Does this sound like a good plan?

Parents Forum
1

Hello,

I’m a 20 year old male. I just completed my third year of school. I was studying Biology. I’ve made posts on here about taking time off from school. I’m strongly considering taking next year off. I plan on being out of school for a year or two. My reasons for taking time off are I realized I don’t like Biology that much. I regret majoring in it. I don’t want to get a degree in something I don’t want. I lost my scholarship twice for not being able to maintain the GPA requirement of a 3.3. My current GPA is a 2.6.

I honestly feel like I wasn’t ready for college and I didn’t want to be there. This reflected in my GPA. I started college at 17 right after high school. The only reasons why I went to college were because I saw no other option and my mother kind of pressured me to go. I had scholarships so that made me feel even more obligated to go. I wish I would’ve taken time off after high school before attending college. Had I done that, I wouldn’t be in debt right now.

I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. I don’t know what career I want. This is one of the reasons why I want to take time off so I can just explore the real world, see what I like and what I don’t like, etc.

I want to get my mental health in order. I feel like this was another reason why I was doing poorly. I just wasn’t in the right mindset to be in school. I struggle with Social Anxiety and possibly ADHD and low level Depression. During my time off, I would like to start attending therapy and maybe go on medication.

I’ve never worked. I want to just work a few dead-end jobs during my time off to pay off my debt, build a job history, and to try to improve my social skills. I want to practice driving and get my driver’s license since I still don’t know how to drive.

I think I have good reasons for wanting to take a break from school. I’ve asked this question to people, and most of them say I’m making a huge mistake. They tell me, “You’ve completed three years of school. Just finish up and get your degree. It’s better to have a degree than to not have one. Many people work in fields that aren’t related to their majors, but get a degree because it’s good to have one. The longer you’re out of school, the harder it is to go back.” Why am I going to get a degree in Biology when I don’t have an interest in it? A Biology degree isn’t very marketable. Trust me I’ve looked it up. Unless you plan on going to grad school, being a teacher, working in a lab, or obtaining your PhD there isn’t much you can do with a Biology degree. I don’t want to get a degree that’s not marketable in a ton of debt. And if I get a degree in Biology, and then I find what I really want to do and decide to go back to school, my financial aid will be very limited because I already have a Bachelor’s.

I just want to mature a bit before I go back to school. I’m 17k in debt. My student loans are going to come due in November. I’m going to have to work to pay this debt off. I’m going to ask my parents if I can live with them rent-free so I can pay off my loans.

And since I’ve completed three years of school, I was thinking if I could possibly apply for an Associate’s just so I can have SOMETHING. Especially since I’m going to be looking for jobs. My school was partnered with a community college where you can take classes at both institutions simultaneously. I was apart of this program. If I’m able to transfer my credits to the community college and obtain my Associate’s that’ll be great.

What do you guys think? Does this sound like a good plan?

2

How many more credits do you need for your bio major? How much will the last year cost you and how much will your debt increase? Any idea what you DO want to do? Can you get some coursework in THAT during your last year?

3

I still need 59 more credits. Well since I’ve had to rely mostly on student loans and my student status is an upperclassmen, my last year will be quite expensive. Also, if I decide to continue I may have to take an extra semester to graduate since I’ve failed a few classes. That’s going to put me even further in debt. It’s kind of hard to give a rough estimate on how much my debt would increase, but I’m pretty sure it would increase by a significant amount.

On what I want to do. This is why I want to attend therapy and explore the real world. I believe I could have some low level Depression because I feel “meh” about a lot of things and I don’t have a whole lot of motivation. However, I have thought about subjects I enjoyed. I can say I really like Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy. I just don’t know what careers I would want in those subjects.

4

@cnp55

5

I would finish up. 1 year, 2 semesters, 8 months. Then go figure out what you want to do with your life. You can do everything you said you where going to do with the degree finished. Part of graduating, whether it’s a degree in Bio, or whatever, is that is shows commitment and accomplishment. Employers want to see that. Good luck.

6

$17k in students loans will be a lot to pay from dead end minimum wage jobs.

7

Yes. Get your health stabilized and you’ll do better in all likelihood. If you reduce it to 6 hrs temporarily, you can still defer your loans. There’s a limit on how much more loans you can take out, so a change in major might not be feasible at this point without reaching the debt limit. If you can graduate with a 3.0, then you can go to graduate school with a different major. If you do it right, a master’s degree is well worth the money.

8

59 credits is more like 2 more years of school. You can’t finish that in a year. Do you even have enough financial aid left for 2 more years? It’s a tough spot; I think you need to sit down with your parents and have a heart to heart.

9

I have three more years of financial aid left. @NJWrestlingmom

10

Have you worked on addressing your mental health concerns concurrently with college? Regular therapy? If not, is there a reason why? Plenty of students pursue therapy and even medication while in college.

11

Your innate intelligence (ie having earned scholarships) means you are capable of learning but other factors are now preventing you from doing so. Getting the AA degree now sounds like a great idea. That gives you credentials that open up possibilities. Getting a bachelor’s degree with ANY major opens up more possibilities but I agree with you that that is best done at a later point. Your current gpa means you are not well prepared for the upper level classes in a major and you may struggle to get high enough grades to graduate. Plus you have issues best addressed sooner than later- two years is a long time (59 credits would take that long) to continue struggling.

Short term plans look reasonable. Get the AA degree piece of paper. Taking some CC courses to defer loan payments while also getting a full time job.

Have a long discussion with your parents.

Trying to continue as a four year degree student before you have resolved your issues means deferring the help you need (time for that plus the amount of work needed to do well in classes) and more debt.

There are training programs for which the AA degree would be useful. Being smart does not mean going as far as you can in the formal educational system. It includes finding a field you actively enjoy. You should make use of your local community college’s career office. Take the (hopefully free) tests for interest et al.

Kudos to you for addressing this now. Long term can work out.

I disagree about the concept of planning on a masters degree for now. Depending on the field the MS may not be worth it (my well paid gifted son in computer science software development/engineering tells me this- he teaches himself new skills and is intellectually satisfied). That can be considered once working- and a company may even foot that bill eventually. Enough on your plate without being told a masters is needed.

12

I have not. I know I need to let my family know what’s going on because they know something is up with me, but I’m not saying what it is. I have a fear of being judged for my problems and having to go to therapy for them. My family, more specially my father and older brother, have a history of being judgmental and insensitive towards problems I’ve faced.

And also therapy and medication is something I want to seek out on my own. My family is very against medication because they feel like it screws people up in the long run. I mean I’ll let my family know what’s going on and I want to seek therapy, but I want to be the one to pick my own therapist, travel to the office on my own by bus, Uber, Lyft, etc., instead of relying on someone to drop me off. That’s why I want to work on getting my driver’s license. I want to start increasing my independence.

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@doschicos

14

So you’ve been in school for 3 years but you really have only 2 years worth of credits and need another 2 years, not one, to finish. My question was really how many BIO courses do you need to finish the major? But if you need another FOUR semesters which is certainly enough to switch majors and finish with something different. (Unless your credit counting is different from the normal 15 credits average per semester). Are you done with your general ed requirements or distribution requirements or whatever they call it?

15

IMO you should finish your 4-year degree while undergoing therapy. It is going to be extremely difficult to pay off your existing loans, make co-pays for therapy, and save anything for the future (down payment on a security deposit for your own place, a replacement car when yours dies, money to finish college, etc.) on the kind of job you are talking about. Plus your parents will not want to support you indefinitely. They have their own retirement looming.

Your perception about what you can do with a biology major may be limited. My sister majored in biology and has a very well-paying work-from-home project management job in the medical equipment industry. Although, if, in fact, you are only two years into your college, it isn’t too late to change majors. That’s a heart-to-heart talk you should have with your college’s guidance counselor. I’d bet you’ll find you have options you didn’t know about.

You can always go back for a second degree or a masters in another field later. But those dreams will be more attainable on a bachelor degree salary.

16

@cnp55 I have 4 more Gen-ed classes. I have about 10 classes left in my major. So 14 in total.

17

If possible, I would try to finish, even if that means getting your degree in biology, and even if that means taking a reduced course load.

You might do better in school if you are in therapy at the same time and getting support for the things that are weighing you down.

I had to put the brakes on my college education due to the trauma of losing a parent to cancer. It was very hard to go back to school, and when I did, I immediately began to fail most of my classes. Luckily, a professor at school intervened & sent me straight to the Dean’s office, then the Counseling Center.

I ended up WP a bunch of classes, and took a reduced course load for a couple semesters. I got a job off-campus and found that to be very good for my mental health. I began seeing a therapist at the campus counseling center and one thing we focused on was graduation strategies: how to drag myself across the finish line and get my degree, even though it was not going to happen in four years. It was a combination of summer courses, and reduced load regular semesters.

I think it was good for my mental health to keep moving forward, even if it wasn’t perfect, even if it was going slowly, even if I didn’t know what I was going to do with my degree or my major.

I also believe if I had gone back home, I might very well have sunk into a deeper depression. I’m glad I stayed down at school, even over the summer. I began to feel independent and competent. Maybe everything was going to be okay, y’know?

Of course, your mileage may vary. Try to keep an open mind about your options. It can be hard to make decisions when you are suffering, and sometimes the most drastic change can be very appealing.

Good luck!

18

10 classes remaining in your major - that’s a lot. Especially in a major you don’t like or want. I would think you could change majors and still have about the same to do, especially if any classes double dip (count for GE and major), and/or classes you have already taken end up counting for that new major. Is there any other field that interests you? Do you feel you have to have a STEM type degree or do any liberal art type majors interest you? There are degrees like econ, communications, international relations, etc. that can actually apply very broadly depending on the person and opportunities they seek. You should look at the major list at your school and give any major that you don’t see as totally ridiculous/uninteresting at least a good look over. Sometimes, one really doesn’t know a major until they look at the description and required courses pretty closely, along with a little internet research.

19

Take the time off. Do what you need to do to opening the door to returning, but know that you are probably best off finishing at a local colLegend.

Work hard and get yourself ready to return to school in a field you like one day in the future.

20

As someone you hires people I will always give the edge or advantage to someone that has completed a degree even not in the field I am hiring for.