Try to get me to stay in school....

I am in a similar boat, 20 good at other things, don't like going to class or doing work, but I am not as big a nerd I think (no offense). You have a 3.7 and are worried about a couple C's?! The past year in school I did a ton of research on teachers and classes, and took easier teachers with some hard classes. I literally did not buy my textbooks or study at all, and I got around a 3.3. I am no genius either. Anyways, you shouldn't worry about these things, just do what you want, because either way you will think about what might have been had you chosen the other way. Aight good luck man.

"I dont really see the point of going to college just to get a degree so I can make 50k/year working a 9-5 job"

A few years out of college you should be making MUCH more than 50k per year. You can have a stable high paying productive job and play poker on the side. If the poker fad fades or it is somehow outlawed and blocked then you will actually have a life...and if not you have a nice side income and can maybe retire early. Plus how many people do you think became millionaires from playing poker? Not that many really. Microsoft alone made more than 10,000 employees millionaires.

[downtown]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is very important that you have the option to have a career other than poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so important I think it can't be stressed enough. Right now I make as much as I do working playing poker part time, but I love my job (I quit a job making 2x as much to take it) and I'm in the middle of getting my Masters in a field I love. I'm 26. When you are 26 it will be great if you have a bunch of cash, but what if you want to get your PhD and teach for a living, or get your MBA and start-up your own company and make lots more than you could playing poker - or anything possible that degree could help you with that you don't know now you'll be interested in? It's up to you to do whatever you want though. How do you know what you want when you're older? You don't. So why close those options? Good luck, whatever you decide.

[pooh74]

[ QUOTE ]
LIFE IS HARD....Suck it Up....Get a Degree.

The quality of my life depended, in large part, on the outcome of just 2, or maybe 3, major decisions. They were complicated decisions but they boiled down to fairly-clear "A" or "B" choices....All of what transpired after those decisions was the result of the outcome.

GET A DEGREE...I don't care how you do it...GET A DEGREE

You will never go back to school....If you quit now you will always accept the "easier" path. You will always accept "less"......Choosing psychology over engineering was the "easier" path....playing poker instead of working is the "easier" path....seeking advice on 2+2 is "easier" than talking to your parents....ignoring me will be "easier" than considering what I have to say....zoning-out in front of your computer is "easier" than meeting people and working on relationships.

LIFE IS HARD....GROW UP....GET A DEGREE

Regards, SkipperBob

[/ QUOTE ]

great post skip!!!!

you're almost there...half-ass it if you have to. Being a student is probably the easiest thing in life.

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
"I dont really see the point of going to college just to get a degree so I can make 50k/year working a 9-5 job"

A few years out of college you should be making MUCH more than 50k per year. You can have a stable high paying productive job and play poker on the side. If the poker fad fades or it is somehow outlawed and blocked then you will actually have a life...and if not you have a nice side income and can maybe retire early. Plus how many people do you think became millionaires from playing poker? Not that many really. Microsoft alone made more than 10,000 employees millionaires.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree. This went south when you ditched engineering "because it might take some time" (groan) for... psychology??

I think you've got part of this right. Don't finish the psychology degree. You seem to have no interest in it and no interest in the altruism that drives most successful psychologists. But, don't drop out, for God's sake!

You have time, you have money, you have opportunity. You want "freedom" which I guess means financial freedom (whether this is an illusory goal or not is really another discussion). Switch to a major which gives you the big money opportunities. Probably economics, leading to something like a master's in financial engineering. I think you might be surprised to find that poker is an economics problem, and your interest in poker might translate quite nicely to the field of economics in general. Maybe a business degree.

Finance and business are where the big money are. Technology is a close second if you want to do the startup thing and go for the big score.

I also agree with those who say that you really should be enjoying what ought to be some of the most fun you'll ever have in your life. Given a one or two-year "timeout" where I could go back and relive my junior year in college, I'd snap that up so fast it'd make your head spin.

I'm also afraid that your current path for "freedom" may leave you more trapped than you'd ever imagined, with no live outs.

eastbay

[Irieguy]

This post makes me sad.

Irieguy

[45suited]

I had exactly the same feeling.

[puzzlemoney]

There's a lot of people on the forums here (and on television) who've expressed their disdain for "working for the man." You, thankfully, did not use this expression, but you've characterized work as something that will curtail your freedom.

Certainly this is true, but many choices you'll make in life will keep you from doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it--getting a job, having a girlfriend/wife/family, having a mortgage to pay, even online poker, if you have to play it to pay the bills. Maybe it'll be less time than a 40-hour per week job, but it'll still become a responsibility.

All jobs are not drudgery. I work at a job with good people. We have fun. I am what I consider to be very well paid. Plenty of jobs are rewarding at a level that people who have only worked at Applebee's or at a mall retail store may not be able to appreciate.

Consider the absolute freedom you could have in a few years when you finish your degree and you have a substantial amount of money saved from your poker winnings. You'll be able to:

<ul type="square"> Play poker for a living;
Move to any city in the world and look for a job that you enjoy there at your leisure; or
Take a year or two off and do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, and re-evaluate your options.[/list]
It's extremely unlikely that you'll always have complete freedom. Backing up your poker skills with a degree will increase your options, not limit them.

And, even speaking as somebody with almost no work ethic, I have to say that not having any sort of discipline can be a dangerous thing. Without something to really motivate you, it may be easy to sink into a single-minded mindset that then turns into a rut, or even depression. Poker's fun, but it can become repetitive like anything else. You'll need something to keep you engaged with the world, and school's a great thing for that--you have a huge variety of choices for study and... extracurricular activities... that will keep your brain alive.

I've seen a lot of threads like this. Never considered responding before, but you seem like a smart, level-headed person, and I guess I'd just like to urge you not to believe too much in the myth of "freedom versus drudgery" or whatever this current brand of nonconformity is branding itself as.

If all you devote yourself to is poker (or, just about any one thing), you will always be less than a whole person.

[freemoney]

you have 2 cards, everyone shares 5 cards, you press a yellow button and choose fold, raise, or call. thats really what you want to dedicate your life to?

[ QUOTE ]
There's a lot of people on the forums here (and on television) who've expressed their disdain for "working for the man." You, thankfully, did not use this expression, but you've characterized work as something that will curtail your freedom.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disdain your disdain for those who disdain "working for the man." [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Let's not go too far the other way here. Most jobs suck ass, let's not kid ourselves. I'm glad you found one you enjoy, but putting labor to use in order to line the pockets of others is usually not an enjoyable experience (with some exceptions of course).

The flaw in OP's line of reasoning is his view that college is only useful in order to be able to go work for the man. This is wrong on many levels, as I (and others) have discussed in previous. There is an underlying avoidance mentality that the OP has which will undoubtedly eventually transfer over to poker, when it becomes work and not a lucrative hobby, and then where will he turn?