<p>To begin, I'm a freshman, and I'm lost overall.</p>
<p>As far back as I can recall, academia has always had a way of leaving me a depressed, miserable wreck of a person. As long as I'm in college, I feel as though I cannot date, exercise, and focus on myself. The result of this is an overwhelming sense of apathy and hatred toward academics, and self-isolation.</p>
<p>What's more, I'm currently undeclared liberal arts. While I have thought about transferring to a major with more scientific and mathematical application, realistically speaking, I would not be able to succeed. At the moment, granted I decide to stay with college, I'm leaning toward Psychology. That being said, I realize that I would have to go on to higher education afterwards, and I don't know if I have the drive for that.</p>
<p>At the moment, one class I'm positive I may fail or get a D in. It's all lecture-based and I do not retain information from that generally, unless it gains my interest. I'm currently three assignments behind in that class and too depressed to do them now. On top of that, I do not handle stress well; obviously that in and of itself is problematic in the college environment.</p>
<p>I think I made a huge, huge mistake going to college right out of high school. Perhaps college is not right for me?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’ve tried that. It only works for the classes that have my interest. Busy-work intensive classes and classes I simply do not care for are not included.</p></li>
<li><p>I am quite certain I do not have ADHD. In any case, I refuse to medicate myself to get through school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Are you sure you should really be in college? It might be more beneficial for you (and probably cheaper as well), to go to a two year tech school and pick up a trade.</p>
<p>I think there’s nothing wrong with the way your Thinking now…I totally understand and feel the same way a lot. If I were you, I would do my best to get through this year and then maybe try and find a more specific major that suits you well and possibly go back to a community college in the area you’re from and work while taking some classes, to save yourself a ton of money while you figure yourself out. Then, after you get a good amount of credits (or even 60 for your AA) then transfer to a larger institution.
You might even want to just take a year off…it’s not common to stop in the middle of college like that and I’m not sure how the credit transfer situation would pan out (depends on the schools, I guess), but not everyone is meant to go to college at 18, right out of high school. Don’t feel pressured to do something you really don’t think is the right path for you. That having been said, do your very best to motivate yourself and if you’re not working to the hardest of your ability, then the situation might be a little different. Either way, I think you should just relax, consider your options and don’t put so much pressure on yourself!! You’ll be fine! :)</p>
<p>It may be that you need professional help and if so you should seek it. </p>
<p>The rest of the post assumes that you don’t and that your post is an honest self-reflection. </p>
<p>I think that to be successful in college, you need a certain attitude and self-confidence. You need to be able to understand what you have to do and be able to do it. </p>
<p>If, as you say “academia makes you miserable”, you need to ask yourself why you are there which you have. Academia isn’t for everyone and you might find later in life, you have the motivation to return. Many people return for a degree just for the self-satisfaction of getting one. In other words separate college from how you intend to earn a living as a responsible adult. </p>
<p>I would try to salvage what you can of the rest of the semester since it’s been paid for and you’re not getting any money back. Think of it as a sunk cost. For the class you’re failing, try reading the book. Maybe if you know that you are dropping out, you can focus on just the present and salvage some credits out of it for some future degree. </p>
<p>Then forget about college for a while and try to find a way to make a living. Get a job. See if that job has advancement potential. Look for a job with training and an upside. Sales jobs can be terrific if you have the right personality, but you have to decide how you want to make a living. Live independently only from your own resources and see for yourself what it takes make it. People do it all the time. </p>
<p>I know many people who have been able to squeak out a living and then after both being successful in knowing that they can survive, developed some ambition and went back to some sort of school for some particular training. One guy who worked in the cafeteria at work left the job to go back to school for accounting. He was really psyched. He was pretty smart, and the monotony of his job made him realize that he wanted more and had the proper attitude to do it. </p>
<p>There are also many people who have worked for someone, learned the business and then eventually started their own. These people have done extremely well without going to college. If you don’t learn well from academics, find some other way to learn something lucrative.</p>
<p>There is no single right way to live your life. It’s YOUR life.</p>
<p>Wow, I could have written this post for you, especially the part about academia leaving me a stressed and miserable wreck.
I’m a freshman in college, undeclared liberal arts as well yet I want to do something more “practical”; the only reason I’m in college is to learn stuff that I can directly apply to a job, but I know I’m not good at anything math- or science-related, so I don’t know what else I could do that is practical and directly applicable to a career. I’ve decided I’m transferring to community college… maybe you should try this too?
The only reason I got good grades in high school was because I put in minimal effort to get the highest possible grades and figured out how to work the “system” basically, but other than that, I engaged in severe procrastination and wrecked my sleep cycle just to get the most trivial assignments done. It’s only gotten worse at college.</p>
<p>I wish I could go to a 2-year tech school and pick up a trade or something, or else just work for a while and go from there, but my parents would never in a million years allow either of those options (and they have the money while I’ve got none, so I sort of have to listen to them). I come from a wealthy, highly educated area where it’s unheard of and highly frowned upon to not go to a top-tier 4-year college, let alone a lower-tier 4-year college or a trade school. Also, I’m worried about being able to support myself off of an income I’d be earning without a 4-year college degree.</p>
<p>Ugh, so stressful. I’m glad that community college will give me a little more support and “personal” attention considering that there are probably a lot of people there that have had trouble with academia as well, and I wouldn’t be alone in feeling that way (it sucks feeling like the “dumb one” at the top-tier school I’m currently at). I just don’t know what I want to actually do, though.</p>
<p>Anyway, sorry to make this post about me. I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who’s feeling miserable at college because of academia, and the replies in this thread have given me hope that maybe I can find success in some other way.</p>