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

[bennies]

If you stay in school:

a) You will have about 3 months of vacation a year.
b) You have to spend a maximum of 40 hours a week the rest of the year in class or studying.
c) You get to stay around young people.
d) You get to learn something new every day.

For me, this is freedom.

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I suppose what I really want is freedom. I guess if I am going to get a degree, I want to do it right without basically flunking out. I guess I just see that most people see going to college then getting a job as the only way to make it through life. I think the whole idea that i "must" to write a 15 page paper and that i "must" show up to class just arent appealing to me. I also really dont see the purpose of getting a useless degree. I also know I do NOT want to put too much effort into it. Some things in life are hard...but I have found that you really dont have tp do the hard stuff. I have basically spent about 2 years learning poker, reading basically every poker book out there. I have no problem learning and being great at something I enjoy. Anything I have ever done in my life, I have dont very well if I like it and just average if I dont like it. Poker happens to be one of the things I like, so I do well at it. I find it amazing that I can read and understand TOP or HPFAP in one day, yet it takes me 2 hours to read through 1 chapter in a school text book. I guess I dont judge success in life by success in college. Maybe I should.

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You are looking at it as an "either/or" proposition when it is no such thing. If you step back and stop looking at college solely as a path to a specific mediocre paying job and instead look at it as an opportunity to better yourself as a human being, and to increase your options for the next sixty years, you may find yourself with a different motivation level.

What the fark is the rush? Like some have said, it will likely never be an easier then you have it right now. Yeah, you have to go to 2 or 3 classes a day, and yeah you have to study for 2 or 3 hours a day. So that's what, 4 or 5 hours a day, leaving you plenty of time to put in some poker and have a ton of spare time on top of that. All with literally no other responsibilities.

If you think it is going to be any "easier" anywhere else you are sadly, sadly mistaken. Essentially you're putting your entire tournament life on the line with a mediocre hand hoping to push four other players out of the pot without a read on what they have. If you wouldn't make that move in poker, I strongly recommend against it with your life.

[fnord_too]

Your mistake was picking something easy instead of something that intrests you. Find something you enjoy and switch to that. You have some fuzzy thoughts about the value of a job when you graduate and the value of 200K/year in expectation from poker. Jobs have more financial benefit that base salary (health care, 401K, etc.), and poker earnings have less value since you won't have an employer to pay part of your taxes and the income is variable. Also, with poker as your only income, you will have a harder time getting credit and loans (though you may need to get these less and your added cash reserves may mitigate the difficulty of getting a loan.)

So ask yourself: "What do I like to do." If that does not point you in the right direction, ask yourself "Why do I like to do those things?" You can post answers to those here and get feedback on what fields you might like; there is a wide range of backgrounds and experience on this board.

As an aside, your long term expectation is probably higher in the business world than as a full time poker player. The irony is that the skills needed to be a good to great poker player are the same skills needed in industry, and like at the poker tables, they are in short supply.

[ilya]

I think you should reconsider, or at least take more time to consider, your decision to drop out.

It's not that I think doing something you enjoy seriously instead (e.g. poker) is some kind of "easy"/dishonorable/personality-crippling way out...it's just that it's so difficult to know what you will want in ten or five or even two years. Consider...when you began college -- only a couple years ago -- wouldn't you have been rather sceptical if someone had told you that you would be seriously considering dropping out halfway through? Yet here you are. But, you may say, I know myself better now than I did back then. Well, that may well be true...but who's to say that a few years from now you won't know yourself better yet, and realize at that point that you would like to be doing something other than playing poker?

By dropping out now, you will have severely limited your options if you ever do come to such a realization. For example, purusing any kind of graduate education will be much more difficult than if you had finished college. You will have to go back to school and get your bachelor's degree at an age when you will no longer feel like you have that much in common with the other students. And if you do eventually succeed in getting your graduate degree, you will be older than many of your peers and thereby at a competitive disadvantage. There will be other challenges as well; for example, it will be harder to start a family until later in life.

Finishing your degree will give you some insurance against such difficulties. And aside from the financial benefits it may or may not provide, it will make your life easier in a myriad ways. People, even educated and sophisticated ones, are prone to making superficial judgements. Few will take the time to discern your true potential if you fail to get your degree; they will offer the job or the fellowship or even just their friendship and influence to Joe Schmoe instead, because Joe Schmoe has a B.S. from Kentucky State ( never mind that his degree is in Sports Management and his G.P.A. was barely average). You'll often find yourself under pressure to prove yourself capable of something that people would just assume you could do if you had a degree. Even your love life may suffer if you have to explain your lack of a college education to wary potential in-laws.

Ok quick recap, having a degree will make your life easier by keeping more options open and by leading people to make more favorable assumptions about you. If you do drop out, it's very possible that you'll never regret it...but if you do regret it, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover from the consequences of the decision.

It's all about Gambler's Ruin, really.

Oh, and...many many employers won't give a damn about your G.P.A. as long as you have your degree.

[UMTerp]

I'm 27 years old, and still wrestling with my myself with the "engineering vs. poker" thing. I hold down a 9 to 5 engineering job, but make over twice as much yearly playing poker part time in the evenings. I don't know why I keep my engineering job (I don't like it that much), but I do. Anyway, that's beside the point, but there are quite a few of us that have similar circumstances as you.

I can tell you one thing though - COLLEGE IS THE MOST FUN YOU'LL EVER HAVE. While you're there, you'll think that it's all writing papers and doing more work than you want. I remember thinking that way. Then you'll look back on it in five years and realize that you were more free than at any other time in your life while you were in college. You really have no responsiblities right now. It's easy to get a degree, even in engineering, with minimal effort if you're intelligent.

You should stay in school for social reasons, if nothing else. Hopefully you're not spending ALL your free time playing poker. You'll make some of the best friendships of your life when you're in college. And I promise you'll never be in a situation where there will be more of an abundance of attractive available girls then what you have while you're there. I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything.

I know you're a very good player and I'm sure you'd make a boatload of money the next few years if you dropped out now. But you'll only get the chance to do the college thing once - it wouldn't be the same if you go back. And you can still make the money while you're in college - that's the beauty of internet poker.

P.S. You won't ever go back if you drop out now. I was about 60% of the way thru grad school about four years ago, and I decided to "take a semester off" for no real reason. Haven't set foot in the classroom since. It's just so easy to take the easy path once you do it one time.

P.P.S. The vast majority of the important stuff you learn while you're in college has nothing to do with your classes.

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]

I can tell you one thing though - COLLEGE IS THE MOST FUN YOU'LL EVER HAVE. While you're there, you'll think that it's all writing papers and doing more work than you want. Then you'll look back on it in five years and realize that you were more free than at any other time in your life while you were in college. You really have no responsiblities right now. It's easy to get a degree, even in engineering with minimal effort if you're intelligent.


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Yeah, I always chuckle inside when college kids tell me how hard they have it. It is the best time of your life with the possible exception of when you have kids, but that is a different vibe all together.

[FieryJustice]

fwiw, I think the only reason I didnt drop out last semester was the fact that I was good friends with the only 4 hot girls that happened to be in most of my classes. This semester, I am the only normal looking person in any of my classes. My classes are filled with very unattractive girls and old men and women. I feel as if I am the one out of place. Where have all the hot girls gone???

As for me not picturing myself ever dropping out a few years ago, I almost dropped out straight out of high school simply because I didnt like school but I stayed in because it was free and my parents wanted me to. Now, my parents are "ok" with it and it is still free, but it takes up a lot of my time that I would rather spend working online. I guess right now I really dont have too much of a life. I have no problem playing 12 hours a day if I dont have anything going on, although 12 is a bit much. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] So, the only reason I see to finish school is the fact that is provides a little security and it may help me get a woman. Like skipper said, there are only a few decisions that really matter. I hope I dont f this one up too bad.

I think you know what the right decision is or you wouldn't have posted this thread in the first place. Moreover, the fact that you posted the original post at 7:49am and then had come to a decision that could affect you for the rest of your life just over an hour later says quite a bit about how you are going about this.

You have underlying problems that will haunt you wherever you go. I call it "the grass is greener" syndrome.

At any rate, your decision has been made and I honestly wish you the best of luck. I hope I don't run across you at a table 20 years from now, a beaten down man at the age of 40 who is no better of a person than you were at 20, divorced and without anything of interest to say.

[SippinSoma]

Take a semester off and then return to the decision. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. Maintain all your friendships outside of college. I'm going through the exact same thing, PM me if you want.

[fnord_too]

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I guess right now I really dont have too much of a life. I have no problem playing 12 hours a day if I dont have anything going on, although 12 is a bit much.

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You're 20 years old and playing 12 hours a day?? Man, you need to get the [censored] out and live a little. Are you introverted? (serious question, not in any way a slam or anything.) College really is the best place to build your social confidence and skills. It doesn't matter if you screw up in a social setting there because: 1. everyone does, 2. there is a good chance everyone is too drunk to notice, and 3. who cares, it's not like they can fire you or kick you out for a faux pas or there aren't hundreds of other people to hang out with if you offend someone to the point they don't want to see you again (and I think you would really have to work to do that).