Taking time off from college.

all i can say is do what make you happy man

There are different personalities, and you have to find what it is that motivates you.

Speaking only to my own experience, I find that I am most engaged when I have something challenging to do, and that I get bored a lazy easily otherwise. So I set out tasks for myself, and see if I can do them. It can be pretty much anything (though I am obviously more interested in some things.) Learning a new language, running a marathon, stacking toothpicks, being able to identify label/designer/collection/ the way some people can do composer/year. Really, it's the achievement and the satisfaction of that achievment that does it for me.

Other people need to feel that they are doing something meaningful for society. Others, that they are building a specific type of life (and I don't mean just money.)

I think that the key to getting out of your funk is to really get to understand what it is that makes you tick.

One of the troublesome things about freedom is that choices about life direction are complicated and, in this society, grave. LAG is right, the choices are easier when you've adhered to the old dictum -- Know Thyself. Something like a Myers-Briggs test and a good friend who can be honest with you about yourself can help you learn the things you overlook and give you a direction. If you are worried about major/career, know that many, if not most, people don't do anything that has anything to do with their major. I'm an engineer, but half my colleagues work for IB firms like Morgan Stanley and Sachs. History majors work as chefs, art majors now have advanced teaching degrees. Some of my engineering peers stack shelves or are waitstaff.

For some a break is good, for others it isn't. Don't stress, but listen to yourself.

Luck,
Huntsman

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Every day, I am becoming more and more disenchanted with the direction in which my life is headed.

While I enjoy my time at college and am doing quite well, I feel like it's just sort of useless right now. At the moment, I have multiple aspirations, but nothing makes me leap out of my chair and say, "Yes! I want to do this!" When you couple that with the feeling that my university courses seem to be little more than an extension of high school material, well...you can see why I'm getting antsy.

I think it'd also "teach me a lesson." I'm not gonna lie...I don't have it hard. When I was born, my parents were completely broke, but they've risen from the ashes and I feel like I've never been financially/emotionally/physically/whatever challenged in the real world. This is something that I kind of want to experience.

Does anyone have any words about leaving university to work/live elsewhere for 1-3 years? I mean, am I talking out of ****** here or can this be a good thing for some people?

Don't. I was out of school for a number of years and it's a ***** to go back unless of course your parents are going to fork the bill and pay for everything.

Basically I got acclimated to the sort of life I couldn't have if I went back to being a carefree student. Living on my own without roommates, nice restaurants, kickass wardrobe, lots of spending money, etc. I couldn't go back to being a broke-ass student again, so i have to fit it in whenever i can, along with working and along with studying for stuff that actually benefits my career, unlike university (which probably will at some point but not for a few years). It also sucks cause all the friends you made have graduated and you have absolutely no time to socialize.

Finish now while your parents are paying for everything. You ******** around or move somewhere else once you're done. Btw, I know other people that didn't finish and they're all working **** jobs. I'm kinda lucky because i learned programming at 15 and had an assistant net admin job at 18. I got one programming project and from that I got references so I started doing well. You can't really count on that though. I'll admit i was a bit lucky.

Join the Army for 2 years.

At most the momemtum you get there will carry
you the rest of your life, at the least, you will
know what you don't want to do.

Also when you get out between all the bonuses now
and the GI Bill you'll have much more than enough
for good clothes

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Every day, I am becoming more and more disenchanted with the direction in which my life is headed. While I enjoy my time at college and am doing quite well, I feel like it's just sort of useless right now. At the moment, I have multiple aspirations, but nothing makes me leap out of my chair and say, "Yes! I want to do this!" When you couple that with the feeling that my university courses seem to be little more than an extension of high school material, well...you can see why I'm getting antsy.
I left school with roughly 18 credits left. I should have done it two years earlier, since I had no idea why I was in college, except that I was supposed to go (and my father was paying, and I'd been accepted to a good school, and what else was I going to do?). I eventually went back several years later, on my terms (and my dime) and loved being in school. Improved my GPA, found a career I was interested in. All this being said, I advise against leaving at this point. Scale back the classes and try getting an internship or job in one of the pursuits you're interested in.

Don't mean to be a dick or anything, but you say that you've never had it hard, and yet you still can't hack it through school. How do you expect to be able to hack it in the real world?

Originally Posted by odoreater

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Don't mean to be a dick or anything, but you say that you've never had it hard, and yet you still can't hack it through school. How do you expect to be able to hack it in the real world?

I was thinking along those lines. Finishing college is a lot like finishing a lot of things - it gets burdensome and tiresome and aggravating after a while. Still, you finish it to prove that you can finish these things. Drop-outs (and I'm unfairly generalizing here) don't get that chance to prove that they have stamina and will complete tasks. Trust me - lots of us have been there.

College isn't so much about your life's direction. I graduated with a degree in Physics - work in Finance. But I learned about dealing with people and budgeting my time, which were more important to me than relativity.

Finally, if you don't know what you want, scattering yourself will not help. Try different courses at the university to see if the subject matter interests you.

Just MHO

Why not head over to Ireland for a year and intern with Sinn Fein? That issue seems to get you excited.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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Don't. I was out of school for a number of years and it's a ***** to go back unless of course your parents are going to fork the bill and pay for everything.
I agree with this totally. I know lots of people who "took a semester off" and just never made it back. Once you're out for a semester, you think "eh, why not make it a year" then its two years, then three, etc. 5 years later, you're working as a waiter w/o any further job opportunities. It'll be exponentially easier to just get it done now than to come back later. Myself, i took a year off between highschool and college. I worked in a warehouse until I had enough money to travel, went to South Africa till I had no more money, worked again, went to Europe till I was broke again, and then it was september. The key was that I had already paid up to enroll that september, or else I would have just kept doing that. if you do take time off, pay to re-enroll next year as far ahead of time as possible, to make sure you do go back.

Don't drop out. Take a leave of abscence/sabbatical/year-off and do something worthwhile. I'm not sure how you'd fare in the military, but you might want to check out a NOLS program. They offer several semester and yearlong courses:

http://www.nols.edu/

Originally Posted by romafan

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I'm not sure how you'd fare in the military,]

join the military - you are not a borderline case, C, you are a serious project that requires a drill sargent to beat you into a man. you will come back to school a little more mature, and you will thank me for the rest of your life for this suggestion.

Taking time off, as in a leave of absence rather than dropping out, can be a very good thing. My experience as a professor is that lots of students are in college because it is the "next thing" they're supposed to do, not because they want to learn. At 15-45K/year, going to college is an expensive way to be tuned out, unmotivated, and alienated. After all, you could work at a job, feel that way, and get paid rather than drain your parents' savings or run up your student loan debt. It really is OK to decide that you are not ready for college right now. In all of the classes I've taught, returning students leave their younger classmates in the dust. The difference is motivation and maturity.

Are there meaningful things you could do in a year off? For example, intern or volunteer in some constructive project? Some kind of service, even if it is not full-time, really helps most people focus and feel productive. Would you be OK with a mediocre job? Be careful not to romanticize mediocre jobs. Some of my students have had great adventures working restaurants, labs, you name it, but others have been miserable.

In the end, you need to form an idea of what you want to do with your life--what you value, what you find interesting and meaningful, how you're actually gong to live.


Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by GreyFlannelMan

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Why not head over to Ireland for a year and intern with Sinn Fein? That issue seems to get you excited.

Good idea, all Sinn Fein members and supporters should be interned!


Failing that, I agree with Globetrotter, a couple of years in the Army would do you the world of good.

I think you sound pretty typically unsure of your life for a young college student. You say you are not challenged in your classes (like high school), but I ask: are you getting all As? If not, you can work harder. If you want more intellectually challenging classes seek them out. What do you have a hard time with? Take some of that. Get into some accelerated program to get a MA/MS in only one extra year. Get a double degree (not just a double major).

I had one student when teaching who had taken time off from school to figure out what he wanted (or didn't want). He came back much more focused and mature. That may be a good route for you. It may not. None of us can say for sure.

Go get a job at a temp agency doing whatever they send you out to do. Become an apprentice plumber or something. Then go back to school realizing how nice it is to have your life and kick ass in school so you can do whatever the hell you want.

b