I still hate College a lot of the time

Student Lounge College Life
1

To give an update: I’m in my third semester of college now and i still hate college most of or half of the time (not sure). I’m still dealing with the pain of the loss of my grandmother. Me and my mom live in a different place to live now so we could get away from her abusive ex boyfriend. I withdrawled from Trig since getting behind and not having all of the proper foundation caused for it to be almost impossible to pass this class (I checked with financial aid to make sure it wouldn’t affect it and I plan on retaking it in the summer or Fall). I’m down to 9 credit hours which is three classes and my current grades are A, B, and C with the highest being college algebra and the lowest being Microeconomics.

Regarding what I’ve said in previous threads: my class interest problem is solved, I may be able to go on a vacation this year if I keep saving, I hope I can go to something similar to or better than prom (I’m not sure if it’s a remarkable event I missed out on anymore), when I transfer to a four year school I’m almost certain it will still be paid for because I have a disability and am low income, I still work in a Job that I hate because it’s retail (I was thinking about doing a work study position at school or working in security at the park during the school year and finding a full time position doing something different in the summer), and I still feel as if I lack family because my members are either dead or alienated. I have attended a few club meetings both this semester and last semster. The good thing about the meetings is I got free pizza but the bad thing is the people I met in the clubs are not my crowd (I wish there were more community clubs in my town).

The reasons I hate college often is because I have to put in a lot of time to study or get help (but at the same time If I do well on a test or assignment it feels rewarding) , I don’t feel respected by the faculty, and I don’t feel like I’m getting paid to do it.

Moving forward, Part of me wants to move to somewhere different to start over again and go to college college there eventually, another part of me wants to enter the workforce and do a skilled trade or an apprenticeship just to make very good money (I may hate doing that too since physical labor isn’t interesting by itself and I may not even be capable of doing this work due to potential health problems), and then what would appear as the best option for me is to continue with community college until I transfer and then go to the college I want to go that is in the same town I currently live in (maybe I would enjoy it eventually since I haven’t taken any science classes or any courses related to my major yet and maybe I would enjoy the higher level math such as calculus and statistics since the people I know who like math didn’t like it until they took these courses).

It appeared that because I did better academically last semster that things got better but things went a little down again this semester due to my grandma passing away and what I went through at home. I feel stupid that I’ve done poorly even with the difficulties I’ve had.

It’s the little things that aren’t my fault that someone gets mad at me about that make me not feel respected by the people at my school such as going to a professor’s office when he/she asked me to when they are in a meeting and he/she get mad for it, not knowing stuff after coming back from my absence from my grandmothers death (even though he must like me now because I did well on my tests in college algebra it still upsets me he had to be rude after what I went through), and when I called to schedule an appointment the receptionist was cranky or rude but they say just give a call at anytime during business hours.

I’m stuck on what to do. I want to live somewhere I enjoy, have a Job I enjoy, travel the world, have people that are family to me and a romantic partner, and do my passion for science and nature. I need advice and encouragement again.

2

The good news is that you don’t hate college all of the time. Go to the counseling center on campus to,help you deal with the death of your grandma. Death is a part of life, and you need to start finding a way to move on. What would you do if you weren’t in college right now?

3

I’m sorry for your loss. I’m also sorry that you dislike college.

Please remember: the point of college is to graduate and have a diploma, and to have good enough grades that you can get the job or grad school admission you want. That’s it. Stay focused on the end result. The point is NOT to be respected by the faculty or feel like you’re getting paid, and college requires a lot of work.

I hated college, and 25 years later still feel ill even thinking about it, so I feel for you. Just keep your eyes on the end goal: graduating, with good enough grades to get what you want.

4

College is supposed to be a lot of work, but it can also lead to a better life in the long run.

Since you know you don’t like college all that much, plan for a degree that is useful in the job market without having to go on to graduate school. If you are really eager to graduate, look into two-year career certification programs.

5

I think the overall reason I hate college is the people that I have been treated unfairly by. Most people don’t talk about this because there is always criticism that everyone can agree with. Has everyone been treated unfairly before by people in authority?

I get paid money by financial aid and get paid knowledge is probably what I should think regarding getting paid.

I do have a scientific brain and have a special talent where I can tell you what a day a date is on without looking at a calendar ( you might have to talk to me in real life to understand it better) so I still feel like a Job in STEM is my calling.

6

Just wanted to note that this is engineering school in a nutshell (since you’ve mentioned an interest in that in the past). This semester I’m going to office hours semi-regularly for a tough elective, and in previous semesters I’ve had to work even harder in multiple classes at once at learning and understanding the material. (I’m also pulling all-nighters for senior design, but that’s less “hard” than it is “enough work for a full-time job.”)

7

First, I know exactly what you mean – Everyone in my family can do dates in their head besides me. My (then) maybe 10 year old announced at dinner one night that it wasn’t fair that everybody in the family got to have their birthday on a Saturday that year except her. Her other parent and her little sister knew she was right, but I have NO idea how they do that!

But here’s the thing – calendars are very regular. 7 days every week. Specific rules for leap years, and so on. Careers on the other hand are messy, even scientific ones. Building up the base knowledge that you need to major in science is hard for you. You don’t like the work, and it’s only going to get harder over time.

There is no reason that being good at calendars means you have to do a STEM career. You could, for example, be an accountant, which is another job that requires someone to be good at relationships between numbers and keeping track of rules.

Most colleges have a career office where you can do aptitude tests and discuss what you like or don’t like about classes and find a career that best matches you. I know you’ve done some career exploring (such as talking to a meteorologist) but keep going – maybe you shouldn’t commit to a job that requires more schooling than you want to deal with right now.

And, I will agree with response #1 that you look at talking to the counseling office as well. Maybe you really are good at STEM, but your grief and sense of being treated unfairly are holding you back. Counselors can help you deal with issues like that.

8

Today, I took a day off from doing homework.

9

I don’t mean it that because I like science and have that special talent that I have to do STEM but that I actually have an interest in that. I haven’t taken any science classes in college yet and since college science is different than in high school (I got an A in Biology, A in earth science, and B or C in ICP) makes me want to wait until I take these courses to determine if I still want to do STEM. With math, even though calculus builds on algebra and trig i hear it is a different way of thinking, that many people who didn’t like math before liked it once they took this, and want to see how this goes to determine if a path that requires calculus and other advanced math is for me.

Regarding career tests and other paths, the career assessment matched me to city or Environmental planning, marketing research ( I don’t think this is for me since I don’t believe in New products benefiting people), information technology, and STEM ( of course). There are two year degrees at my CC that are science related such as chemical technology and biotechnology. I don’t think accounting is for me because I don’t want to be sitting at a desk all day ( I need something where I have a mixture of sitting at a desk and outdoors or in a lab setting), and one thing that I have to mention is that I need a Job where what I do isn’t directly about people such as healthcare but have a team oriented personality.

Do you think maybe the reasons I don’t like college could be that I don’t like community college but maybe university could be better?

Regarding specific classes I’ve tooken and what I like or don’t like about then is i didn’t like my instructor for philosophy last spring, I didn’t like how I had to write personal narratives the first time I took English but liked how the second time i took it I could pick any topic I wanted to write about but still didn’t like how I had to a website design, I didn’t like how I had to stand in front of people or be judged by my presentation in Speech class, I didn’t like taking notes by whay the professor was saying rather than the board in history class, and I don’t like economics because I don’t like the world of it because it is kind of greedy.

10

I wasn’t very good in math until I reach calculus.

11

College does take a lot of time to study. That is kind of the point. It is harder than high school. But showing you can stick to it and get a degree is a plus in the eyes of employers.

And part of the point of getting a degree is getting a job that pays well in the long run. I just thought about it for a minute, and I bet I’ve made well over a million dollars more in my career than I probably would have if I hadn’t gotten a four year degree.

Can you take a science class next semester? Also, have you been meeting with a counselor at your CC, and are you on track with courses that will help you transfer to the local 4 year college when you are ready?

12

He’s taking two sciences next semester. General Biology and General Chemistry along with Trig

13

It really sounds like you have had a challenging life and that you are trying to make your life better through education. That is a really good approach. It also sounds like you are trying to contemplate all of your wants and dreams for your life all at once and are frustrated that you aren’t there yet. Life isn’t an all at once discrete kind of thing. It’s an ongoing ever unfolding process. Sometimes it’s wonderful, and sometimes it really stinks. College is hard. And like life, sometimes it is wonderful, and sometimes it really stinks. You don’t have to love it or like it, it’s okay to even hate it, most of the time, but if in the end you really want a degree, then you WILL do what it takes to achieve that goal.

14

I don’t know, but if your math level is trig you’re not ready to transfer to a university for a STEM major just yet so maybe you’ll know in a year or so if you transfer.

Some of fhe things you complain about (inflexible bureaucracy, lots of work to keep up in classes) are pretty much true of any type of college.

15

@Lindagaf regarding if I wasn’t in college, my other options would be to do an apprenticeship (skilled trade), a Job that requires little or no training with a high school diploma such as manufacturing, Join the military (in the past it has been recommended on here that I do not do this path since I need to have a desire to serve, am sensitive, have a disability, and said I didn’t like people or physical labor). I really like science and want to do a career related to that but at the same time I want money sooner. It seems like a long road for my path but it also seems like life isn’t gonna be great no matter what path I do.

@bodangles I could see that you are more motivated now to do the rigourous coursework since you are close to graduation but didn’t you feel like you hated It sometimes during your freshman or sophomore year because you still had a few more years of college?

16

Regarding moving on from family members that have passed away, it is hard for anyone to loose a family member but it’s also hard because I still don’t have as much support as I would like to. I know I can always make friends and have romantic partners but it isn’t the same as family unless we are close enough to treat each other like family. I am somewhat making efforts to make friends because I am going to different clubs and talking to people.

There is no counseling at my specific community college campus but I have been seeing one at a mental health agency and we’ve been studying thinking errors and not grief (that’s helpful too but maybe I should see another counselor for grief too and continue seeing that one too).

17

There is the “close to graduation” factor, but there’s also the “I’ve been busting my butt for four years straight and I am so ready for it to be over that I don’t even care anymore” factor. :stuck_out_tongue:

18

Hopefully I get to that point where I don’t care much either @bodangles.

19

Senioritis/burnout isn’t great for grades, and depending on what major you choose you might have quite a few semesters left, so hopefully you can find motivation for now to keep pressing forward.

20

It’s Economics and history that still kind of burn me out. Do I have to like these subjects to be a STEM major? How comparable are these courses with STEM subjects? I know that may be a weird question.