<p>Hi everyone. :) I'm a junior in HS who will be graduating this coming December. I'm a bright kid and will probably be able to get into most tier-1 schools, with the exception of the tippy top institutions but the problem is that I don't feel inspired to go to any of the great places that will likely accept me. I can't get myself excited about the prospect of 4 years of college, even when I know I'll have great opportunities come next spring. I've worked really hard in HS (and all my life) and just feel burnt out on learning altogether. :-/ </p>
<p>I know I'll probably need a bachelor's for most jobs, but right now, I can't imagine 4 more years of academia. I'm ready to go out and do things, to work at a real job if I could. </p>
<p>You don’t need a college degree to be a real estate agent. The housing market sucks right now, but will likely strengthen over the next few years.</p>
<p>Once you get into your colleges, ask them to defer your enrollment for a year and use that year to “do things,” whether it’s getting a job or two, going abroad, or volunteering. I’ve heard it can be an amazing experience, and those who take a gap year tend to be more mature and ready for college.</p>
<p>I might do a gap year, but the thing is that I don’t really ever see myself wanting to go to college at all. I’ve always disliked school, all my life, but I’ve always worked hard at it because I felt like that was what I was “supposed to do”. Now that I actually have the chance to be free from it, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be motivated to go. </p>
<p>Am I totally crazy to think that I might be able to get a great job based on my hard work and intelligence in the real world alone? Do almost all employers really care about a college degree? I’m guessing that they do, but it’s disappointing for someone like me, who is very smart and capable, and yet does not like the confinement of traditional schooling.</p>
<p>A gap year is a great idea. Seriously consider that, and don’t let anyone tell you that “it’ll hurt your chances” or “you’ll feel out of place”.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to do that, look into less stressful colleges. Not every top school is super-intense, and you can certainly get a great real-world education without scraping for every single point. Brown would be the first school that comes to mind, but there are plenty more, and all of them will have career centers that can connect you to job opportunities.</p>
<p>Sit down in front of your computer and read through the list of one year programs that are offered at your local community college. There should be a whole range of options from EMT training through Auto Mechanics and Pastry Arts. All of these will have a lot more hands-on learning than desk time. Some of these careers can be learned on-the-job or in a union apprenticeship if you prefer that route. Nowhere is it written that you MUST go to college right now or even ever. If you feel burned out it is perfectly OK to not go to college just yet.</p>
<p>Try working if you decide to take a gap year. Try living like a real person and being self sufficient. If you are happy with how things are going, no one is going to force you to attend college.</p>
<p>Take a gap year and work at a real job. That way you will gather real life experience and you will get time to figure out what you want to do with your life. I have a feeling that after working at a real job you will want to go back to school.</p>
<p>Even though my son did not take any gap year, my son had to work 20 hrs/week at a restaurant throughout the year in high school and much more over the summers. At times it was really hard to balance his work, sports, school but he learnt a lot from his experience. He really wanted to go to college after experiencing the real world. I think you will probably feel the same way. I have a question, do you work at a real job now?</p>
<p>Another idea would be to investigate any vocational programs that are offered by your school district. In our school district, students spend half of the day in academic classes at their home school, and half of the day at the vocational school. If you don’t absolutely need to be done with high school in December, maybe you could spread your academic work out over the full year, and pick up a vocational program at the same time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my CC doesn’t offer any vocational programs besides ESL and Environmental Training. :-/ That seemed like a good idea though, happymom! I’ll try to look into it more in other CC’s that are not close but at least nearby. </p>
<p>As for working at a real job, I don’t mean just working at the local McDonald’s, if that’s what it came across as, hehe. I think what I want is to be a model and an actress, and while both are hard to break into, what I meant is that I’d rather go out and do jobs related to that rather than going and learning about (mostly) things I don’t really care about.</p>
<p>Well, you certainly don’t need a degree to be a model or actress! If that’s what you want to do with your life, go ahead and try it for a year. An interesting back up to either would be marrying into money. If you are unsuccessful after a year then reevaluate your position.</p>
<p>Good luck. Just think about having a Plan B in case your dream doesn’t work out. Both of those fields are intensely competitive and VERY poorly paid except for those at the top.</p>
<p>Hehe, thanks for the good luck, guys! I know they are unrealistic dreams, but darnnit, I want to do a job I love, not just something to pay the bills! I guess I’m either foolish or just idealistic like that. And hehe, 6281597, marrying into money is a good back up indeed, haha! Except one little problem…I’m a hardcore romantic, hardcore, man. But if I fall madly in love with a billionaire, hey, I wouldn’t be complaining. :)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m wrong, but you sounds like you’re from the West Coast. If so, real estate isn’t a bad back up plan. Even with the recession, housing prices are though the roof over there. A career as a Realtor would be a great way to introduce yourself to wealthy people.</p>
<p>6281597 and OP, you can’t just “go ahead and try” to become an actor with any sort of reasonable pay. If you go into acting without EXTENSIVE training not only in the craft itself but also how to succeed as a paid actor, there’s a good chance that you’ll be waiting tables and bombing every audition for the next five years or more. It’s not like auditioning for a high school play, or even being in a high school theatre/drama program. If you do decide to take this route and feel you are prepared, go in with both eyes open, knowing that there are other people wanting those roles who live and breathe their craft so much that they are or already have trained pre-professionally to some extent, whether it be through earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts (or even Master’s), or by other means with relatively similar rigor. They probably are also members of the Actors’ Equity Association.</p>
<p>It’s totally cool to want to do a job you love. We all should. Just be flexible about what jobs you might love. I’m sure there are things you could do and love besides modeling and acting ;)</p>
<p>I was a journalism major and thought I’d become a political writer or, later, a sportswriter. Now I work as a park ranger, and love every minute of it.</p>
<p>Also, as you note, pretty much every job you could do beyond flipping burgers is going to involve learning. It’s a clich</p>
<p>I don’t think you could have done as well as you did in HS if you don’t like to learn. I think you just don’t like high school. College is different, in that 1) there is usually less busywork, 2) the work is usually at a higher/deeper level, 3) you have more flexibility to choose your major and the classes within your major.</p>
<p>Even if you can get a job now, which I don’t doubt you can do, you will probably be limited in your ability to advance in that field. I strongly recommend that you apply for colleges this fall, planning to take a gap year-and-a-half. If you select a college in April 2012 with their agreement to start in Fall 2013, you can experience real life, see if that doesn’t rejuvenate you, and make the choice in 2013 about what you want to do. </p>
<ul>
<li>It’s easier to apply in fall of HS senior year (though by no means required)</li>
<li>Choose a variety of schools, from the tippy-top to the state to the lower-tier privates that will give you huge scholarship $$</li>
<li>You are not obligated to actually GO in fall of 2013.</li>
</ul>
<p>People on here have given you some good advice already, but I had to post my two cents about this subject because it is near and dear to my heart right now. And especially because:</p>
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<p>I’m sorry, but I have to disagree here. From my own personal experience, though; I’m not saying that this isn’t the case for many. I’m sure a lot of people find college more stimulating and meaningful than high school. However, I just had to warn you that it is definitely not a -given- that college will be this way. And doing well in high school also doesn’t mean that you love traditional-school-learning.</p>
<p>I was always indifferent to high school for the most part. Some classes I liked, others I didn’t…the usual. I neither loved nor hated it, but I did exceptionally well because I knew–or thought, at the time–that doing well would take me where I wanted to go: a great university, a great career, and a deeper learning experience than the tediousness and frivolousness of most high school classes. </p>
<p>I did what I set out to do and got accepted into UC Berkeley, UCLA, and every other UC school. Because I want to be a screenwriter and film director (similar to your dreams as an actress, I presume), I chose UCLA. However, very unfortunately, the learning experience was extremely shallow–even though I did pick classes that I was personally interested in. For three of them, due to illness, I wasn’t even able to attend about half the lectures and still got A’s in the classes–this proves that anything learned in the classes could be learned on my own time, without the professor or the class setting of the students. And that which I did learn in class was not inspiring either. </p>
<p>So my suggestion to you would be one of two things:
1.) Go to a small university or liberal arts college where the class setting will actually make a difference in your learning. Discussing subjects of interest with your professor and classmates could very well provide you with a deeper learning experience you couldn’t offer yourself on your own.
2.) Forgo college altogether for as long as you want. I’m now a firm believer that the college experience is highly overrated; unfortunately, of course, for many jobs the degree is required one way or another. But it sounds like your career options certainly don’t require a college degree of any sort, and a college degree could actually hinder your chances at being successful. Especially when it comes to acting. </p>
<p>27dreams mentions that you’ll be competing against many actors who have had pre-professional training or even college degrees in acting–but none of that really matters if you already have raw talent. A large percentage of the most successful actors in Hollywood right now had -no- professional acting experience whatsoever but were still “discovered” due to their natural talent, which I believe is the most important quality for an actor to have. It’s sometimes obvious when an actor is too trained; naturalness is key, if you want to work in movies or television especially. So don’t let the competition against trained professionals stop you if you believe you already have the natural talent! </p>
<p>If you’re burnt out on learning and have a solid grasp of what you want to do with your life, I say you seize life to the fullest and pursue your dream early! A lot of people go to college to -figure out- what they want to do, but if you already know (and better yet, it doesn’t require a college degree anyway ^_^), there is absolutely no harm in trying to land your dream career before spending tons of time and money at college.</p>
<p>But I do agree that you should still apply to college in the fall and perhaps even accept a place at one in the spring, especially if they do have the one-year deferment policy. You never know if you might change your mind after a the half-gap year between your graduation in December and your entrance to college in fall. </p>
<p>Even if you can’t go ahead and try to be an actress with an expectation of decent pay, you probably could give modeling a shot. </p>
<p>If you feel burnt out, another option is to get college done with as fast as possible. I personally dislike school, so I finished college in 2 years. It wasn’t even that hard. If you know that you’re just in it for the degree, and are willing to engage in “academic gamesmanship,” school becomes much, much easier. If interested, I can elaborate.</p>
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And hehe, 6281597, marrying into money is a good back up indeed, haha! Except one little problem…I’m a hardcore romantic, hardcore, man. But if I fall madly in love with a billionaire, hey, I wouldn’t be complaining. :)</p>
And especially because:</p>