I don't want to continue college, but I have scholarships

I was a very good high school student. I loved school, took and passed a lot of college credit classes, participated in clubs and sports, and had lots of friends. I got accepted into a university with merit-based scholarships that cover EVERYTHING. I have no idea what I want to study or what careers I’m interested in. I’m currently a freshmen and attending classes. I really hate college. The classes don’t appeal to me, I’m lonely and homesick. The thing is, I’m so thankful that I don’t have to worry about money. Should I just finish college because it’s free? I don’t know what I would do if I were to drop out, but I just feel like I’m wasting my time and happiness here.

Did you just start? Give it time. It can take awhile to settle in and get used to things. Have you looked into joining clubs? Are you meeting kids in your dorm?

I’m going to join a club that I’m very interested in next week so that should help with the social part of it. I’m still unsure about my major though and it’s stressing me out every day.

Do not stress out about your major at this point. You’ve got plenty of time. Lots of kids start unsure or think they are sure and then change. I think almost half of college students do that. So really, don’t worry about that right now. Knock out some of the requirements this year and maybe take something that looks interesting that you had not explored before. You’ll be OK. Give it time and try to be open to all of the new experiences and opportunities.

You don’t have to choose a major at this point. Many people come in undecided and others switch majors. That is OK. Yes, you should give it more than a few weeks. In that whole school, there will be something that you will want to know more about. The opportunity to attend for free is like winning the education lottery.

Please don’t quit, give it a year! Meet new people and try and drop courses you are not interested in for courses you are interested in (if possible - its so early in the fall, it must still be possible).

Yes, you should stay. Finish this semester and find a whole different type of class if you don’t like the ones you are in. Try classes that are more active (surveying, art, marine bio, dance) if being in a classroom isn’t working. Look into studying abroad (hey, if it’s free…)

Stay. Of course stay :slight_smile: Don’t waste such an opportunity because it’s rough right now. You’re in a new environment, trying to find your footing on your own, everything is new. It’s exciting. But it’s also hard.
Get the book The Naked roommate and start reading the section that seems to reflect your experience. There’s a lot of good, down to earth advice in there.
Go to college activity fair, get on many clubs’ mailing lists, attend a dozen first meetings to see what you like and where you clicked with a few people, “shop around” for activities you like.
Exchange cell number with students you meet and suggest you meet for lunch.
There must be a drop add period: if you don’t like your classes, find two classes that sound good and take them, switching out two classes you don’t like.
The good way to think of your major is to take a wide array of classes, in different fields and formats (lecture, small class, seminar), and after a year think through 1) what do you enjoy and 2) what are you good at? By the end of the semester you’ll already know what you don’t like so it’ll clear things already! But now is WAY too early to decide: how could you, you’ve not started yet!
(What university is this? What classes are you taking?)

Embrace that ambiguity—I know you are used to always having a plan but your plan should be to realize it’s OK to not have a plan. Explore all the opportunities you have to choose from.

Quitting college will leave you with more of the same. Will it solve the problem of you not knowing what you want to do? NOPE. You still won’t know what you want to do. Except now you won’t have any way to explore your options because you’ll be living with your parents and working as many shifts at McDonalds as you can. That would suck and would be a huge waste.

Stay. Stay. Stay.

Definitely give it a year, and definitely don’t worry at this point about what your major it. Keep ahead in your classes, take part in clubs and/or activities that you find interesting, and see how it goes. Over time you will figure out which subjects are interesting enough for you to take more classes, and eventually a major will evolve from this. At this point there is no need to have a major. You just should be taking classes in subjects that are interesting (and if they are not interesting, take different classes in different subjects next semester).

It is very normal to feel this way when first arriving at universities. This is a major transition. I recall a thread from last year from a student that started off saying “I hate school” and the last post from the same student a couple of months later, was saying “I got used to it and love it here”. Of course there were a few congratulations and a lot of “like” votes on this post! I very much hope that you also end up also getting used to it over time but it will most likely take a while.