so you don't starve.

I never knew what I wanted to do, so I changed degrees quite often. My first two years were in a private Baptist college where I studied religious classes mostly. I quit for a year due to sickness and money problems, then transfered to a public university to save money. Most of my credits didn't transfer though, so here I am. I'm about two years away from getting a degree in English, which from my research is utterly useless unless you want to teach which I don't.

Dont Throw teaching away so fast, if you dont want to teach in the country you are in, many MANY countries are throwing lots of money and housing to people from English speaking nations that can teach.

 

[Vault101]

Ive been is a "sort of" similar situation

there seems to be no right answer

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

After six years of misery and aimless meandering through major programs, I've decided to quit school and persue writing. This isn't a "don't quite college or you're fucked" thread though, so I'd like some advice as to what I should do next. What does one do after dropping out? Anyone out there been in a similar situation? What did you do? I've already taken a year off from school before, but how is life different when you don't plan on going back?

How did you spend 6 years and college and NOT qualify for a degree in anything? Really? How many credits short are you in finishing a degree in anything? If you are close you might as well get the piece of paper.

Writing in particular is a hard industry to crack. Most people fail at it. I'm not saying don't try, but you better have a plan B ready so you don't starve.

I never knew what I wanted to do, so I changed degrees quite often. My first two years were in a private Baptist college where I studied religious classes mostly. I quit for a year due to sickness and money problems, then transfered to a public university to save money. Most of my credits didn't transfer though, so here I am. I'm about two years away from getting a degree in English, which from my research is utterly useless unless you want to teach which I don't.

I'm going to graduate with a degree in English in a few months, and I don't want to teach either. There's plenty of places that hire English majors. Anyplace that's looking for something to do with "planning assistants" will hire English majors. And there's also the publishing industry, copy editors, technical writing (my field)... so don't give up on that English degree yet. Especially if you want to go into writing. English classes are, unsurprisingly, good at teaching you how to write.

 

[wooty]

Either search for a job, or join an occupy protest as an excuse for doing something and FIIIGHT FOOOR WOOOORLD FREEEEDOOOOM!!

 

[bpm195]

The hard part is finding a decent job, but once you've done that you're just as well of as the average graduate. Just make sure to use those friends you made in school. Make sure to have them looking for job oppurtunities at their employers and make sure to bring it up occasionally so they don't forget. A sincere recommendation will get you a job interview and hopefully that's all you need.

 

[Navvan]

After six years of misery and aimless meandering through major programs, I've decided to quit school and persue writing. This isn't a "don't quite college or you're fucked" thread though, so I'd like some advice as to what I should do next. What does one do after dropping out? Anyone out there been in a similar situation? What did you do? I've already taken a year off from school before, but how is life different when you don't plan on going back?

Yikes 6 years is a long time. I've been fortunate in that I haven't found a major I'm not interested in, and still have my same major from when I first started college along with 3 new ones

The only advice I can give is start working towards what you want to do right now. Don't stop working towards it by delaying it or anything along those lines. Once you are working full time its a slippery slope to 10 years later and nothing accomplished if you put it off. If you are a good writer all that matters is getting your work out there. I have no idea how you are going to network without a degree unless you have the recommendation of someone.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Lots of people seem shocked that the OP has gone to college for 6 years. Even if he hadn't been switching majors the average time for graduation (here in the states at least) is easily pushing 6 years because when most kids hit college they're forced to take a bunch of "remedial" classes before they can actually start on stuff that counts towards their degree. For instance I started in a comp science major. The first math on my list of classes was calculus, however, because I didn't score high enough on my ACT (I had a 26 and the school required a 31) I had to spend a year taking college algebra and college trig. Both of which were classes I'd already taken in high school, but did not count for AP credit.(literally the material was exactly what I had learned the previous year in high school)

If I hadn't had the foresight to take the lowest math class they offered while I was still in high school I'd have had to spend 3 semesters just to hit the entry level math for my degree. That calculus class was literally the gateway to even starting on my core degree classes. When all was said and done it would have taken me 5 years to graduate, and that was just to earn enough credits to graduate. There were plenty more classes I wanted to take but couldn't until I'd chewed through a fuck ton of bullshit classes that were required to graduate.

So yeah, 6 years is more and more becoming the norm.(from what my professors are telling me) Mostly because colleges are designing their curriculum so that kids have to stay longer and longer, thus paying them money for longer periods of time.

 

[Axyun]

I was on a similar boat years back. I dropped out of college, but it was due to financial issues, and had to tough it out without a degree. I knew what I wanted to do for a living, I just couldn't pay for college tuition.

I picked up a bullshit job while studying what I wanted to do on my own. I took a few cheap classes here and there at vocational schools but the bulk of what I learned I did so on my own through reading dozens upon dozens of books and working on practice projects. I eventually caught a break and someone who was willing to hire some degree-less punk for cheap decided to give me a job in my career of choice. I impressed the crap out of my employer through solid hard work and quickly solidified my position in the company.

Three years and 4 massive raises later, I already had enough experience that other companies were willing to hire me on the merits of my work experience and achievements alone.

8 years later and I still haven't gotten a degree, nor do I plan on getting one. Waste of time at this point. I get paid senior-level wages and even in this down-economy, jobs are available if you are good at what you do and you can offer knowledge, skills or creativity not commonly available.

My career life up until now has been very successful but I worked my balls off to get to this point. The work I was not able to put into a degree I more than doubled in my early career life. However, I honestly feel that going to college would have only made things worse. I don't think I'd be debt-free and earning as much as I do now if I had spent 4 of the last 8 years NOT acquiring experience and accumulating a huge debt.

 

[Ham_authority95]

step 1: get a job, any job.
step 2: start looking for a better job.

1. I work at Walmart.
2. Will be looking after New Year's.

1. That's good.
2. Start now. Don't wait. Why are you still reading this? Go to the newspaper and circle some classified ads, damn it!


Also, now that you're out of the education system, it's up to you to broaden your skills and make yourself as in-demand as possible. Look for internships in your area, learn a programming language, etc, etc. Maybe get some friends with mutual interests together and brainstorm some business ideas; "What does not currently exist that could make money"?

Take this as a golden opportunity to laugh in the face of college graduates as you become successful by your own devices.

Oh yeah, and keep up your writing in your spare time. Send it publishers every once and a while.

 

[Koroviev]

I was on a similar boat years back. I dropped out of college, but it was due to financial issues, and had to tough it out without a degree. I knew what I wanted to do for a living, I just couldn't pay for college tuition.

I picked up a bullshit job while studying what I wanted to do on my own. I took a few cheap classes here and there at vocational schools but the bulk of what I learned I did so on my own through reading dozens upon dozens of books and working on practice projects. I eventually caught a break and someone who was willing to hire some degree-less punk for cheap decided to give me a job in my career of choice. I impressed the crap out of my employer through solid hard work and quickly solidified my position in the company.

Three years and 4 massive raises later, I already had enough experience that other companies were willing to hire me on the merits of my work experience and achievements alone.

8 years later and I still haven't gotten a degree, nor do I plan on getting one. Waste of time at this point. I get paid senior-level wages and even in this down-economy, jobs are available if you are good at what you do and you can offer knowledge, skills or creativity not commonly available.

My career life up until now has been very successful but I worked my balls off to get to this point. The work I was not able to put into a degree I more than doubled in my early career life. However, I honestly feel that going to college would have only made things worse. I don't think I'd be debt-free and earning as much as I do now if I had spent 4 of the last 8 years NOT acquiring experience and accumulating a huge debt.

Out of curiosity, what is it that you do?

 

[Axyun]

I was on a similar boat years back. I dropped out of college, but it was due to financial issues, and had to tough it out without a degree. I knew what I wanted to do for a living, I just couldn't pay for college tuition.

I picked up a bullshit job while studying what I wanted to do on my own. I took a few cheap classes here and there at vocational schools but the bulk of what I learned I did so on my own through reading dozens upon dozens of books and working on practice projects. I eventually caught a break and someone who was willing to hire some degree-less punk for cheap decided to give me a job in my career of choice. I impressed the crap out of my employer through solid hard work and quickly solidified my position in the company.

Three years and 4 massive raises later, I already had enough experience that other companies were willing to hire me on the merits of my work experience and achievements alone.

8 years later and I still haven't gotten a degree, nor do I plan on getting one. Waste of time at this point. I get paid senior-level wages and even in this down-economy, jobs are available if you are good at what you do and you can offer knowledge, skills or creativity not commonly available.

My career life up until now has been very successful but I worked my balls off to get to this point. The work I was not able to put into a degree I more than doubled in my early career life. However, I honestly feel that going to college would have only made things worse. I don't think I'd be debt-free and earning as much as I do now if I had spent 4 of the last 8 years NOT acquiring experience and accumulating a huge debt.

Out of curiosity, what is it that you do?

Software development. Currently a full-time employee of a consulting company.