Hey everyone,
I was wondering if anyone wanted to give some input on my situation. I just turned 30 this year, and have been in and out of college since my early 20’s. I originally went for music education, but just before I was about to graduate, I had an realization that I wanted to do something more related to helping the environment. So after dropping out from music ed and attending community college for a year for landscape design, I went to a university for one semester, before I dropped out again due to lack of focus. I’ve been trying to take basic science courses at other local community colleges ever since then, against without success due to lack of focus. Which brings me to today, where I was about to return to community college in the fall for basic math, but was unable to even focus enough to get registered.
So I’m wondering if I should just give up at this point. I am clearly having difficulty here, but I’m not too sure why exactly. I have started to suspect I have ADD, as I recently found out both of my parents have it, and I have many of the symptoms. I was considering going to a doctor to see what they could do to help me focus, but again, I just turned 30, and have a long history of failure, so I’m almost thinking it’s time for me to throw in the towel and accept that I will have to make it without a college degree. Anyone have any similar experience that they would like to share, or any input overall?
Thanks in advance.
Go get tested. If you do have ADD you can use the colleges services to help you arrange strategies to have you complete a degree in something.
Adults have add. Get a diagnosis, proper medication, and work in executive functioning. Read what color is your parachute and do what you are to get an idea of areas of may be interested in. Don’t return to college until you know for sure what you want to do with your degree.
I was planning on getting diagnosed either way, and pending the results, getting help from my college for accomodations, but as MYOS said, I don’t want to just get any degree to say I have a degree. I do want to go into a specific field, which is environmental science, with a focus on bioremediation and bioenergy. My career goals are to start an algae/seaweed bioenergy company. This may sound vague or unrealistic for those uninformed, but if you look into it, there are a number of active and successful companies doing this very thing.
I appreciate the advice though, I will be looking into what color is your parachute for sure, and getting fully diagnosed. I just don’t want to proceed with my educational efforts until I know whether my effort is worth it, or if I should just give up on my dreams. I honestly don’t have anything else lined up, and it feels like if I don’t follow this path, I really don’t know what else I will do with myself.
^^I didn’t know what your current degree goal was, so I said to get a degree in something.
After you get tested, you will find out which strengths you can use to fulfill your educational goal. Good luck!
I’m not sure how you are going to start and operate your own business if you can’t even pull it together to register for classes. Don’t keep throwing money down the drain. I’d get the quickest degree possible.
@rjm51686, don’t give up. Do what you need to do to get tested, medicated (if needed), and get rolling to your goal. Don’t let anyone discourage you.
^^^ agreed. Go get tested. Don’t give up.
I will not be starting my business until I have at least gotten a good part of the way through my degree. So one step at a time. I am also not intending to get a degree for the sake of having a title, but to actually learn some very specific things that will help me with my career goals. The vast majority of my credits are liberal arts classes, and I want to go into a field of science, so getting the quickest degree possible will not be useful to me. I appreciate the sentiment though, part of me wishes I could do something like this, but I changed course from the direction of liberal arts a long time ago, and feel like returning to it would be a set back. I’ll keep it in mind though.
Thanks to everyone for your answers and encouragement. It’s tough after all of this effort, and at my age, to feel like it could be possible to actually succeed. But I am determined to achieve my goals, so I will at the very least see what a doctor and career counselor has to say. Thanks again.