This Is Why College Really Sucks

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

Update on my situation:  I am now trying to get back into Grad School, for a PhD this time.

 

 

[N.W. 3,619]

Of course the biggest is the pressure to do well and not throw away money as it were, really stressed about that as of late.

Grades are not in the tank but they could be better. Also getting some pressure from my dad to go out and meet people and have a college experience like his was, needless to say I could care less about how much of a social butterfly he was.

[Codelyy 1,286]

I personally enjoy College though i know that College in the UK is a lot different then how it is in America if you are from America that is.

 

In the UK you start college at 16 and do it for 2 years normally till your 18. You can stay and do other course from what i know.

 

Though i haven't been at college for very long since i only started about 2 months ago, I've enjoyed it so far compared to high school. It's quite strange being at College however since i'm treated as a adult, I wear no school uniform which you have to wear school uniform in the UK and i don't have to say at College for the entire day most of the time... very strange and was hard to get used too.

 

But now i got used to it i love it though from what i've heard in America college is a lot harder then in the UK.

[CT-1138 3,182]

For me, the hardest part of college is getting in. They never contact you with a "no", nor do they ever tell you if there's something missing on your application. I was on the phone with Columbia at least once a week for 2 months smoothing through my application. Plus, everything having to do with transcripts is completely electronic now, and of course this new system they use screws them up every time! (Not just me, either, my cousin had trouble with the same system when she applied to colleges for the first time this year). I didn't worry about racking up huge student loan debt. I took all my common core at a cheap community college for two years before transfering to Columbia.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I like this New Yorker cartoon:

 

 

[Night Lance 15]

Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the college life such as meeting new people and getting awesome professors, but what I cannot stand is that it is basically an extension of high school with the same basic curriculum being tests and papers. Plus the huge amounts of debt one racks up is freaking stressful and is a burden. I originally wanted to get my Associates degree in IT but my parents basically forced me to take an undergrad degree. I am currently a senior and am already behind due to the massive credit requirements and will be graduating a semester or year late.

 

Also I cannot stand the pointless core classes. IN my college as an IT major I have to take three Philosophy classes in which i have finished and all sucked.

 

Couple the fact that I will probably learn way more at through an internship and getting a job in my field than I ever did at college.

Here is a quite funny video the describes college perfectly.

 

Any other college student out there who am dealing with this same crap?

 

 

I hate how my college requires a foreign language. It's not that I don't wanna learn a new language, it's that I want to do more with major. It's not that I don't want to do art classes, it's that I want to learn more about my major. I'M HERE FOR MY MAJOR *Blasts off to the moon*

[Lost 1,410]

I actually enjoy University. Tom Ska (asdfmovie) went to my Uni he even made their advert:

[Sekr Gray 520]

Freshman, but I'm also in an advanced program that shaves off a year (Associates degree in 11 months). I wanted to just take a year off the of schooling, but everybody in school and my family basically shoved me into the program, thinking I would do perfect. I would get the entire program for free, thanks to some tricky scholarship workings and several grants to the program itself. 

 

So far, I've found I can't most of my peers, can't even trust a work lab to be free of impromptu parties, failed most of my current classes due to missing two weeks worth of work (mental/emotional trauma issues), and that consular are still clueless/non-caring to your problems when explained. So far, it's just like High School, except I don't have a girlfriend or normal friends now, and I get to buy my own lunch. Really wishing I can could've skipped that year now.

[Sectus 246]

I think I struck it lucky when it comes to college. The schedule is really relaxed and open and while at the moment I'm taking core classes, my next three semesters are all filled with job-related education courses. Literally none of them are core classes after that, meaning I'll be taking subjects only related to my interests.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I have been studying for the big graduate school entry test called the GRE.  The company that makes the tests is trying to screw me over right now.  I sent them a money order along with some other paperwork, and now they are saying that they did not receive the payment.  However, since they responded to the paperwork, I know for a fact that they did receive the envelope that contained the money order.  They apparently lost it or something, and they are expecting me to go to the place where I bought the money order so I can pay them to trace it.  I don't see how it is my responsibility to keep track of their mail for them.

 

  

[Varrack 1,080]

I personally enjoy College though i know that College in the UK is a lot different then how it is in America if you are from America that is.

 

In the UK you start college at 16 and do it for 2 years normally till your 18. You can stay and do other course from what i know.

 

Though i haven't been at college for very long since i only started about 2 months ago, I've enjoyed it so far compared to high school. It's quite strange being at College however since i'm treated as a adult, I wear no school uniform which you have to wear school uniform in the UK and i don't have to say at College for the entire day most of the time... very strange and was hard to get used too.

 

But now i got used to it i love it though from what i've heard in America college is a lot harder then in the UK.

Yeah - in the U.S. you have to graduate high school first, which happens at about age 18, and then college comes after that. So naturally it is harder because it's meant for a higher age range.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

Now it is time to go take the big test.

 

 

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

Update - I did not get into the PhD program that I wanted.

[cider float 2,537]

Colleges should remove all the useless majors out there and only offer the ones that can get you somewhere. 

 

Also there should be courses that teach you about things you will worry about after graduating like how to get a good stable job, setting up a career, these should be mandatory. 

 

Your paid tax money should be put into a college savings or something not be used for useless crap the government does.

Edited August 1, 2016 by cider float

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

there should be courses that teach you about things you will worry about after graduating like how to get a good stable job, 

 

 

Yeah, I wish my Masters program would have taught me how to get a job in the field.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Shawn Parks

[EpicEnergy 23,163]

Costs and money aren't the only issues with college, stress and depression also can happen to you in college and it really worsens things a lot. I've had to deal with both stress and depression when I was in college.

[Cirrus. 1,089]

I'm 31 here at the moment. Things could be better, things could be worse at the moment. Hopefully my experience might help someone.

I graduated high school in '06 and went to a community college. I was taking my general classes full time most semesters and part time other semesters. I worked and had to pay half of my school related expenses. My dad made enough where I didn't really qualify for financial aid. If I didn't go to school I had to pay rent. I was thinking of working in the auto industry or becoming an architect (houses).

Then in 2008 everything went to shit. My dad in the auto industry almost lost his job twice over the next couple years. Then the housing market crashed. At this point my major ideas weren't looking good. I changed to a criminal justice major to do something either in accident investigation or border patrol. This is around 2011-2012 and now I had to pay rent no even in school my parents said. Things still weren't too hot at this time and I was seeing that I would have to figure out where I would be transferring for sure soon. The problem was how I would pay.

I was also having second thoughts about constantly having to deal with the general public in criminal justice, and the bad side of it at that. I work retail and and am burned out with dealing with the public- well the idiots in public. I don't have a problem with normal people. Also around this time my younger (I have my rights/don't tell me what to do even though I don't have a pot to piss in) brother was being an uncooperative idiot causing big time stress around the house and got evicted around this time- so there's that too. It was causing me to want to just GTFO already.

I was still going to school but was thinking of other things too. I ended up being SO close to joining the Air Force, although the possibility of being in the Middle East was not appealing, but hey, i could finish school when I got back, or maybe do some in the service and get right into border patrol after. My 3 living grandparents ages concerned me about this though...and then OF COURSE right around that time my 88 year old grandpa almost died but luckily could do most things after. This is around when I found MLP which definitely helped my mood during that scare.

 

Sadly though he died suddenly a year later in 2014. He died on the day of my last final exam...

That put me at a sudden stop sign at a crossroads.

I luckily hadn't lost anyone I was close with until that point. (My other grandpa with Parkinson's died when I was 11, but he couldn't talk so I never knew him.) I was feeling like shit, (stressed, anxiety, and some other negative feeling (I found out later on what it was - NOT depression).

At this point I was 26. I had to pay rent, be working full time to have health insurance (aged out of my dad's), and figure out if I wanted to jump into the student loan lava pit and transfer to a farther away school that I would have to commute to in order to get a degree for a career that I was really starting to think would be a bad mistake.

So I went full stop. I haven't been back to the school since.

I just worked full time and laid my cards out.

• What do I have right now?
• What do I really like to do?
• What do I REALLY have to do to get there?

Step one was to get out of my parent's house. I just wanted out- I WILL decide what I'm doing by my choice. How things have been going hasn't been working. I get along with them OK, but we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. My Dad is a "his way's the best way" kind of guy and my Mom thinks we're all perpetually in middle school and loves to gossip. If she knows your business, than everyone does.

So I saved for a down payment and bought a house since they were starting to go up in value pretty good -faster than I could save. It's only a little more than it costs to rent a one bedroom apartment in the area. Pretty soon I can get some money out from the equity I've built up over 3 years.

I also thought about what I'd like to be doing. I'm more of a technical/behind the scenes guy. I have to be moving around (no desk job) and I have to be doing something where I have to be thinking and preferably using my hands. Also my tolerance for stupid/ignorant/arrogant people has warn thin from working retail since high school. Luckily it's been at a more knowledge based old-timey hardware store.

I've since found out about an electrician apprenticeship. I WOULD HAVE DONE THAT RIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL IF I'D EVEN KNOWN HOW THAT WORKS/EXISTS!!!!  But alas I'm here and it's now. No time machine.

I've taken the test, had an interview, and am on the list, but I think I'm going to have to retake the test this winter since I know my math was a little rusty. I will take a math class at the community college by my house before it though. Hopefully coronavirus BS doesn't mess that up

I am also hopefully going to start to work on getting a pilot's license later this year. It's something I've thought about but thought it was out of reach and wouldn't be of much use without owning a plane. Since the electrician apprenticeship doesn't cost anything, I should actually be able to start. Who knows, maybe I'll be in like an Uber/Lyft-like Pilot gig situation eventually!

I'm also starting something animation and/or comic related that's been in the works for a while, but that's lower on the list at this point. I finally got the equipment at least. It would have never happened if I hadn't stumbled on MLP.

 

 

TLDR;

• Really think about the kinds of things you like doing and see what kind of jobs/careers are out there. RESEARCH ALL AVENUES available to get there. The earlier you do this the better.
• Community college is a good place to start. You can get the BS classes out of the way cheaper and if you change direction, you won't be out as much money.
• Don't be an idiot sheep and blindly stumble into the student loan debt quicksand/lava pit because that's what "they" say you need to do.
• THINK about things. Life happens, but don't quickly do what seems like the easiest/most convenient thing. It may cost you later. Look at the big picture. It's worth the time spent to weigh your options. You may find some you wouldn't have even thought of right off the bat. (AKA me and pilot license)

Edited April 29, 2020 by Cirrus.

[Splashee 28,563]

On 3/11/2014 at 7:14 AM, GXPBlast said:

Also I cannot stand the pointless core classes. IN my college as an IT major I have to take three Philosophy classes in which i have finished and all sucked.

I saw the video, it was funny.

 

But school is boring, yes. I still recommend going to college. If you have the chance, or if you are already in college, then do it as well as you can, and you will have a better chance later in life. Nothing is guaranteed.

[Lucky Bolt 35,062]

College life can be a b**ch lol. I’m there. But, it’s also fun so I ain’t knocking it.