Life After School
[ 27 November 2007 ]
“I was wondering, for us younger readers, how is life after high school? Is college easier, harder, less, or more work? What about after that? Do your goals change? What about your personality? Are you able to go through a “self-discovery” period or do you just get thrown into life right away? As a young adult, what are your thoughts about all this? How was high school different for you?”
I can only tell you about my own experiences, but I’d be thrilled if my sweet nonpareils wanted to chip in & speak about how leaving high school was for them.
I went to a very prestigious all-girl Anglican school. While good times were had, mostly I loathed it & everyone in it. (Bear in mind, at the time, I was an angry gothlette!) Conforming was valued above all things, & while some of the teachers encouraged my unusual spirit, most of them seemed determined to crush it into the ground. It was very confusing for me, because my parents had always applauded my individuality, so I was constantly battling against the school while at the same time trying not to get myself expelled.
For example, when I was 15, I went on a school trip to Germany/France/Austria. I was in a “black clothes” phase — actually I was for most of my school years — & so before we left, the head of the form told me that I wouldn’t be allowed to go if I insisted on wearing “those witch clothes”. Yes. I had to BUY non-black clothing as a condition of going overseas. What a load. It makes me angry to this day! How ridiculous!
Anyway, you can understand my consternation. I really disliked this place. I had been at Anglican single-sex schools my entire life & I was totally over it. My parents aren’t religious; I think the schools I went to were chosen on their scholastic merits more than anything else, so it was really just coincidental pain. When I was in 6th Form, I decided that I didn’t want to do the last year of school (7th Form) at my school, I wanted to go to a public high school — which was mixed-sex & didn’t require a uniform. I thought this was the best decision of my life.
I went to see the dean & explained to her that I wanted to switch schools next year. She gave me a strange look & asked if I was intending on going to university. I said yes. She told me that she thought 7th Form would be extraneous & unnecessary, & that she thought I should go straight to university. I remember very clearly her telling me that she wouldn’t endorse the other girls in my form who wanted to go on to university early, because they weren’t as “socially able” as I was. Of course, I was flattered & since she was an adult & knew my abilities, I figured she was probably right. I took her advice & went to university the next year under something called provisional entrance.
I was really excited about starting university. I decided that I wanted to study criminal psychology (I had a thing for serial killers for a long time) as part of a Bachelor of Arts. I enrolled & chose classes, among them psychology, English & computer science. My English class was painfully dull & my computer science class was a joke — I was the best person there. I learned that in order to major in psychology, you had to take statistics. I started taking statistics. The class was at 9am & I found it hard to grasp maths at noon, let alone first thing in the morning. I started to feel like maybe I was out of my depth. Oh, did I mention that I had stopped studying maths two years previously?
My classes were incredibly boring & I didn’t know anyone. I started to feel resentful of going to these dull lectures when I had just finished 11 years of school. I just wanted a break! I didn’t feel like I really knew what I wanted to do with my life, & I was aware of how ridiculous it was to try & plot my future — as well as spending a lot of money doing so — at age 17. I stopped going to classes & dropped out.
I was still living at home & my parents weren’t going to have some girl lying around the house all day, so they told me I had to get a job.
My first job was at a bank, dealing with home loans & term deposits. I was on the phones & I had to wear a suit, even though no one could see me. This bothered me. I wore New Rock combat boots with my suit & called it even. My job sucked. Hard. I spent all the money I earned — & it was a very decent starter salary — on plane tickets to Auckland to see my new love interest. I called in sick a lot. After 6 months of this charade, I quit & moved to Auckland.
The next job was at a university bookshop, where I was the book buyer for all the fiction & non-fiction books. (Someone else bought stationery, & someone else again bought all the textbooks.) Again, I had to wear a uniform. The actual job was okay but my manager was a total nightmare. To this day, if I smell the perfume she used to wear, hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I quit.
Then I worked at an ISP, which was rubbish but the people were awesome, the dress code was totally lax & I got to play around on the internet all day. Awesome. I quit that job to go on a European holiday with my boyfriend. When I came back from that holiday, I worked selling advertising for a newspaper (over the phone). It was bad. We didn’t use computers. We used phone books. We had to cold-call all kinds of companies & sell them ads. God, it was terrible. I hated it & slacked off. They fired me & I cried about it on the phone to my boyfriend & he said he was glad because the job was making me miserable.
I did half a day at a coffee shop. I worked six months at a recruitment agency. I did lots & lots of temp jobs. Then, finally, miraculously, I got a job at Lush, which was amazing. I managed a shop for a year & a half & loved all of it, except for perhaps the last two months when my extremely unpleasant & manipulative colleague started to get the better of me. I did more temp work, worked for NZ Post & then I moved to Australia & started iCiNG. That about brings us up to date.
I basically spent 5 years bouncing around, doing various jobs & working out what I liked & what I disliked. Also, somewhere in that time, I did a bunch of freelance writing work, & a Diploma in Publishing by correspondence, which covered copy-editing, print layout, etc. I loved it & it was exactly what I wanted to learn.
To answer your questions…
College/university is, indeed, hard work. If you really love what you’re doing, it probably isn’t so bad, but there is a reason why so many people change majors & entire degrees so often. I had never had to work hard at school & I realised, quickly, that university is very different. It is a rude awakening & I think a lot of people sink or swim. Of course, liking what you’re studying will help decide whether you succeed or falter.
Going to work can, unfortunately, be a bleak, soul-crushing experience, & the hardest thing is maintaining your spirit throughout that. Get as much experience as you can, work out what you like & then do that. Don’t feel like you have to stay in any one job. Make a list of the attributes of your job that you like & make a conscious effort to go for those things in the future. Don’t get a job on the phones if it makes you want to top yourself. You have other options, always.
Your goals change a lot & your personality does too. I am completely different person now to who I was when I left school (& thankful for it)! But these things will change at unusual times. Maybe you’ll have a lover who encourages you. Or maybe you’ll have a lover who hates his or her job & will teach you that a grinding existence is the only way. There’s no knowing what will happen to you when you leave school, & that’s part of the fun of it. It took me a few years to work out that I wanted to have my own magazine, & even then, it has warped into this online beastie! Not exactly what I was imagining, but I am really happy with how it has turned out.
While it sounds good to go through a “self-discovery period” as you sit alone in a field somewhere, that’s not really how life is. If you leave school & go straight to university, you have no time to chill out & be yourself — you will be running from class to class & kissing professor’s asses & handing in rushed essays. You will learn more about yourself from travelling or living by yourself than you will from going to university, in my opinion.
Another thing I feel very strongly about is that we should all be aware of the social pressures to push kids straight from school into tertiary education. It’s a fantastic business model — after all, universities exist to make money — but it doesn’t have the best interests of the students at heart. Universities benefit from having young students who don’t know what they’re doing. They fail lots of classes because of lack of passion or interest, they change degrees, they do an extra year or two — & it all amounts to ka-ching for them.
Unless you know what you want to do — & you’re really sure about it — don’t go to university straight away. Take a couple of years off. Work somewhere. Go travelling. Have adventures. Write a novel. Cook a meal for your friends every night. Work out what you like doing & what you have no interest in: things which are hard to work out when you’re at school & people are constantly pushing & pulling you in various directions. There is more to life than academia. Much more. Go climb a mountain in Nepal & then get back to me.
It breaks my heart to see talented people at university who hate it. One of my beautiful friends is an incredible, mind-blowing artist at university, & for some reason she has this idea that she needs a degree to be successful. What?! She’s an ARTIST! How will having a degree help her draw better? Just go out there & do what you do! Do it with passion & fervour & determination & there is no way you cannot do well!
I am so glad that I left school early to check out university. It wasn’t for me, but that’s okay. In the past 5 years I have learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned that a sterile office environment makes me want to amputate parts of my anatomy. I’ve learned that doing phone work is a really great way to lose faith in humanity. I’ve learned what I want to do & I’ve learned a lot about people. Most of all, I’ve learned that if I want an amazing working environment, I need to create it myself.
A lot of the girls I went to school with have just graduated university & are now looking for the first jobs. I wouldn’t trade that for all the money in the world. I am so happy & blessed to have had my experiences & to now own my own business at 24. I would never have done this if I had been at university all this time.
One of the biggest myths about school is that it’s “the best time of your life”. Maybe it’s the best time of your life according to sad people who gave up on their dreams 50 years ago. But for those of us with a love of life & a drive to make it into something better, the best times are yet to come.
Extra For Experts:
Why You Need A Degree To Work For BigCo
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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such a good article, gala.
i finished high school a year ago with the vague idea that i wanted to study english, because obviously that’s what you do when you’re a writer.
a year later & i’ve just enrolled to study as a make-up artist, and i couldn’t be happier or more excited!
Ahhh, Ms. Grace, you will loooooove make-up artistry so much. It is insanely fun. My course is great, I adore it! I can totally see you as a make-up artist to the stars :D
this is really good advice.
i want to chime in on one particular point, however. i do not think it is fair to unilaterally think of universities as profit-making organizations. yes, the institutions themselves may simply be businesses. this is impossible to avoid and anyone who wants to go into academia professionally must be aware that it is 70% bureaucracy.
HOWEVER. the professors are almost definitely NOT in it for the money. this will undoubtedly vary from place to place. yes, big places with big names will have plenty of people on staff who are just there to do research and draw a salary, and let their graduate students do the teaching.
BUT. anyone teaching at a smaller liberal arts college, as they are called in the States, is probably making total crap for a salary. they are there because they are head-over-heels in love with their field and their pet research projects and, more likely than not, their students. they have spent years racking up debt and moving all over the country to be academics, and it’s all for love of what they do. the quality of the teaching they provide is likely to be really high and they are often willing to drop everything to help a student who needs it.
i am, as you have probably guessed by now, speaking from personal experience. a couple of years ago i graduated from one of the better liberal arts schools in the US (if i do say so myself!) and as you can guess i had a great experience. (if you would like to know more, you can visit my website & email me — click the link above.) i have never referred to a teacher as Prof. So & So — i know them by their first names, have visited some of their homes, have babysat their kids.
since it was a small school with an extremely intellectual atmosphere, it was certainly not an average college experience. yes, it cost a crapton of money and no, i didn’t really have time to do anything else while i was there. but i loved it to death and wouldn’t have had it any other way — just like Gala loves her site and has devoted her life to it! i also don’t know much about the unis in Australia and New Zealand, and i would certainly not be surprised if the situation were different there, if for no other reason than that there are fewer options.
so i guess my advice is this: yes, it’s good to take time off, travel, live a life, learn about holding a job. but if you feel that you could be happy immersing yourself in learning and writing and thinking for four years, don’t be scared off. consider moving far from home to find the right school. contact professors and current students there. if they seem just as excited about Mexican history or spider embryology as you are, well, go for it. i have found it to be an incomparably rewarding experience.
Gala, you’re amazing.
I’m wondering the same thing, since I’m graduating my highly prestigous all-girl Catholic school, and preparing myself for the (sur)real world.
Thanks for the advice! It’s great to hear from a strong woman who’s had a similar experience in school!
...and after my monster comment, one more quick one:
in the US, i often feel like high schools are so college-focused that they don’t allow for the possibility of other options than to instantly move out and keep going to school. don’t let them bully you. the world really doesn’t end if you go to Europe for a while and then work some stupid jobs and then settle down and decide you must pursue your passion for Russian literature. you can have both lives! you really can! especially since so many universities offer chances to study abroad. for instance, i spent a semester living in London and taking nothing but acting classes. it was magnificent. so don’t let anyone convince you your horizons are limited.
dorkas — I have no problem with universities, more with the social infrastructure that says everyone should go straight to college from school. It’s a fantastic business model for the universities but doesn’t necessarily benefit the students at all. Argh! This is what I get for writing an article in a rush… I’ll alter the article so it makes more sense ;>
I had such similar experiences in high school; my black hair and (minimal but still visible) piercings had most of the teachers on my back… or telling me to be myself. Mixed messages made school very confusing as I learnt later that those different teachers already disliked eachother and it was really part of their own personal vendettas. Oh dear.
At best, I was called emo or goth (which I could cope with) but most of the time, people would tell the school counsellor and my friends that they were worried about me because they assumed I was a satan worshipper.
Finally, I decided to wear colour again. Too much colour, apparently. The school had a uniform but wearing rainbow shoelaces, having a bright orange schoolbag and dyeing bits of purple in my hair was “distracting to the other students”. I dropped out of school.
It’s nice to know that someone understands, though. I’m in the midst of job-hunting so wish me luck that I can get my feet off the ground again.
Have a fantastic day, everyone.
If school days were truly the best days of your life, what on earth would be left to live for once you got out of your teens?
I am 22. I have just finished a B.Sc. and started a Ph.D. College is, without a doubt, harder than high school. It is more work. But if you are doing something you love you’ll find that the eureka moments when the work pays off make it worth while. If you get an A on an essay and all you can think is this sucks, there’s another one due next week, you are probably on the wrong path.
Along the way through college I worked in a wild variety of jobs.
The worst job experiences were largely due to managers with non-existance people skills.
The best job experience was a research internship, I loved every minute and it showed me that academia was the way for me.
My part-time jobs and summer internships were how I discovered what I wanted to do. I don’t think you can be sure until you’ve done something for real for a bit.
My goals changed but now I am settled. My personality changed too and again I think that’s settled down. But at the same time, life is a journey and I don’t think the self-discovery ever ends as long as you stay open to it.
dorkas — Oh, & I know that professors make a total pittance when it comes to salary. It’s criminal. Teachers should be paid so much more than they are, they are tragically undervalued. A friend of mine is a professor (has taught at Cambridge etc.) & he deserves so much more money!
Really I wasn’t trying to knock universities. They have their place. More I think it’s important for people to consider their options before they start spending tens of thousands of dollars.
Ooooo. Lush.
Any interesting tidbits about working there? I’m interested in working there and I love what they do.
Any chances that we’ll see a Lush themed article soon?
Hey Gala!
I totally agree with you in the part of not going to college until you really know what you want to do. I’m in college right now studying Systems Engineering and while the course work is very difficult and we have a LOT of math (math, math, math like mad until next year), I love programming and would love to become a Web Designer.
The good thing about my college is that you can take classes from any other degree available on campus. This semester a took a Web Design 101 class with the Communication students and it was great (not to mention a nice break from all that math).
I think that at least for me, going straight to college after high school was the best decision. My generation in college is full of very nice people and we are very tight.
While I loved high school, I wouldn’t call it the best years of my life. They were awkward years where I was just like floating around in the current until I left and did my thing. I definetly agree with you when you say that you learn a lot from yourself by living alone than by going to college.
College is so full of activities, homeowrks, papers and so many social events that you hardly have anytime to discover yourself.
Kisses.
Well here is a post that I really feel like responding to.
High school was horrible for me. I attended a school that took funding away from the arts program and put it towards sports. I played football (soccer), but had no dreams of continuing after high school, I knew who the real stars were. I planned on going to art school, though as my four years of high school came to a close, I realized that if I were to go to to college I wouldn’t hae any more of an idea of what I wanted to be doing down the road that I entered the workforce. I started screenprinting, printing t-shirts for tons of different big-name companies. Seven years after that I decided that computers where where I should be and taught myself web design late at nights after printing. Now that’s what I do full time.
I thing that high school is such the wrong time to have a kid figure out what they intend on doing with the rest of their life (I didn’t figure out my true path until about 23/24 years old). Most kids are still finding themselves in high school, and to decide what sort of college/university they want to attend, while in that discovery period, is all wrong. A couple years in the “real” world, after high school, would be beneficial to so many.
Personality and goals change so much after high school, it’s just amazing. A couple years of real self-exploration after high school, through part-time jobs/travel, can do so much more for a person then schooling. Schooling can come later, when you decide what it is that will make you truly happy.
actually, given my add-on comment, i think in spirit we are in total agreement. it’s devotion to YOURSELF, not to someone else’s idea of success. i mean, jeez, i got a theatre degree, and i’m headed for graduate school to get another one. in the grand scheme of things, that’s not too many people’s idea of success! not a whole lot of $$ in that!
yes yes yes. don’t go to school because you think you’re supposed to or because you’re afraid you’ll have no structure with out it. go because you love it!
Cookie — I’ve written heaps of articles featuring Lush products etc. Type “lush” into the search bar on the right hand side & see what you come up with ;D There are 75 results. Also, I worked there quite a long time ago now, & I know a lot of their policies have changed (staff discount isn’t as good, etc.), so my information isn’t really accurate anymore!
i am going through this hell hole at the mo, as you probably have noticed, coupled with that and my crappy health ive been having a hellish time!
its so great that you have found something you love. i too dream of making a magazine! but unlike you havent really found my calling yet, it helps to have the motivation which is hard when you are sick.
I hope one day ill be happy in whatever i am doing.
great article girl, this was a great read.
im so proud of you :) and think you should be super uber proud of yourself.
love!
oh and uni is super uber hard, but i loved it at the same time. being in the real world i find is tougher. i guess i need to find something in the world that makes me feel like what my degree felt like to accomplish :)
i took a year off after i graduated high school to try and figure out what exactly it was that i wanted to do with my life.
i learned from working at a day care that i did NOT want to be a kindergarten teacher. or any sort of teacher.
...or go to a ‘regular’ university.
and now i’m attending cosmetology school/apprenticeship program and i ADORE it!
=]
I had to choose my university as early as age 16 (the process of entering takes about a year) — how was I supposed to know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life? And the general notion was that the program you choose in university leads you to your potential career. I think people have a misconception about university. It is a place for scholarly learning, not necessarily for plopping a job on your lap. I hate how people talk about how great so-and-so program is for the sake of job-getting. Sure, you do need a degree to do something as sophisticated as engineering but something variable and constantly-changing like running a business isn’t always necessary, in my opinion. I wish I had taken a year off to figure out what university was best for me (I started out with a business program and I hated it; changing programs was difficult because there was such a limited selection in my university) or whether I wanted to go to university at all. My conclusion is that people (or kids, rather!) should not rush into university (especially since it’s so expensive!) without understanding the facts first. In my case, I didn’t fully examine the facts and basically did whatever everyone else did because I thought it was normal.
I took a year off from school before I started at college and it might have been the best decision I’ve made. Being out in the “real world” made me realize how valuable an education can be.
Now that I am back in school, I find I am more motivated than 90% of my classmates and my teachers especially appreciate that. College is hard work but it is also more rewarding than high school work (which I often found feels like busy work).
College is also great because you have the oppurtunity to study abroad! And who doesn’t love living overseas and learning a new language!
Thank you for saying that the best is yet to come. Anytime someone says “Ah, my college years, yeah, that was the time man!” I want to hurl garbage & nasty stuff all over the front of my dress.
You’re welcome for the imagery.
I finished high school five years ago. At the time, I had no real idea what I wanted to do but was expected to go to university so that’s what I did. I did a media and communications degree because I thought maybe being a website designer would be ok. The course, for the most part, was extremely dull and was mainly writing essays about media theory and rarely doing anything hands on. However, one of the hands on projects I managed to do was animation, which I fell in love with. I then discovered that one of my lecturers had done a animation Masters course in Melbourne and when I looked at the course website, I fell in love with it instantly. My aim then was to finish my undergrad course as quickly as I possibly could so I could apply for the Masters course.
In the meantime, I was taught by more people who had done the course and I grilled them about every minute detail and how I could better my chances of getting in.
I applied and on the day I handed in my final essay for my undergrad course, I flew to Melbourne for an interview to get into the Masters one.
I managed to get in and the time I spent there was the best time of my life – but also the hardest. I moved from Sydney to Melbourne to do it, was the youngest there and felt out of my depth for ages, injured myself getting there on the first day and spent half the year on crutches etc etc. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. I worked seven days a week during it just because I wanted to get the most out of it.
The lecturers there were the most dedicated and amazing people. They were constantly there after hours if we needed help – some even pulled all nighters with us when our final submission was due, just to help out. There are always past graduates hanging around and helping out just because it was such an amazing place and people can’t bear to leave.
The people I studied with are now some of my closest friends and we still catch up once a week and collaborate on projects. (I just spent the past three days in a stinking hot kangaroo suit helping people out with a music video)
I saw some people I went to high school with last week for the first time in five years and they remarked how much I’d changed and grown up. This is despite the fact that I have pink hair, wear rainbows and make a living being a kid and making cartoons.
I guess what I’m saying is that when you leave high school, you gravitate towards people like you, rather than just people you have to go to class with. You definitely change as you find out what it is that you love to do.
I haven’t travelled yet, but that’s something on the books for next year. Maybe more study will be the right thing for you, maybe finding a job, maybe travelling. It’s all trial and error. When you’re young, you can afford to make a few mistakes.
...uh…. sorry for the essay!
Continuing on with school after high school is one of the best moves I’ve made. Granted, I go to art school, not a traditional university, but oh man I couldn’t picture myself anywhere else. It’s a dream come true to be living, working and going to school with amazingly creative people. Lacking any kind of finances, I couldn’t take a gap year or start working like many other students. I focused myself on getting into art school for the last year of high school, and earned enough scholarships to pay for everything I need as a starving artist:) The system might not be for everyone, but I love it.
I have plenty of friends who chose uni courses that were totally unsuitable for them, and they really dreaded school, but for me, i chose something that i loved, and i enjoyed it thoroughly. I think uni is not for everyone, but if you choose the right course, it can be exciting, stimulating and very fulfilling. And hostel living is a big part of that too. I learned a lot about myself living away from home, so i don’t think it’s necessarily true that uni is this life-zapping thing. I agree that you should only study something if you love it or at least are good at it, so that you won’t have to suffer through three or four years. And working before going to uni is a great way to get a feel of what you want to do for the rest of your life.
Maybe i’m conservative, but i do believe that for some people, having higher qualifications does help you along in life. Not everyone is as lucky as gala to find her calling in life at age 24, and get to do something that totally suits her talents. Some talented people may not need to go to school much, like gala’s artist friend, but I think sometimes sticking it out in school will really make finding a job easier in future. It’s just being practical, that’s all. Realistically, higher academic qualifications will give you more jobs to choose from, which is always a good thing. Having more choices might help you to find something that you like and suits you, and that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.
A lot of this hit home for me.
I am pre-med at university and well, being a doctor isn’t my dream or passion… I just have no idea what I want to do, so I’m shooting high. I’m beginning to resent it. My ‘depression’ has come back and my disordered eating is getting out of hand. I don’t know if I’m just jumping ship when things are getting rough or if this truly isn’t what I should be doing with my life. Each day is utter confusion and … I don’t know, I’m not doing so well in school. I have a lot of passions, but I can’t figure out what my future should be. It feels as though I’m still fighting even though I’ve already lost. I think I’m smart, but things just aren’t going well.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Gala!!
I wish someone had told me that the only person you have to live up to is yourself. That way every decision you make for yourself is 100% correct.
Loveley article- thank you! I think it’s important that people realize there’s an alternative to going to college, and that to be successful you dont neccissarily need a college degree.
I’m a junior in high school and this is the first year they’re starting to push college on us. I, for one, full-heartedly want to go to college. I love learning and I love academics, as nerdy or as stupid as it sounds. I genuinley want to go to college. The professions or careers I want to do require a college degree, and I don’t see that as bad. Although a college degree isnt for everyone, I think in general it is a good thing to have. Regardless, I decided I will probably apply to uni and then ask for a years deference. I think after 12 years of non-stop school, over-achieving, etc, I need a damn break! I want to explore, go on adventures, and realize what the world has to offer before I start studying again.
It’s actually quite comforting to know that schools are starting to encourage taking a year off before college. Big-name schools such as Harvard and Brown actually encourage students to take a year off, and say that Americans are perfect at deciding the wrong age to start university. Just thought that was interesting!
thanks again!
Take a gap year! I did and I am so glad that I did it. I worked two jobs at once for about 6 months, then did a season at a ski resort – so I was still working but also having a great holiday and the first time living away from home! This saved me up enough money to go to europe – i intended to travel around then find a job in London and stay for a year or two. I traveled for 3 months and had a ball – then I got to London and loved the city, but hated the idea of working yet another retail/hospitality job every day, even if it was in such an awesome city – it’s still mundane work. I decided that I needed to go home and start the fashion design degree that I’d deffered so that I could return to London in a few years, fully qualified, and work in a job I would love.
I’m SO glad I had this year to figure out what I wanted to do – I’ve been back in australia for a year now, I love my degree, love living in Sydney, and love my boyfriend who I met when I moved into this apartment! University is hard work, and I don’t think I was ready for it straight out of school – I needed that break and the life experience
Gala – this is the best article I’ve read ever (which is not saying much because all of your articles are great – esp Lush ones – I got hooked on Lush from you![]())
I feel just like kakeline up there, being pre-med. I hate how the system demands that you zip through uni as soon as you can. Everybody wants stuff fast – quantity over quality.
In my 3rd year of uni, and I really wish I had taken a gap year. I didn’t take one, because I would have lost full scholarship to my current uni if I had. So on the one hand, I am going to uni for free. On the other, I don’t like what I’m studying (biology). I think I would be happy doing digital art and animation, but I am just too scared to pick myself up and go for it, because being an artist seems so unstable compared to being a doctor. T_T What do we do?
Growing up and leaving highschool is an adevnture & remember, “an inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.” – Chesterton
Emotionally, I think lots of things get easier post high-school, especially if you have the guts to move away to college or to work. You can define yourself and become an independent individual and be exactly who you want to be!
I’ve found that as they get older, most people are more confident, more sure of who they are and care less what people around them think. On the other hand, financial, academic and life stresses increase enormously. But learning how to take care of those things can be exciting and give you confidence as well as scary.There have been so very many hard things to deal with since I left high school, but I know myself better and I love myself more and more & that’s pretty much the best thing that can happen to a person :)
go with doing what you enjoy and are interested in.
my mum made me go to uni and do a B Ed, while i really had my heart set on going and learning about music production. need less to say 6 years later i have an $18,000 debt and no degree.
learning about what you are interested in and care about will make any study you do 12987 times easier.
One thing, though, I work in a university and we don’t benefit from students failing classes at all. If the fail rate is high then the courses and the school running them isn’t refunded. It can be a big disaster. We spend a huge amount of effort helping students to find the courses they want to do… But maybe the university system you are used to is different. I’m only used to about 20% of students paying substantial fees….
In the few months I’ve been out of high school, I have to say that I find college is be so much better than anything I’ve ever experienced. Then again, I am a nerdy kid. I go to a well-regarded liberal arts school, I’m taking classes in topics that I actually enjoy, my friends are amazing, and I’ve discovered interests that I never would have thought to try before.
It would have benefited me to take a year off, I’m sure, but it also would have gotten me out of the habits of education, and I’ll be honest- I love school, as long as I’m interested in my classes. College allows that.
One things for sure- I won’t go straight to grad school from here, if I should find that necessary. That’s a little crazy.
I think before anyone goes into a hardcore school they should try out some classes in Community Colleges. Not only are they cheaper, but it’s a little easier of a transition before running off to school (not saying it’s any easier, some of my classes were back breaking courses).
I did about a year and a half of community college before running off to Beauty School. Now I can go back and take a real look at what I want to do (and make some real money =D).
This was excellent to read =]
I’m going into year 12 next year, so all of my teachers are starting on the whole, “What are you doing when you get out of school?” business. So are family and friends.
I want to take a gap year and get into the body modifications industry, and then go to Uni to do Science or Teaching [I think], knowing that I have a job to support me through the years. But whenever I start to say it, people just hear “body piercer” and say, “That will get you no where in life!! Go to Uni!!”
Maybe I should direct everybody to this article!! =]
I’ve been in university for 5 years and have loved every single moment – best decision of my entire life was coming here. I’ve debated about the program I’m in, and I’ve had stressful times and assignments, but overall, I’ve been overwhelmingly happy and feel very confident that what I’ve learned will help me pursue my interests at a professional level.
Thanks for sharing your career history, Gala! I love finding out about what people did in their ‘previous lives’.
For me, the biggest thing about leaving school was leaving home. I had been itching to leave home for probably 3 years. I left my small town for the big city (I spent 8 years in the city before moving to another small town). I found it such a useful and enriching growth experience, and I really value it – so many people stay at home after they leave school and I’m very glad I didn’t. Although I had No Money At All for many years!
I loved school and I really enjoyed a lot of my tertiary studies, but no way were my university days the best of my life. They were very definitely a stepping stone to my future career – and my career plans changed during my first year. That first year was a bit of a shock, my second year I had really found my feet and had the confidence to follow my dreams and choose papers I was really interested in, by my third year I was getting tired of it, and during my fourth year (post-grad diploma) I had had a gutsful of the no money thing.
In response to the initial question: it’s all about self-discovery all the time. Sometimes big insights come quickly, sometimes you gradually start finding yourself somewhere unexpectedly wonderful, sometimes your dreams come true. The “rest of your life” is not a single discrete unit. We always have opportunities for learning – some of these are called “mistakes” ;-) Many people change paths several times over the years. Many people leave school with a sigh of relief and find life outside academia suits them so much better, and go on to great success. No matter who you are, I would say: only go to university if you know in your heart you need to. There’s no upper age-limit on tertiary study. You can always go and get qualifications at another time in your life.
Oh, thank you so much for writing this, Gala.
I’m in high shool (all-girls Catholic, ugh) now, and, to be honest, it sucks. Uniforms annoy me like nothing else. Every time someone says that high school was the best days of their life, I wonder how bad the rest of life is.
A while ago the teachers pretty much handed us a piece of paper and said “Write down what you want to do for the rest of your life here, quick!”. I mean, come on. (As a rebellion to this I handed that paper in weeks and weeks late, but that’s besides the point. ;>).
I think I’ll cope with uni better than with high school, because I’ll have actually chosen to do it. Hard work, I can handle. Being told what to do every second, I can not.
And now to get the ridiculous score of 99.7 or whatever it is required to get into that media & communications course..
Ah, this is a good and inspiring article…I flirted with the idea of taking years off and exploring the world and everything, but I realized that college was really the best choice for me. I have mega mega mega anxiety about new social interactions, and sort of slowly moving from high school to college, with increasing independence and confidence and two whole jobs under my belt (I used to have panic attacks just walking into places, asking for applications, wow)has been really good for me, I think.
So college might be good for terrified little things like me, as boring as it is.
I grew up in Auckland, HATED high school, and left at 16 after completing School Certificate. I was in a rush to start life. This was a giant scandal, since I am the daughter of a university professor and my elder brother was dux (valedictorian) of our high school. But I was rebellious, thought that I would never want to do anything that would need a university degree (thought I’d become a photo-journalist at the time), and knew I would just start going downhill if I stayed at school any longer. In the next few years, I did a travel and tourism course (but didn’t complete it), worked as an office assistant (1 month), a receptionist (2 months), and a florist (first job 3 months, second job almost 2 years). I learned a LOT about what I didn’t want to do, what kind of work environments I couldn’t stand. I enjoyed the creative aspect of the floristry but eventually began to feel that my brain was rotting.
At 20, I decided I wanted to go to university. Because I wanted to go for myself, I was motivated, and finished my BA (in Education!) in 2.5 years. I really advocate going to university for the right reasons, NOT because your parents want you to, or because you don’t know what else to do. Now I work in an incredible field that has all the aspects that I need in a job (and nothing to do with photo-journalism).
I know some people that went straight into law or medicine right after high school and are still rocking it. Others like me have gone through a few evolutions and continue to do so. It’s different for everyone, but you will survive high school, you will get out, it really is a small part of your life, thought I know it doesn’t feel like it at the time (this is what I kind of wish someone had said to me at 16!)
I could rant on and on about this! Good luck to you!
where was your blog and this post five years ago?! hehe! I wish I had been told by my peers that it was okay to just chill out. that if I tried college (uni) and didn’t like it, decided to drop it and move on with my life that it would be okay. but no one told me that! although I did take two years off from academia after highschool, I kept feeling like there was a timer going off after those years telling me my “play time” was up and I “had” to go to school! what a load of crud! because frankly, I hate uni (I’m just not a personality suited to it), and this past semester off (due to illness) has been the best in years! its really making me wish I could just forget the whole degree thing altogether. but both my dad and boyfriend really want me to at least get a two-year degree. not really happy about that though—any advice???
anyway, sorry for the long-winded comment! your post just struck a chord with me!! I also can’t thank you enough for what you said about finding a job that you like and sticking to it! I’ve finally found my dream job (basically a handcraft artist)—after a handful of really crummy ones!! lol.
Casey — My advice is to follow your heart & ALWAYS do what you want! Don’t let anyone push you into doing something you don’t like! You will only end up resenting them & disliking yourself. It’s your life; not theirs!
Gorgeous Gala, you have such a habit of posting things eerily apt to my current situation (although I am a tiny bit past the post high school leap)!
Thank you for this, Gala.
I was always very good at school, from 1st grade to senior year. I never had to try very hard, I was just naturally really smart and talented (although I’ve always been much more artistic than anything else).
Now I’m at my first year at university and I hate it. I wish I could quit, but my parents wouldn’t “approve” of that (and they’re paying for my university!) and I’d feel like such a failure because I don’t know what else I’d want to do with my life. Ahh, I’m so confused. :(
Gosh Gala
Could this article BE any more pertinent to me?
Three years after finishing high school, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life, and hoping that it won’t leave me broke.
Ever since my disastrous year studying primary education, I was SO ANGRY at my school for drumming into us the notion that you HAVE to go straight to uni or you’ve ultimately failed at your education.
I’ve just applied for uni the fourth time – in the fourth different course. My family is like 99% teachers, so when I said I wanted to be a musician as an 8 year old, they were APPALLED – “But you’re smart! You do maths and english and you’re very good at them, so you should teach them.” It was drummed into me from a young age that you can’t get a REAL job doing something creative – which is all I’d ever want to do.
However having a full time job this last year has made me realise that unless you have a job you’re passionate about, you will never, EVER be satisfied.
Gosh darn these expectations!!!
I too wish I’d taken a gap year! I went straight to uni from an all-girls school, and basically spent 3 years staring at boys and slacking off.
Also, don’t discount vocational courses or polytechs. I did the same course as Gala a couple of years after I finished uni, and in one year learned more (and got more industry experience) than I had in the previous 5 years. A practical hands-on course was way better for me, even though I was clever at high school and was encouraged to study law at university.
Just because you’re clever doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your dream — whatever it is. Never let anyone tell you that a possible career is ‘a waste of your good brain’. A smart person will do really well in whatever you set your mind to. If you are smart enough to be a doctor, but deep down want to be a chef, be a chef! You will be a really great chef, and you will use your intelligence to make really smart career and business decisions. You simply can’t be too smart for anything. I wish someone had told me that when I was younger!
I’ve just seen Nikki’s comment above. Eeep! Be a musician!
Re University incomes — in NZ funding is half from student fees and half from government grants, based on research outputs. So they really make most of their money from post-grad and PhD students. Which is good actually, as it’s the research done at universities that gets commercialised into cool inventions and things that will actually change the world!
Gala, loved your article. Just wanted to add that as someone who has worked in lots of crappy jobs, either because I thought I was supposed to, or I had to, and come back to the chance at an education in my thirties, I agree that you need to learn about yourself before you should go to uni. I am loving art school so much more now than I could have if I’d done it at 17 (when I first dreamt it). However, as someone who has often felt like an imposter in life, the value of that diploma (or degree or whatever) is beyond measure. Not to prove anything to anyone else, but to prove it to myself.
On the flip side dear Gala, college seems like a great place for “finding yourself”. Haven’t made it ther myself yet mind you, but removing yourself from the people you’ve known for 4 to 12 years and aquiring a whole new crop of friends, living by your own accord-having no one but yourself motivate you to finsh that 20 page paper and the laundry!-and learning balance between work, school, and having a good time would be more effective in self discovery and discipline than getting an apartment and finding a 9 to 5 that you can almost stand. Wow that was the longest sentence ever! Pheeew!
Gala, I get a really anti-university tone from this, which scares me! Personally I love university for myself, even though I know tons of people who it just doesn’t work for. Is there any chance you could make your message here clearer in the actual article?
What I want to say is that everyone should take the time to figure out what’s right for them. Never put yourself into a concrete mindset of what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.
emilyyy — I am about to run out the door so have to make this quick. The reason my article reads the way it does is because “go to college go to college go to college” is jammed down people’s throats from birth. I want to let people know they have options; that’s really really important. So many people don’t do well at university & spend the rest of their life feeling like a failure because of it. I think that is awful & unnecessary. I’m just playing devil’s advocate. The whole world validates people who go to university, I’m trying to provide a balanced view. Of course uni is great for some people but not all. The people who love it don’t need to know my thoughts on uni because it doesn’t matter as long as they’re happy! xx
dear gala,
are you me?
this article is so appropriate, it’s spooky.
It sounds like Dorkas is going to a school which is very similar to mine. I go to Reed College and I ADORE it.
I think it really depends upon the college that you go to. Reed is known for being different. Students are really encouraged to think for themselves, and Reed encourages people to think and succeed, but to succeed in whatever way you feel is important. And that’s why Reed attracts so many students who take time off before or after attending college in order to do some traveling or to work for a few years. I think that I will try to join the Peace Corps after graduating.
I am a very different from what I was when I was in high school, and I think that Reed has helped me in that. Would I have been happy in another university? Probably, because I tend to be a happy person. But would I have changed so much? Would some of the people I know be happy? I don’t think so.
I hated school. I really wanted to go to private school (I was really smart and got picked on a lot for spending lunch time reading) but my parents couldn’t afford to send me, they sent my younger brother (who dropped out in Yr 10 and was dumb as a brick anyway. sigh).
I was picked on so much in school and so bored, it really dragged. I started skipping periods and then whole days, then weeks. When I graduated I found out I had missed over 40% of Yr 12 and had to get a special reference from my english teacher to allow me to graduate. By that time I was 7 months pregnant and didn’t really give a shit. I also didn’t go to my TEE exams, so figured I would never go to uni and basically that my life was ruined.
When my son was 1 I did a bridging course to get into uni, but I was horribly depressed and broke and dropped out after racking up a few thousand in HECS debt, but not even finishing my first year. i was so disillusioned with everything. this was no better than high school.
I did crappy marketing jobs and temping – I am really good at marketing. I sell a lot of product, whatever it is and I’m good at talking to people, but phone sales sucked the soul out of me. I will never go back to a marketing job.
Now I am studying part time at a different uni, doing sociology and anthropology which I hate for about a week just before exams and adore the rest of the time. I do casual work at a clothing store which gives me some spending money, but doesn’t make me bored of the 9-5.
This is getting really long, so what I really want to say is life is short – if you are unhappy, look to what you can do about it. School is over really quickly, so if you’re picked on don’t stress too much – most popular kids end up fat or in dead end jobs because high school is their glory days and there is nowhere to go but down from there. Don’t stay in a job you hate – do what you have to (uni, tafe, correspondence courses, work experience) to start doing the things you love. Money means nothing if you are too unhappy to enjoy the things it buys. Don’t give in to pressure – a lot of my decisions where made because my parents or my ex said I ‘should’ be doing this or that. It’s only been my own choices that have made me happy. Live so you have no regrets. Life on the whole can only get better.
I loved school. I love university and I loved travelling. My problem is when to decide that I am going to grow up and stand up in “the real” world.
My honest opinion is the same as gala’s above if you do what you want to, all of the work feels worth it and sometimes it doesn’t feel like work at all! If you don’t know what to do maybe do a Tafe course in something that your interested in general and not to think about where your going to end up.
I’ve always had a problem with never thinking that everything good thats happen to me is because I worked for it, I always thing that its all good luck. Doing well at school (it never felt like work, I used to paint for art nearly everyday because I loved it not because I had to + same with drama, I did the work because I loved it), going to university + traveling (even though I organised it) all seem like awesome accidents that I somehow feel into.
I’m doing transition week for yr 12 at the moment. All the teachers I’ve had so far have talked about EVERY piece of work, just being a build up to the exam for the entrance score. Which I’m finding frustrating because I’m doing non-scored so no big exams for me.
All the teachers I have talked to cannot believe I’m not doing a scored course, the same words “But what are going to do?” keep being repeated. I can understand some of they shock because I am (I hate to be vain) very smart. Which means I’m smart enough to know that I’m to young and indecisive to pick a course, so my plans are to travel and just really learn what I want from books and talking to people. Maybe after all that I can pick something I might go to uni to do.Uni looks like a lot of fun to me and I have lots of day dreams about going but I’d be constantly course hopping if I went.
All friends and family are just focused on UNI! UNI! UNI! and are also shocked that I’m choosing non-scored. I haven’t even told my Mum yet! (I only see every two weeks)
Wow that’s really long and sort of goes nowhere…
I find it fascinating reading all the comments and your article Gala was just such a springboard for some amazing experiences.
I left school at 16, my parents said that it was time I “paid my way” even though I was a top student at my high school. There was no money for me to stay a student and live at home and Uni was FREE when I was the right age to go! I was simply not mature enough to leave home to study. I went into the government as a school leaver and there I’ve stayed for the last 25 years. Some of what I do flashes my lights; a lot of it doesn’t.
I can hear you asking, “Why don’t you leave”? Because when you get into your early 40’s you have a mortgage to pay for, you have health issues that mean that you need a good, tolerant employer that will forgive you most of your foibles, you have aging parents that need to be kept an eye on and you need something quite stable. I don’t live to work: I work to live.
I still, at nearly 42 years old, don’t know what I want to do with my life. Truly. And while drifting isn’t most people’s idea of a life well lived, it is nevertheless a life and it’s full of surprises, u-turns, disappointments, highs and lows.
Life is what you make it. Live it the best way you know how. Don’t allow anyone else to tell you how to live your life, unless you’re living off someone else (your parents, partner, whoever) then you have an obligation to be mindful and respectful of that fact. Listen to your heart and identify your passions and if you are able to follow them as your life work then GO LIKE HELL and grab them :)
All the best to you soon-to-be school leavers :)
Oh I forgot to say. I get asked “What will you do in a few years time?” a lot. My answer normally shocks people because I have no idea and I could not be happier! :-D
If you used to have a thing for serial killers, you should watch the show Dexter. It’s on Showtime and it’s about a serial killer who only kills other killers. The main character, Dex, is played by Michael C. Hall, an amazing actor, and I’m maaaadly in love with him. The show is fabulous and I’m on the edge of my seat every week.
I also want to say that you have some excellent advice about uni. I’m in my second year of college now, and I also started when I was 17, but I’m starting to wish I had taken a break and traveled or something. I love what I’m studying, but school in general has become such a grind.
Ahhhh, this article could not have come at a better/worse time….I’m 17, a high-school senior, and stuck in the middle of the college app process. I have top choices in mind, and they are certainly places that emphasize intellectual freedom more than cranking & spitting students out. I cannot wait to go to college because, honestly, I love schooling. I want to learn and do as much as possible with as many brilliant minds in as short a period as possible…aka, uni.
But still, there is a considerable part of me that thinks deferring a year would be great. Somehow, I don’t see it happening…just a fact of life. However, I know I want to take a year abroad, travel as much as possble in the summertimes, and probably wait a few years between college and the grad school I see as inevitable (at this point in my life.)I can only hope that these will be “enough” to make up for not taking a gap year.
Also, I love the article (and you in general), but: some people are like me and take really, really well to schooling.
Vanessa M.- I’m a bit like you- 18 and applying to uni. After thinking long and hard about the whole thing, and even being told by my headmistress that there was no need for me to go to university in order to become a writer, I decided to apply anyway because I really, passionately love studying English Lit., and simply wouldn’t be happy not doing the thing I love. However, I totally empathise with those who aren’t so sure about what they want to do and who feel as if they’re on a treadmill to nowhere. Gala’s summed up the point that as wonderful as higher education can be, it’s not the perfect choice for every school leaver.
My goodness, Gala, what a great time to post an article!
I’m a senior in high school, and it is fast approaching our Christmas holiday (three weeks!), so many of our teachers are pushing the college thing down our throats. My Spanish 2 teacher (whom I adore) spent a good deal of class time to preach on about how great college is and how it would be such an asset to secure a good life. My English (another lovely soul I adore) also preaches on about how such an advanced class as ours (a dualcredit course) should be going to college.
We even spent an entire period in the library listening to the guidance counselor instruct and guide us through the college process.
Every time some of these lectures pop up, I can’t help but loathe the time I must sit there and listen. I’ve always imagined that college was for me, but recently I’ve been having huge second thoughts. The whole thing seems like such a waste, honestly, and its something that I have little interest in. Yet, somehow,I continue to find myself feeling like I HAVE to go to college or risk becoming a failure in life. I guess that’s social conditioning for you.
Lately, I’ve been entertaining the thought of joining the U.S. military (Navy to be specific), and when I express my interest in becoming a soldier my teachers give me an interesting look. Some seem appalled by the thought that such a ‘bright, young, intelligent girl’ would even consider joining the military. I should be going to a university, not boot camp!
But I think differently. I view service time as a grand adventure, a jump start in life. Though I know very little but the ‘propaganda’ (I mean no harm using this term, mind you) on the websites, brochures, and other forms of media. But can’t the same be said about going to a university?
It’s all rather confusing right now. Miss Gala, thank you for providing the information you have. Though it’s vain to so this, I honestly believed that my thinking was too obscure. You’ve proven that there are others that think differently and do different things from the rest of the herd and have become a better person for it. I can only hope that whatever decisions I make in my life will benefit and not hurt me.
Post-school was similarly varied for me. The problem I had (and still have to this current day) is my inability to apply myself to anything that I’m not passionate about. I definitely could’ve topped my class in maths and science (I do wear glasses after all…) but the fact was, I just didn’t want to. So amid some very ordinary grades in my final year, I managed to talk my parents into letting me leave.
Their only proviso was that I not just go off into some retail or fast food job (of course that wasn’t my plan, but I will still just floating around unsure of what I was actually going to do), and by luck I ended up being offered a clerical traineeship at the State Library of SA. Initially this would’ve called for me to do typing and filing and all sorts of stuff, but once again luck was on my side and they turfed me into the Communications and Media department, where my boss was an ex-ABC journalist. Impressed with my abilities with words and a flair at finding a story, she quickly took all the trainee work and gave it to her secretary and sent me out into working as a Communications Trainee – assisting media crews and reporters with research, chasing camera crews around the historic buildings, helping with exhibitions, marketing and throwing huge events and becoming really involved with the music and arts community in Adelaide – even writing for many a year at dB Magazine interviewing bands and reviewing CDs, which in turn led to an annual job at the Big Day Out.
From there, I bounced into a similar role in the Museum before having enough of the public service government job where you were only on a 3 month contract that they’d renew and got the hell out of there.
Based purely on my want and need for steady money, I took a retail job at a major department store and sold menswear for a few months. After becoming increasingly bored with serving customers I started helping the Visual Merchandisers dress mannequins and do store displays and when the menswear VM left, they offered me his position – despite it being a prerequsite of the job that you study and have your certificate in Visual Merchandising before they’ll even give you an interview. I guess they just realised that somehow I knew my stuff. Yay me.
Did that for a while, got into a fashion school (I wanted to be a Stylist), found out that that particular fashion school was a little bit on the ‘not to be trusted’ side… then promptly decided to uproot and move to Melbourne. Somehow managed to talk my way into an assistant buyers role in homewares, then after a year working with quilts and pillows the opportunity came up to work in youth fashion and I took it.
So there you have it. Had it not been for leaving school and getting out into the workplace, meeting some fantastic people who encouraged my creative side, taking chances and getting out and living life, I wouldn’t be in the fantastic position I’m in today.
I think it’s just important to realise that there is more out there than knuckling down and hitting the books. I dont remember half of what I learned back in school – and what I don’t know there’s always a calculator nearby or a book or someone to ask. School and study just wasn’t for me, so I followed my heart and went for what I was passionate about. I learnt a lot about myself in the process and made some mistakes – but had an incredible time doing it and have so many stories to tell.
Far better than being stuck in some office some place back home, selling insurance to people, I think.
x
Grand advice there missy. I started my undergraduate degree at 23! There’s no set age you have to be in and out of uni by. And that’s the beauty of it, but many people don’t see this and only focus on the degree as being an important part of life. Well, it’s not in reality. You can be as successful as you want to be, with or without a degree(s). And why go study when you’re going to spend most of the time not paying attention, wagging classes and failing miserably? It’ll just rake up a bill, and some bad feelings about yourself. After I finished high school I thought I should take a year off, much to my parents dismay, since I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew is I wanted to take some time off to enjoy finishing school – A year to find myself, work out what I wanted to do, work out where I wanted to be, enjoy my life etc.A year ended up turning into 5 years, and a few different career paths. It was the string of soul destroying jobs that sent me back to school. Now I can’t think of life WITHOUT uni! I adore what I’m learning and the people I’m meeting.
But if I went to uni at 18, I would have dropped out. I know this, and I knew it then. Now at 25, I’m at a crossroad where I’m debating going down the academia path for a couple of years, or back into the working world again – an improvement from my “what the hell am I doing with my life” crisis at 22. Though I’m also choosing subjects I find satisfying and interesting to keep me at uni, otherwise I can see my mind wandering and possibly dropping out again. School should be about learning and stimulation, not about requirements to fit into society or make mega bucks.
Life is your oyster really, and what you want to do with it is completely up to you. The rules and regulations society seems to deem upon us really are just constructed constraints – you don’t need to rake up your numbers of degrees in order to be successful, but, sadly, it does help. You don’t need to be in a set career before 30, because realistically you’ll jump a few times throughout your life before you settle with what you really want. My dad didn’t become a teacher until he was 40, and now he can’t see himself being anything else. Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure. And life reaaaally starts after you get rid of the high school monkey from your back. You start to blossom as a person, and have the freedom to do whatever you damn well please :) My advice – your own happiness is your key. With or without uni, it’s in your hands and no one elses.
Key point:
Do something you’re interested in.
Do something you consider worthwhile.
Most people don’t say in the same job they trained for (in uni, an apprenticeship etc) because a) that’s not how things seem to work in contemporary society, b) they usually go back to study the thing they always wanted to do but denied themselves, for whatever reason (eg. “not a real job”, “no prospects”, “too hard”)
Ultimately this is YOUR life, and you ARE entitled to live it, even if you are a seventeen year old school leaver or a seventy year old grandmother!
The oldest student in my course (Bachelor of Arts, Art (honours)) is 83!!!
I got lucky. I just graduated from a BAppSc degree and i’m continuing on with postgrad studies next year. I started uni as soon as I finished high school and I never changed my degree. Although my chosen career path has changed, it is still within the same scientific field…(these fields are preeeeetty broad!)
I absolutely love the area i’ve studied and so this motivated me to do well at uni. It is really a lot of effort…more so than a full time job if you want to get top grades. I can tell you that it nearly broke me a few times because I put too much pressure on myself to achieve my goals as I don’t cope well with failure.
My first year at uni was fun, but I didn’t get fantastic grades because I put zero effort in (even less than I had at highschool!). I just wanted to have a BREAK after high school. Every single one of my friends has either failed several subjects or changed their degree a few times. Can you say HECS debt?! AND, some of those friends who are now on to their third degree are still not happy and are just filling in time whilst gaining debt.
Gala has really hit the nail on the head here…Societal pressure is shocking. I strongly believe that we should encourage school-leavers who want to furtheir their studies to take at least a year off to travel and work, gain a sense of who they are and who they want to be…there is so much pressure in highschool, from teachers, parents, friends…it’s almost impossible to be yourself.
I actually remember my teachers and career counsellors telling us that if we didn’t go straight to uni after highschool, that we would never go. We would become distracted and would ‘forget how to study’. Ultimately, we would FAIL and end up working dead-end jobs. I detest them for perpetuating this nonsense.
You do not go to uni to find yourself people! Find yourself somewhere that doesn’t charge you $4000 per semester!
Oh, another tip: Do not choose your career path based on money. Besides the fact that associated career earnings are not static, you will not succeed/be happy without passion. Honestly, even if you don’t think so now, you’ll learn that MONEY DOES NOT MATTER. Happiness matters, and money does not equal happiness. It’s true people!
Sometimes I think it’s so unjust that people in my field work SO freaking hard and only earn average wages. But then I remember that my job will essentially be to help people and improve quality of life, and that trumps money anyday.
OK, I couldn’t resist chipping in, despite the huge!!! number of comments. I was accepted for uni at 16 to do biology and chemistry, and I decided that instead of going straight away I would go and work for a year and then go when I was 17. This was the best thing I could have done, because I was so miserable as a chambermaid/barmaid that I swore to myself that I would never again work in a job with a title that ended in maid. So I went to uni and I have been working damn hard at it ever since, and in the process I’ve discovered that it’s my passion. And I truly think that’s the key – find your passion. I’ve been studying now for the last 11 years, and I am due to graduate with my doctorate next year.
The advice that I’d like to give all those coming to the end of their school days is: *Work hard at finishing the year as best you can, as it can only open doors. *Apply for uni and defer for a year, so you can live a bit and try out other things. Your uni place will still be there should you need it. *Research your choice of uni carefully, as some are a lot more flexible than others. My uni, Stirling in Scotland, allows you to be completely flexible for the first 18 months, while you decide what degree you want to go for. Incidentally, I went for English instead of Biology! *Follow your passion, as life is too short not to.
Best of luck to all those who are just beginning their journey.
xx
PS I wrote a post on ‘dream-chasing’ last Thursday which you might find helpful. Particularly the first point about figuring out what your dreams are. If you’re interested you can find it here:
http://tinyurl.com/yqsa5v
I totally agr