I'm reaching out for advise.

College Confidential Community
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<p>So here I am 22 years old and on the verge of graduation. Education has always been the most important endeavor of my life. This is not to say that it was always fun or easy, rather it has been a constant struggle. I have always made good grades, excelled in extracurricular activities, and made the best of every situation, but now I feel as though I have reached a breaking point. </p>

<p>I was raised to believe my potential is limitless. You can achieve anything you set your mind to, be anything you want to be, given that the effort is there. I learned after high school this is not always the case, I had dreams of becoming a professional athlete, getting a scholarship, but as an All-State athlete out of Texas the offers didn't meet the expectations. Small fast athletes rarely survive in the highest levels of college football, and after a year, injury forced me to leave athletics behind. I transfered to a school in order to persue academics at a more competitive level. I worked hard and did very well achieving honors and ranking near the top of my class. Ever since I can recall I hated having to do anything school related, still I loved to learn and expand my mind. I found a way to push through meeting the demands of my curriculum and still found time to seek out the portions of my education I thought were particularly interesting. Yet as every semester passed I found myself becoming more and more burnt out. Somehow I have made it to the final stretch, only fifteen more hours to go before I am done. I will graduate Magna Cum Laude with honors, but I'm not happy. I feel as though I have learned all I ever wanted in this arena, but there is so much more that I believe I need to learn free of university demands. I am sure this will all sound quite ludacris as I am so near to the end. I feel an immense weight on my shoulders to finish out for my parents and family, but they are the only reasons I went to begin with. Even now I am supposed to be rewriting a paper that my professor suggested I submit to be published, but it seems so insignificant for some reason. I have many passions and ideas, I want to struggle in the real world and test myself by my own standards, push myself to make my dreams a reality. These next few months seem like a speed bump, or a total halt to my creative potential. Every paper and assignment seems like the same rehashed crap, the same rehashed ideas. I'm torn between the life I always believed I would live and the path my life is currently on. I had aspirations to go to law school, still an option, but now even that seems to be something I went after to placate the desires of those dearest to me rather than myself. I know that telling my parents that I want to withdraw will seem like commiting suicide, but the very thought gets my adrenaline running. I never wanted a desk job, I never wanted to have a career that served merely as a source of income. I feel trapped and confused. </p>

<p>Maybe I am just feeling sorry for myself, possibly I am just getting lazy, but my performance has not reflected it. I merely wish to move on, now! I have been so patient working my way through a highschool that doesn't even pass Texas educational standards, moving to different schools every couple of years since elementary school. I want so badly to repay my parents and the enormous support and financial generosity they have produced for me, but it really all seems like a waste now. It wasn't of course, but I'm tiresome and bored and simply done. Whats next? What do I do? Is my heart in the right place or am I making excuses? I need advice. </p>

<p>I want to be free of the debts I feel compelled to repay, but I can't work out the answers in a manner that reflects both my aspirations, and those of my loved ones.</p>

<p>-Please forgive any grammtical errors or typo's it's the early morning hours and I havent slept much lately, struggling with these issues.</p>

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<p>You can do this! You are almost there! It sounds as though you want to quit the game. Would you have quit a football game before the clock ran out? As a parent, I can only imagine how hard it is for you right now. Having an older brother who was 1 class short of earning his degree and he refused to take it, I have seen his regrets. He is in his 50’s now, and still regrets it! Once you get that degree, do something that excites YOU. There are lots of jobs and careers that are not desk jobs. I don’t know what your major is, but I know plenty of people who have careers outside the realm of their degree. That degree though shows that you can finish what you start. The fact that you finished so highly speaks volumes. I’m sure you’re tired, frustrated, and maybe even overwhelmed, but I really do want to encourage you to finish your degree. I also want to encourage you that in a few short months, you should pursue YOUR interests. This might mean traveling - maybe a job that involves traveling? Maybe pursue something in sports? It could be as a career or even as a volunteer. I know someone with a law degree who is an agent for a professional athlete. There are lots of options still available, but you don’t want to close the door to some of them by not completing your degree. You CAN do this!</p>

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<p>My shoes…I felt the same way at the end of my Junior year…so I may know what you are feeling right now. My mom said something that sticks with me even today…once you have your degree, no one can ever take that degree away from you. I wrote my thesis, took my orals, graduated. I look back on that time when I want to quit a project, and remind myself I can finish or not-my decision-but I have to live with that decision. I have no regrets about finishing college.</p>

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<p>I appreciate your support and I imagine most of the responses I get will coincide with yours. To be brief, I am a Liberal Arts double major, and no I would never quit a game, but that was because I loved it. I have never “loved” college, and truly felt like it was a burden I was forced into because of the society we live in. I do not regret my education, truly I feel resentment for American educational tradition, and format. I see students in far less fortunate situations than I who struggle with similar issues, and those who merely go through the motions and get a degree because their parents insist upon it. I realize the reasonable thing to do would be to finish out, but I feel exhausted by being reasonable. I feel compelled to make a dramatic change in my life, immediately. Furthermore, I am considering a simple withdraw, where I can take a semester or a year of to persue other aspirations, and in the event that I do not find what I am looking for I would return, and pay for my final tuition on my own. Thank you for you advise, it is refreshing to hear even the slightlest bit of sympathy as opposed to the generic, don’t be a fool response most “intellectuals” regurgitate.</p>

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<p>As a mom, I’m very concerned when you say you feel “compelled to make a dramatic change in my life, immediately.” Exactly what kind of change are you thinking? I’m not asking this with a tone, honest. Just concern. What type of aspirations do you wnat to pursue? Do you have something specific that you want to pursue or do you just want to get away from the college life? I guess another thought I had is how much pressure you have on yourself. Is most of this pressure you put on yourself or do you feel pressure from your parents? Maybe you could be happy not graduating 1st in your class, but simply graduating? If you were my son, I’d like for him finish his education now as I know of too many people who intended to go back, but for family obligations, they never did. If my son decided he just couldn’t do it, that would be okay too. I’d be disappointed, but love him regardless. Good luck to you and please keep us posted as to your decisions.</p>