I’ve reached the time where all my peers are deciding where to go to college and what they are going to do for the rest of their life, but honestly I’m clueless.
Let me give you a little background on myself.
I am currently a senior in high school. My grade trends have definitely been ascending. My freshman year, I basically failed every class besides an Intro to Engineering and GYM. In my sophomore year, I got C’s in all my classes except World History, which I got an A. My world history teacher, knowing I wasn’t an idiot and I would pass the class, suggested me for AP. The next year I took normal classes except history and got all C’s, again. I took AP US History and fucked around my first semester and got a C then got an 88 the second semester. This year, I made a full turn-around. The first semester, I took an honors math class and honors government class, along with my normal classes and got all A’s. I’m in my second semester and I have been switched from remedial english to Honors English, where I am doing great.
During my senior year, I’ve been applying to colleges. I’ve only applied to Indiana school and to a apprenticeship program in Kentucky, due to lack of funds. I was denied to my “dream college”, Ball State, but they offered we admittance through their Connect Program, which turned out to be a better deal because it gives me a chance at a Transfer scholarship. I also applied to an apprenticeship-type program called KY FAME in Kentucky.
So here’s where I need advice. I don’t know if I should go to college or just do the apprenticeship.
If I go to college, I’ll be doing the Ball State connect program. Basically, I have to complete 24 credit hours and receive a 2.0 at a Community College (IVY Tech). If I do that, I will be admitted into Ball State. If I complete 30 and get a 3.5, I will get a scholarship from Ball State for 1000 dollars a year, which is 500 a semester. (it’s not much, but I would be proud to get it either way) I already have 9 of the 24 completed and I will likely be taking some of the classes I need in the summer if I do choose to go to a CC.
The only problem I have is I’m afraid of the cost at Ball State. I’ve done the math and I would have to take out about 5-7k out in loans every year (15-21k in total). I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but it’s what I want to major in. The two programs that I am interested in, Journalism and Teaching, are not the most high paying careers out there, and when I’m making 30 to 45k (if im lucky) a year, it’ll be hard to pay off student loans and it will ruin my credit.
My other option is KY FAME. KY FAME is the Kentucky Federation for Advance Manufacturing Education. This is a program that pays you to work at a sponsor company and go to school to become a Advanced Manufacturing Technician. I had no interest in being an AMT before my career counselor approached me with the opportunity. If I did the KY Fame program, I would go to JCTC, a community college in Louisville, KY and work for a company like GE, Clariant, Raytheon, Ford, etc. I would be at school and work 40 hours a week, being paid while I’m at both. When I finish the program (2 year program), I would be hired by the company that I had been working for full-time, making as low as 50,000 and as high as 80 with overtime.
I’m trying to make a mature decision here and I just don’t know what to do. I know I’d do well in college and that I would love to be at ball state the next four years. I don’t know what exactly I want to go to college for, but it’s either to be a history teacher or a journalist. I know I would love either job but it’s just that the money isn’t there for either of them and I’m scared I’ll be in debt for the rest of my life if I go that route. but I feel like if I take the job with KY Fame, I’m afraid I’ll hate it. I’ll have all the money in the world (compared to what I have now), no debt, college all paid for by the school and a good job. But I feel like I’ll hate the job. I never looked at myself as a factory worker and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life fixing machines and doing work with my hands.
If you were in my situation, what would you do? and why?
edit: I have to make a decision by Tuesday. KY FAME is taking me on a tour of a facory and I’m “shadowing” a AMT and then they’ll give me 24 hours to make a decision about whether or not I want to be in the program.
How you did academically in 9th and 10th grade isn’t really relevant here. You were a kid in the process of growing up and changing. You’ve obviously matured a lot and have gotten yourself together academically and personally. So the only issue on the table is what do you think your future should be. If you would like to be a journalist or a teacher and you can’t see yourself spending your life fixing machines and working with your hands, that’s all the information you need to make your decision. You should go to college and get the training for either teaching or journalism (or something else entirely - it’s a big world and you haven’t even begun to explore all the possibilities out there). As for the debt, 15-21k is not unreasonable for a teacher to carry - although obviously if you have other options that would require taking on less debt, that would be the way to go. Go talk to the financial aid people at Ball and see what they have to say about work/study possibilities once you transfer. And have a conversation with your history teacher, since you seem to have a good relationship with him/her about teaching, the salary and the debt. It’s always good to hear from someone doing what you’d like to be doing and what they’d advise a young person considering their path.
That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t do the factory tour and shadowing. Maybe you’ll discover that it isn’t ‘fixing machines and doing work with my hands.’ Maybe it’s a few years of work experience and then you apply to college in computer science or engineering or something else entirely. Just because you do KY FAME, it’s not an indentured servitude. You are allowed to go that route, try it out and still go to college (but you may not get the scholarship opportunity you have now, so you’d have to figure out what you other options might be.)
And by the way, you past academic history looms large right now…in a few years, no one will care that you under-performed in high school. The only thing that matters will be whether you are on top of your game - in college or in your job. So that baggage can be dumped.
“Maybe it’s a few years of work experience and then you apply to college in computer science or engineering or something else entirely. Just because you do KY FAME, it’s not an indentured servitude. You are allowed to go that route, try it out and still go to college”
^ this. Since the scholarship you’ve been offered isn’t large, it’s not like you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.