<p>Hold on to your seats, this is going to be a long one. </p>
<p>All of my life I've been an above average student who played sports very well. Three years ago, a very serious medical condition arose and to make a long story short, put me a year behind in high school and completely changed my perspective on life.
I've tried multiple school systems/programs and none of them have been accommodating so I've chosen to pursue a GED. </p>
<p>This spring I am moving to Long Beach, California. I'm very excited about this because I've always wanted the laid-back surfer/skater lifestyle but never had the opportunity to have it. In thinking about how I'll finally be able to "let loose" and do the things I want to do, it's also got me thinking about my future. </p>
<p>The current plan is to get my GED this fall, take a year off to get my bearings in California and then go to community college for two years and then transfer to university. This is all fine and dandy but I have no idea what I really want to do.
I've only seriously considered being a doctor, lawyer, or a historian. None of these things are overly appealing to me. The truth is, I haven't been exposed to enough things to know what I'm good at, what I truly love, and what I want to do every day. </p>
<p>I've looked at tons of universities and colleges and scrolled through their colleges, departments, and majors. Nothing jumped out at me. I've taken those silly career quizzes and haven't been pleased with my results. </p>
<p>I know very few people find their niche in life, but I don't see the point in spending at least four years in college, racking up a ton of student loan debt and ending up with a so-so life. Would I be making a stupid choice by not going to college (at least not immediately)? Any other comments?
Lastly, please don't say I'm too young to be thinking about this stuff or anything else of that nature. I'm plenty old enough and need to have a goal and/or plan of some sort.</p>
<p>If you don’t know what you want to major in or even have the slightest idea, don’t go to college immediately. Trust me. I didn’t know and I pretty much just wasted my first year there, until I decided. Then again, that year gave me time to take various classes and determine what interested me the most.
Now, whether or not you go to college at all… I can’t answer that. Guess it would depend on whether you’d be able to find a decent paying job you can hold onto.</p>
<p>With the current economy, it is not a good idea to not to attend a college ( I am not refering to not going temporarily).
One of the assistant principals in my school told us that she was homeless when she was young and didn’t go to a college (didn’t even graduate high school, actually), until she got fed up with being laid off all the time and never getting promoted even though she had worked very hard, all because she didn’t go to college. The amazing thing is that now she is getting her Ph.D. She told us that it really made a difference for her.</p>
<p>By the way, did you finish the sophomore year of high school? In CA, you can take a test called CHSPE (it’s easier than ged I think) and get out of high school and go to a cc, but I am not sure if it works for high school outside of CA. :(</p>
<p>youre not mature enough to go to college yet. I dont mean that in a rude way, but its just something that has to happen before you can ‘start’ the rest of your life. Let me put it this way, you cant force a toddler to be potty trained. And if you do, they’re sure to either resent it/you. You have to wait till the baby is mentally mature enough to realize the societal no-no’s, once the baby realizes that, they wont want to use a diaper, they’ll want to be like everybody else. I have a similar problem (not about potty training) with a friend of mine who graduated highschool last year (2011) and missed college admissions and hated the idea of going to college, and hates to this day the idea of having ‘soul sucking’ job. No matter how hard we try, we cant make her go to college, and if we do she’ll resent us and probably college for a time. She has to go on her own time, when she realizes how important it is and what she really wants to do with the rest of her life. </p>
<p>Same goes for you. No ones there to force you, but start it when your ready to start it and if you’re planning on going to community college then this is totally fine. Honestly though, I think the GED is a bad idea, I would just finish highschool, then do all the rest of this stuff, it’ll give you more time to think about it (colleges dont look at how your a senior and waited a year to start college, they just see you waited a year before going to college, and it honestly doesnt look too great). Enjoy school apply to some colleges go relax and by the end of the summer you feel you’re ready for school, then go for it, if not, take another year figuring out your life. But trust me when I say a year is a long time. Apply for next school year, just in case you feel different by the end of summer (even if you ‘know’ you wont, strange things happen to us all the time).</p>
<p>not having a plans/goals/passions/interests says nothing about maturity.</p>
<p>to me the OP seems like he’s actually thinking carefully about his future - not simply latching on to a major or fake passion or whatever because society rewards you for doing those things.</p>
<p>^
Let me guess, Google? And oh sorry, reference from Garth Nix’s books Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. That’s where I got the quote from. and those are awesome books, read them!</p>
<p>Yep. I Google’d them sagacious words because I wasn’t quite sure if you were capable of constructing clauses using chiasmus, especially ones with such deep meaning.</p>
<p>Maybe some time to let loose will give you the direction you need. If you don’t have someone supporting your beach lifestyle then you’ll have to get a job and it will likely be a service position. Then from that perspective you can look at your options. Your whole life is ahead of you, no way to know when you’re young exactly which way to go, take some time.</p>
<p>Try to get as much work experience/shadoing as possible, even in careers you’ve never previously considered. Even if you still don’t know what you want to do, you’ll be able to cross some options of your list.</p>