im a sophmore in highschool... and college doesn't really seem that appealing to me... i know i should go, get a degree and stoof... but man... more school... blahhh... the only reason i would go would be for the parties! but seriously... everyone is always like "oh so what college might ya wanna go to?" and im like.. ummm... im not sure i even want to go to college! and they freak! i know that i SHOULD go to college... but.. see, ive pretty much bullshitted my way through school... ive never had a locker, i dont carry books, and i dont really study... but i get pretty good grades... Bs and Cs, the occasional A.. and its like.. ive i can get through HS without pretty much doing anything, im either a) going to be SUPER behind in college or b) i wont be able to do that in college and ill be totally lost... ive thought about taking a year or two off after i graduate from HS but then id be afraid that i wouldnt end up going to college at all! i dont know... i dont even know what i am asking in this thread.. its just sorta a rant.. my bad... comment with whatever... lol love!
WOAH! Calm down there! You still have plenty of time to decide what you are going to do. You have to live your own life and do what YOU want. Your education IS very important though. Without an education you can get by, but thats pretty much it. What do you want out of life? What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? If you decide to go to college I would suggest taking it seriously. Dont waste your time(and money) if you aren't going to give it your best. College is NOT like High School. Yea you may be able to bullshit your way through some classes but not many. When I went to college I really screwed up and decided I wanted to party more than learn. So I dropped out and spent the next 11 years working at Arby's before I joined the Navy. But dont panic yet. You are still very young and have a lot of time to figure things out. But in the end you have to be true to yourself. Hang in there!
think about it this way: would you rather bullshit your way through four more years of school or get a job right after graduation and actually have responsibilities and such unpleasant things?
It doesn't matter what you do or when you do it: As long as you've sown your wild oats or whatever before you start. If you start college and then drop out, the consequences can be dire, especially if your relying on student loans. My mom dropped out of college two months before she would have finished, now she has nothing to show for it but a 5,000$ debt (she only went to community college, thank god). She has to pay it back with a job as a waitress. I'm sure you can lose scholarships and the like the same way. Absolutely don't let your parents pressure you into anything before your ready. If they are real nuts, just lie to them and say, "Yeah yeah, I wanna go to Brown/Duke/Arkansas State/whatever to be a doctor/lawyer/librarian/plumber/prostitute/whatever. Then get the fuck out of dodge if you haven't made your decision yet. Maybe live with some friends and work, and get your partying done, and be ready to study your ass off when you decide to settle down. That's my two cents, meri karisamu.
I can't say i agree with any of the given advice...sure it may work for some people but it definitely didn't work for me. You have to put your foot in the water somewhere. It doesnt have to be college or university at all. People are almost brainwashed to think that you HAVE to go to school to be something succesful, but success doesn't always depend on your degree and how much money you make. Search yourself and figure out what makes you happy. This may sound like my life story but maybe it will help you out a bit. I, like you, was a total slacker. Still got decent grades, but not the best. My first year in college...right out of highschool, i took journalism, because EVERYONE told me "YOU HAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE! OMG YOU'LL BE A DEAD BEAT IF YOU DONT!!" so i took it. I wasted $3000+ on a year of slacking off and falling behind. BOOURNS!! there goes 3grand, BUT i had a great experience. I learned that journalism was NOT for me, and that just happened to be the price i payed. The following year i took Early Childhood Education..i thought that was going to be it for sure. Wrong..i dropped out after 1st semester. 2nd semester i took general arts and science, to get a broader more expanded look at my many different options. This was a really cool idea, because it offered many classes that highschool never had for me. I am now 10thousand dollars in debt, but I think it was well worth it. I had experiences that define me as the person i am today. I'm not telling you to blow all kinds of money, i'm just saying, you don't always have to be 100% sure of what you want to take before you dive in. You have to experiment with different things, and make the most of what you're doing. Absorb every moment of it, and you'll learn more about yourself, and eventually you'll figure out what you want to do. I will give you this though, PAY ATTENTION in highschool at least a little. You will feel like fish out of water when you're sitting in your college class, and everyone is fast paced, motivated, and knows what they're doing, and you really have no one to ask for help. hah...sorry about the novel... :&
I changed so much from my sophomore year of high school to my senior year...I think most of us do, actually. My sophomore year I was convinced I was going to go to University of Michigan and be an english teacher...by my senior year I was sick of school and took a year off and worked in retail instead. Hell, get out in the real world and see what a high school degree will get you...*laughs* not a damn thing. It makes you want to go back to school REAL quick! If worst comes to worst...do the AmeriCorps deal. It's similar to the Peace Corps, but you serve within the US and all you need is a high school degree. Do that for a few years and see what you think. It's a great opportunity to gain experience and search for what you think you'd like to do with your life (minus the education part and plus getting PAID). There are always options for you no matter how old you are or what stage of life you're in. Don't freak out. YOu have plenty of time! Change will indefinately occur in your life. Life day to day...that's all you should do when you're young anyway.
What exactly is AmeriCorps or Peace Corps? I've heard about them but don't really know what they are...
After HS graduation, I took a year off, did a year at one college, took a few more years off, then went back in 2001, 5 years after my HS graduation. For me, it was the best decision I could have made -- I got out into the real world, partied my ass off (without bringing down my gpa), got a taste of the real world, figured out what I do want to do with my life, and am now doing really well. I'm back in school, planning to go to grad school. You do have plenty of time to decide. You may come across something tomorrow that really excites you, one class where you do pay attention & even do extra reading, & decide that you really do want to go to college if you can major in that. Who knows. Until something hits you like that, tho, there are a few things I suggest you think about in making this decision. If you go to college but don't take it seriously -- party too much & not do homework/reading -- you're at risk of flunking out, which will make it more difficult to get in & get scholarships when you are ready to go back & take it seriously later. If you take time off, there is a reasonable chance that you will never go back to school -- you may wind up financially unable to go, you may find a career you love that doesn't require a degree, whatever. Honestly, my brother was never the school type, as in he hated it, so he went into the marines instead of to college. Now that he's out, he has a job driving a tow truck -- in his first year, he earned more than I expect to get for my first couple of years after getting a PhD. Good jobs that don't require a degree are less common, but if you would be happier in a trade that you can't learn in a classroom, then look into it (before deciding, so that you can make a more informed decision). Now, consider which risk is greater (flunking out or taking time off then not going back), which possible consequences are worse? That's something that nobody can decide for you, I don't know you well enuf to even begin to guess which way you should go. Honestly, I don't like the real world. I can't imagine getting by on just a hs diploma, not going back to college. At the same time, taking time off was the best thing I could have done for my academic career. But that's me. I managed to avoid getting tied down with kids or other responsibilities that would have kept me from having the time & energy & money to go back to school. Either way it's a risk. Again, you have plenty of time to decide, don't rush into anything.
Tell yourself, and everyone else, that you're taking a year off (do an OE!!) to earn lots of money for college..That way you've got college in your head, you're going over what you want to do etc. so you're more likely to go back, people are off your back about it, and you won't make a big mistake. (That's what I'd do anyway, I didn't know what I wanted to do after school, but then I went mental because I was sick of being around people who I couldn't have adult discussions with about stuff (I was in high school), even some teachers were too idiotic for my liking.. So I'm going to college this year just so I can be around people who want to learn and know more of the stuff I want to know.)
Watch 'The Apprentice' this season it's a group with advanced college degrees versus a group with just hi school diplomas-and the hi schoolers make on average 3 times more than the college nerds (and they won the first challenge). You might have to work harder, but you'll probably end up doing something closer to your heart. Take some time off, think about it, but don't get bullied into anything.
i went to college for 1 year. i quit, got into construction, now i make about 60k a year, i work only when i want (when it's not cold out) my family STILL asks me when i'm going back to college.... uhhhh.... lessee..... it's been 5 years.... uhhhh... maybe next semester gram, maybe next semester.
Just to warn you, don't expect these kids to magically grow up -- too often, especially in first year gen ed required courses, the kids are just as idiotic but without mommy & daddy there to make them actually do their homework or get in at a reasonable time the night before class (so you get to hear about how hung over they are, if they even come to class, as well as tales of their drunken stupidity the night before). BUT those people you seek are there, you just have to look a bit harder than you expect to have to. Check into academic clubs -- like I'm an anthro major so I'm in the anthro students association, half or more of the memebers are grad students... Sorry to get a bit off topic!
Google it and it will tell you. Basically you do community service activities. I was going to go to the AmeriCorps (which you only need a high school diploma for and it's based here in the US) and what I got accepted to was a program where we helped small farm owners put up fence and do elk feedings (so as to keep elk from eating their crops)...I was to live in a house with seven other individuals (of like-mind, of course) in the Spokane, Washington area for a year. I ended up not going (I could kick myself for it), but I thought it sounded like an awesome idea. You can work within the Red Cross doing emergency clean-up (for hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.). The Peace Corps is similar, but you go outside the US and you have to have a college degree...ask your guidance counselor for more information...he/she could provide you with that, also.
You have to go study something you like and are interested in, not something that will earn you a lot of money if you're finished. I'm at Leiden University studying Archaeology and I love it. But that's also because of the fantastic people I've met there. So I guess you'll only know if you like college if you try it. But then again, if you don't want to go, don't go. It's your life.
Yeah, don't let people rush you into the college thing. I mean, to be totally honest, I had really no idea what I wanted to do Sophomore year...I had a vision of going to college for an engineering degree...lol. But then I realized I needed something more hands-on, after working summer of my freshman/sophomore year with my dad, who's a contractor. Best thing I could have ever done. I realized I wouldn't be happy in an office, and if I wanted a degree, I could always go later. So, now my plan is do a 2-year electronics program at a community college when I graduate. Maybe do the electrical apprenticeship after that...but first I'm gonna do some AmeriCorps stuff, I think. I'm been researching their prgram a lot lately, and it looks like the right place for me to start out. Plus, they give you some money for college when you're done serving. They've got some cool programs. Check it out: http://americorps.org/ Good luck!
If I were you I would (like some people suggested) take a year after school to work or do whatever you like. Just see how things I go. I don't think College nowadays is valued much in employment/wage terms, unless you want to work in a field that requires a degree (like science or psychology)! If your heart is set on college at any time, you can still go. I think exploring the options beforehand is really important, and a year or two following your heart will enlighten you, and also will educate you on your desires and motivations! At 16, I was completely different to how I am at 21, and I'm glad I postponed decisions until I was more sure of myself.
