I’m now 1/4 of the way through my senior year in high school, and it feels like everthing is crashing. I am unsure wether or not I’ll recieve the scholarships I was banking on, and I do not want any student loan debt. It freaks me out. I dont even know what I want to do, and the thought of majoring in something that I enjoy and coming out of college burdened with copious amounts of debt… and being unable to find a job… is horrifying to me. I am applying for NROTC Full Ride scholarships, but they’re competitive and I’ve been fairly lazy. My test scores (SAT) are good, but my grades are average because I’m an honest slacker. I’m still in the top quarter of my class, but I know I’m nothing special.
Just venting.
On the up side though, I’m thoroughly enjoying the rest of my senior year
Take the debt. You’ll get over it and get used to it. I was in your shoes once, now I’m $40k in debt. You just get used to the fact that in order to make some money in the future, you have to spend a little that you don’t have as a kid.
Student loan debt is a fact of life. While you are smart to try to minimize it, if you work while you are in school (essential to starting your career anyway) and don’t go to a crazy-expensive school you will probably be able to keep it to manageable levels.
If you really can’t figure things out, take a year off and think about it. If you have the cash, travel. It’ll open your mind like crazy.
1). Are you taking any AP classes? If so, don’t take the AP test, or at least, don’t confuse passing the test with knowing the material. I took the AP calc test, because I just knew I was not ever going to use math again (I was going to be a history major). Well, guess what? I changed majors 3 times and became an MIS (computer science and business mushed together) major, and I (foolishly) went into a stats grad program thinking I knew enough math. Let me tell you, having to teach yourself basic calculus and analysis in your “free time” is not fun.
Sooo–even if you test out, take the damn class anyway.
2). See if there are some in-house scholarships you can qualify for at colleges you’re interested in. I went to a dinky private school and even then, I got something. You don’t have to be top dog gradewise either. Being in the 75th percentile of your class might be enough.
3). Sort of a restatement of (1): Don’t worry about choosing a major right away. I’m teaching 38 students, mostly freshmen, and most of them are undeclared. You don’t have to declare a major right away. Take some classes and see what tickles your fancy. Another reason to eschew AP exams.
5). You can always work part-time to cut down on the loans you need. I did all through my undergrad. Granted, my job was pretty sweet (I was a DJ/sports producer/syndicated programming manager/go-to guy at a radio station), but you really just need something that will pay the bills. Plus, you get to meet new people.
You don’t get into college…And…So what? Will you die? Will you kill yourself? Of course not. You’ll go on. Millions of people in this nation don’t have a college education and do just fine.
You don’t want debt? You didn’t get any help with finances? Go to a community college. Many people spend the first two years at one, then transfer to a 4 year college later on. You know what? The final bachelors degree is says THAT college on it.
When you’re young you want to make a mark on the world, and you’re just starting to realize, you’re not gonna be able to do anything you set your mind to. Mottos and trite sayings aside, you can’t do everything. You can try and still fail.
And so what?
When I was 16 I was in college and thought I had the world at my feet and I did. Then my mother died and well long story short, in one day, I went from wondering what I was gonna do on New Year’s Eve to wondering where I was going to LIVE on New Year’s Eve.
Your life can change in an instant.
So visualize the worst and prepare for it. Then take things one step at a time. You can only do what you can do. If you fail, you won’t be the first to fail and you can always find a way to get around it, or make it up later.
I think it’s actually benefical for kids to take a year off of between high school and college and work. Makes you really appreciate your college education all that more.
And finally there’s enough in life to worry about without worrying about things that may or may not happen or things that have already been decided.
Joining my voice to Mark’s, there’s options other than “going straight into a 4-year college”. I come from a culture where there’s no option of “going into college with no declared major”, so the idea of spending that kind of money and resources when you honestly have no idea what is it you want to do leaves me considerably purple, like this: Going to college at the ripe old age of 19, 20, 25 or even gasp 33 (my cousin the lawyer) but knowing full well what is it you’re going there for seems more sensible to me than going there because “it’s expected”, and based on the anecdata I have (both from people who had gone to college because it was expected, and from those who went later), it seems to work better too.
As for figuring out what is it you want to do, it may help if you think of it in terms of “tasks” rather than “degrees”. That is, work backwards. I knew I wanted to “work in factories” “as a manager” “but not on the ‘accountant’ side” and I knew I was good at sciences - that pointed me to a degree in Engineering, but not to a specific branch within the field, as factory-based Engineer jobs (Production Engineer, Production Manager, Process Engineer, Maintenance Manager, Shift Foreman) rarely require a specific branch; I chose the branch (Chem Eng, spec Orgo) based on other criteria. My brother, with similar goals in mind, chose differently (Industrial Eng, spec Mech).
If it helps, most of the people I know don’t work at jobs or careers related to their original freshman-year major anyway. Some people changed majors, some graduated and then got some random office job and fell into this field or that.
It’s okay. Nobody expects a 17-year-old to have their lives figured out, and anybody who does is an idiot.
Is there a state college nearby? In-state tuition is pretty cheap, relatively speaking.
And there’s nothing wrong with taking a year after high school working or backpacking across Europe–or both (check out “Working Holidaymaker” programs)–while sorting things out.
Well said, Markxxx. I would agree with taking one or more years off and figure out what it is you want to do. Or better yet, figure out what it is you don’t want to do. There is nothing worse than going to college and spending a lot of money and incurring a lot of debt just to do something that you find out you really, truly hate.
If you’re interested in engineering, consider co-oping. After my sophomore year in college, I paid all my school tuition, books, room, and board with co-op money, and had a job offer when I graduated. It was a public school, so it was cheaper, but I finished college with almost no student debt in '03 ($3000).
Freshman and sophomore years (before I could co-op) I paid with partial scholarships, partial student loan, lived in the dorm, worked part time during the year, and full-time in the summer. I saved every penny and turned down plenty of fun things that I could’ve spent money on, but I think it was worth it. That’s not to say I never did anything fun, but I just that it required discipline to not do everything that came along, or buying copious quantities of booze.
And if you have to get a small loan, don’t sweat it. Enjoy your senior year! Don’t blink or you might open your eyes and find you’re suddenly 30 yrs old.
As **Markxxx **suggested, try Community College. Call up Big State School and ask them which CCs they accept transfer credits from. Get the course catalogs from those CCs and attend the one that has the most interesting classes to you. You can experiment with different majors for a LOT less money at a CC, and once you have a better idea, transfer as needed.
I went to a Brand-Name university, but it still took me 10 years after graduating to find a career I really liked. Keep trying things, keep asking for help, keep learning. Good advice for your whole life, not just now.
Wah wah, life is hard. Let me guess, are you a middle class white American? Whether you are or not, simply based on the circumstances you’ve related your life could be a whole hell of a lot harder.
Take time off. JROTC? Why not enlist? I’ve always thought that my time in the service did a lot to help me on my way. Employers like vets. College will be a breeze after the military, and the VA benefits will make it a lot easier to do without huge loans and working your butt off. 4 years to make up your mind on what you want to do. You can take courses while in the service also, probably get an AA or AS within 4 years.
That being said, I am not a recruiter! I didn’t have $ to send my kids to college, and they were told to get good grades and scholarship, or enlist. 2 of them did. Daughter is in for 10 years now. One son was in and now out going to school on VA. The other son I advised not to enlist, I didn’t want him to have a dishonorable because he didn’t have the personality to confor to the military, even for a short time.
Good luck with your decision. You have time and need to take some time for yourself before committing to huge debt!
may_be_ignorant, you’re a doper. You’re already miles ahead of your peers.
College is going to get you in debt. That’s not a bad thing; credit’s gotta start somewhere. Military’s a good option for just out of high school, or just out of college. One of the enlistment bonus options is they can pay off your student loans. Yeah, there’s a war on but here’s this about that: it’s mostly Rangers, Marines and infantry catching the bullets, and considering the huge number of troops deployed vs. the number of troops getting horribly mangled, you’ve got a good shot at getting out unscathed in 4 years. Don’t write it off, it’s a pretty good deal.
Alternatively there is the peace corps. Or if you end up getting a liberal arts degree there are firms in Seattle (and I’m sure elsewhere) that hire native English speakers to move to Japan for a while and teach conversational English–no knowledge of Japanese is required.
My advise would be, don’t sweat the scholarships and loans. That stuff works itself out (if you, you know, do the paperwork). Get your degree in whatever you want, your most valuable asset, even more than the actual knowledge obtained from your major study, will be critical thinking skillz.
Also, many four-year state schools have “special” relationships with state community colleges, or the local CC. I’m trying to drag it from memory, but I heard tell that there was one school, I think it may be FSU, that by policy will admit anyone with an Associate’s degree from a Florida CC (that is, the Associate’s degree is sufficent in itself to grant admission, without reference to test scores, GPA, or extracurricular activities).
My alma mater has a strong relationship with a CC, but there is technically no guaranteed admittance, but in a practical sense, unless you are a thrice convicted child molester just released on parole last week, have a 2.0 GPA (bare minimum to graduate), and were suspended three times for misbehavior, you probably wouldn’t have any problem being accepted with the CC degree.
Often high SAT or ACT scores are enough to get a scholarship to a community college or state university. At least, I got two years of a free ride with a 3.3 GPA and a 32 ACT. I was such a slacker I would get As on tests and Cs for grades due to incomplete homework.
I changed majors twice in my junior year and even after that I ended up in a field completely unrelated. I went to community college, got an Associates degree, then got a bachelors degree. Community college was cheap enough to pay for on grants and then I took loans for university - no problems, got out with something like $13K in loans. I had NO idea what I wanted to major in throughout the entirety of my community college experience but I eventually figured it out. Relax, it’ll all work out.
That’s a good strategy to have for the rest of your life. Start by realizing that your agony is stemming for choice. For the first time, you don’t have anyone telling you what you have to do. That’s ultimately what’s scaring you. But choice is a good thing. “No one loves you more than you,” as they say. You know what’s best for you. So take it as a blessing.
I disagree. People that take a year off tend to take two years off, then three, then they wake up and they’re 40 and still uneducated.
OK, so it could be worse. How does that make his life better?
OP, I’d seriously consider joining the Army. I say that because you mentioned ROTC. It really cemented what I wanted to do and it trained me to do it. Then it sent me to college for free. And don’t fear going to war. If you’ve got the right kind of job, you might end up like me…missing it. And when you come back, men shake your hand and buy you drinks, while women throw their panties at you. Seriously.
Right now, I’m taking the skills the Army gave me, the degree they paid for, and the clearance they granted me, and making a six-figure salary. Best decision of my life.
Just venting.
Going to college at the ripe old age of 19, 20, 25 or even gasp 33 (my cousin the lawyer) but knowing full well what is it you’re going there for seems more sensible to me than going there because “it’s expected”, and based on the anecdata I have (both from people who had gone to college because it was expected, and from those who went later), it seems to work better too.