Top 11 Reasons Why Students Drop out of College
What do you think are the reasons why high school students make it — but stop there? College is a whole four years, but not everyone goes through with it. What holds them back?
We looked at several sources on the Internet and found that these are the main contributing factors:
- Homesickness and feeling that you don’t fit in. It’s a whole new world out there, and you may not be ready to embrace it.
- Educational burnout. While college gives you control and flexibility over your schedule, the hard demanding schedule, challenging courses, and boatload of homework certainly has turned a lot of students away from the desire to continue.
- Academic unpreparedness. Sometimes, high school didn’t really prepare students for college. Other times, students slacked off in high school and paid the price during their post-secondary years. The high school goal was to pass (so that students could get into college); in college, it is to succeed.
- Personal or family issues. You may have had an unfortunate illness in the family or you yourself just got totally get stressed out from the workload.
- Financial constraints. Tuition costs continue to soar, and scholarships or grants are not always available. Additionally, financial situations can change from year to year.
- Too much fun — but not enough education. Some students take advantage of their friendships, which could put them on academic probation due to suffering grades or absence in classes.
- The school isn’t a good academic fit for the student. You’ve selected a great school that is very arts-centric. However, you realize that you like the sciences better. Similarly, you may hate the average class size of 100 and prefer much smaller classes for more individualized attention.
- Setting sights on the wrong major. You may have wanted to be a doctor but after taking several science classes, you decided that you’re rather go into marketing. Does your school have a marketing major? If not, you’re likely to go elsewhere.
- No guidance or mentors. In high school, teachers and counselors were there to guide you, as high school classes are typically smaller than the entering freshman class. It’s a lot harder to get the personalized attention that you’ve been used to and that could turn people off quickly.
- External demands, particularly within part time or full time employment. Can we say Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook? When the job puts too many demands on you, you may have to choose, and money usually wins out.
- Time to move out. If the cold winter just doesn’t suit you, you may decide to go elsewhere. You may want to go closer to home or to be closer to a significant other.
Why have your peers dropped out of college?
November 26th, 2007 at 12:50 am
I think if I were to drop out of college, it would be because I am not sure I want to live the life that college would leave me.. it has been hard to decide, and right now I am in college, but not sure if that is what I want to do. I want to move to a foreign country like Peru, and help others who are in need… I love web design and all, but I don’t feel like it will amount to anything when my life nears it’s end.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:03 am
Too much s3x resuslted in early pregnancy
November 26th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Top reason in 1941: get drafted to go fight in europe
November 26th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Because I was making more money doing a different job (computer engineer) that I could have ever made as my major (art history) and changing my degree to comp sci wouldn’t have helped my career.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:21 am
Got MBA!!!! Marriage By Accident…. (Pregnant, Drunk,or whatever screws up their judgement…)
November 26th, 2007 at 1:36 am
I agree with 6, most of my friends stopped right after high school. But me, i went on to try this college life out. come to find out, i was focusing more on what my friends were doing and felt…left out.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:58 am
re #1: pretty much, web design and all other forms of corporate jobs are empty and meaningless. The companies will not be around in 100-200 years and your lifetime of working for them will have no impact on the future of mankind. All you can say you did was line some richman’s pockets and keep the well oiled machine of capitalism going for a little while longer. I’d rather be a nurse if I can’t be a doctor, than live a meaningless life, actually.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:09 am
Numbers 2 and 3 ring especially true for me.
I’m tired of school, and high school didn’t prepare me, because it was so easy that I didn’t ever have to study. Now I’m screwed because I never developed good study habits.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:31 am
To Anonymous - If you’re passion is in web design and are pretty good at it, then college isn’t mandatory. You can easily move to Peru and start your web design firm while helping the locals by hiring them.
The benefits of a college degree will be realized if you’re; planning on joining the corporate workforce or a start-up seeking VC funds.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:40 am
lack of creativity. I just hate to do same task as 100 other people, and all that work gets thrown away. I could spend that time/effort somewhere else.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:09 am
I sort of fit into number one, because I could never meet anyone in my class… It basically made school unbearable.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:15 am
1. Disgustingly Hypocritical Administration
2. Disgustingly Hypocritical “Teachers”
3. “Teachers” know less than you do about their subject
4. They’re RIAA/MPAA enforcers
5. They’re Credit Card pushers
6. You realized the average graduate is $60K in the hole
7. People who own websites make more than the profs
8. People who work in Vegas make more than the profs
9. People who work in welding make more than the profs
A. People who operate cranes make more than the profs
B. Schools do things like give $50K to Edwards, who already has $200M and lives in the largest house in his state so he can talk about ‘poverty’ while spewing soundbites for his vice-presidential campaign
November 26th, 2007 at 3:17 am
College may be bullshit but passing it gives your dedication some credibility.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:45 am
couldn’t stand the stupidnes of doing a pointless course.
I used to sit in class and think “why I am here why I am here” only to get a fucking degree toshow i am educated. fuck it
November 26th, 2007 at 5:27 am
I am in the exact opposite position. I went to college, and now I can’t quit. After graduating the first time, there were no jobs where I lived, so I moved. Now I live in a town that I hate and can’t afford to live in, much less pay back my loans, so I had to go back to school just to keep from having to pay my loans back. So now it looks like graduate school is on the horizon a lot sooner than I had anticipated.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:28 am
Financial. They forgot lack of funds. Read something a couple years ago mentioning that the average graduation rate for a 4 year degree was 7.6 years and the biggest factor was money.
November 26th, 2007 at 7:45 am
I left because I’m a technology guy and they wanted to teach me about 1960s technology. There’s enough obsolete information in my head from the 1990s. I don’t need professors filling it with more crap from 1960 that I’ll never use. College is a joke. It doesn’t prepare you for anything. Having a job is not at all like going to college and the information they teach you is useless unless you want to be a teacher. That’s why I quit.
November 26th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Agree with point #3. I’m a first gen. college student, so I really didn’t know what to expect. HS counselors should do much better in preparing the student for college life. Much of what is taught for your major is not necessarily necessary, either. Examples include people who have a job in something not related to their bachelors and are successful none-the-less. I must disagree with Mr. Leake however. I am of the mind that everyone influences everyone. You never know who you affect, just by walking around. The man sweeping the lobby of a major business may do something to impact someone who goes on to do great things. Or the man sweeping may be inspired by another and invent a breakout product and make umpteen millions… who knows. To all college students: Do not despair in whatever field you enter. Individuality is one of humanity’s greatest assets, at every level. Do what makes you happy. If you make money doing so, great. But it can’t be sole motivation. Pursue your interests.
November 26th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I’ve been thinking about dropping out more and more each semester of my program. Between the teachers getting worse and worse (I guess they give you the best teachers first so you stay as long as possible and toss you the crap when you’ve gone too far to drop out), the content of the course changing constantly (entire classes were replaced and descriptions of the course didn’t match up with what was actually taught), and the program in general not meeting the expectations you had.
Although, many of your points to apply as well
November 26th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I dropped out of college my first semester to join the Marine Corps. I wanted to be a Marine all along, but I thought I wanted to go to school first. Turns out I was burned out on school so I went with what I felt was right.
November 26th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I knew two people who dropped out because they played too much “World of Warcraft”.
November 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Personally, I’ve outgrown the college experience. College has not taught me anything new. I have the intelligence, drive, and creativity to do without college.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:00 am
What about college being a business? Most professors don’t give a shit if you fail or succeed. They get their money and they are done with you. College is no longer a place to teach/learn, its a place to take peoples money. I work at an engineering firm, 99% of the new college grads who come in, don’t have the slightest clue as to whats going on, we have to teach them quite a bit still, and no we don’t take the D students, we take the A-B grads.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I work at university, here the problem is the staff and instuctors. Here are the top 10 reasons students drop out here:
10. Students are lied to and mis-led when recruited.
9. The only requirments for any job on campus is that you are realted to another employee. Don’t worry if they do not have one for you, if your spouse is important enough, they can create one.
8. 95% of the 5 year (and up) employees are not fit for their jobs and have no training.
7. Students are given info for requirements from people not trained and end up having to make adjustments themselves.
6. More money is spent on the front end to make the campus look good rather than to make it last.
5. Football players do not get arrested for doing anything, if they do they are released and sent home.
4. Football players that RAPE other students are sent home and the story does not make the paper.
3. VP’s that are promoted even after finding porn surfing on machine prior to the promotion, end up sexually harrassing female students and then having to leave town.
2. Most of the instructors are here for themselves and padding a resume with more flare.
1. Somewhere (maybe when several of the VO’s came from the education department) the institution put more value on the instrustors vs. the students.
If you want your school to fail, please follow the above steps to crush as many dreams as possible while your instructors contnue to move forward and pad the old resumes.
I have vever seen so many self rightous poeple in my life,
November 26th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I feel the same way. My student loans are so overwhelming that I’m thinking about going back so I can defer them longer. Plus, a masters never hurt anybody!
November 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
The waste of time and money on classes that will have no purpose in anyones life. Such as Ethics in Technology. Ethics, whats that? A debate class with nothing but subjects that have no plausable answer but lots of controversy. Eventually you just lose interest. University, another name for NFL recruitment center. They care more about a winning team than an affordable education. The average student’s soul belongs to a loan company long before they even have a career to pay it back. Whats the point?
November 26th, 2007 at 10:08 am
I spent a year in college and quit. Same as #4. I was making more money and having more fun outside of college than in it.
Now 17 years later I am taking college courses in areas that interest me and to fill in some gaps. My so-called “adviser” can’t grasp the notion that I could care less about getting the piece of paper.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I did the college thing for 2 yrs, quit because I hated putting up with BS courses that had to be taken (because they were part of the program). I was interested in doing English related courses, then you have someone telling you, that you NEED to take a course in anthropology. Complete crap. Now I’m in the work force, and could be making double what I am now, if I had that stupid piece of paper saying I graduated from College. Needless to say, there is alot to be said about being a College Graduate.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:53 am
You people are going to the wrong colleges and are severely misled about what college is for. Everyone that succeeds knows that the purpose of classes are to force you to explore what you are interested in and to get you to teach yourself. If you are sitting in a class, and could care less about what is being taught, you are in the wrong class. If you expect teachers to force-feed you an education, then you are delusional. In my experience, having had bad teachers has forced me to learn on my own and has motivated me to be self sufficient. The purpose of college is to learn about yourself and to learn that if you want to do something, you have to do it yourself. It always has been. I do not need a college degree in the field I am going into, but my experiences at college have been priceless. Best of luck to you all…
November 26th, 2007 at 10:54 am
And the football players are kicked off the team and go to jail when the rape girls at my school…
November 26th, 2007 at 11:16 am
These are great points. I am currently in my first year of university, with finals approaching and I still don’t feel like this is what I want to do for the next 4 years. I never had to study in highschool and got 90’s but now that I am here I am basically screwed. All students are to these schools are numbers.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Pretty much EVERYTHING # 12 says .. with emphasis on ““Teachers” know less than you do about their subject”
Most of those teachers (at a college ironically called BSU) were the most inept people I had ever seen in my life. Everything from the campus coordinator to the teachers I had were just terrible! In the end it seemed that the college I went to was nothing but a scam. When the average amount of time students were spending at a 4 year college was over 8 years. . It should scream red flags. It means that you can’t get into any classes you want/need unless you get seniority. To get seniority you have to be there for 4 years.
There was just so much wrong with that school, after 5 years I am still bitter about it. I want to go back to 4 year school but I doubt I ever will because of that experience. On the bright side, I went to a technical school for the same course and it was a world of difference for the better
November 26th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
First off you have to enroll in college 2 drop out, second off, parenting is a big factor (although i have no parents i found my way through 3.5 years of video game design coarses) Another is funds and how ppl manage themselves, some students that graduate through high school are destined to be stupid the rest of their lives
November 26th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I could either work for experience and good cash with normal amounts of spare time, or go to school and work for crap wages until done while spending all my time working or studying. Then try to find a job quickly to start paying off my huge debt.
I work in IT, where experience is typically equal to schooling when applying for work. The education is useless for the most part, since what you learned is obsolete by the time you graduate.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Some are true but its mostly cause im lazy i have 2 papers due tomm and i havent done both of them man my life sucks lol
November 26th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
The main reason I quit: Irresponsibly high expectations of the students. I have friends to this day who still get far far too little sleep because of papers and homework and that junk. Theres little education in those things, its a stress test. Just as my friends 8 hour exit exam had nothing to do with what he had learned, but was a test to see how he withstood stress, which has no place in a “school” as far as I am concerned.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
The best thing you can learn in college is how to learn. You need to learn how to teach yourself. In the real world your business will buy new technology products (both hardware and software). No one will know how to use it. You will be expected to figure it out - don’t count on tech support, etc.
The piece of paper is a ticket that says you know how to learn. Nothing more.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Wow, I was just about to say almost exactly what Mike said above. It seems to me that almost everyone in the comments section is going to the wrong college. To everyone saying they are dropping out of college due to not being prepared from high school or because they cannot stand the 1, 2, or 5 BS classes they are are forced to take, yeah dropping out definitely sounds like the right move to me. You are obviously ready for the real world and cannot learn anything from college. I mean in the real world, you never have to put up with BS and you’re never confronted with any situation that you’re not prepared for.
OK, I’m sorry, there was a lot of sarcasm in that paragraph. But seriously, I would say people really need to put a lot more thought into picking their schools. Don’t go to a school just because your high school “bff” is going there, or because it’s the closest one to home, or because it’s the cheapest. Pick the one that fits you. Go tour the campus. Talk to the students. It works. I ended up turning down acceptance offers from two big engineering schools (MSU and NC State)to go to a small private school where the program and students more closely mirrored my values, and it was a great decision.
Am I pretty burned out on school now? Yes. Do I want to be an engineer anymore? No. But I’m only a semester from graduation and I wouldn’t trade the experiences I’ve had here (good and bad) for the world. Pretty much any executive at a successful company (and we have a lot from our school) will tell you that the real value of college isn’t necessarily what you learn in the class, but the skills you pick up along the way and the network of people you create.
In the end, you really have to do what makes you happy. For me, I wouldn’t be very happy with myself knowing that I had admitted defeat and dropped out. And I’d come to feel like any reasons I had for doing so were just excuses for taking the easy way out.
Of course, it really is not right for some. Check out some options at the end of this pdf article.
http://www.timeoutassociates.com/washingtonian.pdf
There was also a really good article showing a cost-benefit analysis of a college education that concluded college actually doesn’t make financial sense for half the population, but I can’t seem to find it.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Some university classes are only there to test your mettle; this is not High School. Learn from your failures and persevere. The real purpose of college is to push yourself - learning how to quickly acquire knowledge. This skill will separate you from the majority of all other people.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:07 am
[...] Students Drop Out Posted on November 27, 2007 by Mike F. Go College has a list of 11 reasons students drop out of college. While they try to be positive (”Hey, this [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 9:56 am
There is one thing that most people do not realize concerning a person going to college. I went to college 4 years but didn’t graduate. Graduating was never going to be because of my lack of knowing how to effective study and retain information for a test (I only discovered this to be the problem later in life). However, I did gain something that people who do not go to college never acquire. I gained much maturing and social development. People who only go to college for one year gain some of the same.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:11 am
This list mostly contains things faulting the student. It grossly neglects how colleges can be at fault too. You can always redirect the blame back to the student somehow, but this practice makes me sick. Like the system can’t be at fault sometimes too?
November 28th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
[...] Source [...]
November 29th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I am a Prof at a major University. The common, and incorrect, theme to many of these posts is the disappointment of college and your career goals. Universities are not designed to give you a career, Profs do not care how much money you want to make. The goal of a “universal” education is to supply the country/world educated citizens, period.
A majority of incoming freshmen lack the most basic skills to do college level work. After 4 to 5 years of cramming the night before type of studying, most of them will get a piece of paper, yet lack an education. And the funniest part is that you allowed the college to do that to you, take your money and give you nothing in return (well 4 years of free internet access). We thank you for your money that we use to educate the minority of students who are college skilled and will become future leaders.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Peter, you’re welcome to provide your thoughts on why the system is a failure and we can consider it for a future post.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
i am a freshman at a university. i did not want to attend a college right out of high school because i knew i would be burnt out on school. my parents forced me to go. i am 18 now, i want to leave my parents house, because i know as soon as i get one D on the transcript they are going to attempt to discipline me, so i have been thinking of ways of dropping out. i mean i thought if i had some money i could just leave, move somewhere and work for a while, get some cash built up and come home in 2 or 3 years. i just dont want to leave behind my girlfriend. college is the most depressing experience i have ever had, the classes are so boring, i read and read a stupid ass quaker history book, which is not going to affect me in the future, i really just want to be a newspaper columnist. i love to write, especially if something pops into my head. but for now i am going to try to find a new job and a place to stay this winter/spring, because i have a feeling i will not do so well. im having surgery monday and have a final wed. the surgery is tommy john surgery, and i think the pain will be a bit much but i am going to attempt to study this stupid history.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I was lazy and immature.
I only had one semester from graduation but blew it off.
I am really regretting it now after 10+ years.
If any one of you are still in college, please finish it off. Drop-out lingers in you for quite sometime.
December 1st, 2007 at 1:08 am
To ASD - Great advice. It’s worth the turmoil.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:22 am
I totally agree with #8! high school was so easy til i never had to study & didn’t develop good study habits and now i’m trying to cope with learning how to study!
December 4th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
[...] Why have your peers dropped out of college? Source [...]
December 5th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Why do people expect others to hold their hand in college? College is the time to grow up, besides no one holds your hand through life. I think college is a business and they make cool subjects like art history boring with dense texts.
Anyway, I’m tired of shit jobs and so I’m going back at 24 and trying to get it over with asap. The toil and grind will be worth it, I don’t want to work $7.50/hour for the rest of my life. Nah thanks. And after college it really is up to you to make it and with a degree it’ll be easier to navigate through the real world.
December 8th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Basically, if I had to grade Northwestern University, the college I attended, I would give them an F. Freshman orientation the speaker said, look to the left of you, now to the right, 2 out of 3 of you won’t graduate. In the sick gut of my stomach, I knew it wasn’t me. I turned out to be right. A college with that kind of failure ratio should have gone out of business long ago.
1. Homesick: Not only homesick, I was so homesick I stole a car Thanksgiving of Freshman year, just to drive across the continent to get back home. How messed up is that.
2. Education burnout: after 12 years of being tested to death, yeah, I was sick of f**king school. If they didn’t know I was smart by then, they’d never figure it out. And the system didn’t fundamentally change, it was just more of the same crap, only harder.
3. Academic Unpreparedness: this was the biggest, and cruelest joke of all. The private high school I went to, miles above public school, didn’t even come close to preparing me for the Ivy league college I went in to. Basically, I didn’t even stand a chance, even if I had been in the best of health. There was just no way.
4. Personal issues: I had severe diabetes, and had no idea what it was, and thought I was going insane… from caffeine and sugar poisoning in the soft drinks I was drinking. I was lucky most days if I could tie my shoes. The school counselors were clueless about this, and yet, diabetes is so commonplace every councilor should be able to identify it, particularly those at a college that charge $17,000 a year.
Northwestern failed me, and worse, scarred me so much I vowwed never would return to college again. And I was an A+ honors student in high school, SAT 1380, and a really smart and creative guy. I didn’t deserve that hell. Twenty years later.. no… that poor kid didn’t deserve that.
December 11th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
High school, college, both create panic and stress inside a person. Its not a healthy environment at all, and certainly not an environment conducive to learning. Tests, assignments, reports, grading, rules, conformity, homework, its all about controlling you and your time and creating internalized pressure. Eventually you will get sick from this. Stress causes sickness. That is why I got out in college. I had an ephiphany. It was all a rotten, insidious lie. There was no change from high school to college, it was the same old pressure, testing, and grading, only 20 times worse.
Mandatory education enslaves you from birth in this thunderdrome competition to claw your way to the top, and parents unwittingly perpetrate this on their children. If they could only see the face of the psychological horror they were putting inside their kids, they wouldn’t let their child near a school. Twenty years later I’m still so conditioned to the panic and stress loops that they initially put into me, that I live in a nightmarish world from day to day.
December 12th, 2007 at 8:22 am
I can’t decide wether to go to college or not. Reason being that I am a junior in highschool and I have yet to decide exactly what it is that I wanna do with my whole life and time…and teachers here don’t ever make me WANT to go to school anyways. Most teachers a my school think that just because they are teaching the class, they can act as if they are your parent…and when they are having a bad day…students like myself usually end up having a bad day as well…not FAIR!
December 12th, 2007 at 8:24 am
Basically, that is why I feel that many other students drop out of highschool/college: too much shit from teachers. =)
December 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
[...] dropouts. Men, especially black men, are prime candidates for dropping out. From GoCollege, comes 11 possible reasons why. Here’s a viable reason. 3. Academic unpreparedness. Sometimes, high school didn’t [...]
December 20th, 2007 at 8:02 am
because of being idle!!!!
March 6th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
The philosophy of education is to teach atheism, and to punish those who believe in God (with defeat and high interest loans). Also, college is to defame character by deceiving others with stuff recorded in your records. With God all things are possible. Without God all things are not possible.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I am currently a freshman at Missouri State University, this semester (my 2nd) ive realized that college is complete bullshit. I hate it here, everyone is 2 faced. Its the exact same as highschool i dont have the drive anymore to even attend classes because all the teachers do is talk about nothing and the test questions all come out of the reading. So really what is the fucking point. And assigning 30 pages a class to read for the next class period is complete bullshit. I have to work and make money in this hell hole. I do not have the time to read almost 120 pages a night. Are you kidding me the teachers all have the mindset that I only attend their class so i will have plenty of time to read all this bullshit which just isnt true.
Another thing is the General Education Requirements at this school. Gen ed? sounds a lot like paying for high school classes. We are required to take a fucking PE class? WTF why do i need to take pe? am i going to be a professional weight lifter? NO im not going to be Richard simmions. I think that is just dumb. Not to mention we have to take a pre civil war history class? For what? WTF do i need to know about the fucking indians, we killed them all okay i got it. I know more than most of my professors and have won debates with them in almost every class. I think its bullshit, i want to goto a school that will actually teach me something. Not push political agendas into my head, i would rather make up my own mind about things and not be told that its a sientific fact smoking causes cancer. And that George bush is a criminal. I can make up my own mind. College is basically brainwashing it fucking sickens me. I think im going to finish out this semester then go to a Police Academy or into the military.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I agree with #18. If going to college makes you happy then do it. If not, then stop complaining, get a job and work, just remember that although you may have your own opinion but the world out there is not acceoting applications from a college drop out all the time. Most of the time its just pure luck but if you are prepared to show education plus your working background, you best believe that you will find a job. IF YOU CANNOT FIND A JOB IN THE UNITED STATES AFTER GRADUATONG FROM COLLEGE IS BECAUSE OF HOW YOU PRESENT YOURSELF TO PEOPLE.
March 28th, 2008 at 11:39 am
It seems hard and meaningless sometimes but whatever degree you earn will help you support whatever family you have someday. That is the driving factor for me to stay in.
My biggest temptations to drop out were cause I just thought I was worthless based on my grades in High School and first years of college. It still can be redeemed. In the end… LOVE WHAT YOU DO, DON’T GO FOR THE MONEY BUT IN THE END YOU WILL BE THE HAPPIEST IF YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO FOR A LIVING.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:23 am
My reason was purely financial.
The college I went to completely mistreated me. They offered me a 15,000 merit scholarship which I was excited to get (despite the fact that the college charges 40k per year). I filled out the FAFSA and my estimated family contribution was about 6,000 per year. I could deal with that, so I decided to go. However, when they sent me the bill they were charging me 7,000 a SEMESTER. When I called them about it they actually had the nerve to tell me that my SCHOLARSHIP WAS MY FINANCIAL AID. They said that’s all I was getting, despite the FAFSA! So I had to leave, yet they’re still charging me for the first semester, even though I left in October. It’s ridiculous. Perhaps if I went to a different college I’d be less jaded, but the way I was treated makes me wary of any college in the future.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I will drop out after I finish this semester, the schools administration told me I was going to graduate in 2 years from community college and transfer after that to a 4 year university.Well I’ve been here for 2 1/2 years and have another year waiting, I’m running out of money,(don’t have financial aid). And I’m tired of failing the same course for 3 times already (my high school teachers DID NOT prepare me for this type of classes). I regret not joining the military after high school. I waisted 2 years in college for what??Seriously follow your heart and listen to what it tells you…don’t do something just because you want people to think your educated it and have a degree. Do it because you have a passion!
April 8th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
You guys are all stupid. College is not a waste of time. everyone is just too damn lazy to actually stick it through. there are a million reasons to push it through. Everyone knows that if you go to college you will be more successful in life. And going to college does not mean you have to go to a four year school. there are so many options its just people like you guys just feel bad for themselves.
April 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Glad to here there are ther people out there that are adamant with their decisions. Three days ago, one month from graduation - i finally said fu*k it. I couldn’t bear to BS for a B.S. The mental anguish that i’ve acquired by going to school is near brutal and i simply don’t want to contunue forcing myself through hell. I’m tempted to write “Chose not to recieve degree for moral reasons” on my resume. There are far more productive thing i can do upon leaving and i cant wait to have my professors sign my withdrawl papers with a giant grin on my face. Enjoy your life, enjoy your freedom - make your own decisions.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I am now final year and would be graduate very soon. I am a computing (software engineering) major.
But what I want to say is that entering university is really not a good choice in my life.
It is totally waste time, learning from the Internet is even better than learning in the University. What I see is that many teenagers (high-school guy) computing skills is better than Univ. graduate (Comp major) students.
Time management is also difficult, because lecture time is too short, which is not easy to handle assignment and project together with examination preparation in a 3 to 4 months.
However, I am not america, I am from HK where the university generally adopt a mixture of british, america and chinese education system.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:55 am
I’m in College currently and I had dropped out last year. I decided that I wasn’t doing what I wanted so I started a new course. But my opinion on dropping out is that its just the easy way out of the situation. No matter what we do, there will always be a safety net lying there for us, doesn’t matter how bad we fuck up. That’s why I think people dropout so much, no real consequences for quiting.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:44 am
3 words: Perserverence and passion
April 24th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
stay in school and you life will be sucsessesful
April 25th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
In response to #62: I feel your pain!!
When I was pregnant with my son (who is 1 now) I went through the fall semester and even made deans list. I took the next semester off because my finals were around my due date. Then I moved states and in the fall I applied to another college, this time instead of a state school it was a community college. I didn’t decide to go until August and by the time I could get my HS transcripts from another state I just made the deadline to get financial aid, or so I thought. Instead, they took the Friday off early and entered those on Monday and I got automatically dropped from my classes which i found out on Tuesday. I tried to see if they could do anything, and was told two things: #1 get your teachers to sign a paper to enroll you in the class with their permission. and then I was told that I would have to pay the $4k or $5k out of pocket to continue going because it would be three weeks before I would know if I got financial aid.
Needless to say since I had a kid and sold all of my belongings to move back east, I didn’t have that kind of money, and mommy and daddy have NEVER paid for my school. NEVER.
Now, months later, I am getting collections for a 1k bill for the one class I got that signature for. I am filling out paperwork, but since I moved back west, they keep telling me ” we can’t talk about your account over the phone”
I have been through 4 college admissions. This was the worst. The other Community college was nearly as bad. The state school was OK. and the Private college was awesome (but too high of cost of living).
Here are my versions of the problems with colleges:
1. The students coming to both universities and community colleges out of high school lack the educational prepartion for college. It starts in High School, fix that and it will trickle.. well.. up.
2. Students think that this world is catered to them. I actually had a class where the parents complained about their kids failing so that the prof took his tests and dumbed them down. I was so mad. I wasn’t learning anything and getting A’s for it. Some may say “who cares?” that’s the problem. Accept challenges, accept knowledge, and accept responsibility. Mommy and Daddy will die one day and not be able to save your ass.
3. The admission process grabs students in, but financial aid and tuition costs leaves us blind sighted, angry and frustrated. Let’s start with the fact that many students especially in the CC bracket are not associated with their parents. The idea that parents are responsible for their children until they are 24 is ridiculous. Not to mention policies to protect people from abusing they system, especially in my case, are hurting the people who want an education, and now because of the credit stuff, we can’t get any more financial aid or go back to school.
4. It is a myth that is both true and false when it comes to whether or not you actually NEED a degree. To rise to management, or up in most organization you will need some type of secondary education. This is because your duties, even in labor industries require more interaction with others who have degrees. As our technology gets more developed, so will our labor industry. And that is why school that specialize in programs focused on certain industries and careers offer both programs to get into them and to continue education are popular, but are usually the ones with the most admissions problems.
5. It is possible that you aren’t ready right away at the “right time” everyone seems to push. It is someone else’s ideal that has become the norm for HS students to go right to college. and when they get out, they work jobs they could have got without the degree, sure it may have paid $3 less at that time, but you have experience. And it is always possible to go back. we are a rut of a society that while we claim democracy we are strict in imposing our cultural and societal beliefs on everyone.
This is simply my observations and opinions. Take it or leave it. But understand that our economics, politics and every thing else we deal with in life changes, and the best way to adapt is to learn about those changes, parallel historical events and move on with inventiveness into the future.
I would like to note I also have worked full time since I was 17 and in high school. My lowest GPA in the past 3 years of Post secondary school was 3.1. It is not impossible. One must put forth effort.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
The main purpose of college is to graduate so you can get a job with a good starting salary, although many really are interested in furthering their education, that is the main purpose. Dropping out is one of the worst decisions one could make. I realize sometimes a person really has no other choice but it really isn’t that hard to stick it out and graduate, even if some of the classes are dumb, you just apply yourself, if that isn’t enough than it is obvious you just weren’t meant to go to college.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I am looking to go to college but after reading what was posted. I think that I am going to take a year off to find myself and to really know that is what I want to do and I don’t want to leave my best-friend- boyfriend.
May 11th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I’m an accounting major, and it’s just OK. It’s hard work, but I put in the time and I’m successful at it. My whole life all I’ve ever wanted to do was play guitar in a band. That dream is still very likely. But a college degree is something that pays huge dividends for a lifetime. Finishing up my third year, I have an internship with a very large public accounting firm, and after 3 years I will have my CPA. It has been a long road of hard work, and I’ve changed my major 4 times. Although I do not love college and I do not love what I study, I know that it is worth it to be here. Of all the majors that are out there, accounting is the best one for me.
On another note, I think that “not knowing how to study” is an unworthy excuse. Everyone must re-learn how to study in college. Sometimes you must commit 15-20 hours to studying for an exam (spread it out 4 days in advance if you need to). It’s the nature of the beast. If you really want that degree, no excuse can stop you. So get your balls in gear and stop dropping out of school!
May 28th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Wow, some of the posts on here are just plain demoralizing… I am about to graduate in 2 weeks (computer science) and it has taken me 9 years to do so. I am damn proud of myself having worked through the whole time and not drop out. To some of your points:
College may not necessarily be useless to everyone. There are exceptions (Bill Gates, etc), but you can’t exactly bank on the fact that you know alot and you’ll get that next lucky break.
Yes, I’ve found many required classes to be boring and useless (Chemistry for a computer science major? Biology?) But you know, its not always about the relativity of the courses, but how you manage through them.
The benefits of a full college experience over dropping out?
1. Its a place of networking. And no, I’m not talking about World of Warcraft networking. I’m talking about meeting and working with PEERS that may one day be an asset to your career, which can help you land a cushy job. Success if a combination of not only WHAT you know (which is readily available on Wikipedia and such) but WHO you know. What are the chances of you meeting someone who can help make an impact on your career if it weren’t for college?
2. Dedication and responsibility. Sure, you can quit… who cares? The only person you hurt is yourself. And you haven’t really proven anything to you or anyone else. You really learn how to manage your time if you never learned how to do so in high school. Yeah, high school was a breeze and I’ve never had to study, but when I started college, it kicked my ass. However, I’ve LEARNED how to manage… Its called flexibility and ability to adapt to situations (skills that are highly sought after out in the real working world). If you can learn to manage the piles of homework and exams and effectively knock them out, you’ve not only proven to yourself that you can succeed at doing things that might not be of your interest, but you’ve also proved to potential employers that you have the flexibility and dedication they may be looking for. Don’t even THINK once you get out in the working world and into the industry you want to be in, its all coasting from there… but the fact is, no matter what, you’re going to be faced with situations and hurdles that you DON’T want to (but have to) deal with. Sound familiar? Oh yes, those projects and courses that you found to be a useless waste of time in college is rearing its ugly head in your career. Now you have to manage through them, just as you did (or did not) in college.
College is just a test course. You may not always use what you learn… or you forget what you’ve learned from books, but if you learn HOW to manage your time and learn how to adapt to different situations, then I think you’ve got the main points of going through college.
I think dropping out of college simply because “you don’t like it,” isn’t a valid reason. You’re only trying to make yourself feel better by taking the easy way out. Sure, it works for college, but you can’t just drop out of all your problems out in the real world. I’m sure the majority of people don’t like the classes and the time it sucks out of their lives while in college, but they’ve managed to put themselves through it.
June 12th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
College is great, it just takes way too long to graduate. They make you take 2 years of crap that doesn’t apply to your major so you have to spend 5 years getting burnt out on school. The further along you get the harder it is to stay motivated, college really shouldn’t take more than four years to complete
June 16th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Well, after a few minutes of reading what you all imbeciles had to say, I would like to rue that most of you, if not all should go and commit suicide.
I reckon almost all people who have posted their comments here are from US. I have heard about your vainglorious education system. Any high caliber student from my country will make quick work of your entire graduation. Entities are so amicable and easy there, you do not have to even try to succeed. It comes as a free gift with the fee that you pay to enter college.
I wonder what were to happen if you people were to come to my country and study. Even your best candidates shall not last beyond a couple of weeks.
Moribundly : LAWL.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
i just graduate from high school and i have a high GPA but my ACT is below 16 that doesnt make me stupid is just that i cant take the dam test because english is my second language now i am applying to the university of my choice, but they still thinking about accepting me dont you think they should look to see my grade how i did in high school instead of the stupid ACT because no every body can pass that class at leas i want to be something. When i put my mind into it i know i can do it and i agree with all your response.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
huh
June 28th, 2008 at 1:21 am
To all the people who say “college is not there to hold your hand,” yeah no problem…. but I’m paying 30,000+ a year. That especially goes for professors, you bastards make so much money and do what… teach. You suck, you are worse than highschool teachers and do not deserve your salaries.
So if college was 1000, maybe 5000 tops a year, sure buddy, I’ll teach myself and thank you for making me a “world citizen.” But at 30 gs a pop, I want a job after wards, I don’t want bs courses, and guess what, I want to be taught.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Maybe, students are not responsible enough…
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
It took me six years to graduate from college as a double major since I changed my mind my senior year about my career choice. I had a good summer job and worked as a student resident assistant for many years so my college debt was low. In graduate school I spent a few years as a teaching assistant and had my own classroom. As a result I had an up-close view of students and the problems they had as they went through college. So here are a few of the things I observed with college kids over the years.
About 2 to 5 percent have extreme social problems or psychic illness or may be ex-cons, ex-juvenile, traumatized war veterans. These people have real hurtles.
Another 1 to 3 percent will do something extremely stupid (spurred by drugs, alcohol, firearms, felonies) which results in the ends someone’s life or college career, often around finals.
About 2 to 5 percent have are depressed, home sick, parent problems, relationship problems, health problems, bad luck, have no desire or get angry and blow off finals.
About 5 to 10 percent run out of money, parent gets laid off, or get divorced. Some quit school and take over their parents business.
About 30 percent parties too much, cut lots of classes, have poor study habits and destroy their GPA’s. If college were a job they’d be fired.
Treat college like a job or an internship, which means at least 40 hours of time and effort each week. Be serious and give it your best effort. There are books on how to study in college, buy one and read it a week before every semester. If you got a problem, colleges have all kinds of people that can help. Pay an office visit to a few of your favorite professors each semester and have some intelligent question for him. Someday you might need a reference from one of these guys.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I am a senior in HS right now, and what I have to say is that some of you guys have a negative mentality towards college.
College is supposed to be difficult,
but also interesting and rewarding.
The reason why some of you were so pissed was because you were not SERIOUS about getting a further education, so you lacked the will power to continue. Being lazy has it’s setbacks.
If you’re in the wrong classes, change them, don’t just quit.
If you’re in the right classes, pay attention and be serious.
My gosh, some of you sound like whiney babies.
LIFE IS TOUGH! You should know that by now.
And thanks, MIKE, your answer was the best out of all.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Just like to add my 2 cents in here, just bc you go to college and graduate with a degree does not mean you are going to make good salary. I got friends who graduated with their BSA and made 10 buks an hour bc they didnt have experience in the field they majored in. So if you think a college degree with help you get more money, you are sadly mistaken.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
fuck college. I am quitting. such a waste of my life and money.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:42 am
I think college is not a waste of time. im dropping out because i am just tired of school. I really wanted to join the army after high school but my mother was pressuring me to go to school. I wanted to make her happy, but i am not happy. Thats why i am dropping out. I will go back as after a year or so. But like i said before, college is not a waste of time, when you are ready to go.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:12 am
I think many comments on here are ignorant and many are just mean and uncalled-for. People just need to do what they need to do to be happy, whether it involves college or not. I think we should all stop lecturing each other on what’s right and what’s wrong.
September 13th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
well i just entered a local college and i want to be a writer, director/producer, i wanna share my ideas of helping the world to make the world a better place. I worked 40 hours a week and got paid 950/hour, payday was every friday of every week, i would get a $400 paycheck every week and im 18. ever since i started school, i recieve a $100 paycheck. ive already skipped classes, i dont know if i should drop out this semester and work… i still wanna write all my stories and ideas…
September 16th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Sept.,2008 If you can learn to think for yourself rather than want to think just like everyone around you there may be a good reason why you are here living now, and in this time in history. You are far beyond your disability,your outer persona, your family name, your gender and whatever else there is that tells you who you think you are in the eyes of this world. There is more to getting an education than the rhetoric, the books and papers you must read and write. So much more is that knowledge is a great gift that we must never take for granted. Each person does have something special they do well, better than the next friend or family member. It is your attitude which will determine if you will live well or poorly. Anyone can make money–but what is it that actually drives you? Become the solution to your tiny part of the world, not the problem. Little children look to us as role models even when we don’t pay attention to them around us. Do it for all that is great and good within each of you. We have a responsibility to think critically, to want to and like to learn knowledge. We have a right to disagree or agree. We must first learn to respect life–value it, then go fearlessly forward, higher than you could ever dream or imagine—do something good with the time you have been given rather than bitch over things, or moan about things you have no real control over….Look at what you can do well, and nurture it, develop it—and get moving—time is ticking away—you won’t have forever—none of us will….Good education has a responsibility that goes with it….You are still either thinking, living, acting like a child would, or you have finally decided to grow up, be mature and do something about your situation. No one gives it to you…you have to learn to earn it—so is with education—there is the system, and there is what you can do to improve yourself, and the people around you….We won’t go backwards. Yesterday is gone forever. We can’t worry about tomorrow, it has never been promised to any of us…all we can do is be IN THE NOW…Humility has value in it, never arrogance. Kindness, helping others does have its rewards. But, if you are only living to make big money, and only live for what your needs are, forgetting the needs of your community—then my friends, you will get what you give —its as simple as that. Be well—and go for it—find out who you are, we all have gifts—but, you are the only one who can use them….so find them within yourself—stop being a drag man…..
September 16th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Spiritual thoughts also are learned in high school, or vocational and college environments. We don’t have to agree with everything we read about, listen to, or discuss. This is using your brain power. We can agree to disagree without getting upset with people who don’t say what we like to hear, etc. Each person in these United States has been protected by the laws set in place under the freedom of speech act. We don’t, however, have to abuse laws that protect each individual. The fact that education has a price should never stop anyone from pursuing knowledge, or their credentials. We must learn to follow the rules of engagement, even in the educational arena. There are alternatives: get into a virtual college environment if you can use a computer. Find where you can get the financial aid by contacting the Higher Education office in the basement of the Boston Public Library by calling the general library staff there and ask them. If you like to do hair, go to hair school. If you love doing nails, then learn how to do them professionally and go to work there. If you love cars and can take apart an engine with your eyes closed–go do a part-time gig with a garage you feel comfortable with. We all had to learn how to take steps, little steps before we learned how to leap and jump and run forward. Think outside your safety zone and get out of the boat going no where fast, or one that seems to only be drifting, and going no where. You really owe yourself an education even if its just to see if you can graduate from an institution of learning. For me, I have always believed in life-long learning. You are never too young, or too old, too thin, too fat, too gay, to straight, or too smart, or too dumb to learn something of value. But…you have got to want it for yourself…You can listen to your family tell you “no—you can’t” like my family said to me all the time, or you can say, “I’m going to look into it, and I can try”—I’m a grad student. A high school drop out, parents who died from substance and alcohol use and addictions. Everyone I knew hated school, but I loved books. I read subjects that interested me, then I learned to read better, faster, and bought a good dictionary because I sucked at spelling. As anything else you do over time, my habit became learning things. I love to learn new things. It keeps me young, and I am a better person for it. I am a good role model for people who are like me–afraid at first, but take a big leap of faith. I’m a grandmother in grad school with a 4.0 grade point average with students half my age. Yes-they make jokes about me as being “too old” to study with them, and I am laughing each time I receive a “A” for any papers I’ve learned how to write. I am self-taught. I just needed to prove people wrong, and prove to myself, “yes-you can overcome anything–a learning disability, challenges that derail you for a little while” I have cried and felt isolated at times because I was “different” than the students I went to school with. I’m almost done with my program. And, I learned my salary will jump to over $45,000 dollars annually because with my counseling credentials, I can help others achieve, and encourage others to “go for it too” and I will be laughing all the way to the bank—and man, that sweet feeling that you are somewhat of a big success is very, very sweet—indeed”
September 17th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
College sucks. After you finish then what? Work for someone until you are like 80 years old? Sounds fun.
September 21st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I’ve dropped out (just stopped going) because of reason #1 #2 #3 and #4.
I was feeling very sad, lonely and unprepared. After finishing school in another country I moved in to USA and started college right then. Without my parents (I started living with my brother) cooking, cleaning and other stuff you are not aware of, I had to learn stuff on the go, and money became tight.
At the last trimester I started working 6 days a week and I took this class where we have to talk in front of the class. I got so panicked and hyperventilated at the thought of doing that I became very stressed and just stopped going.
You can laugh or scoff but it’s a very real issue for me that I wish wasn’t there. I’m a very shy and air-headed person, and although I admit it’s a dumb class I just couldn’t overcome my panic, especially at such a depressing time.
Now almost two years have passed, and I saved some money and want to try applying again. Problem is, my GPA is too low and I’m a disqualified student, I don’t think they will accept me back (they’re my only choice since I take the bus). If anyone has any experience or advice to get inside college again it would be greatly appreciated.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
College for the most part really is a joke. Wanna be a religion major? Fine. Take three semesters of basket weaving. Wanna be a computer engineer? Take 4 semesters of art history. I could go on. So much about college today is good, but an even larger portion is just plain stupid. The level of teaching and the professors who do it @ my university are next to worthless. Show up if they feel like it and assign mountains of busywork. High Schools nowadays do not prepare you for college and college is so much about stress as opposed to learning that it has very little similarity to the real world. I could never drop out, but I can understand why people decide to sometimes. Sometimes it just isnt worth the $45,000 a year fight.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:18 am
College is stressful. I was telling a buddy of mine how college is and you have to deal with everything. Yeah, like work and school, then study time, and then parting time or friends hanging out(socializing), then family and girlfriend and the list goes which leds to drop out.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
I have recently started college, been there around 5 weeks and already thinking about dropping out. Yes the social side is great and so are the friendships i’ve made however these only distract you from work. The real downside is the hard courses, homework and demanding work given. I’m struggling with work so far and this is the key factor in me wanting to drop out. Still unsure where life is heading, guess i’ll just have to see it through and live for the good times with my mates! But before you strat college have a serious think, are you willing to work. GCSE’s were a breeze comapred with AS levels. Be prepared, or prepare to fail.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I’m in college now, 3rd semester. It’s not that it’s too difficult for me– I’m taking 18 credits/semester and have a good gpa, involved with things, etc. It’s just that I’m bored with it. I hate the college lifestyle. It’s got no substance, it’s all abstract academia BS and getting drunk with upper middle class kids, and both those things get old fast for me. Nothing at college is real. I don’t feel like I’m really growing very much from this. I can learn on my own, I have a library card and I use it. I learn some things at college, profs are interesting, but I like to learn by doing.
The times that I feel happiest are when I’m at my part time job off campus (working with kids). But I want to be able to get an interesting long term job, and I don’t know if I can do that w/out a college degree. basically, I’m here to get a piece of paper that says that I put up with this for four years.
And I can put up with it if I need to, it’s not a question of willpower, but I think I could grow more as a person outside of school, and if that’s true, why am I making myself miserable here? Not to mention going into debt at a couple thousand dollars a semester (and THAT’s with most of my tuition paid by financial aid, college costs are disgusting).
I’m thinking about dropping out next year and transferring somewhere else (a city, instead of a small town with a self contained campus) and going to school part time and working too, so I can graduate, but college isn’t my whole life anymore.
October 11th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I’ve dropped out of a four year school and am currently attending a two year school and not doing so well. Having graduated high school with Physics, Astronomy, and three semesters of Calculus in the bag, I would say I have to strongly agree with the first three of these eleven reasons (the list at the top of the page, in case you’ve forgotten by now). I think college can become especially challenging for people who are as socially inept as I am, which is in turn compounded by the massive load of an overly ambitious course schedule. College can be extremely beneficial to job marketability, so I highly recommend attending and at least attempting a degree, but I also have to point out that it can become a very painful challenge for certain individuals and the amount of stress should not be made light of by those who have already conquered the system (I’m talking about you Corey, whose number 71 at this time).
October 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hi, I was taking a Bachelor of Arts in English and dropped out because I didn’t feel like paying thousands of dollars for an education that I could easily pick up at the public library.
To the professor who made the following post:
“Universities are not designed to give you a career, Profs do not care how much money you want to make. The goal of a “universal” education is to supply the country/world educated citizens, period.”
And that is why I dropped out because it could not give me a career. Most of the books I’ve read were on my own. University didn’t provide anything new to me.
By the way I am now in technical school studying construction engineering and the funny thing about the tech school I’m going to is that graduates here are getting hired faster than those studying engineering at the university, as well as making a lot more. Go figure!
October 19th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Amber, what’s even tougher is wanting your degree more than anything but coming to the realization that you’re either not smart enough or not equipped with the right skills to pass your classes with a true understanding of what was taught.
Now what?
October 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I dropped out of college twice - once in my 3rd year and again in my 4th. But I was still at community college. I had to work more than part time every semester so I was never able to take full-time classes, also tested in a low pre-req math, thus lead to me being really behind. I dropped out the first time due to extreme psychological problems (anxiety and panic disorders and depression) and also because I needed to work more. I returned for two more classes the following year, but was no better come the fall. I attempted full-time classes but became worse and that led to taking an “Indefinite Medical Leave”. Financial issues are also a factor, I need to work full-time to support myself.
I feel that people look down on people who leave college and lump us into the “Drop outs” category. Sadly, there’s a lot of us who leave for very valid reasons. I graduated HS early, had a 4.0 GPA, was Salutatorian of my graduation class, gave that speech and all that jazz. And fought against my disorders valiantly but wore myself out and racked up tons of debt doing so. I had tons of dreams and absolutely LOVED college - I had so many great classes, but found myself incapable of continuing. It’s the worst feeling. I was someone who “hated studying” or was “lazy”. I tried to stay, and I wish I could.
I hope people understand that not everyone who leaves college is stupid or lazy. We have illnesses, whether physical or otherwise, family problems or lack of financial means. It sucks.
November 5th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I’m attending college now. I came to a Christian college to get my basics and to learn more about what God would have me to do the rest of my life.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I am in college right now and a college education is not all about the classes and grades it is about the experience. Many colleges have a ton of programs that you can get invovled with. There are clubs of different interest, plays, musicals, speakers, advocates of different kind of situations, and the list can go on. My advice is keep holding on, yes college is not for everyone, but for the people who are in college enjoy every moment. I am a second year this year and it has been my hardest semester so far, but I am learning that each day is a gift and it is about the experience. Everything that we encounter is a learning experience.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I think dropping out was the best thing ever. I hated college, hell, I’ve always hated school. The constrictions, the stress, the other kids always thinking they’re GOD ALMIGHTY just because they’ve got a 2% higher grade than someone else. The only reason I went was because my parents wanted me too and I thought I wanted to go. Turns out that I didn’t and it was only because I was pressured into going.
Everyone thinks that in order to gain “essential life skills”, or to “socially grow” they must go to college, however most who go shouldn’t and usually they drop out.
I should know, I was given a job offer right after high school to work at a small tech corporation in Oregon. I declined and decided to go to the local university thinking I’d get a better job after school. WRONG! I was burned out after my first year and only kept going to get that stupid piece of paper. After getting my Associates, I eventually got the nerve to ask the company and they were DELIGHTED!
I was given the same opportunity, but at a cost because now I had student loans to pay off. I was also p*ssed because I had learned more during high school years from books and the Internet than my few years of college.
10 years later and now I’m the Senior Administration Engineer (basically, I know everything and tell all of my minions what to do). These new college kids think they’re so qualified just because of that piece of paper. It’s funny when they can’t even give a few basic examples of IT protocols, or know the simple workings of a business. I swear, some of them can’t even code their way out of a paper bag.
Maybe college is good for some fields, but in technology, it’s always behind. I recently visited the local university, and was DISGUSTED. They were still teaching students old tech from the early 80s!! That was before I was even born!!! Personally, I think that anyone in the tech industry should either get certified (whether it be Microsoft, Cisco, or CompTIA), or open their own business, which is what I was thinking of for a while, but I may go on to senior management (they like me that much!!!).
All in all, I want kids to know that it gets better after school, a lot better.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:01 am
I just read everything b/c I’m frustrated with college. Here’s what I’ve come to:
Reasons why I’m staying: money for a family, believe I can still find something that makes me happy, social networking, having a degree (any degree) to present for a job.
Valid reasons why I could leave: I dont desreve to put up with this. I have dealt with too much forced upon me. Same bullshit HS stuff.
Either way: I will find a way that I can be happy, healthy, and safe.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Just to reply to what people are saying about “being more successful” it is not a solid set in stone rule…..look at bill gates.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:35 am
I am Soooooooooo burned out of this entire experience!!! What would happen if I were to just say that I had the degree on my resume? Anyone ever tried that? How many employers actually check?
December 7th, 2008 at 5:01 am
[...] get it. American education is in the shitter- and LSD can’t be our scapegoat this time. So why do so many college students pack up their desks and hit the [...]
December 10th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Wow, a lot of you guys really seem upset over your college experiences. I’m a first year student and these last couple of weeks have been hell. That doesn’t mean that I’ll stop trying. Granted, one guy said he got a good job without a college degree. Yet, that may not be the case for everybody.
We are all different. You must carry out your own dreams. My dreams include having a good job that saves the world. Others might want to be a rock star or business owner. There is no singular road to success, and we must find our own way. Whether or not you wanna put college on that road is your business. Don’t let anyone make you do something you don’t want to do.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Im a college dropout just because i dont know what i was doing basically involved in lots of fun with friends who are already drop outs!
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I bet most of the people that said on this page that dropping out is stupid, probably had an enormous amount of financial help. Even with scholarships and a job, I’ve struggled too much. And I’ll have too big of a loan to pay back because of it.
So financial reasons is the reason why I’m thinking I might drop out. I’m taking time off to figure it out. I’d love to have a degree, and don’t mind working my butt off for it, but it’s a burden getting it all on my own.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:18 am
After reading the full thread of responses above, I think the most common problem here is unrealistic expectations.
In high school, it is easy to be a star - even at the best of best private schools. You are surrounded by people who WANT you to succeed. If you pay a modicum of attention in class and are reasonably intelligent, you can breeze through your coursework and make good grades. The standardized tests are easy, and they even give you classes to “coach” you toward a better score. You have guidance counselors, friends, parents, and teachers who you can lean on in picking your future college and career.
Unfortunately, that kind of support network has drawbacks too. Most people at graduation from HS have had every step of their journey planned out for them. Take this, go here, do that, and ta da! You’re all done. Time for the next thrilling episode!
College AIN’T like that. When you arrive, there are many many MANY choices YOU have to make. What major? What classes to take this semester? How to split study time? What part of this huge pile of work does the teacher think important enough to put on the test? Financial aid? Social life?
How do you deal with all these issues? There’s only one way: by facing them head on. I’ve been through every level of the college experience, from community college to PhD. I’ve made stupid decisions, and I’ve made good ones. Here’s some feedback from real world experience that might help some of you.
1. College AIN’T like high school, nor should it be. You’re going to have to make new friends, or learn to get along as a loner. The major you pick, and the college you attend, are key. If you pick business, you are going to be FORCED to do a lot of teaming and networking. If you are in the liberal arts area, you are going to be forced to be a mirror of your professors’ social and political views if you want to “fit in”. If you want to go about your own business and be a loner type, you are probably better off in the sciences or a research oriented field like history. Choose wisely, and NEVER make your choice based on what your FRIENDS are doing. Why? Because you cannot count on them continuing in the program. As any grad will tell you, classmates come and go - continually.
2. Understand what your career choice requires. There are basically only two option: to be TRAINED for a professional career (engineering, accounting, medicine, etc) that requires a college degree as an entry ticket; or to be EDUCATED in a particular field. There are very, very few people who graduate from any college curriculum both well trained for a high-paying job, AND well educated. That’s something most of us don’t realize until later in life, and it’s an important distinction.
3. You’ve got to be ORGANIZED and FOCUSED to succeed. Many of you have reported not liking some of your coursework, thinking it’s outdated or boring. Sadly, the college, the licensing board, and your future employers don’t care whether you like it. Those classes are REQUIRED, meaning NOT OPTIONAL. Sure, lots of them suck, but so does a lot of the stuff you’re going to be doing for the rest of your adult life. They’re nothing more than hurdles you must pass in order to achieve your goal.
When you arrive at college, the first thing you should do is print out a list of all the classes you have to take in order to finish your degree plan. Mark them off as you take them, and observe how you are progressing toward your goal. Check the degree requirements EVERY YEAR, and make sure they haven’t added or changed anything - because colleges frequently do, and it sucks big time to go apply for graduation and be told “Ooops, you forgot to take a required class!”
4. When dealing with the bureaucrats, including teachers, be courteous, direct, and *persistent*. Don’t take no for an answer when it’s something important. Remember there is an appeals process, and you can always go in and talk to your department head, dean, registrar, etc. When you teach, you learn very quickly that the vast majority of students at college NEVER come to office hours, ask questions, etc. The ones who do stand out. Important life lesson: The profs and bureaucrats can only help you if they KNOW YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. Go talk to them, they won’t bite. If they are rude, stand your ground and tell them “I came to you for help, and I don’t appreciate your rudeness. If you cannot treat me with politeness and respect, I will take this to the dean.” It truly is that simple.
5. Do not despair over making a low grade, or not being perfect. If you fail a class, learn from the experience and re-take it. You CAN pass. And you CAN find a job even if you graduate with some C’s, D’s, or even F’s on that transcript. You’ll just have to work a bit harder to make up for it. Failure is NOT the end of the world, unless you let it be.
6. Don’t set yourself up for failure. One of the biggest mistakes students make is to take advantage of their high school placement tests and “earn” college credit. “Yay! I don’t have to take trig or algebra, I can go straight to calculus!” (or Honors English, journalism etc). If you are not a truly well prepared student, what you have just done is the equivalent of being a barely competent swimmer and jumping off the bridge into white water. It may take you more time to go through the full class sequence, but it may make your life much, MUCH more bearable.
7. If you are poorly prepared, take the remedial classes at community college. Don’t spend big bucks at a major school taking remedial classes. I’ve seen several students spending thousands of dollars in tuition on remedial coursework that they could take for $100 at a community college. Remember also, if you are at a 4-year school, remedial classes DO NOT count toward degree requirements and could add months or years of extra time to graduation.
8. Don’t be afraid to drop a class when you have to. Depending on your grades and finances, it can sometimes be better to drop a class than take a bad grade. It’s not something to do on impulse - think long and hard about what makes the most sense for your current situation, and how it will impact your future schedule.
9. Be aware that in adult life, you are going to meet one heck of a lot of people, and a surprising number of them suck viciously. They’ll take advantage of you, demean you, cheat you, and generally connive to make your life a miserable hell. One of the most important things to learn as an adult is “coping skills”, and how to deal with the scumbags you meet. Be direct and forceful with them when you have to, and don’t let them deter you from your goals.
10. Be aware that a heck of a lot of cheating goes on, particularly amongst the foreign students who seem to have thriving networks “back home” that provide the solutions manual to almost every major American textbook. I learned this as a teacher, when I observed multiple students turning in identical papers. Investigation revealed a Chinese copy of the solutions manual. Don’t buy into the baloney that the foreign students are all superior to Americans - do your best, study hard, and when you see somebody cheating TURN THEM IN. Don’t let somebody skate through a class earning an “A” for something you’re having to bust your ass to do all on your own. Make ‘em compete on a fair and level playing field.
MOST IMPORTANT LESSON OF ALL: Don’t build up a mountain of financial debt to obtain a degree that will earn you $20K per year. You will never get it back, and those loans will hang over your head forever. I’ve seen this happen to MANY students, and the financial pressure can drive them to despair. Ways to minimize cost:
(a) Get first 60 hours in at a community college, and obtain that A.S. while you’re at it so you can make some money. I got my associate’s in electronics technology, and working as an electronics tech I immediately doubled my pay over the jobs I was working before. That money paid my way through engineering school.
(b) Live at home if you have to, and commute instead of living in a dorm. You’ll miss out on the “college lifestyle” of dorm living, but you’ll save a ton of money.
(c) Take a sack lunch in your backpack, and don’t eat at the school rape-a-terias which will charge you outrageous sums for crappy food. Also avoid their franchised fast food outlets which will cost you $$$$ and kill you quicker to boot.
(d) Go to a state school with a good program and get the most cost-effective training you can. No need to pay high private college tuition, since once you’ve graduated and got that first job the school you went to just doesn’t matter much except for networking. Hard work gets you ahead in real life, not the school name printed on your diploma.
(e) Don’t take summers off. Use the summer semester to rack up required coursework at the community college, or to work as an intern. It will cut a full year off your college time if you use summers wisely.
Good luck to all of you. Don’t let the bastards wear you down, and don’t let temporary problems, stress, or setbacks deter you from your long term goals.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I want to leave college cause I am not meeting any new people. My mom wants me to stay but she doesn’t get the fact that I HATE it here! She doesn’t even want me to transfer to Temple which is 20 minutes from my home. The college I am in now is the college she went to, but she got pregnant and left. Now I think she’s pushing her hopes and dreams on me, and I don’t want them. This is my second semester here and I still don’t know anyone but my roommate. I feel so out of place because I am 6 hours from home, and I don’t have a car. I don’t know if i’ll be back in the fall. Most likely I will because i’ll be forced to.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Well… I have dropped out of college.
More or less I burned out last Spring. There was one class where a professor basically told us that we were wasting our money and graduating from here would mean nothing. Even if pour your heart out, study really well, get a good GPA, dean’s list, honors program, internship, etc… chances are you’d STILL be stuck with some craptastic job where you’re maybe making $13-$14 an hour.
The cost of college was racking really high and originally my goal was to transfer to some Ivy League school after a few semesters, but then I came to realize that I had about a snowball’s chance in hell. … And, I don’t know… I just lost all drive and motivation. Now I’m living with a roommate and working a shitty part-time job because I can’t bring myself to face my family.
Just… why does life have to be so hard?
But, I agree. Most high schools do not prepare you AT ALL. Most of what I was told about college in high school was complete and utter fiction.
But I don’t see why I should have to throw tens of thousands of dollars in the hole for nothing. So… I don’t know what I can do for now.
January 19th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
First of all, high school did not prepare me for actually studying for tests, they gave me a LOT of breaks, which were cool in high school, but now I’m absolutely screwed. Although, I have always had high testing scores throughout my life, one arrogant college professor broke me down my 2nd semester of my freshman year. He was horrible at teaching, and more concerned with his own research and interests. The class was foreign to me even though I went to class everyday. The first day of class he made us do a challenging worksheet and refused to help me when I asked for it and told me I would figure it out. This was Chemistry… I failed that class, it was 5 credits, I was put on academic warning and have NEVER gotten my drive back. I’m in the middle of my junior year now, i have no place to live next year, still don’t know what I want to major in, and living off money my parents give me. I’m tempted to move home, go to tech school and get paid whatever an hour and enjoy myself for once.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:46 am
well, college is just too expensive! you’re working so hard, you try your best! but what kind of assurance do u get anyway for a good future?
plus, ive never been ready! i have a lot of issues regarding myself, family and friends! my life just sucks basically!
i just lost my motivation to go college..im currently taking psychology
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I have an 18 year old in college and am watching him struggle with the commitment to spend time studying vs goofing off. This is his dream of 3 years…will he make it? is he ready? he needs to make up his mind!!! How can I help? frustrated….
January 26th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I’m in my 4th year of college now.
I like it but i’d probably drop out because I hate the way my degree is structured.
im finishing off my degree with this year and if I get it done I’d be very happy, but ive just run out of courses I want to take now it’s all advanced AI and data algorithms and advanced software development, which all require a pre-req I struggle to understand(I failed it).
one road or perish that’s what it looks like for me unless i get to another campus when I have no car.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I am in the midst of dropping out.
I currently attend one of the most competitive conceptual art schools in the country. I know that I could do really well if I stay on. However, I don’t want the validation that just because I have a piece of paper saying that I have the official stamp of approval that will get people in my field will accept me.
I want to feel good for what i’ve learned because I will have lived it and that I’ve come to them on my own terms. Ironically, the only hardship here is to fit. People claim here that fitting in is impossible because everyone was the outcast of their school. I don’t find that the least bit true. if you don’t fit here… you are an outcast. No one respects your work and no one deems you worthy of critique attention. Everyone has fit into some sort of art school mold. It ranges from, goth, hipster, punk, etc etc. I have yet to find my place here, and I doubt I ever will. No one is inspired because everyone is bouncing ideas from each other. So, the same ideas keep getin incarnated week after week.
People are paying big money, for what they could be doing on their own. Living their lives and exploring what is left of our world. Instead, they only comment on what their newspapers or tvs are telling them.
And for what? So some gallery can buy their work and show it and they can go on to their next project. I’ve had it with this mindless concepts that are just so some gallery will accept you!
With a world like we have now, no one can afford to be living in such self absorption and sense of delusion.
I want to make art and help people. I want to know that I spent the livelier half of my life doing good rather than walking around like an art school hipster drone. I don’t mean to be a holier than thou person right now. But, all of this is true.
so I am joining the peace corps after this semester. I do plant to change the world. Even if it is in the smallest way possible. I just want to do things for others and myself that make people happy.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:06 am
5. i dropped out college last week, cause someone got my bank details n used it fradulantly over the internet so i cudnt pay my bills and i was skint and i still am , cnt find job, wke up feel like shit evry day ahh but hopefully i learn from this ? now i dnt kno wot to do, i wanna go travelling but need money for that pfft… anyone got an idea wot i cud do? i dont even kno if fashion design is what i want to do anymor and the ppl i hang round with r all unemployed too so i hav no alot of motovation but i kno i gotta do something n im gettin bored..
January 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I’m dropping out..or at least taking a long break at the minute. i went to the tiniest high school…i only graduated with 7 other people. My first year at college was very rough because of the major differences between high school. My second year was ok, but then my mom got cancer. My third and fourth year were not good at all because I had mom to worry about. Then my uncle and god father had a major accident and got put in a coma. Then this summer my mom passed away, i got fired from my job (because i informed the parents at my daycare that the owners were putting more kids in my room then their license allowed), and now i have to deal with school?!? On top of all that, my professors pretty much could care less. We also have a crap attendance policy. if you miss 5 classes, your grade gets lowered one letter. So even though I get A’s and B’s on all my work, because of all the junk that has happened in my life, i end up failing because i miss too many day. how crap is that. It’s a true testament to the fact that colleges really just want your money.
i was going for an art education degree, but in the five years i was there, i really truly only needed to learn about 5% of the stuff they ‘taught’.
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
omg nina!
im sorry to hear all of that.
[nd i thought i had it hard...]
but keep your head up! =]
props to you for all your hard effort.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
i feel if you drop out of college thats nobodys fault but yours you need to get it together and stop lolly gagging around
February 8th, 2009 at 2:01 am
I would like to add, that the competition at some of these big name schools is so feirce that you are almost pushed out the door. I went to Berkeley and the competition is absolutely unbearable; if you are not the very best then you are setting yourself up to fail. College should be enjoyable and not so oppressive and demanding.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:47 am
This is a good list of reasons, but I don’t think you should title it the “top” list when you don’t have any numbers for it. I’ve read in numerous places that financial problems are the #1 reason students drop out of school in America. Like I said, it’s a comprehensive list of the different reasons, but it’s misleading to put them in a numerical list when you don’t have any statistics.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Some of these responses are very insensitive. If you feel like school is not where you should be, I think you should go do what it is that you feel like you’re supposed to be doing. I mean, God has a plan for everyone, right? What if yours doesn’t involve school? I mean, I think that’s completely possible. That also doesn’t mean you’re dumb. Anyways, plenty of dumb people do go through college, graduate and get degrees. College says nothing about intelligence. (Unless you continue on and go for a very specific degree like a Neurologist or whatever, where obviously you don’t want an uneducated schmuck messing with your brain.) But I don’t think that dropping out says that you are a quitter, or that you feel sorry for yourself, or that you’re not smart. Maybe you just need a break. There shouldn’t be any shame with that. But who am I to talk? I’m still trying to work up the courage to drop out.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Dropping out was the best thing I’ve done so far. I made it through two years of bull and finally said “enough”. My mistake was going to a private school full of kids who didn’t know anything about life. They partied and drank and skipped class and went to school for free because their parents paid for the soccer field. College is not an institute for higher learning, it’s a business. They could care less if you stay or not, as long as you pay your bill.
I dropped out almost three years ago, and I’m making 50k a year. Next time you’re looking for a job, look under the Education Requirements section. It will most likely have a degree level followed by the words “or equivalent work experience”. It’s not impossible to find that perfect position. I believe in starting from the bottom and working your way up. You’ll be networking and gaining critical experience all at once.
My parents realize now that college isn’t right for everybody, and it wasn’t right for me, but my extended family isn’t so forgiving. Oddly enough, a number of them are college professors. My only hope is that at our next family get together, they drop it. I’m not going back.
Do what’s right for you.
February 28th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The reason I would drop out of college is because I have no contradictions I’m aware of. I can see the truth and I can see right through liars and “bull”. You go to college because you want to work for someone else or have been pressured into going. You do not need a “degree” to tell you how smart you are, you do not need a teacher to read a book to you. You need to bet on yourself, because that’s your best bet.
March 1st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
The education system, in America at least, is a crooked racket. There is a complete disconnect between High School and College… high school does not prepare you at all for college. Worse, by the time you get to college, you’ve been so stressed out from the constant testing, and being pumped up with caffeine and sugar by the crooked food industry, that by the time you’re 18 you’re diabetic and can’t concentrate any more to save you life.
From 2000 to 2009, college costs skyrocketed 450% or 4.5x, while dinishing in value. When everyone has a college degree, they become less worthwhile to have. Worse, do a google search on “PhD glut”. Why work your ass off for 12 years in High School, and then fork over $200,000 to a college to turn your brain into mush, only to become a drone to military industrial complex or an economic slave. You’ll be working 50 weeks out of the year, with only 2 weeks vacation. What kind of life is that? Its no life. Its death. Death in exchange for money, and not very much money at all.
Better to start your own enterprise and work for your own accounts from the very beginning. Start your own college.
My advice to you: don’t believe in the college lie you’ve been told all your life. Because that’s what it is. An outright lie. Like Joseph Goebells said, make the lie big and repeat it over and over, and people will believe it. There is no proof whatsoever anywhere that a college education increases your long term income or will make you happy. There’s an ocean of people out there unemployed with college degrees… making nothing going to job interview after job interview, compared to the beggars on the street who bust their but every day earning an income. If anything, its the fast track to becoming deep in an ocean of debt.
Better to start off right out of high school making and saving money, and going upward, instead of downward into debt. With the internet, and wikipeida, and an ocean of books and information out there, you can get your own degree and certify your education yourself. You are you’re own authority. Seize it, and you become what no six year college student can… empowered over your own destiny.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I graduated in 2003 from a lower standard high school. I was a punk that slacked off quiet a bit. I decided to go to college two years ago 2007. So far i have 31 credit hours complete, mostly intro classes, and i have dropped a total of 10 credit hours(math082,geology101,his101). And i have noticed i have accomplished a descent amount. I have to say unfortunately i gained all these 31 credit hours because i had easy teachers- teachers that passed me because i showed up. These classes i dropped out of…those were the ones that actually made me think.. Now should i keep on going to college just so i can have a “hit or miss teachers” so i can get a degree and get a fancy job even though i didnt learn anything?
I think college is over-rated! Job training for a specific job is highly more intelligent and faster. When you start a job they always giving you training anyway. Why do we have to spend our lifes in school when our jobs can give us a weeks lesson, instead we make our college criteria’s long and difficult.
We make our math majors study over 12 credit hours of history-Our english majors study over 15 credit hours of math, algebra, etc. For what? We have specific goals why give us walls to knock down?!?
My major is in social working. Why do i have to know calculous? Let alone why pie was created? Do i care who the Russians fought? Do i care about anything that happened in the past? These questions run thru my head constantly in school.
Thanks for letting me vent. lol Time for school. =)
March 14th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I’m currently attending a c.c. thats about a 30 min drive from where I live. I’m about to drop out because I didn’t realize that I wasn’t prepared for college and I can’t afford to put gas in the my car to drive back and forth to school 3 times a week. It is a lot more stressful than I ever imagined it to be. And my prof’s are disgusting excuses for educators if I’ve ever seen one. I have a dyslexic math prof. who makes more mistakes in 50 min. than I can count, then she yells at us for laughing and had the nerve to say “I don’t laugh at you when I’m grading your tests!” Umm hello, your the g.d. prof!! You can’t afford to make as many mistakes as you do per class. Basically, I hate college. It’s a waste of time and money, especially considering it’s a b.s. community college.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am
this is a really coool web site and i love it sooooooooooooo much
March 18th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Well I’m about to drop out for the 6th time. I really enjoyed reading these posts but my situation is a little different.
I never fit anywhere but in college, in Academe. I was a history major so I had no illusions about doors being opened and fat paychecks. I loved the “abstract academic bs” the stuff you only learn in college and need to know if you continue the life of the mind. College is the only place impractical intellectualism is useful.
So why am I dropping out?
Mental strain, I do so well and then something collapses. Under stress or something but then I can’t think or write and all my classes are the analytical humanities kind. No I’m not learning marketable job skills except critical thinking about culture/theory etc. which is marketable for grad schools and onward up the academic ladder. I finally made it to the senior level all 400 level classes where there is less time for mental collapse. And no one I talk to seems to understand. This stuff is what I love but I can’t see continuing with such an inconsistent mind. It’s really very painful both ways throwing it all away or staying until I completely snap mentally.
And financial aid is going to have my ass so I don’t know if I can come back later.
One positive thing academic history is not about having fun and enjoying history, maybe my mind can go back to reading it for fun and pleasure instead of for an assigned grade.
One thing to remember: college, no matter how pointless and bs a class seems, is about submitting TO assignments. This was always so hard for me, I’m passionate about a lot to the point if I can’t get into something, I can hardly do it. Eating shit you hate is an essential skill that that piece of paper certifies you know how to do. I guess I’ll go back to eating hourly wage labor. Funny I have no real job skills after all these years except for maybe that required IT 101 class, which I hated.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
If I ever dropped out it would be because of #5. My major is only offered at private universities (Animation) I also have a deep fear that there wont be a job for an art student such as my self when it’s time for me to leave .
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I am currently in college and I am burned out on the experience. The people are all the annoying people from high school. The classes are boring and way too easy. Also the classes are so short, unlike high school where you are in the class for a whole year, in college it is by semester, that you can’t really learn everything. Do they honestly expect us to read an entire text book in only 3 1/2 months? Also I don’t agree that college is important. I am smart and I have learned more on my own and from the discovery channel than all of my time in college. I think people just go to get a job that pays later on in life. They couldn’t care less about really learning, which is why I went, so the classes are easy, but it is such a waste of time. I’d rather spend my money on something I care about like music than on a piece of paper that said I have a major in something I half care about
March 27th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Hello, I’m posting mainly for my own support I guess.
I am now a certified college dropout. My semester ends in May this year I think.
Basically I was majoring in accounting but deep down inside from as long as I can remember, music has always been in my life. Now I know in America, its’ tough to do anything worthwhile to make money here. My husband is an entrepreneur and he kept saying to me, “You need to know who you are.” In essence he knew I was a musician but tried to fit into a major that was available here at the University so that we can have money or someting secure.
I had been feeling nervous about his entrepreneurship so I wanted to have something secure to fall back on. Lately school has gotten to the point where I seriously, with three small kids and trying to support my husband’s entrepreneur ventures, and deep down inside feeling such a depression for trying to kill my right brained creativeness with a left brained accounting skill (mind you I am a musician who plays by ear so I can’t even be in a Music degree because you have to do a formal recital/reading music which I can’t do)…anyway, I seriously was starting to feel suicidal with myself trying to kill off who I really am as an artist. Anyway, this semester,my financial aid came in 1 1/2 months late and I’m in a Cost acct class with a uppity teacher that teaches the PHd style meaning its not layman’s terms and definitely not understanding to students who got their book 1 1/2 months late…on top of all that we live in housing that requires me to take 9 credits and pass them so that we can get this good deal on housing with all utilities paid…i know its a good deal. basically its just way too much for me. The bottom line is that I’ve been in college for over 10 years and switched my major several times….I guess I’m saying now that it is WORTH IT to go with your natural ability and what you KNOW that you love. For some people such as myself, there is no set degree in school. Don’t make yourself fit in a place that you don’t fit, such as a degree that doesn’t/won’t facilitate doing what you love. For me, I am going to start a series of businesses/nonprofits. sometimes people don’t want to be a part of the ratrace, they just want to help others. if thats the case, think of nonprofits or of starting one. even though the economy is tight, you may be able to find a niche out there like a community that needs help or something.. and you can receive major funding from businesses and foundations and you can be part of the administrative making a salary doing so or an employee of this cause. this is the answer for me…sometimes there are more important things than school…sometimes its a timing thing…but don’t ever forget that school will not evaluate you and ask you what you want to do. they will just offer you answers. you need to find out who you are and maybe you can either go with that, start your own business in someting you love, start a nonprofit or work for one, and sometimes everyone can’t do that. Just my advice would be, it takes a lot of balls to drop out and do your own thing and trust yourself and believe in what you can do. sometimes school can accentuate that. for me i’ve learned many things in my degree in business to be able to start one. also i can always go back, but now its on my terms. just love life, don’t get in a lot of debt, don’t fall into the conglomerate/corporate trap, love LIFE before you end up being an alcoholic, strung out on drugs or committing suicide (the extreme end) due to the lack of desire and passion you have in your current job/situation. that’s the answer for me. bottom line: if it’s to return to school or stay in it, make your OWN path, KNOW what it means to work for someone for years so you can pay off your 30 year loan for a house….UNDERSTAND what you are getting into when you are getting your degree…its so you can work for someone else most of the TIME! if you DON’T want to do that, then PLAN YOUR LIFE OUT because if you don’t everyone else will try to do it for you so they can take your coveted Dollar or trap you into working for them just for the money. you have to get to know you…one of my great psychology professors said that over 90 percent of adults don’t know who they are…by watching all these ads, movies, music videos persuading us, we Forget who we are. we all have a place purpose and mission in life.
The end
March 27th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I should clarify most of what I just wrote…First off, I realized I do NOT IN THE EVEN MILDEST OF HELLS want to work for a firm for 30 years. I do not even give a care what they offer, pensions, or whatever other stuff…I cannot submit to that lifestyle nor am I excited about doing that. Basically I realized I do not want to WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE. that’s the point. It’s insulting to me.
Now, that’s just me. The point is, sometimes you go to college then start your own business. But for me, I was majoring in Accounting, I feel I have learned enough to start my own business, and then employ an accountant later on. I DO NOT Have to be the accountant. I do not want to get a house and work like a dog just to have a house. that is not my american dream ok? for everyone it is different. i’d rather try to build someting by way of businesses, be successful in them and yeah maybe i gotta work in the meantime but that is the life i desire. my sister in law just grad. with a law degree. she would love to be on salary and stuff at a firm. me, not so much. that is not my american dream. entrepreneurship is the only other option if you are not going to finish college and work for someone. that or join the military or some other thing such as that. just i am realizing what my options are. the biggest thing, dont look down on those who don’t go to school/degree or those that do.. in many ways this is an issue based on options and desire as to what one wants to do. Have the confidence that, when you find out your OWN answer, to keep your head up through the good and bads, because either way there will be goods and bads. there are many entrepreneurs people dont hear of that are making quite a comfortable living. Find out what you want. what kind of living do you want? do you value/happy with making a lot of money MORE than doing what you love? this world will not tell you anything as to what or who you are innately. you need to do your own inner work and set a plan, figure out what the best thing is for YOU. dont listen to anyone else. i agree with the people who say follow your heart not necessarily the dollar sign.
At the bus stop 3 days ago at my school i asked this Architectural Art major a question. How did you know this major was for you? (he told me what he was majoring in a few minutes into our conversation.) He said, he just has a natural ability to do it and he can’t really explain it. i told him i was reconsidering my major. he told me something good, though in an awkward nerdy kinda way (thats ok i guess.) he said he heard something good..do what you love, even though you are starving, because your passion for that will be able to make you successful. also, i think if schools’ involved, then do it. if it’s later, then delay it. usually you can defer your loans for a economic hardship reason or someting. don’t just turn to things that won’t help you out like drugs or alcohol addictions because you’re unhappy…i say take control of your life so it can be that much more bearable and a life that YOU made, not some professor or some parent or friend.
peace.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I dropped out of college for several of the listed reasons. I was able to get decent high school grades without developing any study skills. This was a huge problem. I was homesick, in other words, not emotionally prepared for the college experience. The only parameter that I was given by my father for choosing a major was that “it had to lead to well-paying job”. To meet this requirement, I chose engineering, despite being marginally talented in both math and physics. When the coursework got tough, changing majors did not appear to be an option, since I didnt feel any change would meet my father’s approval. The only person I bonded with was a guy who lived in the dorm next to me. Unfortunately he was a drug dealer. My substance abuse accelerated the downward spiral and by the end of my sophomore year, i was academically ineligible. My dad had informed me in the middle of that sophomore year that we were not likely to have enough money for my junior year, anyway.
Not writing this for anyone’s pity. I made poor decisions and I accept the consequences. I eventually got my life together and have a successful career doing something I enjoy.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I’m dropping out because school doesn’t teach me what I want to learn, and it doesn’t encourage forward thinking.
With both teachers in schools at the college level for over 25-30 years I have learned a great deal about the politics behind education. It doesn’t look to attain true knowledge.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
This is ridiculous, you guys are complaining about college because it’s a little more challenging than what you’re used to. It’s pathetic just how lazy Americans have become and nobody seems to realize that NOTHING IN LIFE COMES EASY. And the things that ARE easy are not worth attaining. If you want to work at McDonald’s for the rest of your life that’s fine, but if you want to feel like you’ve actually done something with your life then suck it up and finish college. Stupid cry babies.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I did not enter college thinking that tommrow I shall drop-out I loved the place instanly & my work spoke for itself,I was well appreciated by all the V.Best(teachers & students alike),not because they loved me or I was special but because I was good.My course was a compressed one.Hence,alot of pressure & grades started slipping..& the best part people who are dumb(can’t tell diff. between trivial things),get away beautifully Aceing everything not because of hardwork;but because of contacts(either at college or elsewhere in life)
I would’nt have bothered a single moment worrying about all this if I was not good enough.- Now the battle with self to out beat rest has began,though at this point I have alot of negative influence around me(people who don’t believe I ever can or ever will).
All I’d say is even Albert Einstein was not considered very bright at school.Take John Nash for example,it was his drive & his drive alone that got him where he is today,inspite of his mental disturbances.He had won a nobel prize-Economics, “for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory in the theory of non-cooperative games”The great men like these are not what they are because of the University/College or School they attended.It is the love they had with there subject & the will to excel that’s why they are where they stand today.It’s not going to be easy,neither has it ever been,but than again it is our basic human nature that things that come to us easy we don’t value them half as much,& value the things we have to struggle & prove ourselves..John Nash is the greatest inspiration for me,today.I believe if he can at his age than so can I,just need the will,hardwork & struggle.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I guess I’m considering dropping out because of #1 or #4. I read somewhere that true introverts have a hard time in college. I’ve only taken two semesters, 4 classes each, and each semester has had one teacher out of four that thinks presentations are a great idea. I planned to only suffer through that in the one required communications class that I have yet to take. I ace my other classes in which I attend lectures, take notes, study for tests, and pass with flying colors. Why must I live in a world built for extroverts, the other 75% of the population?
April 18th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I didn’t even finish the 11th grade yet I am a full time student, minimum wage making, single, mother of 2 and I have A’s in all 5 of my classes. Not to mention that I am only 20 years old.
I have made wrong decisions yet NOTHING will stop me from having a career to do what must be done.
It is extremely hard yet I am excelling.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, including yourself.
YES my teachers do suck in EVERY SINGLE one of my classes, yet i’ve learned that nothing will be given to me and i have to do whatever it takes to learn what i must.
I’m supposed to be doing a paper for English Comp I on “Why college students drop out”.
Now I have some reasons… ^_^
April 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
i am doing a research paper on this topic and from what ive seen there are so many problems with this topic. Why would you give up on something that can help you through life? I Don’t think anyone should give up on going to college, just find what you want to do with your life and go for it
April 20th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I fail at life. I’m dropping out.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
mari it is amazing what you are doing and i am doing a paper on why students drop out as well. and will do not drop out, i know times get hard but they will be a lot harder without a good education.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 am
I’m a returning student — meaning, I dropped out when I was younger but after life kicked the sh*t out of me, I decided to go back.
I’m in my 3rd year, getting an econ degree. Yes, HS didn’t prepare me at all. The first 2 years of college didn’t prepare me at all. I used to get straight A’s since I was so excited to be back in school… now I study 100% more and can barely pass my classes.
It’s one thing if you’re born smart. It comes easily. You understand math, you’re golden. But if you don’t, you’re f*cked! And the crap they feed you that you just have to work hard, believe in yourself, set goals, prioritize, blah blah blah — it doesn’t amount to sh*t!
College is the first step in discrimination. You walk out as either part of the A-Team, or you crawl out realizing you’re part of the B-Team.
This is what I learned in college.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
Uncle Mike has a great post .. read it.
I can relate to a lot of posts. I started as a liberal arts major .. love sociology, psychology and humanities. But burned out after 3 years .. met a girl .. got married .. enlisted in the Army.
5 years later worked a full time night job to finish my undergrad degree with a wife and 3 small kids. Then went to a “non traditional” school for my Masters.
Had to take out student loans that I will be paying back until I am 60. But it is worth it.
There are other guys with out degrees that were working side by side with me in the IT industry. With the “dot com” bubble burst and recent recession most have lost jobs and none of the ones with out degrees have found new IT jobs.
I have not been laid off yet, in 8 years of a troubled industry. Why .. I’m good at what I do. I have a Masters in my field and a good record of hard work. That “Piece of paper” has saved my butt and got me paid at 99% of those working my field nation wide.
And here is the kicker… I’d love to go back and get a PhD in cultural anthropology !!
PS. I’m dyslexic and ADD. So don’t even consider using that crap as an excuse for any thing.!!
April 24th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I’m CONSIDERING taking another path/dropping out. That other path being acting. Here’s the double edged sword: i’ve always wanted to become an actor (just like everyone else) BUT it wasn’t until college that i realized i was good at it and that i will be able to make it my profession. SO, I’m 23 and contemplating dropping out to move to California. I do agree that a degree is meant to show “the world”/future employers that you have the ability to teach yourself but if you need a piece of paper in order for someone to know that, then you must be pretty stupid. or maybe they’re stupid for not being able to see that you can obviously teach yourself things.
so do i stay or do i go? according to The Clash if i go there will be trouble, but if i stay there will be double. And buddhism says that you should listen to yourself, and i didn’t write that so i can’t take that advice seriously.
One reason for getting a degree is so that you automatically make more money at certain jobs. I’m majoring in psychology and you can’t really get a job in psychology unless you have a degree, so i’m totally screwing myself with more years. BUT i’m an actor by trade, which is a much riskier path. so i’m not fully committed yet but, i might stay in school to have a degree so i can make enough money to support myself while i’m a struggling actor. and its not the workload or the monotonie (i mean that’s what rivers, parties, and vacations are for) that’s making me want to drop out, its the fruitlessness that seems to be at the end of this tunnel. You know the image of New York stock brokers all migrating toward their offices like drones? that’s what college campus’ are like. and that kind of scares me. if i hadn’t partied so much in my first couple of years i wouldn’t be where i’m at right now. so if you’re going to do it, do it right and do it fast. unless you like stupid college girls, stupid parties, and being surrounded by people full of untapped potential, then take your time.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:43 am
You are ALL so Full of your selves??? College is WAY better than droping out~! GET A LIFE
May 14th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
im in college now and i hate it.. im not sure if i want to totally quit or what i would like to do.. but its really stressful and i cant seem to prioritize..
May 17th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Here’s what happened to me. I went into college ten years ago with bright hopes and big dreams and tons of ambition. The first time I had to leave was because I fell ill with a chronic illness. After I recovered a couple years later, I went back. I did a successful semester, then was kicked out due to being “academically suspended”. I had not even been told I was probation. This was because of having to leave suddenly the first time. I left that college and never went back. I transfered to the local Community College. It turned out to be the worst college in the state–that’s what the profs themselves said. But I was desperate to get any degree to prove I’m smart. I didnt want to be the “idiot” cleaning toilets at McDonalds. So I pushed myself. Over and over and over. To the brink of exhaustion, w my illness flaring up, on no sleep and little food–one math prof seen I was terrible in math and made my life sheer hell a whole semester by constantly picking on me in the class, other students laughing, and I started having panic attacks. Then came bouts of depression, every time I had a bad grade, every time I got only a “B” for a paper I had worked on for a week, every time a prof decided to “criticize’ me. That’s what they call ridicule in college–”constructive criticism” or “critical thinking”. Yet still I pushed on. Ten years, seven semesters in all, the last four sememsters being over the last two years. No one worked harder in college than I did. And I noticed that the harder I worked, the worse everything got–grades, relationships, my health, absoultely everything. This semester was 100% hell. It started with a prof giving trouble because I didnt understand how to do one of her group assignments and she wouldnt clarify it, then I made the mistake of taking West Civilization with a prof that got his jollies off of being EXTREMELY graphic about certain historical things, then in that class another student started harassing me, and I wound up having to withdraw from that class. I had to spend a lot of time working on another math course, plus taking a horrible math lab that was required with it, and I had to spend all last month sitting in the math lab for the required 25 hours because I got a jury summons for April 27th. If u dont do the hours in the lab, then they make u retake the math course, even if u pass it. It is nothing but legalized robbery. The majority of the profs I’ve had have been very horrible–they either bitch about their jobs all day or they show you movies that u could have stayed at home and watched. Few profs I had actually did their job. Then, there was a exhibit about how unsafe the campus is, which I stumbled upon between classes one day. But I still was determined to get this degree, even though I wasn’t sleeping more than four hours a night and eating maybe two meals a day if I was lucky. Then, on May 1, I had a full-blown nervous breakdown. It was really horrifying. I wasnt on the campus when it happened, but I still had a week of classes-FINALS!-to get thru. I was completely wrecked emotionally, mentally, and physically. I didnt eat a meal for a week;what sleep I had was filled with nightmares;and it was the hardest thing in the world to pull myself out of bed each morning. I failed my math final because I couldn’t concentrate; I got “D”s in two other courses because I couldn’t finish them, I couldn’t function. I finally managed to try to get therapy and medication to control the panic attacks and depression. I feel much better today only because of the Lord. It was the blackest time of my life–I felt like all my dreams were gone. I’m in my thirties now, and when I look back at these ten years in college all I can say is that it was a waste. If its great for u, fine, lucky u. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. If I could do it all over again, I would never have entered college, I’d been happy to clean the toilets in McDonalds. College drove me to the gates of Hell. I wouldnt encourage a child of mine to try it. The worst thing for me was the discouragement. I went into college so driven, so positive, so ambitious–I came out of it a damaged woman with a broken spirit and ruined self-esteem. It will take me several months if not years to recover from this. As for u judgemental people who call us college drop-outs whiny babies, someday one of your kids may go thru what we’ve went thru. Of course, you’ll have a different opinion then if it’s your child having a nervous breakdown.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Funny how the people telling others to stay in college, can’t even spell “dropping” right?
# J hue Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 8:43 am
You are ALL so Full of your selves??? College is WAY better than droping out~! GET A LIFE
May 31st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
HAH!
June 1st, 2009 at 4:37 am
Some words of wisdom for anyone still thinking about dropping out:
“If you’re going to let one prick ruin your life, then you’re not the girl I thought you were.”
–Legally Blonde
One day the economy will change for the better. Will YOU be ready?
June 17th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Nice site! Thanks for the great post
June 30th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I have been attending an online college for 6 months now at the UOP and I can’t even get a teacher to return my phone call. They don’t give a rats ass if you make it or not. I have been thrown into a class that I do not comprehend and I can’t get anyone to help me to understand it. It costs 9,000.00 to attend and I am livid over the fact that they leave you on your opw here. I am going to seek an attorney to find out what I can do about this if anything. I am sick to my stomach everytime I go to there website and see my grades go down further and further because I dont comprehend the week before, so how do they expect me to understand the next or the next. This is a sad story for me to tell and I am a single dad with an 8yr old boy who also suffers. F$%@# UOP