College

[dragonforger17]

Yea im just curious how many people who play this game flunked out their freshman year of college?

[Pali]

I dropped out my junior year.

[f0xx]

I am last year at uni.

[ladyoki]

I did horrible my first semester of college (2001-2002).I was put on probation. I was a honor roll student in high school and once I entered college. I failed two of my five classes, and near failed with a D (which would considered failed, it least in the field I was going into) two others. I took a semester break. I started fresh the next year and I did great, came close to making Dean's list.

I had other friends flunk their first year of college. Go back and just do great.

[Celerity]

Go to ALL your classes, at least half-heartedly listen (not sleep), and just do what they tell you to do (reports/homework/test study--and not even doing a good job at that if you REALLY can't be bothered) and you should never, ever fail a class (or get a C or D) in your undergrad years...

University is expensive...at least get something out of it more than a diploma.

I was a double-time student (took two full semesters worth of classes each semester--about 30 credit hours) and I still had a lot more free time than I do now with a full-time job. Then again, I've always loved school for the most part. Of course, depends what your major is...I don't think I would have enjoyed that back in physics....

Those years are your vacation/play time. Use them well!

[Twinblades713]

Third term of my first year in college. I haven't flunked out yet....

[ladyoki]

Hehehe, I went to class everyday, never slept during a lesson. Studies my *** off, even had a tutor for my math class. I would read the chapters ahead of class... rather the night before. and i stilled failed those classes... *sigh* I think it was the transition from high school to college. thats what got me. Either way, I did better like I said my second semester.

My major was Marine Biology and was planning to take up a minor in something else. Hehehe... now people can see why I like playing my a sea-elf.

[Mali]

One of my best friends is a narwhal.

[HBwillie]

i flunked out my first year. FL was the primary reason.

[a-guitarist]

I've flunked or dropped out of college about five or six times. Medical reasons, FL had nothing to do with it. However, I did spend the time I was not in school on FL. So... it was there, but not the cause.

a-g

[dragonforger17]

i was just wondering cause im in college and i hate it. like everything about it. i dont like going to class studying. No one parties here, well they do but they always get busted becaue someone always want to fight. the dorms are terrible and the connection so bad i can barely play fl.

so far i failed 3 out of 5 classes my first semester failing two of those classes again in my second semester simply becuase i just hate everything about this place. anyone else feel like that? lol.

[Twinblades713]

I went to a private highschool, so college feels alot freer. I have more time to do what I want, I can work a job too, and I can take the classes I want. No more freaking mandatory religion classes. >.>

So far, I'm liking college. A's and B's... I've found you only barely have to try to get decent grades. Granted, all this experience is based off of two terms. I expect it to get harder. :3

[Guest emp_newb]

I went to college, a few times. One time I woke up on the other side of the town (not just the campus, the town) on a couch outside a house for S.M.O (singing men of ohio) with a raging hangover, and one cigarette.

[WarriorCleric]

i was just wondering cause im in college and i hate it. like everything about it. i dont like going to class studying. No one parties here, well they do but they always get busted becaue someone always want to fight. the dorms are terrible and the connection so bad i can barely play fl.

so far i failed 3 out of 5 classes my first semester failing two of those classes again in my second semester simply becuase i just hate everything about this place. anyone else feel like that? lol.

Go somewhere else. There are always options, and better places to go. College is very much what you make of it, but you need to feel good about being there. Depending on what you want to do with your life you may or may not need it, but I'd try a different school before giving up on school.

I recommend a community college near home if that's an option. Cheap, stay at home (if you can stand it.), the work seems easier, but you learn all the same basic information. It gives you time to find out what you want to do, or to reassure yourself that you really do want to continue with one course. And it's a very low stress atmosphere.

I am so happy that I went to a community college first, I still had no idea what I really wanted to do when I finally got my degree, but I wasn't in a huge amount of debt when I finished, and I wasn't burnt out.

WC

[Twinblades713]

I agree. I'm staying home for my first year (maybe two). No housing fees, no meal plan fees, it's pretty easy going. No partying, but there's other places to go to that if that's what you're into.

[khaede]

Not that anonymous advice on a mud forum counts for much, but I would strongly suggest making it work Dragon...either transferring somewhere else or getting your *** in gear where you are. ****ing up your college transcript/degree will follow you for a long time (depending on what you want to do). Might not seem like a big deal now, but 10 years down the line youll have missed a lot of opportunities.

[Ex-D&Der]

I'm with WC here about transferring. It could be that the school you are at is not for you. Try the transfer/advisement office of your school, or if there is a professor you like go to his or her office hours and have a conversation. Princeton Review also has a nice website where you can type in your preferences about school--large/small, city/rural, areas of study--and also your grades and so forth, and it will give you a list of good fits. In the meantime I would urge you to do the best you can, figure it's only 4 years but you do want to pass and graduate. A college degree is pretty important nowadays to getting a decent job.

WC I teach at a community college.

[Djriacen]

i was just wondering cause im in college and i hate it. like everything about it. i dont like going to class studying. No one parties here, well they do but they always get busted becaue someone always want to fight. the dorms are terrible and the connection so bad i can barely play fl.

so far i failed 3 out of 5 classes my first semester failing two of those classes again in my second semester simply becuase i just hate everything about this place. anyone else feel like that? lol.

Heh, I know -exactly- how you feel.

[a-guitarist]

WC and Khaede nailed it, but another thing to consider: College may not be for you. Your learning style may not be in the classroom, it may be hands on. Look for more technical programs. I'm not sure what you've got where you are, but here in New York we have a BOCES program for adults which offers many programs.

The sad fact is lots of people end up going to college. Not all will finish. I had to learn the hard way, don't go unless you are ready to go through with it. The end result is a ****ty GPA to transfer, and a huge chunk of debt. I'm now 26 with a bevy of skills, none of which are "employable" at this point. I'm a silversmith, a musician, a canaler, a librarian's assistant, I can work a few photo development machines, and I know how to work a register... with all those skills I currently have the options of Minimum wage.

So, take the advice: Get in gear, get somewhere else, or get out. This isn't meant to be insulting, maybe you're just not "mature" enough for school yet. I hate using that term, but it got thrown at me a lot. I wasn't mentally ready to keep my *** in gear, I had coasted all through high school because I expended no effort and succeeded with flying colours, or at least everyone thought so. Then I got to college and my 12 years of history in my town meant nothing- work was expected, and I failed due to that and a few other circumstances.

But, as for the people at your school... find other people that you'd normally not talk to. My best advice is that. Go introduce yourself to a buncha numbnutz doing something stupid. You're in college, dammit, go do something stupid. Wake up like Emp_Newb, hell, wake up WITH Emp_Newb, walk into a friend's 9am class in the middle of a lecture about the quadratic formula and say, "Hey, wanna go get plastered?" (aside from momentary legend material, you aren't passing that class anyways )

My best friend is someone I met while failing out of college. He is, for lack of a better term, the village idiot. The kid has no social skills past being able to talk and remember to pull up his pants before leaving a bathroom. He's as smart as a bag of marbles and just as sharp, has more horrible habbits (packs a lip like he's in the major league, swears like a sailor, is selectively bigoted, etc.) and is everything that I would normally find repulsive in another person... but he and I clicked for whatever reason. The reason is I took a step outside my comfort zone, went on an eight hour road trip to montreal on one days notice. That trip had so many twists and turns and **** ups I'm surprised I got back alive, but because of that I learned that college isn't what I'm spending the money on... it's who I'm spending the money with.

If you're going for a Lib Arts degree, you're paying a lot of money for no "skills" past knowing a little about a lot. English Degrees, while good in theory, mean you can say, "Would you like fries with that?" without screwing up a direct object (I'm not an english major, so sue me.) Maybe that's why I'm an acedemic failure, I look at things as tricks and angles. Are you learning anything in Business Administration? Nope, you're learning to do the work you've been told to in order to reach a goal... that's all. Everything you learn in BUIS 101 you could learn at the McDonald's Drive through while ordering your Big Mac.

In the current world it's about specialization. An English Degree doesn't make you a teacher (at least here in NY), you need a masters for that. Of all my friends who wanted to be english teachers, zero out of four are now teachers. The all got done with their BAs and went, "That's enough. I'm gonna go into the real world." only to find they were there already, and now they're having hard time getting back.

So, to sum up this rant: Don't get down on yourself, it might not be your bag.... but it very may well could be and you're just not in the right bag, and college is at least 50% social. Not getting wasted, but finding those you trust enough to watch your back while your wasted. (not that I condone getting bloto... I just can't say it's completely stupid since I used to do that often). So... look at Technical programs (Heating/Air Condition Tech, Welding, Computer Repair, Pharmacy Tech, Take the Civil Service exam- I take mine next month or the following where I have to type 35wpm or more with less than 4% errors, then alphabetize a rollidex and I'll be qualified for a 24k a year job with benefits in NYS... which does me no good- job freeze and all) Hell, travel abroad. I have a cousin who goes to South America, spends three or four months doing the hippie dippie thing trading with locals and then brings their crafts back here, sells it, then mails them a fair trade price. He now has a huge lot of land in Oregon and a business. Not bad for a former drug-addict-dealer turned hippie spiritual guru. Basically, find your niche, give it a try, and if it's not, find another one.

And remember, you're amongst good friends... but, on the flip side, our last president got a college degree.... but, on the flip side, the special ed kid in my graduating class has a college degree...

a-g

[Zhokril]

I'm not going to beat around the bush, because that wouldn't be helpful to you in any form. As a couple others have said, figure out what you are doing wrong, and start doing it right. And quickly. Regardless of how anyone tries to gloss it for you, not having a college degree will severely hamper you for the rest of your life. You need to be honest with yourself about whatever the reasons are you are not doing well, get your nose to the grindstone, and get through it. Either finish your degree where you are, or somewhere else, but you definitely want to finish it with almost zero exception in my book.

[Cephirus]

Unfortunately (and I only say that because there are a lot of technical fields out there that used to easily sustain and keep people happy and well financed) Zhokril is right. College is not about the parties (though the parties help take the edge off and help you unwind) college is about learning. Stick with it, push yourself through it and gain that degree. In the end, all that hard work and putting up with all the bs will pay off. Even if you do not get a job in the field of your degree, having that degree makes getting any job that much easier than not having a degree at all.

[dragonforger17]

First off I wasnt expecting any type of responses like this. I was pretty much just venting. Second, I would like to say thanks to everyone. You guys beleive it or not have actually helped out quite a bit. Basically im going to finish out this semester and even though im going to fail a couple classes im going to at least go with the highest f i can obtain. Anyways keep posting your thoughts if you havent its pretty cool to see what all you guys think.

[Twinblades713]

Okay. Check it out. I believe even at this point, you can pass. Talk to your teachers, believe or not, most of them actually give a damn. Make yourself known and ready to make up work, or understand the material. Most likely, you or someone who loves you is paying alot for you to go to school. Don't throw that away, any of it. If you fail the term, you'll just have to take another anyway. Bust *** and get to some office hours and see if there isn't anything you can do to pull your grades up to passing. It seems like a ton of work to get out of the hole, but it's worth it. Promise.

[a-guitarist]

I'm not going to beat around the bush' date=' because that wouldn't be helpful to you in any form. As a couple others have said, figure out what you are doing wrong, and start doing it right. And quickly. Regardless of how anyone tries to gloss it for you, not having a college degree will [b']severely hamper you for the rest of your life.

The plumber working on the estate my family is selling will disagree with you, so will the electrician we have in our family, as well as the other's that have specialized training in a trade. My cousin makes more with a Weldering certificate than his brother with a AS in Human Services and his sister with a BA in Business. Why? He put in the time and got good at what he does, as well as having a skill that a lot of people don't have and that everyone needs.

It is that line of thinking that you are nothing without college that sunk a lot of people in debt. You can be successful without college, and you can be a failure with a college degree... but here is what most people fail to realize...

You are nothing without some kind of training/education. Not just college. Get the right type of skills, get the right type of future. Just don't go out screaming, "College is the only way!" Because it's not just wrong, it's misleading.

To drive home my point, entry level salaries for the average American in these fields: Plumber 30k - 35k, Welder 26k - 31k, Electrician 34k - 38k, Carpenter 28k -31k, Machinist 28k - 35k, HVAC 30k-36k, Mechanic 27k - 30k, Big Rig Driver 35k - 42k, Fork Lift Operator 23k - 28k. (All of these Jobs have training facilities within 25 miles of my house.)

Are they out the door equal pay to Social Workers (with a masters), Computer Programmer, or a Masters Degree teacher? Nope. But, the job advancement in the technically-trained careers in fast, and there is nothing wrong with those jobs. I know that no one said it here, but many people seem to think that jobs like these are for "Stupid" people with "no future", and it's just down right ridiculous. If you ever look down to the guy who makes sure your **** gets out of your house and into the sewer or septic tank... you've probably got to re-evaluate your position.

Who comes to your house at 3 AM when you've blown a pipe in the wall due to your furnace going and it's below freezing outside? Not the social worker to hold your hand, not your teacher to make sure you learn to spell "Plumber" correctly so you can look it up in the yellow pages, and most certainly not the Businessman... he's probably busy sleeping for another hour so he can get to the Stock Broker's office asap when he wakes up.

You call Bat Man; the guy with the tool belt, the dark circles under his eyes, the neat car with all the gadgets, and the ability to boost your butt outta the situation you're in.

a-g

[Zhokril]

I really can't say anything towards the accuracy of your salary numbers, because I don't specifically know. However, assuming those are correct, if any of the aforementioned "average Americans" plan on having a family, they are barely breaking the poverty line in terms of income. You can earn double any of those values working as a mere intern during College, if you are in an engineering field. Graduates from a good college in the fields of Electrical/Computer/Chemical/Biomedical/Structural/Aerospace/Petroleum/Systems Engineering can almost reach six digit incomes straight out of college. And even at a fallback, they will be making easily twice any of those values.

The value and importance of a college degree is more or less undebatable. Naming specific examples of people who have done well without a college degree is entirely meaningless in any sort of analysis. (And you might actually be surprised about your plumber and electrician - just because they do well doesn't even mean they don't regret not finishing college).

Is a technical certification going to be better off than a high school diploma? Of course. Is it going to replace a college degree (even in English)? On average, no. There really isn't much to debate on the issue, simply head to Google and search for "Importance of College Degree". This is the first thing that came up for me, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html