Does anyone else find college depressing? What to do?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I'm a current freshman (2nd term) at Dartmouth, and Dartmouth seems to be purging me of the little gumption and zest for life I had previously. Do other college kids get like this because of college? What should I do about it? Stick it out, transfer, or drop out?</p>

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<li>STORY *</li>
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<p>A little background, I was not prepared academically or socially before getting to Dartmouth. I hail from a notoriously bad rural public school in Oklahoma and similarly lived in a town where diversity had more negative connotations than good. This, combined with being a URM, I thought contributed to my acceptance, but my grades and scores were above average for Dartmouth, and I thought would be able to cope academically.</p>

<p>I thought wrong. The classes move way too fast. I never realized how much I loved my free time until I got here, and realized that I had to choose between neglecting my grades or neglecting myself. I'm beginning to hate subjects that I love, due to shear burnout. When I'm feeling in a good mood about my classes, I often find that the course is moving way too fast and that I can't master the concepts. I can only skim and try to make it look like I know what I'm talking about for the grade. </p>

<p>Another problem I'm having with college is socializing, but not in the average way. I'm one of the kids who isn't a fan of socializing. I picked a small school because larger crowds of people make me feel very nervous, but the problem I'm facing is Dartmouth tries to force me to be social. I feel as though I can't leave my dorm without 3 people trying to engage in conversation, let alone sit by myself in the dining halls. This is affecting my attendance as well. I hate small, "lets-all-participate" style classes. I find it nerve wracking and exhausting to have to have an opinion on something and be ready to debate and support my side of it 24/7. This school doesn't accept "I don't care about it" as a valid answer. Why everyone hate lectures is beyond me. I also don't like partying.</p>

<p>Lastly, I'm not an intellectual by any means. I had a feeling about this before I got to college, but now I'm confirmed. I hate discussing things, and thinking about deep meanings and crap. I want to learn skills that I can use to make or do something. I don't think I'm being taught how to critically think, I'm being taught how to over analyze. I don't want to take a drawing class and be forced to act like an "artist". I just want to learn drawing techniques. I like things simple.</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, there are some things I love, like the small town and the great faculty (even though I often feel a lot of pressure due to this last one because they care too much. Sometimes, objectivity is better than compassion)</p>

<p><em>END OF STORY</em></p>

<p>Much of this is probably to specific to be in College Life, but if I leave Dartmouth, I don't want to end up in this boat again. I really don't want to go to a large public school, because they are way too busy and the faculty come across and the opposite of helpful. However, this whole liberal arts education thing is wearing me out. </p>

<p>I like learning, especially the things I enjoy, but I need breaks sometimes. Also, I hate now being able to fully learn something. I feel that since getting to college, I get 75 percent mastery in any small concept before moving on, and I don't have the time to go back on my own to claim the remaining 25 percent.</p>

<p>I'm in college because I want to learn and I want to make OKAY pay. I don't have ambitions for a family, and grew up poor and didn't have a problem with it. I'd be fine with a salary anywhere between 40-70k annually. I see the importance of college because I want more than minimum wage, but I definitely don't need to be rolling.</p>

<p>What makes things harder is I don't know what I want to do in life. I know I like computers, drawing, music, Japanese, and psychology, but I have no idea what career path would be good for me. Game Design or animation maybe? I also can't go to technical school, because the scholarship I'm using to afford any kind of education applies only to 4 year accredited institutions. </p>

<p>I'm really beginning to get concerned. Last term, my depression with college almost got me dead. This term has been better, but it's starting to get bad again. </p>

<p>Is this just slow acclimating, and will it probably get better, or is my hope for this futile? Should I go somewhere else or should I give up on college? I appreciate any advice!</p>

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<p>Also, anyone know of not great paying jobs that don’t required a bachelors, but aren’t too physically demanding? I’m fine with boring work lol.</p>

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<p>“What makes things harder is I don’t know what I want to do in life. I know I like computers, drawing, music, Japanese, and psychology, but I have no idea what career path would be good for me. Game Design or animation maybe?”</p>

<p>I was going to suggest some type of engineering technology program but that doesn’t seem to suit your interests. A video game design degree is probably a good choice if you like computers and are not a particularly social person. Not sure if you scholarship will allow you to transfer somewhere with a good game design program.</p>

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<p>really liked your story a lot!. i think there’s got to be other students like you as well who feel the same way. that should be one of the common complaints about darthmouth. when you go too far in the direction dartmouth has than that’s what happens. there’s lots of high schools that follow a similar template to darthmouth and probably you want to get students from those as much as possible, but when there’s a rural oklahoma kid like you with above average stats then they have to grab you as well, however impoverished your education background might look to them. what you wrote is basically student paper material i think, it’s good. like honest feelings about the environment and what’s not working for you, and all coming from a URM. are you one of the “minority” URMS? it feels like you could be indian like indian from the indian subcontinent but that could work in some measure to your advantage too. there’s not very URMs with above average stats unless it’s people from asia somewhere. but if you’re one of them, then all the more reason to say something. if there’s one voice the school <em>has</em> to listen to its the eloquent opinions from the URM student who doesn’t feel like he/she fits in. im not really saying you should voice these concerns but you could maybe show them to someone at the school. like an understanding teacher. like as well as students there’s got to be faculty too that could sympathize with what you’re saying. they don’t want you to leave their school (especially not if you’re URM with above average stats, but also not since you have like an interesting independent nature, you’re considering transferring or dropping out because you don’t feel it’s right for you). honestly there should be people that can be more than accommodating to you. maybe most importantly, if you could just find some good friends that you like than you could try to work your schedule out so you can avoid a lot of the kinds of classes you don’t like. but first thing’s first i would try finding someone good to talk with this about from the school.</p>

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<p>Well you need to explore the world of 2D and 3D instead of going to engineering , i know cause i am an IT engineer myself and right now working in a 3D studio(OOMPH N PAINT , like on fB ) and we also run Academy of Animation and Gaming in Gurgaon .(AAG Gurgaon on fB), and nothing taught in my engineering has helped me here. u need to have imagination and the full knowledge of 2D/3D/Editing and compositing/VFX for going to some place like Disney. You can opt for a Degree in Animation or Gaming (B.Sc.) that will cover all the above topics.Please let me know if I can be of any help regarding that.
Shrey singh
shrey.oomphnpaint at gmail dot com</p>