Anyone Else Here in College? I Am and It Sucks

im getting butt whooped. I’m a biology major. lets just say it will take a little longer for me to transfer to another school.

You’re being a pussy.

I got my bachelor’s in physics. It was hard, but it was probably one of the best moments in my life. Go to class, study, do my homework, go to the gym and train. Take naps mid day if I wanted too. Much better than working full-time, thats for sure. Even though it was a very challenging degree for me to get, it was a very rewarding experience.

I’ve actually returned to school now doing nanoscience, and wish I had this mindset now when I did my undergrad. Just yesterday, I was being trained on a tunneling electron microscope and I was listening to this dude talk and I realized that … “man, I need to man up!” This cat was trying to hurry up because he had a meeting with the DoD in a couple hours on a grant and would be reading several scientific articles at once while we were figuring things out. This guy had about 50+ publications, 15+ patents, three doctorates/PhDs, and who knows what else going on… and he was pretty young. Busy, busy guy. So, it was one of those moments where I though to myself, “I’m not doing enough!” I personally do not have interest in being that busy, but it certainly helps put your life in perspective when you surround yourself with people whom are truly pushing the barriers.

So, point being, sometimes you just need to change your mindset. College can certainly be challenging, no doubt, but it is something I think you can manage and do very well at.

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Grow a set and get it done. Or, you can move to Alabama and I can get you a job working with my cousin. He didn’t like college either so he dropped out. He cuts pulp wood for a living. He says that sucks worse than college did.

In my experience, college, as a whole, was an indication of the intensity of a career.

In other words, if biology classes are this taxing, how do you think a career in the field will differ?

learn to embrace the chaos, bud.

I’m in grad school, working full time and married and it’s work work work drink work fuck work maaaaybe watch walking dead work work.

And to be honest, I love it. Love what I’m learning (analytics - stats/computer science), my wife has been a fuckin’ rock star supporting me, and I’ve been able to leverage what I’ve learned so far (1.5 semesters done outta 5) for a pretty decent pay raise this year … and I’ve been pulled into a pretty big project at work which directly relates to my capstone project in school.

Look man, college is not SUPPOSED to be easy. Work worth doing (for the most part) is not going to be easy at first (or ever if you keep upping your game).

In the immortal words of a Mr. Bruce “Fuckin’” Lee: “There are no limits. .There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

Good comments so far. I have a few additional points…first, let’s get these on the table:

  1. College is beneficial if you want to work in certain fields, but not necessarily best for everybody

  2. You can make a fine living without a college degree

  3. Some people would be better served going to a trade school or taking an apprenticeship

*note: OldOgre posted while I was typing, and this was going to be another one of the points - if it “sucks” so much, you can drop out of college, but if you do that…well, consider what your next step is before you decide how much college sucks. For some people, a life as an electrician / plumber / oilfield worker / long-haul truck driver / wood-cutter / garbageman / (insert other non college degree requiring job here) is a better existence than going to college and pushing paper in an office for 40 years; I am going to guess that’s not true for you, given what we’ve seen from you in other threads.

I suspect this is more of a problem with your expectations and work ethic than it is a problem with “college” per se. Your previous posts about training suggest that you have a mediocre work ethic, you rarely make a plan and stick to it, and you typically don’t follow through on almost anything you set out to do; not exactly traits that are desirable for someone seeking a college degree.

All college degrees are not created equal. Some require a great deal more work than others, depending on the school and the field of study. Maybe biology is hard at your school, and you want to change majors. I’m sure that some kids change majors from a “more demanding” to a “less demanding” major and end up very happy with their decision, both short-term and long-term. Many who do that are happy for that next semester or two because their life gets easier in the short term…but three or four years later they regret it when their classmates are headed to sweet gigs on Wall Street, or to medical school, or whatever else floats your boat while they’re working at Starbucks because that philosophy degree and 2.5 GPA wasn’t enough to get them into graduate school OR enough to get them a job.

One of my graduate-school classmates came back to town recently and we visited a couple of our professors at the school of public health. Walking through the halls, we heard the students complaining about how hard the classes and exams are…and joked that the final exam problems were now effectively just part of a normal day’s work.

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I think it’s funny how glorified college is by everyone…movies, music, the internet etc. College fucking sucks!

I constantly worried about not getting my engineering degree, you know how much I worry about getting fired? Never. I work with an intern and all I am reminded of is all of the shit that I escaped…45% class average on a thermodynamics test then getting berated as a whole class by your foreign professor who never held a job in the real-world, yea college is a real fucking peach!

What separates successful people from failures is the fact that they (successful people) are willing to do the things that failures aren’t willing to do. Real simple. So when you feel that feeling of “God this sucks I don’t want to do this” just imagine a gate has appeared in front of you, where the failures are kept out of. Do what you don’t want to do and open up that gate.

Basically this. College is literally the easiest thing you will ever do other than K-12. Yes, the classes can be challengeing at times (that’s the point), but you have sooooooo much time to get things done. I mean, fuck, you’re probably taking what 5 classes that are 60-90 minutes. That’s one full-time work day. One… There are 10K minutes in a week and you spend 450 of them in class. That’s like 5% of your time.

High five :thumbsup:

Yup

Lol, this is literally my life right now too… (plus an infant)

I’m glad that you brought those points up! If you hadn’t, I was planning on saying the same thing myself.

Yeah, in some ways postsecondary sucks, and in some ways it’s a great time. Bottom line is asking yourself what you intend to get out of it. If you’re good academically, that makes it easier. But that won’t do jack shit if you aren’t at least somewhat goal-oriented. There are 2 kinds of people that go to school: those that want an expensive way to hide from real life for 4 years and graduate with a useless piece of paper (if they graduate at all) and those that see it as an investment.

It’s a jaded way to look at it, but let’s face it: tons of people spout bullshit about going to school to “learn”. If you want to learn about things, there is a wealth of free (or at least much cheaper) information available at your fingertips that you can do on your own time. Learning’s great, but that’s not why we go to school.

Hell, if anything, school can be a really shitty place to learn. School teaches you what to think, not how to think. That’s another discussion entirely, though.

OP, it’s up to you what you intend to get out of school, but if you’re looking for a pity party, you won’t find one here.

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I am not really sure if college is worth it now if you are not in the elite, since everyone is going to college now. You can leverage yourself to go farther in life in some way if you prove you are better than everyone else there (1 out of 100 or 1000 let’s say), but for the other people…

So just do like the majority and keep going because you don’t have any other options.

And most people from college are good students but quite dumb (some are very dumb and I was quite shocked when I first met some).

God do I miss college. About the only thing I enjoy more about adulthood is having more money.

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i got to a community college and there is a no partying. I wish there were parties though. I usually like one of the youngest in my classes. average age in my classes is atleast 26.

the only thing that really interferers with studying is procrastination. I procrastinate so much I really need to stop.

Whoa dude, so you’re taking biology classes at a community college and you’re getting your butt whooped???

Fuuuuuuuuck… :expressionless:

Annnnnnnd with that, any and all sympathy for you has gone straight out the window.

You are starting to sound like someone who may just not be a “college” type. Because guess what? If you graduate with a biology degree and go work as a lab tech, you’ll have to spend a whole entire day, every single day that you work, doing things that are equal to or harder than the assignments you’re working on now. If that’s the kind of thing that will send you to checking FaceBook on your phone and SnapChatting your friends selfies from the lab…it may not turn out to be a very good career for you.

Most jobs that you get with a college degree require you to be somewhat of a self-starter. If you have a procrastination problem, you’d better get over it, quick. If you can’t do that, then perhaps a career where procrastination really isn’t an option would be better for you.

I’m (kinda) with ThePunisher…I am very happy with the way my life has gone and excited about my future, but man, college was fantastic. Go to class, lift, eat, study, sleep…

i have made a lot of bad choices in life ,not finishing college was not one of them
some of the jobs i had that i liked i could have,should have taken tech school classes to advance{but was not necessary }
not every body is cut out for college
i know alot of people who do fairly well never took any college classes
kinda like lifting find what you like that works for you go for it

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College helps to open some doors that would otherwise remain shut, but it does not climb the stairs to your corner office for you…

I think telling someone they’re not cut out for college is equal to telling a kid who has never entered the gym his genetics aren’t good enough to compete.

Anybody can do it, they just have to want to.

Not cut out for college seems to be an easy out to blame someone else for a lack of desire.

I have always interpreted not cut for college to mean they either are ambitious and autodidactic, not needing the structure, OR want to get into the trades.

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do - Bruce Lee

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I suppose I can offer up a differing perspective. Like you, I studied biology when I started college. Like you, I procrastinated my schoolwork. I went to college because that was the only option my parents ever encouraged. I had SAT scores in the 99th percentile, so it seemed the obvious choice. I certainly don’t fault my parents for pushing me in that direction.

The only problem was that I didn’t want to do it. I still don’t. My heart was never in it. I didn’t enjoy it. So I dropped out and joined the workforce working as a shipping clerk earning $9 an hour.

It turns out I just liked to work and liked to get paid. I was promoted shortly afterwards. Then I was promoted again, and again, and again. I won’t share the whole story of how I got here, but I now have a career as a Business Analyst with over 10 years of experience in the field. I, college dropout, got selected for my present job over a field of 6 degree-holders, including one with an MBA and one with a computer science degree.

I have several friends who have achieved much success without going to college and we all have one thing in common. We got really good at something that pays well and is in high demand. We also spent a lot of time outside of our comfort zones to get there.

One of my best friends literally lived in a camper when I met him, having just put everything he had on the line to start his own business. He’s now grown his business to nearly $1M per year in revenue, and he’s only 33. He barely finished high school. Now he barely goes to work, spending most of his time playing with his toys in the woods and lakes of Maine.

I’m not encouraging you to drop out and I’m not trying to give you the idea that most college drop-outs achieve six figure incomes in their thirties. Most don’t. My results are probably not typical and neither are my friend’s. That said, I didn’t just get lucky, and neither did he. I busted my ass, took risks and made the most of just about every opportunity that I recognized. Anyone can do this, whether you hold an advanced degree or not.

I was NOT cut out for college, even though I had SAT scores and high school achievements that would have gotten me into just about any school in the country. I was not college material because I didn’t have the right attitude, academic work ethic or DESIRE to pursue a college education. I still don’t.

Just be warned that doors will not open easy for you when you are young and uneducated. You’ll need to pry those motherfuckers open, and some won’t open at all no matter what you do.

My advice is to fix your attitude and make the most of the opportunity that is in front of you right now. Or you could just move to N. Dakota and learn how to weld. Truck drivers do well out there too.

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I think telling someone they’re not cut out for college is equal to telling a kid,who goes to the gym for a few months and thinks this sucks,