dropping out vs. taking a year off vs. staying somewhere i don't like

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

So school sucks. New York is expensive and mostly not that much fun. Though there's no reason to move back to Providence now either.

What do I do? Where do I live this summer? Do I go back to school next year? Do I take a year off and transfer? Do I drop out entirely?

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

you might as well just finish, that's my philosophy anyway, then travel places if you like, lots of places.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not much of a "philosophy" I admit.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

You can transfer without taking a year off, can't you? (Most schools have much later admissions dates for transfer students.)

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I can transfer, but I haven't given ANY thought about where I'd like to be, and I don't want to end up making a shitty, half-assed decision like I did coming here.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, gotcha. I'd lean towards transferring, if you're unhappy where you are -- but probably because that's what I did, and it turned out well. (But the circumstances were different.)

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

if you're really unhappy in new york, then maybe you should look into transferring. the people i know who went to lang (i'm assuming you're in undergrad?) were pretty much using it as a way to be in the city, and weren't too psyched about it otherwise as an institution.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I say stick it out, but I'm a fool and I probably shouldn't have, despite making some great friends in the 2nd and 3rd year.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

lauren--i'd be happier in new york if school weren't such a drag. (yes, i'm at lang.)

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

HAha...ahhhh (*breaks in tears*). (Not so) Fun stuff, Ian. You've just detailed my college career/chronology. I dropped out April of last year, left to study abroad and travel the world and back to drop out yet again, due to illness, among other things, and am now back in college in a place I'd rather not be in: home. So what are the circumstances behind yr imminent decision? Are you fed up, burned out, bored, or just plain restless? Think it over well...you never know how the pieces will fall back again. It COULD potentially screw up what you've worked towards for a while there. But then it's just academia. And you can always take some time off and indulge! Travel cross-country or backpack 'cross Europe (afforded that you have the extra cash stored away, plenty of resources, contacts, and such). You can always join the work force, engage in creative behavior...maybe form a band, THEN take over the world. Or face the wrath of your parents (if the money being spent is theirs) back home. Or come over to my place, form a band with me, THEN take over the world. THE CHOICE IS YOURS TO MAKE IT WORTHWHIIIILE.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

If you're setting fire to doors and picking bits of glass out of wanker's hands and walking six miles at 2am because you can't stand 'scent' anymore, then stick with it.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Fucking hell, i think I actually was insane for about 3 years.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

lang has an uncommonly high attrition rate. i know a couple of people who left, and a couple who stayed. those who did stay got more into their academics as time passed, but it seemed to me that it took much longer for them to settle into things than friends at other schools. they really felt like they had to make the school work for them, much more than they had expected to.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Take a year off rather than jumping into anything. What if you transfer into another place where you're even more miserable? A year off can give you time to work/live without (much) pressure, and time to figure out where you want to go and actually visit if you can afford it, etc..

The only downside is the chance that you get caught up in whatever you're doing and don't go back.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Stick it out, seriously. Do not take a gap.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

So what are the circumstances behind yr imminent decision? Are you fed up, burned out, bored, or just plain restless?

50% of my classes this semester are worth attending. Only one of them last semester was worth attending. I live in a dorm with a bunch of assholes (and a few decent folks.) I'm not really sure what I want to study (ostensibly literature, but I'm not even that passionate about that.)

Ideally I'd love to travel--I'm exceedingly envious of all my friends in bands who just go on tour every few months and seem to be having the time of their lives. I've barely left the northeast in the past thirteen years except for a brief trip to the soutwest (New Mexico, where I was born, and Texas) about six years ago.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Hi, I will be your hetero-lifemate if I get the boot/fuckup more.

I got a 30 on my math test!

― LITTLE LAMB [Jon Williams] (ex machina), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i am in college in nyc also, but not at lang. & it is generally horrible & i'm trying to transfer -- but i, too, have no idea where i want to be or what i want to be doing/studying. so i've spent $150 odd that i don't have applying to three schools that i'm not sure i'd even like (or get into!) for next year.

& of course, now that i've gotten off the high of finally sending out the apps yesterday, i'm thinking "well... maybe this school isn't so bad after all..."

obviously i have no advice for you whatsoever.

― j c (j c), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

your classes should get better as you move up through departmental hierarchy. have you got an advisor that you can discuss this kind of stuff with, seeing that your dissatisfaction is largely academic? or, if your advisor is lame, a professor that you've bonded with a bit?

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

If Jon Williams gets kicked out of school we're going to move to Portland, OR.

And Lauren--I've got one professor who I dig a lot, but it's his first year teaching here, so I don't know how much help he'd be. It's worth checking into, I suppose. And they just gave me a new advisor a few weeks ago (my old one 'had too many advisees'), so I don't know if she's cool or lame or what.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

If you can afford to do one of the study-abroad programs, that'd at least buy you a break. Not knowing what you want to do is to be expected, and depending on what you end up wanting to do after school, it might never matter. Dorms can be moved out of (or can't they, at Lang?) and probably should; learning to deal with utility bills and dishes improves your chances of not being annoying in your mid-twenties.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, if I stay here I'm definitely not living in a dorm next year. May move in with some friends in Brooklyn; not sure really. Though at the same time, I might move in with some friends in Providence this summer and just decide to stay there.. hmmm.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

One way or another, it's good that you're thinking about it now, and you may have more time than you think; when I dropped back into school after dropping out, I did so with about six weeks between when I got fed up and decided to do it and when I showed up in New Orleans with a van full of all my stuff, ready for class. (Most schools would need more time than that, mind you, but not necessarily a lot more.)

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

My goal this year = only fail/drop one class

― LITTLE LAMB [Jon Williams] (ex machina), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Ian, for god's sake don't go home for more than a summer. Remember me last year?

― LITTLE LAMB [Jon Williams] (ex machina), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Ian, if 50% of your lectures are worth going to, you're pretty well off. I'm at a fairly reputable school (also in new york, whaddya know) and I think that maybe three of my courses in the last three years have rated a response of "wow, that course/professor/lecture was worth my time. i'm better off for it". Such is the sad state of undergrad education. If you want to finish college (and that may not be an important goal for you, i dunno) I'd say stay where you are, unless you have a really compelling reason for wanting to be somewhere else specifically.

Also: dorms suck arse. Get out as soon as you can.

― mouse, Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Jon: Yeah, I do remember that. You complained a lot. BUT YOU GOT TO GET FUCKED UP WITH ME AND PHIL ON A REGULAR BASIS.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I am in this position too (the place i don't like = home) and have resolved to transfer the fuck out of here before I go completely insane. Like the course, but I've never met more horrible cunts than I have in that depressing shithole college.

― fcussen (Burger), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm in exactly the same situation. its a nightmare.
I know i've made bad decisions, but i think i'll keep making them, so is time really what i need??

― betty, Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

If you can afford to do one of the study-abroad programs, that'd at least buy you a break. -- Tep (te...), March 2nd, 2004.

I dunno, man. Once I was abroad, the last thing I could do was study. Mix of eye-opening surroundings, wide-eyed curiosity, illness, and drunk and noisy roommates did me in.

― Fr4ncis W4tlington (Francis Watlington), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe try talking to the prof that you like, then. even if he's only been there a short time he's still bound to have a fair bit of experience in the academic game, and at the very least you could some of your frustrations.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

You should take a year off. I took a semester off a couple of years ago (and managed to get a month of travelling in) because I, too, was miserable, and everyone said, "Uh oh, you'll never go back!" but I did, and I found that I was much happier and got much better grades because of it.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Enlist in the military

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

You're all wonderful; thank you.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

If Jon Williams gets kicked out of school we're going to move to Portland, OR.

A joke, surely?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

the specifics = a joke, not that I'd like to just live with Jon for a year somewhere (relatively) cheap.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I have been pondering dropping out myself lately. I am on academic probation and on my way to failing more classes again this year, but if I get my shit together I can graduate in one more year, the longer I think about it the better chance I'll drop out as I'm not getting much homework done. All I am doing now is minimally maintaining my music directorship and sleeping and drinking at inappropriate times.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:02 (twenty-one years ago)

If you only have a year left, you should probably just stick it out.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a freshman :(

― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Then you should definitely take a year off.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck, I know I should stick it out. I have some prof-grovelling to do soon.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.