# College choices...



## DG

I was thinking about my own choices the other day and decided to ask you guys too.

Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?

Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only? 

Do you think it would have been better if you went the 2-year route then continued on to the 4-year. 

Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?

Do you wish you went to a different school period?


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## DG

I went to a community college for 3 years full time and I also worked full time (this is after I took a year off) I transferred into the 4-year school Im currently at last Fall and will be graduating next May which is really exciting. However if I could do it all over...I would have gone straight to a 4-year school and worked my ass off. I feel as though I am behind my friends in life since I will be 25 in a few months and most of my friends graduated last year. 

I think the 2-yr school was an extension of high school. The classes were easy, the kids were still immature, and I didnt like the classes offered for the most part. 

I also wish I went to a different 4 -yr but I had to do it quick and it was too late to apply elsewhere. Also since I transferred in with so many credits I couldnt transfer elsewhere because I had so few classes left. 

Anyways all in all I love educating myself and Im glad I even went to college.


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## Elgr

I think if I went to community college (I took one class at one once), as a full time student, I would have completely lost the will to learn/go to school. Motivation is a tricky thing for me. It would be pretty damn hard to take myself or school seriously being somewhere like that for any real amount of time. As someone else said, it feels like high school. Surrounded by students who don't want to be there, and often teachers who want to be there even less. I realize this is obviously not true in all cases, but that's how it would feel for me.


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## animal_cookie

> Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?
> 
> Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only?



i went to a 4yr school, so i will answer these two questions together...  i am glad that i chose to go to college right after HS.  if i waited, i know i would have wasted time doing nothing productive.  its what i am doing now on my (very) long break between undergrad and graduate. 

i just wish i would have thought more about the practicality of my major.  i studied psychology because the subject really interests me.  but i didn't really think ahead about the usefulness of such a degree.  i would have been better off with another major in something like education or social work, and a minor in psychology.  or even as a double major.




> Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?



i went to college because that is just what you do after high school where i am from.  i think something like 95% of the people i graduated with had plans to attend some form of college in the fall.  

now that i am going back for a master's, its because i want to change careers and expand my horizons.  and partly because i can't get a good job without a master's


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## DG

animal_cookie said:
			
		

> i would have been better off with another major in something like education or social work, and a minor in psychology.  or even as a double major.



I wish I had done a double major as well. However now I cant change that so whatever. 



			
				animal_cookie said:
			
		

> i went to college because that is just what you do after high school where i am from.  i think something like 95% of the people i graduated with had plans to attend some form of college in the fall.



Same boat I was in however I decided to be different and move cross country, wait a year, etc. I wish I hadnt though now.



			
				Elgr said:
			
		

> As someone else said, it feels like high school. Surrounded by students who don't want to be there, and often teachers who want to be there even less. I realize this is obviously not true in all cases, but that's how it would feel for me.



I was lucky that the professors I had did care and wanted to teach us. The kids were the main issue for me.


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## dirtyharrison

*Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?* Uni or school? Highschool im wishing i took a more scientific route, but atleast i made it as far as I am right now, i didnt really know what to do when i was at school. Uni wise, so far im loving science.

*Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only?* Aussie unis are different..Since im interested in medicine im wishing i did sciences at school then did medical imaging at uni then moved onto grad-medicine

*Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?* No one wants a backstreet doctor with no qualifications

*Do you wish you went to a different school period?* Im assuming you mean uni here? I'll answer for both. For highschool i varied alot. I went to the best pre-senior highschool in my hometown (was private) and then moved to a bigger city and went to one of the best private schools in Australia. It didnt really go down too well for me there so i moved back home after a semester of senior. Then the school i went to back home was the best senior school (public). I dont wanna sound like a wanker but im a pretty smart person..I got in the top 1/4 of the coutry marks wise without studying, if i had actually studied and stayed at the good private school i probly would have done ALOT better..

Uni wise...Well im pretty happy where i am 


Sorry for the long post, im procrastinating.


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## protovack

Are you happy with the path you took for schooling? 
Sort of - I made some choices which caused me to go the community college route.

Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only?
In some ways yes.  I missed out on the social aspects of college life, although it was precisely these things which caused me to screw up, so...yes and no.

Do you think it would have been better if you went the 2-year route then continued on to the 4-year.
I did, and yes, it was better for me.

Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?
I went to college initially because everyone told me to.  Then later, I realized college would give me many options for career paths, some of which I could see enriching my future life.  

Do you wish you went to a different school period?
No.  Portland Community College and Portland State University were great schools.


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## kittyinthedark

dreamgirlie19 said:
			
		

> Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?


Yes, very much so, but I should have taken a year off before starting college.  The biggest mistake I ever made was not doing so...  I have lots of mental health issues, and it would have very much behooved me to take some time to sort things out ahead of time.  Now I won't be graduating my four year program until I'm 25.  Most of my friends are graduating this spring, and it's really fucking depressing for me, because it reminds me that I fucked up... 



> Do you think it would have been better if you went the 2-year route then continued on to the 4-year.


No way, not at all.  I was given opportunities at my school during my freshman and sophomore years that I could NEVER have received at a smaller/2-year school.



> Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?


Well, both?  I *need* a degree to do what I want to do in life, but I find the topics of my study incredibly cool, so I enjoy learning all of it too. 



> Do you wish you went to a different school period?


Yes and no.  I am going (well, on hiatus right now, but you get my drift...) to one of the best, if not the best, schools in my country for my major (I'm majoring in biochem, with a second major of Spanish, but that was more because I started as a freshman with 20 credits of Spanish and a year-plus worth of credits in general).  There is absolutely no better place I could have gone, because it just so happens that this kick ass school is my state school, so it was cheap, and I got a little scholarship money on top of it.  Talk about bang for the buck.  I did research in a professor's lab as a freshman working on a newly discovered method of building proteins.  Not many 18 year olds get to do that, and I couldn't have done it anywhere else.  The level of awesomeness of all my classes and available opportunities is, well, awesome! 

However, I HATE the city my college is in.  I hate hate hate hate HATE it.  With a passion.  It makes me want to kill people, and kill myself.  It is filled with perennially drunk half-wits that seem to do everything they can to make my life difficult.  There is nothing to do and nowhere to go.  There is not a single dance club within half an hour's drive from campus.  All we have is shitty bars and never ending house parties (which get REALLY old, REALLY fast, even if you like that kind of thing).  My schools is consistently ranked one of the top "party" schools, and has been ranked #1 many times - the thing they don't tell you is that by "party" they don't actually mean "fun," they just mean getting really loud, rude, and obnoxious, puking in the bushes (or in my apartment building stairwell, whichever is more convenient 8)), and then passing out on the sidewalk or maybe if you're lucky, a nice patch of grass.

Any of the college-organized activities that pique my interest are pretty much unaccessible to me because of time constraints - when you're a double honors major, you don't really have the option of working with clubs'/organizations' schedules.  I joined the campus chemistry fraternity (Alpha Chi Sigma - yes, I'm a girl; yes, it's a FRATERNity.  We're co-ed), and that has been pretty cool.  Lots of fun people, we throw KILLER parties, and it's great on your resume.  But other than that, you could nuke the entire place and I wouldn't shed so much as half a tear. The place is a shithole filled with idiots.


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## Benefit

Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?
Yes. I skipped out of high school at 16, went straight into Community College, transferred to a 4 year university and graduated with a BA at age 20. 

Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only? 
No. I preferred Community College. 

Do you think it would have been better if you went the 2-year route then continued on to the 4-year. 
This way is cheaper and it's easier to transfer into a university after 2 years at a CC; admission criteria for college freshman at 4-year schools is much tougher. 

Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?
Just wanted the degree. I hate school, it makes me want to vomit. 

Do you wish you went to a different school period?
I hated UCLA, but it's a respectable school. Maybe I should have gone to Berkeley, but I saved a lot of money living at home.


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## Vandalaay

- no major regrets though I agree with KITD, I wish I had taken a break 
    between HS and college. Ended up pushing the boundaries in regards 
    to my mental health and paid the price. 4 yr degree @ age 28!

- did the 2 yr CC thing then transferred and it worked out fine

- both, I realized early on I had limited talents/skills so off to school I went

- sure lol Wharton would be nice

All in all I made out ok, considering I'm lazy as all hell and generally unencumbered by insight


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## Meeko Baybee

Are you happy with the path you took for schooling?
-Ecstatic. There have been moments where I go "What the fuck I am doing" but a second later... everything settles into place and I realize I am more than happy... I chose the right career, chose the right school, I'm very happy!

Do you wish you went to a 4-year school only?
-My school is like a 4 year school, but it usually takes most students 5 years to finish, as we have a high level of students who are parents, coming back to school for their degrees, have jobs where they can't go to school as much... basically it's a traditional 4 year college but it takes the majority longer than 4 years.

Do you think it would have been better if you went the 2-year route then continued on to the 4-year.
-My degree doesn't have a 2 year option. I'd feel highly unqualified if I was only in school 2 years.

Did you only go to school because you "need" a degree in life or because you wanted to really go to enrich your life and future?
-I really wanted to enrich my life and future. I love learning, therefore I want to teach kids the gift of knowledge.

Do you wish you went to a different school period?
-Nope. My school has the one of the best education programs around Colorado. I am very happy with it


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## ebola?

I'm happy.
As for now (but sometimes not always), Berkeley sociology (grad program) seems like a good fit for me.  Where else would i belong?

ebola?


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## birthdaycake

dreamgirlie19 said:
			
		

> I feel as though I am behind my friends in life since I will be 25 in a few months and most of my friends graduated last year.



dont feel too bad there. here i am, 24 years old, with literally no college what so ever to my name. how do you think that feels? if i start going to college now, you will probably be 30 by the time im close to graduating. so feel good there k.

gosh just reading my paragraph depresses me =/


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## DragonFly31

I decided to go to Britain to study engineering, a four year course of which I am in  the last. 

I took engineering because I didn't know what to do and because it's a great degree to have. I don't regret anything more in my life... Because what was indifferent to me then - the choice of course - I now hate what I do, and wish I'd done something else. 

But by the end of my second year, when I really started to loathe my subjects, it was too late. Now I'll be stuck with a degree which I have no plan to use in life, still working hard for it... Lovely.

However, having lived in both the US and Britain, I can safely say that Brits are some of the best people in the world. You don't get a culture so special as in the UK - the experience was and is worth it just for that.


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## Jamshyd

It is ironic... I have just graduated with a Sociology B.A., only to discover - just now - what I REALLY would have wanted to do (translation and/or ethnolinguistics), both of which would have gotten me much further. 

My years in university were grim for the most part, too.


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