Hi all, I’m a junior and college applications are right around the corner. I come from a community that places heavy emphasis on getting into a good college and succeeding, so I’ve always gotten good grades and scored well on tests. The thing is that I don’t know why I’m doing this. Nothing really interests me in school; I just study for the grades. Is college right for me? I’ve previously thought I known what I want to do, but now I’m not so sure. Any suggestions? Thanks!
You will have to arrive at your own definition of “succeeding” which many people unwisely and simplistically tie to money. It can involve many other aspects of life, and is worth contemplating. College can be a place where you decide what interests you and what you are good rather than the means to a pre-determined career. Maybe think of the kinds of colleges that allow such exploration within a framework of academic excellence. Grades don’t mean much - no one has an A+ carved into their gravestone at the end of their life.
It used to be normal for kids not to know what they wanted to do by junior year of high school. With the high costs of college, society pushes teens to figure it out maybe too fast.
You don’t have to go to college right away–think about maybe taking a gap year to de-stress and find some true personal interests. Something you’d like to do, or something you’d like to learn more about. You might start by thinking about dropping some current activity you don’t actually enjoy and seeing what interests you with the new free time in your schedule.
Another thing to consider is that there are a lot more subjects available at college than in high school. Read course catalogs on college websites and see if anything sounds interesting. Maybe your dream major just isn’t offered at your high school.
high fives Also a junior, and totally get what you mean. I’ve changed my mind at least 10 times within the last 3 years LOL.
If you have good grades and extracurriculars, I recommend going for an LAC! They tend to have looser core curriculum. Hamilton, for example, only requires a writing-intensive class, which is pretty impossible not to take. Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton won’t require you to declare your major until spring of sophomore year. Colby even lets you wait it out till junior year. (Though I don’t recommend this if you have a decent family income; paying past the fourth year can be a lot to handle). I haven’t looked into the exact policies of other LACs, but I’m pretty sure they’re similar.
Process of elimination helps too, especially if there’s a pattern to the stuff you steer away from.
You can get a hint from your subconscious choices as well. Here’s my experience, if you’re interested!
- I started volunteering at the summer program at my Chinese school a few years back. Grueling, yet fulfilling work, and I probably have over 600 hours by now.
- I pulled so many all-nighters for Student Gov fall of junior year that my grades dipped.
3 My best friend and I bond by talking about things like fracking or life after death. This is 2am we’re talking about.
All these choices, which could be regarded as either random or masochistic, suddenly made sense a few days ago. I was looking through a summer course catalog, and was absolutely ecstatic to see “Political Power in American Cities”. All along, I had been looking for jobs with high salaries and cool work environments, when the INFP in me just wanted to serve others.
TLDR; I recommend you look at not just what you think you enjoy, but also what you believe in. What about school is purposeless? What has opposite attributes?
In my case, I’d like to be able to contribute to reforming the education system so that it does have purpose. It’d be awesome if you ended up joining me 
Also, if you really can’t figure it out, ditto the gap year suggestion.
@AroundHere , when was that normal? Many people, now and always, have stumbled around not knowing what they want to do or study, including me.
OP, I graduated from college in 1988 and waited until the last minute to declare a major. I didn’t figure out my career path until a few years ago. I spent six years getting my degree. I worked, travelled, ditched class, went to the beach, and got put on academic probation. That’s not right for everyone, but it worked for me. I had fun.
One thing is certain: your lifestyle and career choices, whatever they end up being, will be hampered without a college degree. Especially in this era. Go to college, and declare a major as a sophomore. Take a gap year. Take two. Work, save some money, go travelling. Do as much fun stuff as you can while you are young. Go to a college you like and feel comfortable at. Don’t worry about the expectations of others and what other students are doing.
I meant it used to be normal for kids to be uncertain in the junior year of high school. Now there is a lot of pressure for kids to at least act like they know what they want to do. Having a college or noncollege career plan is a graduation requirement at my local high school. Some parents don’t want to pay for college for a kid who doesn’t know what they want to study or what they would do with that degree. All sorts of media warn us not to let kids go into debt for “useless” subjects that don’t pay well after graduation.
The pressure is a lot higher these days.
Don’t be put off by peers who claim they know exactly what they want to do. Many will take detours or end up in other fields. I’d suggest you get s copy of the CollegeBoard Book of Msjors (your GC or library may have one). Spend some time with it and post-it notes – flag the ones that look really interesting in one color, and “maybe” in another.
You may find some groupings that are helpful, or majors & careers you didn’t know about. Then apply to schools that offers the top 3 or so you are interested in. You can take a couple classes in each when you get there, and use the career office to help you pick a major. Don’t worry about not having a plan all mapped out.
I’d get your applications in and get acceptances, but most schools will allow a gap year once you are accepted if you want to take one.
@perspectivestude I had 3.0 gpa in high school and was very disinterested in school but got 99.99% in SAT. Skipped 40% of school days etc. I am not a fan of schools or listening to anyone for 50 minutes straight. I still am like that. What you are feeling is more normal to me than a kid who knows exactly what he wants to do. Anyway, the view I took was I will go to college, take some courses I want to take, get some Fs, Ds, Cs, Bs and As, see what’s going on, how people are, read some books, try to see if I find anything interesting and do something legal to make money quickly. I did all that, and I am still here. I generally like myself – a lot. I was so lackadaisical about college and my future job that I found out Cornell was an Ivy school only after I had been there for one semester. lol
Ultimately, I couldn’t find a job I liked, so I started my own business and created one.
Thanks everyone! Do you guys have any suggestions of any liberal arts colleges I should look at? I’ve always throught that I would go to a large research institution.
Liberal arts colleges are a very wide category.
Do you have high stats?
Do you have a large college budget, or do you need merit aid?
Home state? Some states have a small liberal arts college among their state options, where you might get in-state tuition.
If going out of state, geographical preferences? (The midwest and south are great hunting grounds for scholarships, because they are less popular with students than the coasts.)
Are you up for radically quirky? (Places like Quest University)
Yes, if you could answer @AroundHere 's questions, that would be useful. Or start a new post in College Search and Selelction, where you will get more specific responses.
I am a big fan of LACs. My kid attends one. They provide great opportunities for students who will benefit from smaller classes, easy access to professors, and a more intimate atmosphere that makes it easier to get to know people. Because they are smaller, they are often able to devote more resources to students. Universities are great, but it’s easy to feel lost and overwhelmed, or just a face in a crowd. It’s harder to be anonymous at an LAC. See if there are any near you, so you can visit and get a feel for them.
Your question is a great one. It shows real thoughtfulness and self-reflection and independence.
I think it is difficult for students today. They attend high school during years when they are evolved to be very dynamic. They hear a lot about college for years. It’s a long run of producing homework, papers, and tests, which, while important to their intellectual development, have very little impact on the world. Many students work but many don’t. So there’s no producing things or providing services that help others. It’s a bit of an unreal existence.
There are many answers to the question, as many as there are people. There are non-traditional schools like Deep Springs College and Prescott College where a student can pursue learning in different ways, including a total immersion in the outdoors. You can google for the many alternatives.
Or you can pursue something outside of school while a student. For example, students at many schools work as EMTs. They get great experience and really contribute to their communities. There are many other jobs that one could do that are real and provide real-world experience.
Or, you could take a year off and learn some more about yourself and YOUR interests. I like to recommend working at one of the national parks. At the Grand Canyon, the concessionaire provides housing at a very low cost. One can hike and spend lots of time in the majesty of nature. There are many other national parks as well. A year flies by and then one could consider where they stand and what would most benefit them.
Or you might think of a completely different idea. Good luck with school or what other route you decide to follow after graduation!
Because being poor sucks.
You don’t know why you’re doing this because you haven’t figured out your purpose in life yet. That is A-OK and completely normal.
I agree with the suggestion to look at LACs. My daughter is a senior at an LAC and she picked her major by picking every course that sounded good to her, and seeing what major required those classes.
You’ll be amazed by the breadth of interesting courses you will find in college.