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Bearzy
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#1
Old 05-13-2014, 04:40 AM

I'm a first year at university right now, and I'm starting to wonder if it's really what I want to be spending the next two and a half years of my life on. A lot of the time I feel like I'd rather be working full time somewhere, saving up money and using my time to work on personal projects rather than essays I don't really care about.
Is my first semester too soon to tell?
I guess I'd work through my first year at least, but honestly I can't see the point some days. I'm doing an english degree, and want to go into scriptwriting, either for television or for comic books.

Does anybody have experience with dropping out?
Or any advice that kept you in school?

Cherry Who?
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#2
Old 05-15-2014, 06:31 AM

Your first semester is definitely too soon to tell. It could be down to your teachers. If you're an English major but you're not liking doing essays, that could very well be your teacher's fault, or else the fault of the class you have to take. Freshman level English classes suck. Actually, all freshman level classes suck. They're pretty much all boring, bullshitty things where there's enough work to be a pain in the ass but you can't take any of it seriously because it's so silly. So if it feels like a waste of your time... yeah, it absolutely is. But it's not going to continue to be that way.

I don't know if Ratemyprofessor does NZ profs or if there's an equivalent site for you guys, but try to find one and utilize it when you sign up for classes next semester. Look for professors with good reviews - though take all reviews with a grain of salt. Some people give professors bad reviews just because they got a bad grade and didn't pay attention. Take a sophomore level class with a respected professor before you decide.

In the meantime, do research on exactly how necessary a degree is for what you want to do. See if your university has any sort of career counseling services - if they do, utilize those fully. Look online. Try to find any sort of mentorship or job shadowing services where you could connect with people doing what you want to do. Use that opportunity not only to help you get an idea for what all the job entails, but to scope out how important education is for it. Do they have a degree? Do all their peers have degrees? Did their peers without degrees get to where they are based on the sheer force of their talent and it was a total fluke, or did their lack of a degree just not matter?

College sucks. Homework sucks. Many times a semester (or month... or week) I think "UGH I JUST DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE." But beneath all the suckiness, I really do love to learn. So that's what you have to ask yourself. You hate the homework, the getting up early, the boring classes, whatever. But at the end of the day, do you feel like you're getting something out of this?

There really is no shame in deciding that university is just not right for you. It doesn't make you stupid or a failure or a quitter or whatever. It just means it's not right for you. But not having a degree is going to make good paying jobs rough to come by. If you go on to be a scriptwriter, that's fantastic. But there's going to be an interrim period where you're probably going to need to make more than someone who works in retail makes. You're going to need some experience in the field before people start hiring you. You've got to start at the bottom but, unfortunately, people generally don't let people into the bottom unless they have a degree.

Now, this is all based on US stuff, and I don't have specific knowledge of the scriptwriter's life. Your mileage may vary. But the decision to not get a degree can have a pretty negative impact on you, and it's not one that should made just because the first semester is hard or boring. Two and a half years really isn't that long of a time. I'm finishing my second year of college just now, and it feels sort of like I just started.

Last edited by Cherry Who?; 05-15-2014 at 06:33 AM..

Bearzy
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#3
Old 05-15-2014, 10:41 AM

Yeah, my problem isn't that it's hard, or boring, I actually love my classes and the majority of my lecturers. I just keep looking at my bank balance and wincing, and also thinking about all the things that (in theory, let's be honest I procrastinate things I enjoy as well) I could be getting done if I didn't have to do that reading, or write that essay. We'll see I guess.

Cherry Who?
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#4
Old 05-15-2014, 10:01 PM

Okay, yeah, the financial aspect is definitely an issue, and one I forgot to address in my previous post. You should be able to research the average pay for people in the field you're going into. Base, starting pay, pay for the moderately successful, pay for the rich and famous. Look at the very base pay and see if you can live comfortably on that with your loans. Account for the fact that you will make more than that eventually, but don't go "pff! I'll be making that for a couple years at best. I'll be doing great before I even hit 25!" because that never goes well. You may actually do well before 25 and that would be fantastic, but don't set things up so you're screwed otherwise.

As for what-I-could-be-doing-instead questions... Well, what would you be doing? Whatever you would be doing, it's something you're still capable of in your free time, or after college. But without a deadline and professors forcing you too, how many of these subjects would you study otherwise? How many of these books would you read, how many of these theses would you have come up with? Even if some classes might feel like BS sometimes, college is actually really good way to spend your time. Whether you realize it or not right now, it's changing the way you think and approach things. It's teaching you to be analytical, to search for more. Time wise, it's absolutely worth it. But it might take more than a semester to recognize the change in yourself.

If you're loving your classes, it's not hurting your well-being, and think you should be able to afford it, staying in might be the best option. It's easier to go now when you're young than when you're 30. And if the experience isn't hurting you, it will benefit you.

 


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