Anyone else about to graduate from a program their parents forced them to do?

Student Lounge College Life
1

I am about to graduate from my program. I should be feeling happy and relived but I feel miserable and sad. My parents forced me to major in something I did not like. My mental health has deteriorated servery over these last four years and I have been slipping into depression. I tried in my first semester to convince my parents to let me switch into a program I enjoyed but they were not having it. My father said I was not trying hard enough.

I hate myself and feel like I wasted years of my life. School can be draining and stressful if you are in a program you do not enjoy. The stress kills you. Its hard to get through a program you don’t like, even more in the final year.

I am posting this for students who have been forced into programs they do not like. GET OUT, SWITCH MAJORS. At the end of the day its your life, not your parents.

To parents who want to force kids into certain programs. I have heard a few success stories but nobody talks about the students forced to study. I am an example of this. Its 2:23 A.M. I am writing this post because I need someone I can talk with. I am a few weeks from graduating and I genuinely am depressed.

2

Do you have a job lined up?
If not, go to career services immediately, work on your resume and interview skills, apply for everything, find a job.
Getting money will mean independence - and you’ll be able to take courses in whatever stories your fancy.
You won’t get the past few years back but with a job you’ll be able to do whatever ou WANT to do, wherever you want to do it.
And once you’ve saved money from a job you may not like, you can switch careers. (Use the disliked field to get your foot in the door and as a way to a means, get money, step on the career ladder…and then, when you’re 24-25, pivot. )

3

Prevsious poster is right…find your freedom through your own power of independence.

Try to hold on to the relief that you are done and although your degree is not in something you wanted, education is something nobody can ever take away from you. It’s yours. You earned it. Be proud. Be grateful. You have something many can only dream of.

4

I agree with all above…

  1. Presumably your parents forced this major on you because it would be employable.
  2. Are your parents controlling in other ways?
  3. You don’t have to get a job directly related to that major. Your parents had more control over college because they paid for it, but when you graduate they have no further control over you.
  4. Go to the career office TOMORROW and talk to them about jobs in an area of interest.
  5. Many jobs require a college degree…not necessarily a specific major
  6. What is your plan when you graduate? I would really try to find another place to live if you don’t have a job lined up…with a friend or other relative.