Tricky Situation

College Life
1

<p>Hi everyone! Wonderful forum we have here, visited many times before, now I'm here seeking advice.</p>

<p>I've been in college a long time (5yrs now). I found high school (relatively) easy, things came quickly to me back then for the most part, esp the subjects I enjoy, I've never had to take notes and I always did fairly well. In my stint in college so far I've held a work study job where I am highly valued (IT work, not some mindless BS). I've worked at that for four years, the staff showed interest in keeping me around had I graduated this year. You see, I've long been interested in computers, learned everything I know myself, and enjoy that job (and hobby). It may not be the end all be all, but it's something.</p>

<p>Choosing a major seemed simple, I enrolled as a Management Information Systems undergrad and trudged my way through many semesters of course work with varying degrees of success. Little did I know how much I would come to hate it. At this point, I'm left with a handful of high level programming and project courses, and frankly I don't give a **** about them. They're really what remains after brushing them off as they've come down the pipe, sort of a, "Oh, this is stupid, I don't like it, I'm not taking it right now" kind of situation. Obviously this hasn't been good for morale and my GPA is kind of suffering now too. Recently my grades have been a roller coaster; Bs one semester, Ds the next.</p>

<p>Over the years I've talked with a few administrators, 2nd year I considered switching to Bio (Took AP bio in HS; Had a lot of fun in a Marine Bio class in college, liked the professor, got a B+), they tested me out with a Chem & Calc class, I did good on the quizzes in Chem but only alright on the tests - the prof was nice, but a tough grader (got a C+). The Calc prof was a senile old man, didn't know how to teach, I had to Google how to solve the problems studying for a test (got a C-). Suffice to say they didn't let me switch.</p>

<p>Last year I met with an Assistant Dean for the college of business. I tried to voice my desire to change majors to something with a similar track (surprisingly, Finance - I got a B+ in Business Finance 312). He gave me what amounted to a pep talk. I opted to take some 300 & 400 level finance classes this past semester, turns out I'm not all that enthusiastic for running serious numbers or memorizing formulas. Maybe I'm just burnt out. I don't know anymore. I'm sick of all the BS, I just want out.</p>

<p>P.S. Had an opportunity to volunteer in the VIs over the summer doing maintenance work, enjoyed that, go figure. :\ </p>

<p>Thanks for reading this, I know it's lengthy, but it's a long story. Thanks for any advice.</p>

2

<p>Have you met the requirements for any degree yet? If so I would definitely take the degree and figure out what, if at all, you’d like to study before you return for sure.</p>

3

<p>If I understand your situation correctly, you’re having a problem picking a major, correct?</p>

<p>It can a bit tough to actually pick a field. I myself first started off as a Engineering Science major in 2008 with plans of eventually studying Aerospace Engineering, but then didn’t get anywhere at all because of a few surgeries followed by recovery periods of the surgeries. I barely finished the one and only semester I did in 2008. I came back after 4 years[present], and switched my major to Criminal Justice. After a lot of reading and research and talking, I realized that probably isn’t the best major. So I switched to Accounting with hopes of working for the government like the DoD or IRS-CI. Now i’m as serious as ever about a major, I won’t be doing anymore switching.</p>

4

<p>If you still haven’t found a suitable major in five years you have two options:</p>

<p>1) get your degree ASAP in what ever your closest to doing
2). Take some leave, and figure out what you want in life. </p>

<p>See a therapist. School doesn’t seem like its for you, and five years without choosing a real major Isn’t normal </p>

<p>I don’t know your financial situation, but I can’t imagine you can stay paying for an undergrad tuition forever</p>

5

<p>Thanks you guys, your stories and support are appreciated. </p>

<p>I’ve been attending a state school so tuition/loans, although a burden, aren’t astronomical. I’m just at the point where if I were to continue it’d have to be something I really like and sadly I haven’t found that yet (other than with the IT field). I’m strongly in favor of time off, but that brings with it it’s own repercussions with the loans and what-have-you. I like the idea of just finishing it with the closest possible degree, but it’s tough when you’re not all in it, you know?</p>

<p>I guess I’ll add this too, I wasn’t at all involved in the party scene at school, I don’t drink or partake in any of the other activities that are known to occur across college campuses. I did spend time with friends I met there, roommates. I was very content with my job there, more so than the coursework. I know that real jobs carry more responsibility, but there just seems to be no middle ground, especially in society today.</p>

6

<p>you been there for 5 yrs. what i would do is finish something I could to get my BA. then figure out what you really wanted to do and get a Masters or whatever if you needed more education</p>

7

<p>1) Graduate with whatever you’re closest to.
2) Work for a while and do a lot of thinking about what you want to do with your life.
3) Go do it.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, some people just don’t have that figured out. My girlfriend’s brother is extremely intelligent, but he is 25 and still lives at home with his mom. He failed out of two colleges, got training to become a Medical Assistant (doesn’t make anything, it was more of a thing to get him back on his feet in order to make him feel like he could succeed at something), and now he goes to University of Louisville. I think they let him in with a sub 2.0 GPA. He is doing Languages and I hope he doesn’t fail out this time. I’m not sure if that’s what he wants to do with his life, but he said he wanted to be the guy who did subtitles for movies…</p>

<p>You’re better off I think than him.</p>