I don't want to go to college at all?

College Search & Lists
41

<p>I think one strategy for you is to go to a school that offers several options that you are interested in, on one campus. I gather you are already accepted at Alabama w/that scholarship, and assume it has nursing, speech pathology, etc.</p>

<p>For the rest of senior year, why not volunteer in a health care environment, like an ER, maternity ward, a stroke ward…you might be able to shadow various professionals.</p>

<p>Again, many of us are telling you that you do not need to know what you want to do for work, but it seems that your family culture and your own values lead you to focus on this before you leave. And, it is true, that there are some majors/vocations that you would want to start relatively early.</p>

<p>So if you can, keep your options open for now and maybe explore possible fields in the 11 months you have before arriving on campus. After school hours and summer months should give you plenty of time. You could even get a certificate as a nurse’s aid (Red Cross has one month courses for instance.)</p>

42

<p>I suggest you start out by taking general education requirements, and as soon as you get to campus make an appointment at the university career center. They will have many tools and people to help you find what you’re interested in. My D had never even heard of her chosen career - Occupational Therapy - until halfway through her senior year in high school.</p>

<p>One of my S’s friends went to college knowing that he wanted to major in “not history and not English.” There’s a reason colleges don’t require you to declare a major immediately! You can go in as “undecided.”</p>

<p>Most people change their major, many do so more than once.</p>

43

<p>What AP credits will you be coming in with? </p>

<p>If you’ll have taken a good number of AP courses/exams, then you’ll have more freedom to “poke around” a bit and still graduate on time.</p>

44

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<p>This is not true for a large majority of people. A lot of students enter college feeling exactly as you do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Many students enter their first, second, and sometimes even third year of college before knowing what they want to study or what they want to do as a career. Some change majors 3 or 4 times. And some get a degree in one subject and end up working in an entirely different field after college. I started as a graphic design major, ended up with a degree in psychology, and now work in human resource management.</p>

<p>Some of your classmates may say they know what they want to do, but many of them might change majors, drop out of college, or end up hating what they thought they’d love. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to have your life figured out at 18 years old - many adults go through multiple career changes as their interests or life circumstances change.</p>

<p>Yes, large state schools may be known to have a lot of partying, but remember that the schools are also usually more diverse than smaller private schools. You’ll find students who are just like you, who don’t want to party or watch football. You’ll have peers to complain about your professors to, and to share your fears with, and you’ll soon see that you’re not the only one with these concerns. </p>

<p>Enter college with an open mind. Take a wide variety of courses that seem even remotely interesting to you. Ask your professors about job prospects in various fields, and what other students have gone on to do after graduation. Keep a light course load the first semester or two so that you do not feel overwhelmed. Do not even think about graduate school! You have several years to decide whether graduate school is even necessary for what you want to do. </p>

<p>It sounds to me like your external pressures are ruining what could otherwise be a great experience. And if it isn’t a good experience, you can always take a leave of absence and try entering the workforce for a few months to get a taste of the working world. Don’t feel trapped, anxious, or pressured. Look at what this opportunity has to offer - new friends, getting out on your own, exploring interests with no financial burden (this may be the last time in your life you get to do that without worrying about bills!).</p>

45

<p>My suggestion is that you go to college which give you full scholarship, so you and your family do not have to pay anything. That means you get free education. I am also a senior at high school, and if i was you, i will definitely go to the college which offer full scholarship to me, and One Thing that I want to share with you is that I do not decide which major I am going to study in college. I know the feeling when you worry about something especially something will determine rest of your life, and what I want to talk to you is you do not have to make decision right now, and you can put undecided and look for what you are interested in during college years. I think you will find something appeal you. I dont think what you said about the state college is true because i dont think any college will allow people do that, and the reason why we go to college is because we want to get more education and make them more valuable. I think the reason why you say that is because you do not want to go to college, so you find some reasons to support yourself. What I want to tell you is maybe you think college cannot fit you now, but you can take a try and find out whether is true or not. Man DONT GIVE UP.</p>

46

<p>Have you considered deferring admission a year, if your school allows it? You’d have time to think over what you want to study, and what you want to do with your life in general.</p>

47

<p>Then don’t go to college. Find a skill, go to a trade school, join the military, get some real life experience before you end up in a never ending pit of despair and regret like many college students today. Also, traveling will give you a broader perspective on what you may want to do in life.</p>

48

<p>Penelope, can you answer this:
Is your question “I don’t want to go to college, period”
or
is your question “I don’t want to go to UA?”</p>

49

<p>Why don’t you take a year off?</p>

50

<p>What schools have you toured?</p>

51

<p>Then don’t go to college. More jobs and opportunity for people who want it.</p>

52

<p>Don’t worry that you aren’t sure about what career you’d like. It can be very difficult to make decisions when you really don’t have enough information and sometimes the only way to know is to try it. Try to find opportunities to job shadow or volunteer with people working in the fields you think you may be interested. Your father may be hesitant to spend a lot of money on college if he isn’t confident that you will finish the degree or that the degree you earn will help you at all in your career. If you find something you like, and a school you like better that offers a good program for it, he may be more inclined to help make it happen.</p>

53

<p>You won’t get that full ride option again. Go to school and do the best you can (especially if another plan does not occur to you right now). Probably, like any large community, you’ll find your people (don’t focus on the majority if they’re not who you like, who cares about them) and thrive. And if not, that’s that, you can always leave school in a year or two after giving it a real chance, but there’s no reason to throw away the full ride; you’ll never see the likes of it again.</p>

<p>You may be experiencing some depression. As a new-minted adult, I can tell you, adulthood pretty much bites and the human condition often justifies that depression. But please explore ways out of that, ways to squeeze what you want out of an unyielding life, in a way that doesn’t involve throwing away a free education worth tens of thousands of dollars.</p>

54

<p>State schools are a lot like a strong college prep class in high school: you get a few really smart kids who are there for reasons of their own (didn’t want to overload on APs, couldn’t afford private, etc.); a lot of reasonably intelligent people; and yes, a bunch of chuckleheads. There are smart, really motivated people everywhere, and state schools are large enough that you can find your group of nerdy friends.</p>

55

<p>OP, if you can afford it, find out if your scholarship can be delayed by one year and do a gap year. Go to some far-flung location and do community service for a year while you learn a new language. Your passion will likely emerge during that time (language, culture, public health, anthropology, medicine, economics, who knows?) and you’ll be much more focused the following year when you enroll at university. Check out the gap year threads/boards on here for ideas. You don’t have to create the program from scratch. There are many, many programs that will organize all of the logistics and give you a specific community service placement for a fee. </p>

<p>Gap years look great on your resume (esp if you’re working for a specific organization or non-profit), learning another language can only help you in whatever career you eventually choose, you will meet new people, see new places, try new things, be as far away from American college life as you can possibly get… and nobody from home will be breathing down your neck.</p>

<p>That said, please get screened for depression. A gap year isn’t going to do you any good if your mental health is not stable.</p>

56

<p>Hey Penelope,</p>

<p>I haven’t read through this entire thread, but I’m sure someone’s suggested it. You should take a gap year. I did, and I can say that if you plan it right and find something meaningful to do, it can be completely life changing.</p>

<p>When I was 18, I had no idea what I wanted out of the world or out of myself. I was burnt out of all the competitiveness and meaningless work I did in high school. I was confused and cynical about institutionalized education. And in general, I just wasn’t having it.</p>

<p>I decided to work full-time for an Americorps nonprofit called City Year. The program trained me for a month, put me on a team, and sent us to a low performing school in DC. We worked there for about 10 hours a day. Each of us were paired up with a cohort of kids, and we basically devoted our entire year to going to school with these kids, staying with them after school for extra academic support, and then writing lesson plans to teach them more the next day. It was incredibly stressful and exhausting work, but it completely changed my perspective on many things, and it gave me the chance to mature and prove myself in a powerful way. During this year, I met some of my best friends, and though I would be lying if it was always a great time, I learned to work with people. I learned to understand people. And I learned how to see things differently.</p>

<p>If I could point to a time in my life in which I truly learned things that were important, I would point to my gap year. Nothing I learned in high school, or even here in college, comes close to the value of what I learned in my gap year.</p>

<p>My gap year also gave me time to figure out what I was passionate about. I came into college after my gap year with a more thorough understanding of what I wanted with my life. Since my first day in college, yeah, my plans have been adjusted a bit, but it helped so much to have an idea of what I wanted to gain out of college.</p>

<p>That being said, did my gap year make college awesome? I don’t know. I don’t know that I necessarily like college. I attend UC Berkeley. Like your state school, it’s huge, with 26,000 undergrads. Of course, it’s world renowned and whatnot, but it also has major flaws. College is a very trying experience. It can be very lonely. It can be very bureaucratic. Sometimes it’ll seem like you’re taking classes just to prove that you can to the system. And it’s annoying and ridiculous and a waste of time. But college is also a valuable experience. I’ve definitely had thoughts about dropping out and chasing some of my other dreams that don’t necessarily require a college degree. Who knows, people make major decisions like not going to college, and they find their way and it works out. For others, it doesn’t work out. </p>

<p>Here’s what I say: take a year off, and do something that makes you feel alive. This means something that’ll get you off your ass and into something challenging and stimulating. Something that’ll push you to the brink of breaking, only to make you stronger, wiser, and more mature. Then give college a shot. Maybe 2 or 3 shots. And if it’s not something you want to do, and you have a solid plan of something else you can do, then go for it. </p>

<p>You’re young. You have time to figure things out. Don’t rush yourself. And most importantly, make sure you’re having fun with your life.</p>

57

<p>I don’t know if the scholarship can be delayed, so that would have to be looked at.</p>

<p>I wonder if the student is just feeling insulted that her parents willing paid out large amounts of money for their self-directed know-what-she-wants older sister, but they’re pulling-back on the child who isn’t clear about a path? I can see both sides in this situation. many kids don’t know what they want at this age. But, parents don’t want to spend money just to spend money while the child finds himself.</p>

<p>Also, if the student is thinking about a career like nursing, then attending a pricey private school is almost silly. Many of the publics have excellent BSN programs that can lead to advanced degrees.</p>

58

<p>I think you should take a year off, defer a year, and work. I was a national merit and thought I had to go to college right away. I went to a school that I ended up hating, that was much like the one you describe. It was not until I took time off, worked, and experienced adult life that I wanted to go back and get my degree. There is NOTHING wrong with that!!!</p>

<p>If you defer a year, your scholarship could be still waiting for you when you go start.</p>

59

<p>Penelope, I think you are asking all the right questions and are being more true to yourself than many HS Seniors who are equally as frustrated and confused but just taking the easy road with out asking the right questions. </p>

<p>You are so early in the application process, I imagine with your stats, you are getting a lot of offers for free applications. Deadlines for many of the best schools are not until January or even February. I suppose the Admissions Counselors of many colleges are coming to your HS or College Fairs nearby. Take advantage of these and find out how it would work to be in an Honors College who is undecided about which area of science or health you are interested in. What kinds of volunteer positions, internships, or classroom directed participation in a health setting is offered by each of the schools you may go to. By this, I mean how will the transportation be to the nearest hospital or other facility which would allow you to observe. You should probably stay away from a college that is in a remote rural area if you want to explore these kinds of careers.</p>

<p>Take a deep breath and bask in the comfort of having a viable option of a college to go to on a full ride. Realize how many seniors right now envy you having several acceptances and a presidential scholarship. Many students who will be accepted to Ivys probably don’t even have their Common Apps completed and are still finalizing their essays. My D didn’t start her list until Nov 1. </p>

<p>What I see in your posts is that you are interested in the health professions but are nervous about not declaring yourself as a nursing student at the outset would put you behind. The classes that you would need for nursing would most likely be the same as anyone heading into science or health fields so you would not go wrong by starting your freshman year with them. You wouldn’t go wrong by applying to schools as a nursing major and taking those initial courses and then if you decide its not for you to change majors while in your Freshman or Sophomore year. </p>

<p>Take some time this year if you can to volunteer or observer or have informational interviews with various professionals who have certain careers that you think may be interesting. </p>

<p>It is more common that college students change majors and change the initial idea of what they thought they were going to college for when a Junior or Senior in HS, then the kid who sticks with what they said they would go to college for.</p>

60

<p>I agree with all the posters who mention mental health/physical issues that might be contributing to your malaise. It is important to get those checked out because if there is something going on it might get worse not better and could result in you loosing your scholarship once you are at school.</p>

<p>That being said I totally understand why you say you are unmotivated and do not know what you ware interested in or what you want to study. I think that this is common for many bright kids who are not just interested in going to college to be independent and party. Our high school system does little to help young people figure out where they belong in this world. Our system of AP and SAT preparation does little to teach teens about the theory of the mind help them understand what it means to be an intelligent educated person. If all you do is memorize and prepare for tests learning can become a grind that can feel stifling. You are not alone in feeling this way. </p>

<p>How can you know what is out there and what careers are available when you have hardly seen the world except through the distorted lens of American Television. Many teens do not realize that there are a lot more jobs than just becoming a doctor, a lawyer or a banker. Most colleges will allow you to delay your entrance and take a gap year. It is worth calling the university and seeing if this is possible. What to do for your gap year? Well there are many structured programs that are available and YES these programs have financial aide and scholarships. Some of these programs will even result in credit that you can transfer to your university. For example check out [SEA</a> Semester | Study Abroad Sea Programs | Environmental Studies & Oceanography | Tall Ship Sailing Programs](<a href=“http://www.sea.edu%5DSEA”>http://www.sea.edu). Sea Education Association is an amazing program that will expose you to so much. You do not need to be interested in science or oceanography to get something out of it. It is a liberal arts program. There are also internship programs such as this one [Dynamy</a> Internship Year - Worcester, MA](<a href=“http://www.dynamy.org%5DDynamy”>http://www.dynamy.org) where you can explore potential careers and see what gets you excited.</p>