@IncidentalOrange , I have read here that law is a very impacted profession now…it’s very hard to get a job post-law-school if this is correct. You don’t like your major and don’t feel optimistic or well-suited to a related career. If you are on the Asperger’s/Autism spectrum I agree that it would be a challenging prospect…probably not using your strengths at all. I really think you should think about changing majors, regardless of how hard you think they are to get good grades in, and pursue what you like. Please talk to the professors in these areas (chem, econ) and tell them what your struggles are. Many profs (my husband is one of them) are more than willing to work with a student who reaches out for help and extra tutoring. Consider doing the econ degree even if it is “only” accounting. Even if it is a disappointment to you I still have a feeling that it could lead to better (and more satisfying) job prospects for you in the future than the road you are currently on. With the econ degree, you could possibly get into a more interesting graduate program…even if it means you have to take a few more “real” econ classes somewhere to get up to speed.
Do you know why your father insisted you go to this particular school, as opposed to the others that were also financially doable? Is the school closer to home, or have some other characteristics he likes? If you wrote a very well-composed letter to him, explaining what you hope to get out of college and why yo feel this particular school is not a good “fit” for you, do you think he will reconsider?
@mommyrocks, I know you are probably meaning to be helpful in a no-nonsense, take-no-BS way, but I did think your tone was pretty harsh. There are ways of saying things, but softening just a bit to give the benefit of the doubt, ad asking more questions before pronouncing judgements because we really DON’T know exactly where an OP is coming from, their state of mind, their personal struggles and history that are unknown. If your hunch is correct, that there is a depression component here, judgemental treatment (even from an online forum) can drive a person further underground and make it harder to ask for the kind of help they need. There are people who are pretty brilliant, but learning disabled, or troubled in some way and face frustrations that you and I know nothing about. If the OP is, in fact, on the spectrum, there are very real neurological differences in brain “wiring” that create challenges in negotiating a world designed around neurotypical functioning that are probably almost unimaginable to people not on the spectrum. It is true that neither you nor I, nor anyone on this forum can really help at any significant level with this…the OP needs specialized help…but I think we can try to walk kindly. Negativity in and of itself tends to be a characteristic of many on the spectrum…possibly because these folks struggle endlessly in a social world that makes little sense to them and have found so little success, or good outcomes, or empathetic support, despite often very high intelligence in other areas. I think there would be in intense frustration level in having high intellectual abilities in some ways yet so many VERY REAL roadblocks to being able to apply these abilities in the world. In that context I imagine the negativity would feel like the only realistic viewpoint, even if it does create an even more viscious cycle. I think it’s a little like someone very able-bodied telling someone in a wheelchair that if they’d just get up and stop being so pessimistic they could walk. Perhaps with lots of medical intervention, prosthesis and/or physical therapy it is possible, but not easy, not easy at all. Study of autism spectrum is in its infancy and there is so much that is yet unknown. But I do think the experience must be a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, trying to make sense of the world every day, and people ostracizing you for the very struggle; for the fact that you are not like them, or like their kids, who manage so well.
There are schools that are great for some and schools that are not perfect fits but at least good adequate for resiliant, adaptable students but some schools are just not good fits for some students. It’s true that savvy, on-the-ball kids can find amazing research opportunities…but lots of good people with potential are not savvy and need extra guidance, mentoring and step-by-step help. IMO, these people should be able to ask questions and not be shot down snarkily for not being perfect , or perfectly mature. It may be that OP would have similar problems wherever he/she went to school, but its possible he/she maybe would have had greater mentoring and the kinds of academic opportunities OP wants, elsewhere. Hard to say. But I still think CC should be a place where OP could come to grieve the loss a bit (I would have been upset if my parents had forced me to go to my least-favorite school, even for necessary reasons) and receive suggestions that are given truthfully, yes, but a little more gently than some I have read here. It’s true, we can’t solve OPs problems, and we can’t be therapists here. But maybe, a show of human warmth could model the kind of positivity we expect from OP, as well as offer a shot of courage and hope that might inspire the OP to seek the kind of substantial help in real life that COULD make a difference.
Off of my soapbox now.