Semi-Life Crisis, need practical advice (longish)

[surfinillini]

I would advise against taking a semster off, my old roomate did that in the same situation as you and he never returned...he now is 24, no degree and bartends.

FINISH YOUR DEGREE - don't take a semester off

[ QUOTE ]
I would advise against taking a semster off, my old roomate did that in the same situation as you and he never returned...he now is 24, no degree and bartends.

FINISH YOUR DEGREE - don't take a semester off

[/ QUOTE ]

this is exactly my point. I want to finish school more than anything, more than my family could ever want me to, but I just dont see how I can do that all and get this all straight.

(the following may be skipped as it is completely full of dreamer content and is likely naive)
I couldnt live with myself if I let my voice go unheard because I was too lazy to get a damn degree.
(over)

i strongly recommend you reconsider taking a semester off. if you can get things in order before january, then by all means attend school. if you can't, however, going to school is going to be far, far worse than delaying graduation for a bit. how are you going to perform at school (and that's not the easiest course load i've seen) when you have no money and no means to get more? delaying graduation is not. a. big. deal. flunking out, however, is.

i may be biased, since i'll be going back to school in september after a five year break, but there's nothing wrong with deferring your education. some of the most successful people i know didn't attend college at all until their late 20s. many of my current friends are still in school. missing one semester, in comparison, is nothing.

By no means do I think it's wrong to go late, but this wouldnt be the first time I "took a semester off"... it would just be the first time I was forced to. The other times I was just lazy.

I think the happy middle ground might just be taking two classes online, since oh yeah, I just forgot all of my student loans would come due if I were less than half time.

yippee.

anyone had luck with online courses that were okay to take online? By this I mean you didnt feel you were at a huge disadvantage having no classroom setting.

i did a couple english courses online my first time through school. they were ridiculously easy. i assume history courses would be really easy too. any humanities requirements you still need to pick up?

[fyodor]

Get a job as a waiter. If you are 21 and intelligent and don't look like a circus freak this should be no problem. Take a job as a busboy if you have to and just bust your ass at it till they promote you. If tips suck where you start look for another job while you are still at the first one.

Waitering is an excellent job for students and you meet lots of hot waitresses at the same time.

I placed out of english courses with my english sat score... its kinda my strong point although I wanna be a programmer/3d animator (weird). I have both pre and post 1877 history

I also have psych 101 and philosophy 101, but I might do sociology. Did I miss any usual humanities requirements?

[cwsiggy]

One word of encouragement - I would kill to be your age again.
You are young. One semester off won't kill you - but only if you will truly go back ASAP. I'm leaning towards Surf's advice to finish. Definitely talk to your school's advisors.

[Blarg]

Your roommate's an irresponsible ass. Get her out of your life as soon as possible. Never loan her any money. Ever. Not even for a little thing. DO NOT GET A PHONE IN YOUR NAME that's a ground line. Whoever is in the place can be held financially responsible for the active phoneline there. And nobody can run up a phonebill like a ditzy irresponsible chick, especially when she thinks she's on the way out and can get away with not paying. When choosing between money and doing the right thing by you, virtually everybody will choose the money option. In future, be sure your phone is only available to you(not accessible through other jacks in the place), and that includes paying the hundreds of bucks it sometimes takes to get a new separate phone line put in. I guarantee you that you will save a LOT of money and an unbelievable amount of aggravation with roommates this way.

The money that irresponsible or dishonest roommates(it usually comes down to the same thing in the end) cost you can be very close to what it would cost you to get a modest place of your own. In the future, if possible, think hard about living alone, and keeping an eye out for cheap places you can do so. They may not be as nice or in as nice a neighborhood as a place you'd share with someone else. But so what; you take the good with the bad. A poor person cannot afford to be financially responsible for someone else. And nobody is more into being irresponsible or thinking they're clever than a young person just coming out into the world.

Being poor in college can suck very hard and turn it into a real grind and a hard part of your life. Most of your friends won't really understand, even if they think they do. That can be hard to live with and adapt to. But college doesn't last forever, and you might just come out with an exceptionally strong character and understanding of the world that surpasses that of many of your peers who were lucky enough to avoid learning a lot of the things you might learn. Karma in the bank or something, who knows.

Stick it out, get your degree. Take time off if you have to. That's what plenty of people do. Others have survived without a smooth ride, and you can too.

Learn to cook instead of eating food out. Learn to store stuff instead of throwing it away. Get the monthly bus pass if it's cheaper than the daily or weekly. Stay away from impulse buying and from credit, as they can bury you for months or years at a time and take away your margin for any pleasure at all in life. Life your life the best you can, and don't kid yourself it's anyone else's. Some guys are just going to be able to go on more ski weekends than you and go bar hopping and see movies more than you; you'll live.

Be sure you get all the student aid you can, be it loans, etc.

And when you apply for crappy jobs, don't tell them you're going back to school soon or ever. They don't need to know and will usually hold it against you.. When they ask what you want to be doing in five years, tell them what you think it will be pleasing to hear -- that you love to work hard but paradoxically have basically no ambition, to the extent that you want to work in the dead end job you're applying for for the rest of your life. You will get the job, and pay your bills. Pride is for people who can afford it.

Keep extra money in the bank if at all possible. When you're at rock bottom financially, almost anything can capsize your boat. Really ridiculously tiny things.

Remember it's only a few years of your life we're talking about. If it's pretty f*cked up, you'll get past it, and then you'll get over it.

[Rockatansky]

You should transfer to a school in Houston and live with your Mom while you finish your degree. I know it's not cool but it'll be cheap as hell.