[Potironette]

In 2018 I'll be graduating from high school if I get my community service hours in. But the closer that happens, and the more college becomes a pressing issue, I can't help feeling it's sort of a useless sort of thing.

I don't have anything I'm interested in. I don't have anything I'm good at, save for being able to muck through a hard high school that takes up much more of my time than I'd like.

There isn't one thing in college I think I'll be happy to do. It'd kind of suck if I lived through college not liking college work, and graduated doing a job I'd hate--which would probably take a bunch of time too.


tldr: What's a good reason to go to college? Advice for what to do if I don't have anything I like doing?

[Quiet Man Cometh]

My thoughts...

1. College is expensive and stressful. If you don't want to do it yet (or at all), don't waste the money.

2. Unless you have some special scholarship or entry thing that depends on time (I had a scholarship trust that required I complete my degree in the five years after high school graduation to get the money) then don't worry about going right away. You CAN go later in life if you want to, and mature students are not uncommon.


I don't think it would hurt to not go if you don't know what you want to do. One sentiment that I agree with is that you don't go to college for a job, you go for an education. I enjoyed my time, and would do it again, but it hasn't made me any better off, financially. It has given me a jump start in additional schooling because I'm pre-qualified for some things, but that doesn't happen all the time.

[Demonskid]

I agree with Quiets points.

Also, while working at the local Mission, I've come to learn that many collage students who have gotten degree's and masters, still can't find any work because they are either 'under qualified' or 'over qualified'.

[Tohopekaliga]

College is not a bad thing.

If you don't know what you want to do with yourself, well, you should probably stick with a state school of some kind, so that you're not paying absurd amounts of money for it all.

But where ever you go, college has a few important benefits:

Having a degree, any degree, does in fact help a bit with acquiring jobs places. Might be irrelevant overall, but...

College itself is an experience. Something you won't really have much of an opportunity to do later in life. If you can manage going now, do it. What major? I think you can be undeclared for a year or two... I was doing engineering stuff, so I wasn't. But it is a thing.

Why go? Well, for fun. And learning. A lot of degrees will, admittedly, get you fuck all, but you'll still learn from actually going to class and doing things, and you'll likely have lots of experiences you wouldn't otherwise get.

Once it's all done with, perhaps you'll have figured out what you want to do as a job, perhaps you haven't...but really. A degree does not pidgeon hole you into something. You can still do whatever, but perhaps there will be more opportunities than with just a high school diploma.

(Unless you got a philosophy degree, then lol, good luck.)

[Potironette]

Thanks for the responses! Usually I think too little about college so that when it becomes more pressing I get extremely worried.

Mmm, to sum up what I think I'm hearing:
I shouldn't go into debt going to college
Going to college is for education and experience and not for a job though it does help, depending on various things.
It's possible to be undeclared.

While I would like to go to college, I'm worried that I'll find myself stuck doing work for classes I grow to dislike. I guess the opposite's probably possible, though. The fact that I can't think of one college thing I'll be interested in doesn't help.


...Philosophy? I don't think I could stand writing philosophical things or thinking about it all the time :P. As thought provoking as it might be, thought provoking things related to life often end up making me feel melancholic at the end of the day.

[Coda]

Didn't I make a post about this just recently? >.> I remember going into detail about votech schools and boot camps and such.

If you don't have a very specific goal in mind, then there's no reason to spend a ton of money on education. If you want to go to college, you'll get just as good of general education benefits no matter which school you attend, so shop on price instead of quality (like Toho said, state or community colleges), because you don't want to be like me and still be paying for it over a decade later.

And even an associate's degree (2-year) in something is better than no formal education at all; it's a good jumping-off point for getting in the fundamentals before you specialize.

[Potironette]

Yep, there was a thread about college recently. Unlike the other person though, I don't really have something I want to do.

Since college provides a benefit then, I suppose that's the point of going. Although, if I go to a community college I'd move out of state anyway due to some issues.

[Tohopekaliga]

Well. Do keep in mind that tuition prices in state schools and community colleges are different depending on whether or not you are a resident of the state.

[Potironette]

Hm, that's unfortunate. Granted, I am a Canadian citizen and not a US citizen and it seems that Canadian colleges are cheaper?

[Tohopekaliga]

Oh, you're Canadian?

Yeah, you're fine.

[Potironette]

Born in Canada but never lived there x'D.

It's nice to know I can go there instead of another state.

[Tohopekaliga]

lol, well. I don't really know how that works, honestly. I'm not Canadian. But my understanding is that it'd probably be the less ridiculously expensive option...for Canadians.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Depends where you go and what you want out of it. I got all my education in BC here, and I started with a community college in Fort St. John (college maybe 250 students big) and then transferred to UBC in Vancouver (student population of some 50 000. Big difference, and a price difference to go with it.

Tuition for me at UBC was easily more than double what it was at my community college. The extra cost is brought on in part by what enrollment covers. My rinky dink college only had a library and a small atrium for 'features' while my provincial university had it's own farms, multiple libraries, multiple sports facilities, performance center, transit, themed gardens, etc., and the the costs for much of that go into tuition. Students use, student pay. So, if you don't care about how big your college swimming pool is, then consider how much fancy amenities might be affecting education cost.

I advocate starting with a small college first, no matter what you are doing. Even though my college was little and the course choices limited, the very small class sizes made it very easy to learn and discuss material, teachers were readily available for help, and it was a much calmer setting. I was able to maintain a very good GPA and got a very good understanding of the material.

When I transferred to the large university it was serious culture shock. Class sizes were huge, teacher's aren't always easy to get time with if there are 300+ students in the odd class, and it can be more of a struggle to get at what you need. I crashed and burned my first year of transfer. It was great, but it wasn't easy. The solid academic start in the college gave me a decent save.

[Vee]

Honestly, I'm in the same boat but I have more crappy views towards high school.
I'm dropping out to get my GED after failing 2 years due to some of my disorders.
I personally am sitting here like, "What the hell was the point of high school.." other than to get in some social skills, when you go to college they reteach material anyways because there are students who haven't been to high school in 20 years..
But I digress.

I'm personally eager to get into art school. :< I just want a good job. I think the rest of it sucks. High school can go eat a pile of crap though.

[Potironette]

Not being able to get help from teachers would suck. Much of my learning comes from asking teachers questions..

What do I want to get out of college... A direction I guess? Education and a direction?

High school. Hmm, for me high school is a nice way to escape my parents and learn math-related things. I dislike having to take time to learn other subjects though, since they're sort of time-wasting for me personally (though admittedly, English is helpful and I wouldn't improve it if not for high school).

As for disorders, I don't know much about that :/

Come to think of it, should I expect to gain from college the same things I should expect out of high school..?

[Moonshadow]

If you are not motivated into any field, and are exhausted from high school, if you can take a year off, get a job, try that first.