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So - Today was the first day of my senior year in high school, and I know for certain that my school is going to start hounding me about college. I've always been decent at school. I could be outstanding if I tried more. However, school has always been an emotional living hell. I am an extremely overweight, computer savvy, video gamer. For those of you who haven't been to public school recently - that is prime target number one.
I give you this background on me because it my help explain about how I feel about school. I say I hate it a lot, and most of the time I do, with the exception of my vocational school. This being said, school has never been my cup of tea, and it's getting to be crunch time.
I ask this mostly to people who didn't go to college, or at least didn't go full time. I want to know if college is as critically important as people have made it out to be. I don't think I want to go to college, but who knows, I may have to, or things might change. You never know.
Can I find an internship anywhere that will allow me to bypass college? I am currently in my 2nd year of CADD (Computer Aided Drafting & Design) at my vocational school, and I LOVE it. I would love to find an internship, but will that allow me to bypass college?
Pre-Emptive Thank you!
(not as BM as pre-emptive GG I hope!!)
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How about you just try to start losing weight and go from there?
I know for a fact that if you begin to lose weight all aspects of your life will improve.
Also, college is in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM like Highschool. Period.
College is prolly the best thing you could possibly do other than lose the extra weight. For reals though, Highschool sucks really really bad, and the people that are total dicks aren't going to go anywhere in this life, but you will if you go to college and use dem brains you got.
Good luck
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Blazinghand
United States25552 Posts
I am an extremely overweight, computer savvy, video gamer.
This is severely, severely hated on in High School. HS is full of jerks that will make you hate your life.
I found college to be entirely different than public HS.
In college, you will find other people who are just like you, especially if you go to school to study computer related fields. It's possible you think that school isn't your thing because of your (understandably) crappy high school experience. I'd recommend giving a technical school or JC/CC a shot and study a CS or CADD related field-- you might really enjoy it.
If you have some family connections, or live in the SF Bay area, you might be able to find a series of internships at small firms that could lead to a career (and once you're a few jobs in, your college degree doesn't matter any more), but the best bet is almost certainly to pursue a relevant degree-- it will get your foot in the door and provide you with good job security.
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As I am in university I don't really know about the other options, but I feel I need to mention one thing. All the hassle that you get in high school from jerks usually disappears in college, in my experience. You hang out with whoever you want, there are tons of people, and if someone doesn't like you then you can choose to basically never interact. The only place where this isn't the case is in a shared residence.
Good luck!
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Depends on what you want to do for a living. Even jobs that don't typically require post-secondary are seeing applications with some kind of degree due to how common it is for people to go to a college or university after school.
A few thoughts...
You don't need to go to school to be successful or make money. Example; one of my best friends decided to sell cars out of high school. He worked hard, put in lots of hours and effort and now makes fairly decent money, even comparable to what I make (having went to school). However, he works pretty long hours, is in constant competition with a very easy to get into occupation and can see large swings in his income.
As someone who went to school, I found the experience very enjoyable (and I did not enjoy high school at all). I got a degree with good grades, and now work in a very comfortable job making great money with the potential to make lots more (more potential than my friend I mentioned earlier) and I work significantly less "hard" than him. I find that having the degree will often allow you to work smarter instead of harder. Which can make for a nicer quality of life in many cases. I also have great job security, as there are significantly less people qualified to do what I do then something that required a high school degree and maybe a few months training. Having a degree gives you a competitive advantage that sticks with you for a long time.
So really, figure out your goals in life.If you want LOTS of money, your chances will likely be higher with a degree. If you want to be comfortable, probably working hard, then you could get by in a trade or other type of job out of high school, but it's not as easy of a career.
And really, University is NOTHING like high school. Not course wise, community wise..anything. You will likely find lots of people like you, make new friends, enjoy your courses a lot more as you choose what you learn. PERSONALLY, I have never really heard someone I know say they disliked going to University.
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United States5162 Posts
You can certainly be a CAD technician without a college degree, but with the current economic times you have stiff competition from people who did continue school. Getting an internship would help you build a relationship with a company, but it won't be a 'magic bullet' which ensures you'll get a job without a degree.
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On September 02 2011 03:13 N3rV[Green] wrote:
How about you just try to start losing weight and go from there?
I know for a fact that if you begin to lose weight all aspects of your life will improve.
Also, college is in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM like Highschool. Period.
College is prolly the best thing you could possibly do other than lose the extra weight. For reals though, Highschool sucks really really bad, and the people that are total dicks aren't going to go anywhere in this life, but you will if you go to college and use dem brains you got.
Good luck
This.
High school sucks for almost everybody, when you move on to post-secondary education people actually grow up a little bit and stop acting like assholes all the time.
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As has already been stated, College is a lot different from High school. You should at least give it a shot. There is more freedom, people are more mature(usually), and you don't have to sit through 8 hours of classes every day (though there is more homework).
I don't know much about vocational school, but as long as you don't go through life with merely a HS degree you will probably be OK.
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isn't vocational school an alternative to college anyway?
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so college is just for the name.... people dont hire people without college degrees... thats life....
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On September 02 2011 03:15 inlagdsil wrote:
As I am in university I don't really know about the other options, but I feel I need to mention one thing. All the hassle that you get in high school from jerks usually disappears in college, in my experience. You hang out with whoever you want, there are tons of people, and if someone doesn't like you then you can choose to basically never interact. The only place where this isn't the case is in a shared residence.
Good luck!
This. Exactly this. All of the jerks who blindly hate on people for obvious reasons become the outcasts and the strangers. Obviously it doesn't all go away (you may still be the nerd or the overweight guy) but the a lot of the immaturity behind it is partially shaved away. As long as you are social enough you can surround yourself with great people.
Best of luck with your decisions. I personally value classroom education very highly and would recommend you try out a university. Even if you only spend one year somewhere and decide that College isn't for you, you'll have gained plenty of knowledge beyond what you've learned in books. The social knowledge and human interaction is invaluable later in life.
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High school has nothing on college, mate. High School is full of angsty teenagers who need to find an outlet to release the stress from their newly influxed hormones. In College, people grow out of that and realize that they're actually paying for education now and can't even bother to bully. I just started my first year here and people are a lot nicer and less judgmental [or less vocal about their judgements] than people were in high school.
Get a degree. You can never go wrong with getting a degree, unless you get the wrong degree.
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My thoughts on the college transition is that no one really changes. You still have the immature people that will make fun of everyone else and you have the social outcasts and everything in-between. The difference is that it is much easier to never come into contact with people you don't like, so effectively those types of people never exist, and the niche social groups feel like the entire world since you can hang out with only the type of people you want to.
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College is 510% different than HS.
I am a Freshman and I had the same problems, same worries. I have to say, there are no little clicks like in high school and everything, people that have a variety of different interests all tend to hang out with everyone. You'll really be surprised at how many people you meet that just throw themselves at you to hang out. Hopefully, you will also find some gamers as well!
GLHF!
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Our firm deals with both architectural and transportation design/planning (comprehensive infrastructure, you could call it) and accordingly, we have a lot of CAD guys here. As far as I know, all of these CAD dudes have at least a bachelor of something, many have additional CAD-related certificates, and some have masters. I do not know a single non-administrative staff in my office that only has a high school diploma.
It's also not only about the degree, it's about the connections you can make during your college years. Your friends could become your potential employer/employee. Through internships, co-op opportunities, research opportunities, or even voluntary activities, you will make tens and hundreds of connections that will allow you to move to the next stage of life - whatever that may be. Do you honestly believe people get hired purely based on degree and skill? Let me break it to you, connection comes before resume. Guaranteed. College/university is perhaps the best place to make connections, and you should keep this in mind always.
Hate it or not, you have to do college, period. Best of luck my friend.
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As everyone said, college is completely different than high school. Think of college is a clean slate -- no one knows you and no one knows anyone else. You're a noob and everyone else is a noob.
I would just go to a junior college and take a few classes. If you like it, transfer to a bigger university. Also, it may be difficult to find an internship without having that college background. Companies tend to recruit interns from campuses just because they're somewhat assured that the candidate they're selecting at least has some knowledge for the internship.
But, honestly, sometimes college isn't the answer. If you don't like it, don't force yourself to go through it. I can't speak for all industries, but in the gaming industry, it's acceptable for someone to not have a degree. It's not a big deal there.
Personally, I find college to be beneficial just because you can make connections. That's really it. You won't necessarily learn everything you need to know before jumping into a career, but it's a good foundation. But like I said, if you feel like you can do more without college, then more power to you.
There is no correct build order for life. 
GL HF! 
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if you can get a cool full time apprenticeship at 18 then go for it, you can always sign up to college the following year if it doesnt work out
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This was said before but honestly, I think if you just tried to lose at least some weight you will feel much better about yourself. Maybe then, you'll be motivated to keep feeling good, and lose some more weight. After that, you can see how you feel about going to college.
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I am of believe that college is a critical junction in life that very few individuals should skip. Only once in life do you get four years where you are allow to explore - yourself, your place in the world, who you want to be. Skipping those years means you narrowed your life possibilities to what you're told about in HS.
Maybe you got lucky, but you might not. I'd rather invest 4-years than making that bet.
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On September 02 2011 09:08 Primadog wrote:
I am of believe that college is a critical junction in life that very few individuals should skip. Only once in life do you get four years where you are allow to explore - yourself, your place in the world, who you want to be. Skipping those years means you narrowed your life possibilities to what you're told about in HS.
Maybe you got lucky, but you might not. I'd rather invest 4-years than making that bet.
I will second this. You can focus on whatever you want to at college and not have such a generalized education. I personally took a year off between the transition and recommend you do the same if you have no idea what you'd like to study. Stick to the plan of making sure you apply and go back after that 1 year off. HS can be fun for some, not so fun for others, but college is where everyone is their own person and no one gives a care in the world. It's more mature, and you can do your own thing. I wouldn't skip it.
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I just graduated university, and you won't be bullied in college. Colleges are so huge you don't have to see anyone you don't want to, everyone has their own pursuits other than bullying, and people are generally more mature in the ways that matter. (still hilarious when drunk though)
Education is always good. You can get places through hard work and determination and talent, but a college gives you the credentials, and develops your world view and shapes the way you think and act.
Go to college, if you hate it, drop out, it's your life, but give it a shot.
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dude i had a blast in high school... as a matter of fact i miss it.
but yeah college is different and mostly everyone accept you for who you are
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Everyone is nice in college and you won't have any problem with friends or tons of stupid drama as long as you put yourself out there a bit.
Maybe a year of community college? It is quite easy and could help you ease into college without having to drop some massive $$$.
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Thank you for all your responses. To everyone that is like "lose weight and blahh" I am -.- Slowly, but surely, I am losing weight. This summer I dropped over 10 pounds..
I'm leaning more towards a gap year right now. School is a terrible place for me, though, admittedly, it has gotten better.
I will probably end up in college.
Once again, thank you for the, mostly, polite responses.
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EPT
