Should I take the semester off from college?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am currently enrolled as a freshman at Texas A&M University. I have always wanted to go to this college for my entire life, and I love the atmosphere and friendly people that are here. In high school I was a mostly A and some B's student and I always made education and grades my first priority. When I was a senior, I started to slack off more, but I told myself that I would become more studious when college started. Now that I've nearly finished my first semester, I am not happy with the way it turned out. My grades are decent, but certainly not what I wanted. I am easily smart enough to make all A's, but I have been extremely lazy and unproductive this semester. I don't feel like I'm getting the education or the college experience that I want. I have lost my motivation, and school is just not appealing right now. I feel that education is extremely important and I want more out of college than just scraping by on decent grades. So I thought about it and the idea of taking a semester off school sounded good to me.</p>

<p>My idea is to move to a different state until the next fall semester and live on my own, completely independent from my parents, and work a job where ever I go. I feel like this would give me the time I need to get my life together without it taking a toll on my grades, and it will also give me a better understanding of how it is to live on your own and work a real job (considering I've never worked a job for more than 3 months). Hopefully it will also help restore the motivation I had throughout most of high school. I also think moving to a different state would give me a view of how people live in different areas of the world and will give me a chance to meet many new friends.</p>

<p>So I'm just wondering if this sounds like a good idea for the situation I am in and if not, what I should do to get my life back together and get more motivated about my education.</p>

2

<p>When you move out of state, who’s going to pay for your house rent? It’s going to be pretty difficult to do all that, and plus the cost of a car, with just a starting job and you just have a high school degree. Many freshmens’ grades aren’t good, it’s just a transition period. I’d say you probably will be more motivated once classes get more interesting and more related to your major, or when you actually get transitioned to the college lifestyle and know how much to study / when to study / for what class, etc.</p>

3

<p>I definitely think that if you feel like you need to refuel, you should.</p>

<p>Regards,
BettyfromCA</p>

4

<p>part of me says try to buckle down. but if you are not going to do well, maybe you should take a break. but think about things. esp the moving thing. that is a big , expensive decision</p>

5

<p>The first semester is always rough. You might do better now that you have that 15weeks of experience under your belt. On one hand, if you take a semester off, it might set you back by getting out of the groove of studying, going to class, etc. However, if you want to take a semester off, or if there are other things going on, maybe take some time off. But I agree with the other poster, where are you going to get the money to move away and who is going to hire you like that? It’ll take a lot more effort to start anew than to stay in school. Could be a good experience though for maturity’s sake (in general).</p>