I think I actually hate college

I go to a very prestigious art school in Chicago, and I wish I didn’t. I commute (from Wisconsin) so its a two hour commute, and while this makes things somewhat more complicated its not why I hate school.

All I do while I’m at school is think about going home and living my “real” life. I’m not a lazy person, I really really enjoy things that make me feel like I have a purpose, but I don’t enjoy doing useless things. Nearly everything I do here is so pointless, Im taking classes that pertains to my major, but I feel so trapped.

My classes are boring at best and I don’t care about them at all. I feel extremely overwhelmed with all of the classwork and worse, I’m unmotivated to do any of it because in the back of my mind I know it is pointless. I hate being treated like a child especially since I get none of the benefits. I live on my own, I pay my own bills, buy my own food, ect. But I’m living in this weird in between mix of child and adult, when I really just want to be the adult.

I think I’m going to drop out of college because I really and truly hate it, (its been almost a full year of me being here.) Anyone please help me work through this. I don’t want to ruin my life, but I don’t think college is for me.

P.S.- I appreciate any help, but if you are one of those “you HAVE to go to college to have a good/successful life!!” please don’t comment. It’s 2018 and we all know thats not true. Otherwise thanks for any and all advice!

What career are you interested in?

In addition to what career you interested in what are your short-term, medium and long term goals? And I mean throughout your life time. I know that plans change but tell me what you have an idea of now.

Often major classes are boring. The question is whether you need to finish your degree to reach your goals. And that “it is 2018” line – it is more important to have a degree now than it ever was in the past.

I suspect your commute is burning you out more than you realize. You likely have little down time due to it, and that is adding stress.

Ideal career would be an art teacher or I would like to eventually start my own business or something. I would really prefer to be my own boss (as I assume most people would) But it would be awesome to do commission work as a job in the art community. Side note I also hope to live on and own an orchard or a farm one day. But that would be a lot further down the road.

I strongly suggest cutting the commute – that adds four hours to your day during which you can do many other things. Most of those things point toward improving your outlook.

  • You could socialize with peers from school and form a nice group of friends. These friends also tend to help you enter your desired career and form support group while you are in your career
  • You could exercise at least 30 minute a day. Exercise helps to get rid of anxiety / mild depressive symptoms because it produces the natural chemicals in the brain that help you function better
  • you have more time to do your school work. That will feel freeing and help you feel more competent.
  • You would find a chance to explore Chicago and your surroundings more
  • You would transition further into adulthood, which you say is something you'd like to do.

I’m guessing that you’re at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago–the only prestigious program in Chicago as far as I can tell. I would stay to stick with the program unless you have concrete plans for what else you might want to do. If that’s the case, then maybe transfer to another school that will support those plans. 2018 just like other years, graduates of college tend to do better financially than those with college partly completed or just a high school degree.

If your school is driving you deeply into debt, may I gently suggest adding some skills to your repertoire in adidtion to art? Ones that guarantee that you will find lucrative work? One idea is to find something in the field of art that tends to pay – fashion for example, or arts administration and policy – and pick up some accounting skills and/or computer skills like coding. If SAIC doesn’t offer coding or accounting, see if you can pick up bookkeeping classes during the summers at your local community college. You will be glad if you have a combination of something ultra practical like that and something aesthetic. You will be glad when you waltz out of SAIC and get a job in a wonderful arts organization that needs a smart capable person like you with hard business skills. And you’ll be able to pay your rent and your loans.

BTW if you want to attend law school later, and there are arts-focused attorneys that do great things, make sure that you get 3.7+ grades, LSAT scores of 172+ and then apply to a top ten school. Those top ten schools will have the connections you need to get you an excellent paying job in a wonderful organization that needs smart capable people like you.

@Dusty Feathers- Thanks for the advice but unfortunately it doesn’t really work for me. I have a lot of friends at school already. I already exercise more than 30 minutes a day, I do about 75% of my school work on the train and living in Wisconsin is the only thing that brings me any joy in life. (due to my family) And Ive already explored plenty of the city. I really appreciate the advice though.

Why do you think your classwork is pointless?

@PurpleTitan- Because at my school they don’t have you pick a major until graduate years, so they put us in categories of Writer, Architect or Studio artist. And almost everything falls into the category of Studio Art. So I’m taking 2 mandatory classes that are for studio art when I don’t intend to be a studio artist. Then I have to take art history which most of us don’t care about and an English class ( I hate writing). So that leaves me with one class a week that I actually wanted to take.

If you want to be an art teacher, you need a degree.

I know almost nothing about art, but if you’re going to be an art teacher, you can be one without at least some proficiency in studio art? Without knowing art history?

Can you take a leave of absence to work. Perhaps working full-time will give you some perspective and reengergize you. Before college, did you also dislike school?

On a side note, being your own boss can be a disappointment. One’s energy has to be used to find customers and manage the business elements of running a business. I work with a gifted scientist who is brilliant. He had an idea and started a business. Now he spends a chuck of each day talking with clients, trying to find new customers, worrying about paying rent, filing taxes, etc. He misses the shrinking “science” part of his job which is where his passion lies.

It doesn’t sound to me as though you hate school, it sounds as though you hate THAT school.

Would you consider tranferring to a school where you could declare a major and not have that montrous commute? Find a school with a strong Education department that gets you into a school, doing observations almost immediately.

OK, while I’ve been to Chicago, I’ve never been to Wisconsin. So I have no idea of the geography or distances.

But the following state schools have Art Education programs… would you consider applying? (from https://www.universities.com/find/wisconsin/best/education-and-liberal-arts/art-education)

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison offers 6 Art Education Degree programs. It's a large public university in a mid sized city. In 2015, 127 students graduated in the study area of Art Education with students earning 76 Bachelor's degrees, and 51 Master's degrees.
  • University of Wisconsin-Whitewater offers 3 Art Education Degree programs. It's a large public university in a far away town. In 2015, 44 students graduated in the study area of Art Education with students earning 44 Bachelor's degrees.
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls River Falls, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Oshkosh, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-La Crosse La Crosse, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Eau Claire, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, WI
  • University of Wisconsin-Platteville
    Platteville, WI

University of Wisconsin-Stout

Menomonie, WI

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Milwaukee, WI

University of Wisconsin-Superior

Superior, WI

Art school is for people who are dedicated to art. If you don’t want to study studio art or art history, what did you think art school would be about? It doesn’t sound like architecture or writing match your career goals, either.

If you want to be a teacher, you may be better off at one of the schools listed above which offer teacher certification programs. (Assuming public schools in Wisconsin still offer art. In my state, it’s mostly docents/volunteers teaching art, not certificated teachers.) A broader college would also possibly have business classes for running your own business and agriculture classes to learn how to manage an orchard.

Any major you take has foundation courses that expose you to the spectrum of that major.
I am an electrical engineer and have never worked with Electrical Fields or Physical properties of Electricity but one must be exposed to a) understand the basics b) Be exposed to it to see if that is a specialization of interest

So you want to be an art teacher but not do studio art? Nor understand the history of art?
Do you even like art?

One idea for you - finish this year as strong as you can, take a year off and work and think. Maybe you went to school straight out of high school and you weren’t ready. Maybe you chose the wrong school. There is nothing wrong with taking time off and taking a year or more off will NOT impact your chances of graduating eventually with a degree as long as you leave school in an orderly fashion and in good standing. College is very expensive in both your valuable time, money and energy - you want to really know why you are there. Give yourself the freedom to figure that out.