I want to drop out of uni
Hello people, as the title suggests I am really thinking about dropping out of university.
I am currently in my second year (Biological Sciences), but I started having doubts during the second term of my first year, although I decided to stay because I said to myself: "Next year will be better, you're going to choose the modules you like so it won't be boring!".
The problem is, I hated the first term of the second year, my exams went pretty bad (I passed but with a low mark) because when I tried to study, I wasn't motivated enough, I was bored and I didn't enjoy what I was studying. Moreover, I tried to find every excuse to stop studying and do something else.
After my January exams, I decided that I wanted to drop out, but not immediately, mainly because I didn't want to take an important decision while I was upset about the exams. So I decided to wait, and see how the term went.
Unfortunately, it's not going well. I feel bored, I don't enjoy lectures, I don't take notes because even if I try to pay attention, after 5 minutes I find myself scrolling on Facebook.
I considered changing course and university, because during this term I'm learning to code and I really like Computer Science (my boyfriend and most of my friends study CS) but I don't want to make the same mistake I did with Biological Sciences, which I really enjoyed in high school (in Italy we don't have college, only 5 years of high school) but then I hated at university.
Another problem is telling my parents. I will be the first one in the family to have a degree, and I have always been very academic, I have always had high grades in everything, so they have certain expectations. I feel like I'm going to disappoint them, but I really don't want to give up on my happiness for the fear of disappointing my parents.
After dropping out I was planning to move to London, get a job (at a shop or restaurant or bar or wherever), save some money and then, after a couple of years or more, try to reapply to uni. Or even get a job as a developer after a couple of years of experience in a programming language.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I am really scared, I really want to leave but I'm afraid that I will disappoint my parents or that I won't find any kind of jobs in London.
I am currently in my second year (Biological Sciences), but I started having doubts during the second term of my first year, although I decided to stay because I said to myself: "Next year will be better, you're going to choose the modules you like so it won't be boring!".
The problem is, I hated the first term of the second year, my exams went pretty bad (I passed but with a low mark) because when I tried to study, I wasn't motivated enough, I was bored and I didn't enjoy what I was studying. Moreover, I tried to find every excuse to stop studying and do something else.
After my January exams, I decided that I wanted to drop out, but not immediately, mainly because I didn't want to take an important decision while I was upset about the exams. So I decided to wait, and see how the term went.
Unfortunately, it's not going well. I feel bored, I don't enjoy lectures, I don't take notes because even if I try to pay attention, after 5 minutes I find myself scrolling on Facebook.
I considered changing course and university, because during this term I'm learning to code and I really like Computer Science (my boyfriend and most of my friends study CS) but I don't want to make the same mistake I did with Biological Sciences, which I really enjoyed in high school (in Italy we don't have college, only 5 years of high school) but then I hated at university.
Another problem is telling my parents. I will be the first one in the family to have a degree, and I have always been very academic, I have always had high grades in everything, so they have certain expectations. I feel like I'm going to disappoint them, but I really don't want to give up on my happiness for the fear of disappointing my parents.
After dropping out I was planning to move to London, get a job (at a shop or restaurant or bar or wherever), save some money and then, after a couple of years or more, try to reapply to uni. Or even get a job as a developer after a couple of years of experience in a programming language.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I am really scared, I really want to leave but I'm afraid that I will disappoint my parents or that I won't find any kind of jobs in London.
I will say, don't drop out rashly. Your plan/alternative of:
... May not work out at all, it is a very high risk option with many what if's and uncertainties. Changing courses might be the correct thing to do, but I don't know if taking a couple of years gap doing random jobs, then re-applying, is the right way to steer your life. It could lead you to becoming even more unmotivated and who knows, life might spiral into a situation which is worse than what you have now.
Also, as someone who works in software engineering, just learning a language doesn't mean you'll get a job unfortunately. Having a degree however can help one apply for grad schemes which may ask for basic understanding of coding etc. Also, if I had a £1 for every time someone said they want to learn programming and never went ahead with it... Not to say you won't, just be careful, it requires a lot of motivation and willpower, and you may find it hard to do that if you put yourself in such an uncertain environment.
After dropping out I was planning to move to London, get a job (at a shop or restaurant or bar or wherever), save some money and then, after a couple of years or more, try to reapply to uni. Or even get a job as a developer after a couple of years of experience in a programming language.
... May not work out at all, it is a very high risk option with many what if's and uncertainties. Changing courses might be the correct thing to do, but I don't know if taking a couple of years gap doing random jobs, then re-applying, is the right way to steer your life. It could lead you to becoming even more unmotivated and who knows, life might spiral into a situation which is worse than what you have now.
Also, as someone who works in software engineering, just learning a language doesn't mean you'll get a job unfortunately. Having a degree however can help one apply for grad schemes which may ask for basic understanding of coding etc. Also, if I had a £1 for every time someone said they want to learn programming and never went ahead with it... Not to say you won't, just be careful, it requires a lot of motivation and willpower, and you may find it hard to do that if you put yourself in such an uncertain environment.
(edited 7 years ago)
its a cleche and if i was in your position i'd hate hearing it but you have to do what you want.
My advise would be to sit down and way up the pros and cons of every scenario.
It could be the course itself, was there another course you had in mind?
Maybe because you are so acedemic you were always lead down the uni route when in reality thats not what you want.
I went through a similar stage during my first term at uni and eventually decided to carry on doing it and i did that by reminding myself why I was there so maybe try doing that?
It's so hard trying to help someone in this position so can't really imagine how you are feeling
I hope some of what I said helps, send a message if you wanna talk about it
My advise would be to sit down and way up the pros and cons of every scenario.
It could be the course itself, was there another course you had in mind?
Maybe because you are so acedemic you were always lead down the uni route when in reality thats not what you want.
I went through a similar stage during my first term at uni and eventually decided to carry on doing it and i did that by reminding myself why I was there so maybe try doing that?
It's so hard trying to help someone in this position so can't really imagine how you are feeling
I hope some of what I said helps, send a message if you wanna talk about it
Original post by mariscollo
After dropping out I was planning to move to London, get a job (at a shop or restaurant or bar or wherever), save some money and then, after a couple of years or more, try to reapply to uni. Or even get a job as a developer after a couple of years of experience in a programming language.
I'm planning to move to London in September and i don't want to be "that guy" but's very unlikely you'll be able to save money and live in London...unless you're on a good wage (ie better than a shop or bar wage.) London is VERY expensive to rent, like you'd be looking for at least £500 for a room (Not even a studio or a flat, a room with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities) On top of that you'd need money for food, travel (You need to decide if you want to spend more on the room and less on travel or less on the room and more on travel)
Most developer jobs would require a degree of some sorts, my boyfriend is currently studying a computing degree and is struggling to find internships/summer work because it's so competitive.
I'd say stick it out Uni... If you're in your 2nd and getting funding from student finance you'll only have two years of funding left and you'd have to fund first year yourself.
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