All throughout my life, I’ve received top grades and top scores on standardized tests. I’ve always been regarded as “smart”, but now that college is rolling around, I realize that I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I’ve studied so hard just for the top scores and I don’t know what I am truly passionate and interested in. Ive recently felt completely lost and I’m wondering if college is even right for me. Can anyone help me? I don’t know what to do or what path to take.
This was me start of junior year. I got a 36 on the ACT in October and thought that I was set, I’d get my choice of an Ivy and a full ride to boot. Then i started coming here, and was immediately freaked out by how… accomplished some of them were. If I could say anything to my past self back then (and you now) it would be DO NOT WORRY. Over the semester, I thought about what I really enjoy in school, what class I looked forward to the most to learning in and one day, I just realized it was biology. I started volunteering at the hospital and really enjoyed it, helped a local park do a bird survey and studied for the SAT Bio test, and i might have a summer internship lined up now.
Just don’t get frustrated, get passionate. Even if it seems like you hate everything, try it all and I promise! You WILL find something. Good luck!
Great question! What you are feeling is very common today. Young people often start hearing about college, college from middle school. It’s a long time from then until one gets out of college. It’s hard to really understand what it all means from the perspective of 9th or 10th grade.
Middle and high school are really a time when a person, developmentally, will be trying to figure out who they are–what they enjoy, who they might like, how they would like to be in the world. Too often, though, they become pre-college when they are told the important thing is to line up those ducks.
We are fortunate to have the educational opportunities we have n the US. College is important for many things we do in life. But it is a stage in one’s development and not the end game.
Some ideas:
Take a gap year. One great way to do this is to work in a National Park. Many provide subsidized housing and sometimes food, which makes for an easier transition to the real world. You can make money rather than paying for a program. It allows one to get out in nature, which is really important but deemphasized today. I’ve seen wonderful growth from students who’ve done this.
Go to a school like Deep Springs in CA. It’s very small (few dozen), two years, students go on from there to great universities. There are other schools like it out there. I know a student at Prescott in AZ. They are spending most semester out in the wilderness, not on campus, working on projects. There are other schools like this. We evolved to be outside and don’t do that enough today.
What about an international school? That way you would be not only continuing your education but learning to live in a new culture and seeing the world. Most schools in the Netherlands now have University Colleges, which are international liberal arts schools affiliated with larger universities–University College Utrecht, University College Amsterdam. Classes are in English. These cost something like $12,000 per year and are great schools. Students graduate in 3 years. Universities are free in Germany. There are great English-language universities in South Africa, Australia, etc. Many are just as reputable as US universities. Often it’s cheaper to go there than stay in the U.S. Then education can be more of an adventure.
Thank you guys so much for the support. The gap year idea seems like a great idea to find out what I’m passionate in. I’ll look into that. I’ll just try to find out what intrigues me instead of worrying about college so much. Thanks again.
You are maybe 17? You don’t need to know what you are doing with your life right now. That’s what college is for. Please don’t stress. Life has a way of happening. Take a gap year if you feel that is right for you. Get a job, save some money, travel somewhere. Watch movies, go to the beach, have a lot of fun. Enjoy not having to be responsible for as long as you can. Before you know it, things will crystallize and you will find your path.