Do people who go to uni really enjoy studying?

What I'd like to ask in this thread is a question directed at any people who are either currently in uni, have been in the past or plan to go in the future:

Do you very much enjoy studying in general? Do you get a lot of joy and satisfaction in studying your chosen subject(s)? Do you never feel any dislike for it at all? Would you say you are very passionate about it? Or are you only doing it with some moderate interest and the main goal of improving career prospects and/or experiencing the student lifestyle?

What I'd like to ask in this thread is a question directed at any people who are either currently in uni, have been in the past or plan to go in the future:

Do you very much enjoy studying in general? Do you get a lot of joy and satisfaction in studying your chosen subject(s)? Do you never feel any dislike for it at all? Would you say you are very passionate about it? Or are you only doing it with some moderate interest and the main goal of improving career prospects and/or experiencing the student lifestyle?


Or anyone feel anything like I do in the next paragraph?

If anyone's interested, I've personally been having my reservations about uni lately, due to bad experiences with education in the past few years. I really can't find that one subject I'm very passionate about or particularly good at. And the things I really hate about academic learning is being told to do this and that, having to work so much and get stressed out all the time over it, and even trying hard and trying to do everything right doesn't always result in getting good grades. It's just all really frustrating to me and I generally prefer learning by reading about things in my own leisure whenever I want without the pressure of having to do stressful coursework and exams just to please some examiner, which I'm often no good at. I only did GCSEs and A Levels because it's constantly drummed into us that it's the right thing to do, but now I'm not sure if it's really worth me carrying on to higher education. Even my OU coursework I can't be bothered with because I'm having the same problems again. I know it sounds bad and I hate feeling this way but it's so hard to help . I've made a few posts on TSR about this, and most people advise not going to uni if I don't like studying. I do suffer from depression so I'm not sure if that has much to do with it, but I've heard there are depressed people who manage to get A*s so...

I sometimes enjoy it so much my assignments end up covered in stains.

Seriously though I'm the sort of person who writes for a bit and then gets on a roll rather than being able to do it in little bits.

If you aren't enjoying studying it's probably because you don't really understand the scope of the subject, you've just got a couple of random books out of the library. Or it may be because you haven't taken ownership of it - it's someone telling you what to do. This is why it's essential to write about something that actually interests you

It's because they spend most of their time indoors alone that makes them depressed, as I said. This would be the same effect of doing staying in alone all the time whether they were studying or not.

I know how you feel.

What subject are you studying at OU?

I think the problem you are finding is the education SYSTEM (memorising, exams, coursework, marks, grades, uni expectations etc) not learning and being educated.

I love learning and education (and have done so all my life) but have a problem with the education system.

Is your depression linked to you struggling in school?

I am currently doing a course with the Open Uni, but I don't really like it much though. It's probably worse in a way in fact, cos working at home is quite a challenge when there's so many distractions about. I go to the library sometimes to do it, but it's still tiring. I'm also not getting any social life through it, which is such a downer.



There's probably other reasons why they get depression. Working hard didn't always help me do well personally.

I'm studying a Business Studies module in Understanding Management. It's OK, but it's a bit much and I struggle to keep up with all the tasks and plan an essay. I've never really been "jumping for joy" excited about learning with the OU to be honest; I think I only did it because I felt pressure to try a degree and wanted a taster in higher education, since I don't have the grades to go to any decent brick uni. I'm considering dropping it now as I'm really not doing too good at it.

I think depression might have had some play in me struggling at uni, but I'm not really too sure. I know other people in my year group who also did badly in their grades, but I doubt they all had depression. Well, at least I know one friend who wasn't depressed but she didn't do well, so it could just be lack of ability or something else. It's quite hard to tell but I am currently trying to get treated for depression and then I can see clearly how things can go from there.

Finding the motivation to study, however, is nigh on impossible. I'm hoping this changes next year when your marks actually count.

Maybe being at home is part of the problem. For myself, family problems caused me to do badly in my exams, even when I thought that having ALevels would be something to help me focus on and motivate me.

Also, working very hard and trying to work smart didn't help me to do well either.

I understand...it's very hard to tell.

Have you thought maybe doing an apprenticeship?

that's what i'm talking about though. I've not really enjoyed most of my assignments at all.... The've mostly been a total drag that have made me struggle to maintain motivation.
Otoh being at uni means I have an athens login which has been wonderful for finding stuff, i'll really miss those journal subs when i've finished.

I genuinely am passionate about my chosen subject and so yes I do enjoy studying it!
However, last year I had depression and I did find it incredibly hard to keep working. I just had no motivation for any of my subjects and I didn't enjoy them. Which is probably why I have had to retake my AS year and do AS and A2 at the same time! If I were you I would focus on solving your depression first, and then think about applying to uni, but only if there is a subject you enjoy and want to learn more about. If you're not passionate about the subject, it will just be a waste of time and a miserable 3 years!

I haven't really had massive problems at home. I think my depression is more to do with social and personality problems of mine, such as being bullied, feeling lonely, low self-esteem, etc. I know they're probably slightly pathetic things to get depressed over compared to what other people go through, but I also can't help how I react to things

Don't think it's pathetic to be upset about those things. It's not surprising tbh. Also it's not good to compare your issues to others...yes people have problems but that doesn't mean your problems are inadequate.

Have your ever spoken to a careers advisor?