<p>I am a 19 year old sophomore in college. I'm ashamed to say that I have never worked a day in my life. This fall semester, I simply couldn't deal with it anymore. Every single person I know has moved out of their parents house, has worked for years, is working now, and is living on their own. I dropped my classes immediately the first day and returned my books, my parents get a full refund. I want to take the semester off to work. I will be able to work down in the city (I live in a horrible small town) and we have a house down there I can live in and work. I need this experience, I feel I would be incapable of getting the good grades I need without it. I also can't handle living with my parents anymore. I also can't handle living in a small town anymore. I have signed up for a small weeklong class for this fall to remain a continuing student so that I can transfer to the actual big campus in the spring, where my parents have said they would get me an apartment.</p>
<p>My parents are acting as though I said I wanted to quit college forever, and are trying so hard to control my life, insisting that I don't do this, and threatening all kinds of ways they will not help me if I go through with it. They are begging me to go back to my classes and try to re-enroll. I have tried to explain to them that a child could do worse things than take a semester off to experience work in a real place. What should I do? I want this so much for myself, but they are insisting I am just running away and making a huge mistake.</p>
<p>A gap year is a growing phenomenon in the US, and I guess an established tradition in Europe? Find some research on it, from the college’s POV. Harvard downright encourages it. Maybe when your parents see the advantages published, they will believe in it more.</p>
<p>If you can pay for all of your own expenses for this semester, tell your parents that that is just exactly what you are doing. Tell them that you are burned out, and that you need the semester off. Tell them that you do indeed plan to return to college in the second semester. Tell them that you love them, and that you value their opinions. Tell them that you love them, again, and then hang up the phone.</p>
<p>Then go to your job, make some money, and start being responsible for all of your bills.</p>
<p>So, you are currently living with your parents and commuting to college? If so, do you think it is more like you want to move out and get away from your parents instead of taking a semester off? Believe me, many kids would rather be able to afford schools and not to have to work a lot to pay for college. If the problem is with your relationship with your parents, maybe you should try to address that first.</p>
<p>I understand your position, but I also understand your parents. You are now in the real world. Your parents are not responsible for your education, so paying for it will come with a price on your part. Basically to get your education paid for you have to do it how they want you too. No different than an employer and employee relationship. When you work, you do it how your employer wants you to do it. The only difference is that your parents get nothing for paying for your education and the employer gets labor. Your alternative is to pay for your own education and do what you want, or do your best to reach a compromise that is more in favor of your parents. Why? (Because they receive nothing for there monies)
Good luck!</p>
<p>I think you might be overreacting a little bit, and also experiencing a pretty normal sophomore slump (this is right about the time when people get “over” college, and start complaining about how they can’t wait to get out into the “real world”). I think maybe you should try something a little less drastic. Without any working history, and in this economy, it’s not a great idea to just throw yourself out there. And you might realize once you are there that doing the same boring, repetitive thing day in and day out (the kind of job that 19 year olds without work histories have), is much less interesting than going to school. </p>
<p>As a compromise, why don’t you get a job on campus? That’s one way to learn about working, and it will keep you out of the house more and give you a little independent income. Then next semester you can carry on with your plans to transfer to a bigger campus or a school in a bigger city. </p>
<p>It sounds to me like you don’t really want to quit school as much as you want some independence from your parents and to live in a place with much more going on. There are ways to achieve that without tossing your education out the window. Getting to attend college is a gift and a privilege to be treasured. If you’re unhappy where you are, there are ways to remedy that without going to extremes.</p>