[Doppelbock]

You are an ENTP, that suggests you are possibly a natural leader/entrepreneur type. College would do you well -- in fact, many opportunities will be denied to you without a degree -- but it might be the case that you need to wait a few years until you are ready for it. Sounds like you went for the wrong reasons rather than the right ones, and need to find the right ones before you finish it off.

Wish I could give you advice on what to do without a degree, until you figure your interests out -- all I can tell you though is to live frugally and save up.

[plotthickens]

	Originally Posted by ausguy96 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Not going to college will most likely decrease your earning potential and job options. Think Best Buy clerk... U G H. Poor things.

Lowest rank dogsbody "Utility" in a highrise building starts at $26 an hour in Oakland, $31 in SF. $50 a class where the classes are all semester; three years and you raise a grade, along with $10 an hour. Four grades to get work to get, through your career.

Entry level job is not the same as no-college job.


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I'd rather be Wolverine than Cyclops.

[Imagineering]

Originally Posted by mkdirfoo To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I went back to school when I was 33 from dropping out when I was 19. Three straight years of full-time work and full-time school. Between studying and spending time with my daughter, I did not have a lot of free time on my hands. It's much easier to get it over with while you are young without a lot of complications. And I would say that in my career field, Information Technology, having that degree has helped tremendously. A degree is like having a ticket that gets you access to better job opportunities... AND more money.

I doubt my Literary Studies degree is going to do any wonders for me.


Oh and guy who mades this thread. Don't you think working in a bank would totally suck?

[pootygray]

Asking if dropping out of school worked for anyone...is perhaps the wrong question. Sure, there are people like Bill Gates who made it big without a college education...but how many are there in his place who didn't do well ? I'd imagine if you compared the numbers of people who dropped out of college and did not succeed vs those who did the difference would be fairly large. A better question to ask is WOULD I SUCCEED IF I DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE NOW?

I don't know you, or your situation very well..so what i'm saying from this point on are merely observations. You've got a good 40,000 to repay in debt, and not a lot to add to your resume. As a college student your work experience will probably be minimal and if there is any I doubt it's worth mentioning. Since you're in such a large amount of debt I'm going to assume your savings aren't very high. So where would dropping out of college leave you? It'd leave you at square one, except this time you'd be in hoards of debt and nothing to show for it. With the economy like it is, dropping out won't be any easier than staying in school. You'll end up working just as hard, if not harder, to get your way out of the hole.

[cmonster]

it worked for kanye?

[Imagineering]

Originally Posted by pootygray To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Asking if dropping out of school worked for anyone...is perhaps the wrong question. Sure, there are people like Bill Gates who made it big without a college education...but how many are there in his place who didn't do well ? I'd imagine if you compared the numbers of people who dropped out of college and did not succeed vs those who did the difference would be fairly large. A better question to ask is WOULD I SUCCEED IF I DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE NOW? I don't know you, or your situation very well..so what i'm saying from this point on are merely observations. You've got a good 40,000 to repay in debt, and not a lot to add to your resume. As a college student your work experience will probably be minimal and if there is any I doubt it's worth mentioning. Since you're in such a large amount of debt I'm going to assume your savings aren't very high. So where would dropping out of college leave you? It'd leave you at square one, except this time you'd be in hoards of debt and nothing to show for it. With the economy like it is, dropping out won't be any easier than staying in school. You'll end up working just as hard, if not harder, to get your way out of the hole.

Here is the break down. Avoid debt. Don't go to college. Learn a trade. Start a business. Laugh at college graduates.

[eagleseven]

Originally Posted by plotthickens To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Excuse me, but it seems that everyone here is thinking about getting white-collar jobs (with exception of Imagineering). Please note, skilled blue collar jobs: pay more money have much less stress have shorter hours are in great supply and are short applicants do not require school are applicable OUTSIDE of work are good for the body, generally make for happier people Don't let the Hollywood stereotype of the happy, successful handsome CEO VS the buttcrack plumber dumb down your thinking. Most white-collar folks are arrogant, stressed, vapid middle managers with their heads up their asses. Most skilled blue-collar folks are grounded, relaxed, well-paid, happy folks. Hitting a vocational college or just jumping into one of the many, many, many blue-collar jobs out there that offer on-the-job training may be a good idea. Hell, skilled laborers usually start at $20 or $25 an hour... what cube inmate can say that?

While the trades can provide meaningful and well-paying employment for many, realize that it is not a field of roses. There are downsides to the trades:

1. Risk for permanent injury. You can't return to the job after one of the many deabilitating on-site injuries that are quite common. My 21-year-old friend was lucky, in that he only lost a finger in a recent accident...he almost lost his hand to a hydraulic machine.

2. Guaranteed long-term pain. Talk to any old man who was in the trades, and their body hurts in very specific ways, related to their careers. Performing manual or semi-manual labor every day will accelerate the degradation of your body, guaranteeing you years of pain and many hospital bills as you age.

3. Vulnerability to illegal immigration. Particularly in construction, the American blue-collar labor market is flooded with illegal immigrants that seriously depress wages. Whereas white-collar jobs are protected from illegals because a college degree is required (and illegals cannot afford college), you can easily learn the trades in Mexico.

4. Vulnerability to technological advance. If you work with things, rather than ideas, every efficiency-improving technology will threaten your livelihood. Robotics will increasingly supplant human labor until we are all either unemployed or knowledge-workers.

---

Every career has its downsides...everything is a trade-off.

[Booko]

	Originally Posted by Haphazard To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	This seems like a good idea. If the bank turns into a full time job, well, with those kinds of positions they like people with degrees. They will pick people with degrees/training/whathaveyou for advancement sooner than anyone else.

Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. When you are floundering in education, it's time to get a job and reconsider, rather than pour more money into something that might be wholly irrelevant.

Also, consider salvaging what you can of your undergrad work by consulting with a counselor at a community college. You may find in short order you can at least get an Associate's degree, and that's better than no degree.*

Also, community colleges are quite good at career counseling compared to 4-year schools. They have batteries of tests and such that might help you find what you like and what you're good at and that might give you some guidance for any future education.

*After my B.S. degree, I went back to comm. college and got my comp sci credentials in less than a year. It's been very handy, because my undergrad school didn't even have Comp. Sci. minors at the time. It was sort of assumed you just would teach yourself anything you needed to know (which I did).

[Imagineering]

Originally Posted by eagleseven To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

While the trades can provide meaningful and well-paying employment for many, realize that it is not a field of roses. There are downsides to the trades: 1. Risk for permanent injury. You can't return to the job after one of the many deabilitating on-site injuries that are quite common. My 21-year-old friend was lucky, in that he only lost a finger in a recent accident...he almost lost his hand to a hydraulic machine. 2. Guaranteed long-term pain. Talk to any old man who was in the trades, and their body hurts in very specific ways, related to their careers. Performing manual or semi-manual labor every day will accelerate the degradation of your body, guaranteeing you years of pain and many hospital bills as you age. 3. Vulnerability to illegal immigration. Particularly in construction, the American blue-collar labor market is flooded with illegal immigrants that seriously depress wages. Whereas white-collar jobs are protected from illegals because a college degree is required (and illegals cannot afford college), you can easily learn the trades in Mexico. 4. Vulnerability to technological advance. If you work with things, rather than ideas, every efficiency-improving technology will threaten your livelihood. Robotics will increasingly supplant human labor until we are all either unemployed or knowledge-workers. --- Every career has its downsides...everything is a trade-off.

You make good points but sitting at a desk all day isn't peaches either. I think working out at work is a good thing. I wonder if there is a study on the difference between white collar and blue collar as far as physical longevity. That'd be interesting.

[sircockburn]

Why waste all the money and time you put into college? You might as well just finish it up - coast along and take that bank job.

[strategistintj]

Originally Posted by Edmond Dantes To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I will spare everyone the long version and just say I should have graduated this spring but I did not- in fact, I really am about a sophomore by credit hours. I have taken a couple of semesters off, but my life situation really seems to feel like it's the right thing to do for this time in my life. There is of course the fear that I will be that 35 year old guy who tells people "I wish I had stayed in college," however there is a greater fear my life will stay stagnant for years if I don't do something to create a sense of achievement and progress in my life. I changed schools a lot, and have been dating a girl that had a pretty strong effect on my preoccupation with a lot of things besides school. In fact, every other area of my life besides school is relatively chaotic, unstable, and intense. At the very core of it all I have been trying to sort out my belief system, I was raised Christian but time at Christian schools ironically caused me to view religion as an entity as something I may choose to do without, with the obvious question lurking of what goes in its place. My parents are ISTP/ISFP and really have little appreciation for my intellectualism and think I am just "lacking in faith" and need more God in my life, and that will solve everything. It's killing me not to have a plan, and to be stagnant in my life. I have the opportunity to take a part time job at a bank that could turn full time in operations. It's not my dream per se, but it's better than my present nightmare. I guess I'm just looking for other people's insight as to how they dealt with career/belief system uncertainties in young adulthood. I need my intellect satisfied with some answers on what is the best path for my life, and what is really of merit. I also, however, need to be moving forward, and with $40,000 in student debt and no sense of direction motivating me, I am nearly flunking out of college despite having been class valedictorian in high school. I have a lot of goals and dreams that I could be achieving if I got out on my own and had a routine to my life. I do not do well with a constantly undefined amount of time that has to be put into homework and the constant stress of it all. I used to work out, play instruments, just be overall more consistent and goal oriented. In essence, I want my life back and for awhile I thought it couldn't possibly be school holding me back, but I am starting to feel less like this is an appropriate time and place in my life to try to juggle so many things that are all competing so intensely for my time. I promised the short version, and I apologize I instead provided the medium to long version, just trying to paint a decent picture. Did dropping out of school work out favorably for anyone?

If you have good people skills and business sense, then quit University because you can make money in business with out doing Uni. But if you are looking for a job you then either have to start as an apprentice or need a decent degree to get your foot inside the door for getting an average or good job. I had a business, sold them recently and planning to do uni. I am 23 years old. How old are you?

[Imagineering]

Did you drop out?

[darynthe]

You want to work in a bank without a college/university degree? Excuse me but that makes no sense unless you want to condemn yourself to cashier for the rest of your life.

If you want to get a blue collar job then congratulations you are taking the right decision by dropping out of a unrelated career. However it doesn't sound like it.

It looks you are looking for any and all excuses not to continue with something you see are tiresome and boring. Hello? You will have free time after you finish. Life requires effort. Life is not only about having time and money to do funny pleasurable things.

Grow a pair. Drop the leisure activities. C'est la vie.

[Zilal]

I'm not sure it matters whether you stay in college or drop out... I'm not sure it matters for most people. The changes that you need to happen in order to be focused and fulfilled are internal and they can occur if you press on, or if you leave and work for a few years; or they might not happen for a long time no matter what you do. I think the only important thing is to be deliberate about your choices. Don't just let one or the other happen to you.

I went to college right out of high school and couldn't handle it at that time. I dropped out. I don't have any particular feelings about this; it wasn't a choice; there was no way I could have stayed in. Spent most of my 20s working menial jobs and finally went back to school and just completed my bachelor's this spring. I'm fine. My life was not ideal but it has the virtue of being mine, and I know I wouldn't necessarily be happier if things had followed a more idealized course.