Questions

[Tempus35]

I know I ask things like this alot, but I need some help, advice, and criticism.

Basically I have two choices in life at the moment.

1. Go back to college, and try to complete a degree
2. Find a job, and start paying off loans

The pros and cons:

With going back to college:
Pros: I might get a degree, I will be able to hold off paying loans, I might get a better job after

Cons: My heart isn't in it, I am doing it now because of the above, and the chance to get my loans paid off with a "better job"

Finding a job:
Pros: I can take more time for myself, find what I am looking for, and rest some, when I go back to college, which I will do, or am planning, I will have more money to get a better place etc.

Cons: I never have had a job really, I wouldn't be able to handle to many hours, or certain jobs. I will owe something like $500 a month in loans or more.

What should I do, I am lost, so far lost. I owe so much money now, and can't get rid of it. My heart is still wanting to learn, but it isnt in the college life anymore, and might never be again, though I dont think that. I want to be able to find what I am, and how to cope with what I am.

 

[market.garden]

Maybe it would do you some good to take a year or two out to earn some money and take a rest. Going to college would definitely benefit you later in life like you said, but its important to take things at your own pace.

I didn't particularly enjoy university, my "heart wasn't in it" either, but I'm glad I went because it gives you that boost when looking for jobs.

 

[Emily_G]

Job, pay off some debt. If you go to school now and for some reason don't or can't get a job after you graduate/take out loans...you'll be more overwhelmed than you are now.

 

[Tempus35]

Problem with getting the job, is finding one. I live in a town of about 7,000. Where the majority of the jobs are customer service. Something that I can't do well. I would move and find something else, but I have no money to move, staying here I get free or super cheap rent from my mom. I would love to do something with computers, something that is in the background, but there isn't enough here for that.

 

[Tempus35]

Maybe it would do you some good to take a year or two out to earn some money and take a rest. Going to college would definitely benefit you later in life like you said, but its important to take things at your own pace.

I didn't particularly enjoy university, my "heart wasn't in it" either, but I'm glad I went because it gives you that boost when looking for jobs.

That boost is the only reason I would be going now, and the degree I was going for wouldn't give me a huge boost in many places. I was going for Physics, something I love reading about etc. But it has very little in the way of jobs.

 

[GreenEyedRedHead]

After high school, I decided to "take some time off" and put off college. I ended up having two kids (which I'm grateful for) and being a stay-at-home mom for 7 years. Then I got a part-time job at a restaurant, which turned into a 5 year waste of time. Once you find a job like that, where it's easy and you make just enough money to get by, you get stuck there. There's just no incentive to go back to school because you're making a living and it doesn't require alot of energy and thinking. Time flies by, and here I am 35 and just starting college this fall. People like us (with SA), usually have a hard time starting new things and going new places. The longer you wait to go back to school, the harder it will be to make yourself go. You'll be older than alot of the people there, and you'll feel like you don't fit in...etc. Why don't you at least go to school part time and work part time? You don't have to decide on a major right now, do you? Maybe you'll find something you like that you didn't expect. By the way, is your quote from the old "Clash of the Titans"? My favorite movie!

 

[Tempus35]

After high school, I decided to "take some time off" and put off college. I ended up having two kids (which I'm grateful for) and being a stay-at-home mom for 7 years. Then I got a part-time job at a restaurant, which turned into a 5 year waste of time. Once you find a job like that, where it's easy and you make just enough money to get by, you get stuck there. There's just no incentive to go back to school because you're making a living and it doesn't require alot of energy and thinking. Time flies by, and here I am 35 and just starting college this fall. People like us (with SA), usually have a hard time starting new things and going new places. The longer you wait to go back to school, the harder it will be to make yourself go. You'll be older than alot of the people there, and you'll feel like you don't fit in...etc. Why don't you at least go to school part time and work part time? You don't have to decide on a major right now, do you? Maybe you'll find something you like that you didn't expect. By the way, is your quote from the old "Clash of the Titans"? My favorite movie!

I would go part-time, but there isn't a college near me, the one I was going to is semi near me, in the fact that it is the neighboring town, but it would a drive daily to do, and lots of gas. And since I have no money what-so-ever, I can't get a place there and do that either. Nice thought though.

As for my quote, what do you mean?

 

[GreenEyedRedHead]

Well, I still think you should pick school over work. You won't enjoy most jobs you can get without a degree. Most are dead-end. I was talking about your quote "I smell manflesh". In the original Clash of the Titans movie, that's what the blind witches say when Perseus enters their cave. Or is it from Lord of the Rings?

 

[Emily_G]

Nothing guarentees a job after college graduation either. I think the majority of college grads don't get a job in the field they studied, at least not at first.

 

[lurknomore]

I was talking about your quote "I smell manflesh". In the original Clash of the Titans movie, that's what the blind witches say when Perseus enters their cave. Or is it from Lord of the Rings?

I'm not sure where it's from- but Remus is likely the one who put it there... Tempus had no say in it at all ::

 

[coyote]

Great advice from the ladies above!

I didn't have the money to go to college when I graduated high school, so I went into the military for six years. Then I went to college after that. Now I'm on my third career since college - none of which have anything to do with my degree.

The degree has helped me to advance and into better paying positions - but that only brought more stress in having to deal with both superiors and subordinates.

I always thought it was the BIG decisions that would change the course of life - school? career? etc...but, it seems really that all the seemingly unimportant, day-to-day decisions add up to change your life in far more dramatic ways.

I'm not sure which is the right decision for you. But I would caution you not to think that just because you decide X over Y that a, b, and c will naturally follow.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tempus35]

Thanks for all the advice. I still haven't decided what I am going to do. There are days when I tell myself I need to just go and do it, to buckle down and continue. Then there are times like this morning, where I think I am being stupid and there isn't a reason to do what I am. It is trying to figure out what one I should listen to, that is the issue.

 

[redski]

Thanks for all the advice. I still haven't decided what I am going to do. There are days when I tell myself I need to just go and do it, to buckle down and continue. Then there are times like this morning, where I think I am being stupid and there isn't a reason to do what I am. It is trying to figure out what one I should listen to, that is the issue.

Well my old man always says. "Son you will have the rest of your life to work, so finish your schooling first"