<p>So for the last two years I've been at a community college, and finished everything I need over this holiday break. I'm taking another semester and at the end of the summer hopefully moving to a new school.</p>
<p>Now this is where things get tricky: I have two options, one is to apply at a school and go there for the next two years full-time and get my Bachelor's. But now my mom is bugging the heck out of me to basically drop out of school, start doing civil service work while taking classes at night. I really do not want to do the latter but she seems persistent on getting me working a full-time job ASAP. I'd much rather go to a 4-year school, get a part-time job for the next few years then move on to doing something with my soon-to-obtain bachelor degree. What should I do?</p>
<p>Your mom has the right idea in mind. Although the two years of working a full-time job and then going to class at night may seem like a lot, it will pay off when you’re done with school! Today there is a great need for service workers. You should be able to find a job within any field. There are plenty of companies, even with unemployment numbers as high as they are, that are still hiring because they can’t find qualified employees. If you have certificates towards certain trades then getting into this sort of work may be a great opportunity for you to pay your way through the next 2 years instead of having to take student loans out. You’d be surprised how much you are capable of. A challenge of taking on school and a full-time job can be scary in the beginning but once you have a routine down, you will like it. When you’re finished you’ll probably even miss your hectic schedule!</p>
<p>Could you elaborate a bit more on:
- Your mother’s motives for wanting you to get a job (financial?)
- Your stats and EC. If her reasons are primarily financial, then perhaps getting a full ride at a college might alleviate her concern.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>She wants me to have work experience above anything else. She’s been bugging me all year about dropping out of school to get full-time work I keep telling her I want to get my bachelor’s, which I think is more important. I don’t see the point of going through everything to do civil service work if I’m only going to be doing it for 2 years of my life.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m going the SUNY route, I am at a SUNY-run community college and transferring to a 4-year SUNY school. That school only costs about $5,000 a year. My mom has said she can afford a SUNY school, especially if I go to the one close by where I likely wouldn’t dorm. This whole thing about service work only came up recently, so I’m hoping it passes.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Dropping out of school is completely absurd and ridiculous. If anything, get a part time job and continue going to school. She wants you to have “work experience”? In what? McDonald’s? Getting a Bachelor’s trumps “work experience”. There is plenty of that to be had once you get a degree. It seems like the reason she wants you to get a job is because she doesn’t want to pay for school. If this is the case, take out loans. </p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>She wants me just to start getting jobs ASAP, which seems a bit superfluous to me. I already make $450 a month taking care of a relative with developmental disabilities and during the summer I lifeguard at a town pool, and will presumably stay there until the summer after I finish school (and doing pre-season maintenance work in the spring). I could use some extra money since I’m getting ready to lease a car in the spring once the pool job starts up again, but that’s all I’d need money for.</p>
<p>That’s true about her not wanting to pay - for next semester, she waited to pay the tuition till the last possible second. I guess loans will have to do if I want to head out in the world.</p>
<p>And I’m a communications major BTW.</p>
<p>I’m not too knowledgeable about the current job market being a sophomore myself but here are my two cents anyway. Go for the 4-year school. A bachelor’s (a relatively inexpensive one in this case) will only make you more marketable. I have taken some continuing studies (evening) classes at my college and most of the people there find it hard to cope with full-time jobs and schooling. Especially those that are taking 2 or 3 courses simultaneously. You could take a lighter course load but then you will have to wait an eternity to get a degree (right?). In today’s world a degree itself isn’t enough to get you a good job. Employees will look at your performance too which is likely to be better if you don’t have a full time job. Finally, going to a 4 year college is what YOU want. It will be your decision. If you follow your mom’s advice you might find yourself in an undesirable position which will lead to you blaming her and making things worse. If going to a 4 year college turns out to be a poor decision (studies are hard, you lose track), you will have an additional incentive to fix things given that it was your decision and you have no one to blame but yourself. So I think you should go for it.</p>
<p>That’s my exact way of thinking. I’ve spend long enough in school (I spent a year at La Salle University my first year but had to leave cause the tuition was too damn much to spend four years there), so I’m looking at 5 years of education here. With bachelor degree requirements, it’ll take even longer, even if I go to school year-round and not just September-May like I do now. As great as it would be to have a full-time job with supposed health benefits and a retirement plan (as she keeps trying to persuade me), I really want to go off and have my own goals and not stuck being a firefighter or a cop or whatever service jobs there are for the rest of my life. I’m a communications major, I want to be in the film and television industries, create things. A Bachelor’s would do me much more good.</p>
<p>Why does she think you’ll be able to get a civil service job? Governments are cutting back and laying off workers, who will have priority for anything that opens up. Some of the jobs also have educational and physical requirements. Many college grads (some with advanced degrees) are looking for civil service jobs because the pay is at least decent and the benefits tend to be excellent, at least until the layoffs.</p>
<p>Is your mom already inside the state or federal civil service system? If so, she may know about positions that are opening up, and she may be able to help you get everything together that you need in order to apply for them. Talk with her again about the money issue. If she paid your last tuition as the last minute, the truth may be that she just can’t help you pay for your education any longer. If the jobs she thinks you should be applying for have education benefits, working full-time and studying part time might mean that you can finish your degree for free.</p>
<p>No, she’s not in the state or federal civil service system. She’s a teaching aide at an elementary school! Of course, my mom thinks work is more important than school so she refuses to listen to my side of the story despite the fact that she once said I could do “whatever I wanted” after I got my Associate’s.</p>
<p>She may want you to be free to do whatever it is that you want. However, you also need to be able to afford this thing in order to actually do it. Take a deep breath. Find a strong center for yourself so that you don’t fall into an argument with your mom, and talk with her about the money. If it isn’t there, you need to know that so that you can begin to find ways to complete your education.</p>
<p>The advising center at your CC will be open on Wed. Go there and meet with the Transfer Advisor. Find out what kind of help that person can give you with the transfer process. You do not have to do this on your own.</p>
<p>Well, she seems to be past the whole civil service insanity, mostly because she found Fox News’ College Challenge, which I’m really not interested in taking part in since it’s my last semester at the community college and would rather not get too deep into anything like that (next year sure but not now when I’m just about finished and already applied to graduate) but all I can say is thank god it’s over (for now).</p>