<p>What if I, for one reason or another, feel that college is a painful, dreadful, torturous, monumental waste of time? </p>
<p>You may think, "Ok, then you'll fit better in at McDonalds or waiting tables, since you don't have a passion to learn", but that is the thing, I LOVE to learn, and it's hard to decide a major that I keep switching it every day or week because I find so many things INTERESTING. </p>
<p>You'd think that I am the PERFECT CANDIDATE for college, right? And it is true that by nature I am extremely curious and feel like my power is based on my accumulated knowledge. </p>
<p>But for some reason or another, I HATE college classes. Absolutely HATE them. I can feel my soul slipping away and my brain deteriorating like in Harry Potter which is why I've withdrawn from school. The one thing I DO like about college is the library, and I could spend hours and hours and days and years in there. It is just the "party scene" and general attitude of the other people there that they're there "just cause" and the mind numbing classes that I am really really dreading for next semester (I am signed up). </p>
<p>I feel even worse since my parents are paying, and I have no idea what kind of job I want afterwards, and indeed the only reason I haven't dropped out entirely is for the notion that I will be a failure in life if I don't go to college.</p>
<p>Take a year off and put that money you’re spending on college towards traveling around the world. Even a single continent such as Europe would be such a great learning experience. You’d learn about different cultures, a TON of history, a new language(s), etc.</p>
<p>Uh… first of all. You don’t go to college to “learn.” You do that in elementary school and middle school. Then in high school, they weed out the idiots and failures. Then when you get to college, you compete for a job. Then when you finally get the job, you start the “learning.”</p>
<p>Second, who gives a crap if you hate it. YOU WILL HATE YOUR LIFE IF YOU DON’T FINISH IT. Hate the next four years of your life or hate the rest of your life? Hmm… hard choice right?</p>
<p>But honestly, if you hate your college, transfer to another. If you hate being away from home, go to community college for a few years then move up. But don’t drop out. That’s idiotic.</p>
<p>Wigginn basically hit the nail on the head. Even if you hate college it really seems better to get a degree rather than no degree, because a successful career without a degree seems nearly impossible. You could always go into an apprenticeship instead of getting a formal education.</p>
<p>Ok, so you’re basically saying I need to be educated, ie. “socialized” before I can enter the workforce, and view learning more as a hobby. Got it.</p>
<p>What university are you attending? A research university or liberal arts university? Large or small?</p>
<p>What is your major? What topics do you enjoy learning about? What subjects would you enjoy learning in the library? What are the classes that you find mind-numbing?</p>
<p>You sound overwhelmed. What you don’t understand is that everybody goes through this. Even though you might find yourself being interested in new things everyday, part of being an adult, or at least someone of maturity, is being able to figure out what you enjoy the most. You’re not suppose to study something that you’re merely “interested” in, your interests change on a daily level, it’s called fads. If you major in a fad then your screwed. You have to study what you love, what you’ve loved for a long time, and what you could continuously be interested in and amazed by. (Once you have a profession where you do what you love, it’s not longer “work”.) It’s totally fine if you don’t know what that is yet, and I agree, education for the sake of education is just a waste of money. Figure out all your interests and then categorize them. Maybe you’ll notice that most of them are in the history field, or philosophy, or biological, etc. Your issue is probably that you’re interested in many things that are like subcategorizes (for example, you may be interested in African history but hate studying history as a whole, or you may be interested in how the brian functions but don’t really like biology/anatomy as an entire subject). If you figure out what general field of education most of your interests are in, I think you’ll find college class much more enjoyable and purposeful. And you know what, half of the college classes people take are boring because you’re just fulfilling general education requirements. I will never use “writing the college essay” or “comparative literature” in my future but I have to take the classes anyways. If you really can’t even categorize your interests, then take a year off. Pick your top interests and look for some part-time internships in those fields. Maybe you’ll realize that a lot of the things you thought you liked you only liked in theory and romanticized the idea of it. (That’s what happened to me, but hey, I got through it!). Anyways, don’t write off college yet. Stop complaining and really start contemplating what you LOVE. It’ll get easier.</p>
<p>"I am extremely curious and feel like my power is based on my accumulated knowledge. "</p>
<p>Wow, really ego-centric huh?</p>
<p>I think you lack self-disclipin. you hate classes because you get bored and you are unable to UNLEARN what you already believe. You are idealistic…</p>
<p>It sounds like you don’t fit in with your school more than anything else. There are schools, believe it or not, where the majority of the students - even those who like to party - really like learning, and are at college to learn. Although i agree with Wigginn on some points, I really don’t agree that the point of college is “to compete for a job.” In fact, one of the main reasons I really like college is that I’m finally surrounded by people who love learning and knowledge (i.e. nerds…haha) as much as I do.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, OP, what school do you attend?</p>
<p>I’ve actually been to two schools and didn’t like either one. One was really competitive and my current one, although is more partyish I like better since it has a better library and isn’t as stressful. But I didn’t like either of them, I am thinking, because I majored in “practical majors”…let’s hope. I think I picked majors based on their salary which was stupid in retrospect. I am hoping by majoring in liberal arts, since i changed my major for next semester, that I won’t lose my mind crunching numbers all day and it will be more of a mind expansion with lots more “intellectual stimulation” and “mind expansion” rather than practical dull boringness that is just a pre extension of becoming a corporate drone.</p>
<p>"I am hoping by majoring in liberal arts, since i changed my major for next semester, that I won’t lose my mind crunching numbers all day and it will be more of a mind expansion with lots more “intellectual stimulation” and “mind expansion” rather than practical dull boringness that is just a pre extension of becoming a corporate drone. "</p>
<p>Wow, all that is one sentence? For someone who loves going to the library, you have not learned much. I could be wrong.</p>
<p>It’s typically better to have a college degree than not to have one. I agree with the others who said this. </p>
<p>But don’t let people fool you into thinking that a degree is NECESSARY to make a good living. It’s not. I know of many multi-millionaires who never attended a single day of college. As an example, my dad never went to college, spent many of his early years working at bars, and today he’s a hugely successful businessman who easily makes 10 times more than the average college grad. </p>
<p>Skipping out on college makes success harder to obtain, but it’s still possible. If you’re intelligent and hard-working, you can make a name for yourself no matter what your path. That being said, I think that in your case, taking a gap year may be the better choice - perhaps studying abroad, even. Have you considered that? Most study abroad programs tend to be liberal arts oriented. Or have you considered less traditional schooling options? You sound a bit like my friend - he hated college, but is going to culinary school right now and loves it. You could look into something like that.</p>
<p>You love to learn? Aren’t you the person who said that gravity and depression don’t exist…? But if you really hate where you are, I would agree with the others and say that you should find a university that better fits your personality and learning style instead of dropping out of school entirely.</p>
A successful career in the stuff CC users are aiming for yeah probably (things like I-banking, consulting, doctor, engineer, research, etc.). But I agree with worldchanger, there are a lot of stimulating jobs that don’t require a college degree. It may be harder to make bank in these jobs, but is that what life is about? </p>
<p>Maybe some link no degree with bad job because that’s all they see. But that’s probably more due to the fact that people with no college degree probably never considered college and thus don’t have the means/talent/intelligence to get a good job. </p>
<p>I think the OP sounds like someone who is not afraid to be a bit different. I could see him driving a semi for a few years to get enough money to build a wooden cabin in the Wyoming backwoods and then spending his days reading and writing in his journal, occasionally driving his pickup into the nearby town to get food, supplies, and more books. Do you need a college degree for that?</p>
<p>Yes, I agree it’s all of the things you listed, except for a waste of time! While you have to do endless amounts of work to memorize for tests and get a good gpa, graduating from any college with good grades opens the door to a possibly good grad school, and many more job options than if you’d decided to finish school out of high school! So while it may seem unfair or miserable now just hang in there and push it out for the four years.</p>