What do you wish to do?
Even if there is grade deflation, a significant percentage of students still make good grades, especially those who find classes “easy.”
In general, committing to a 4 year project and then deciding to hit the ejector button after 1 year defines the type of person not likely to succeed. Think of that four year process as the “weed out” process rather than individual classes.
Someone above mentioned something like: “there was no such thing as ‘fit’ in my day.” That is true. The notion of fit is a fairly recent vanity that I think for the most part is mutual narcissism between the student and the university.
@rosered55 My dream job is to be an Economic scientist.
There was nothing in that article about grade deflation. The point was Purdue doesn’t inflate grades. Princeton and MIT are in the same category. The 2.8 mentioned was avg GPA, not a target GPA. There was nothing about quotas on A’s. The article also talked about more selective admissions and other things to improve Purdue. These are all good for current students and alumni alike.
College is hard. You should study 2-3 hours out of class for every hour in class. Econ is heavy on stats and some think stats is easy compared to calculus. There is no substitute for hours working problems and if a student falls behind in the first four weeks it can very difficult to catch up.
Let’s redirect. What do you want to do as a career/profession? (As @rosered55 and others said)
I’d like to reiterate that my mind is pretty much made up about not continuing at Purdue. I’m looking more at information about how to make this process go as smoothly as possible, not looking for people to try to debate with or change my mind.
So what information do you want? I think we are genuinely confused.
Community college will make it tougher to get in grad school.
LAC’s cost $70,000 per year at today’s prices and are going up annually.
There are limits to how much you can borrow and it’s no where near $70,000.
You won’t be independent until 24 and have to pay all of your expenses. Living with parents doesn’t count.
Econ is hard everywhere.
Those are all facts, not advice.
/thread
@Sportsman88
“Community college will make it tougher to get in grad school.”
How would going to community college and learning a trade make it harder to get into grad school? I’m not expecting the community college to be of any academic value or credit. Merely to learn a trade. Nothing else.
“LAC’s cost $70,000 per year at today’s prices and are going up annually.”
That is why I am willing to work for a decade or two if need be.
“You won’t be independent until 24 and have to pay all of your expenses. Living with parents doesn’t count.”
That is why I will not live with my parents. I would live very frugally and made money based on my trade
“There are limits to how much you can borrow and it’s no where near $70,000.”
That is why I would have learned a trade.
“Econ is hard everywhere.”
Deflation≠Difficulty
Please stop trying to win some fictitious argument. It’s frustrating trying to talk with you and it makes your advice incredibly hard to take. The ruder you are to someone, the less of an impact your words will have with them.
Why do you want to work a trade for “a decade or two” instead of using the full tuition scholarship you already have?
I would say we just can’t see the logic and therefore can’t form an alternative.
You need to get over your fear of grade deflation. I do not agree with grade deflation for deflation’s sake, but I do think employers and grad school admissions committees become familiar with what a typical transcript looks like from various schools, especially from schools that produce as many graduates as Purdue. They will know about the grade deflation.
I doubt that Purdue is lacking in academic opportunity. Your own bad attitude (my parents are making me go here) and your lack of initiative (not wanting to risk trying a class that might be a weed-out) are holding you back, not your school.
Are you sure you’re willing to work a decade or two to save up money to go to a fancier undergraduate then graduate school in economics? By then, you may want to start a family (with someone you haven’t met yet) or you might just be tempted take a trip around the world with the money you saved up rather than give up the freedom of the working life to go back to a school schedule. (My spouse went back to school with a 4 year old and a 1 year old at home, it was not a typical college experience!) You probably cannot appreciate how different a person you will be in a decade, so just trust your elders on this one.
A decade or two is a very, very long time to put your true career dreams on hold. Especially when you are sitting at a good school with a full tuition scholarship right now.
Also, the value of a degree is based in part on the number of years you are able to sell it in the job marketplace. If you go to college in a decade or two, you will not have those working years ahead of you.
@AroundHere I’ve been told that employers and graduate schools (especially ones not in the Midwest), do not know about Purdue’s grade deflation and/or just do not care enough to make a difference. Same goes for medical/law schools, although that theory seems more supported. I have no sources or experts, just students and some people who frequent this site.
Also, I don’t really see me having a family or wanting to travel the world to be an issue. But that’s rather personal.
Like I said, I don’t like being at Purdue. I didn’t want to go to Purdue and I unfortunately burnt many bridges with my family trying to go somewhere else.
I have felt depressed and have had some rather discomforting thoughts in my head when I am here. My mental and physical well-being just isn’t worth being here when I am not accomplishing anything I want to.
I have decided to withdraw and have officially sent in a request online.
@BurgerMan1 - I’m sorry you are troubled by your current circumstances and suggest you meet with a counselor to begin your next phase with clarity.
Thanks TQ. I’m starting to think perhaps college, as a whole, just wasn’t right for me. I’ve always been shy and had trouble making friends, and was never competitive when it came to academics. Living on a campus a hundred miles away from my everyone I’ve ever known, surrounded by 40,000 strangers, everyone competing against each other on the curve, etc is just so overwhelming. Unfortunately, college seems to be the only way for someone to be successful.
I’ve attempted the “just try hard and see what happens” but in the end it didn’t work.
I was always told I had academic talents ever since first grade, and I always thought I’d be successful. Maybe my high hopes just got crashed and this will be good for me in some convoluted way that I can’t see.
Academics are the only advantage I have ever had in life. I have social anxiety that years of therapy (perhaps given to me years too late) didn’t help with, I was abused as a child and constantly ridiculed by my family for being “strange”, kids at school were always worse. That’s one reason I don’t need to worry about a family. When academics are taken away…I have nothing. I am nothing.
I know none of you can help me with this from the internet. But it feels good knowing at least someone can read this and I don’t have it inside of me.
You have introduced new information that changes everything. Please do go to the counseling center before the semester ends and then see what counseling options you have afterwards.
There is no shame in saying you want to learn a trade and work in a trade. Not everyone needs to go to a four year school. That’s diffferent from looking for the perfect fit in a school.
What makes you think that you will succeed in IT ? It is not a walk in the park either. Find something where you can succeed. Purdue is a fine school and college is always much more competitive than HS.
I hope you can find a path in life that is right for you. Good luck.
@grtd2010 I have zero idea if I will be successful in IT. I feel like a failure at Purdue, so I don’t want to continue. IT is the closest thing I have interest in that doesn’t require a 4 year degree. If not IT, then I flip burgers until that gets automated.
@Sportsman88 To clarify, it isn’t that I want to do a trade, but just that I feel (given the current circumstances) I don’t have a choice.
I’m sorry you are finding Purdue isn’t working for you. I believe you are entitled to free guidance and career counseling while you are a student there. Perhaps you may wish to try those services to see if they can shed some fresh insights for you.
Best of luck in finding what will work best for you!
Sounds like you have made your decision. Do finish the semester as successfully as you can as that will keep fu ture eDucati on all opportunities mor open ton you. Please get a safety mental health evaluation while you still have free student counseling available, some of your comments sound borderline suicidal. If that is wrong, then perhaps some time doing career exploration at the career center before you leave would not be a waste of time. Good luck, sorry Purdue didn’t work out for you.