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![[image loading]](http://tmideast.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/facepalm2ly3.jpg)
Well after a long string of financial issues it looks like I might have to take a semester or a year off to recuperate.
It's pretty uncomfortable to be in this sort of situation for a guy that has been good about going to school and staying on track of my academic career. Sadly, I don't have anyone to turn to about this problem. I'm too embarrassed to bring it up to my friends. Already quite of few of them will be graduating in a year and moving onto the professional part of their lives, and knowing the fact that I'll be lagging behind kinda hurts. So I'm turning to TeamLiquid for advice or just thoughts on taking a year off from college.
I've been rolling around in my sleep for the past few nights thinking about how off-track my life could go from taking a break. I've heard a lot of stories, especially ones involving gamers like us, of people who take a year off from college and do w/e.
I've heard talk about people just losing that motivation to finish school to get their degrees, and then slowly drift off away from reality and their friends and just indulge in whatever hobby they find closure in.
Getting by with a full-time minimal wage job is indeed a change of scenery from a university setting, but that's not the problem seeing how the majority of the population live their entire lives that way.
What I'm scared of is that slow drift away from old friends, new friends you've made at school, and a bit of anxiety from the change (ironically enough this sounds exactly like what would happen if I were graduate haha). Then eventually I'll be mindlessly going to my job day in and day out, and coming home all cooped up and cut off from society =_=.
So has anyone else been faced with a similar situation? What have you done to keep connected with people and reality? It's one thing to decide to just not go to school, and it's another to be suddenly unable to go to school. Share your experiences, your thoughts, advice, etc.
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Note: yeah, I bet to some people they will think this is a pretty stupid blog but sadly enough I am genuinely scared and even worse I don't have anyone with a similar problem who can give real advice to me irl.
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Yes it really kills our motivation to go back. I took a year off after highschool and it was fucking horrible going back to college. Dont do it
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New ones you made at school would have likely been forgotten a few weeks after you graduated.
Old friends, if they were worth it, will be there. You get older, you get less friends. Inescapable fact of life.
(also, nothing is preventing you from visiting friends after class or anything... all you're missing is in-class interaction)
more worrisome is that you wanna drop for financial reasons. You probably have a mountain of debt already. Jobs for unskilled people don't pay that well typically. And should you decide to go back in a few years, you'll be that much more dependent on having an income to live, and might REALLY not be able to afford to go because you have kids to support.
and it's hard going back too. kills your motivation. you have more shit to do, you'll be the old dude in the class, etc.
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My one year break from school turned into a 5 year break.... I'm just getting back. I learned a lot of great things from my break but actually did something (Peace Corps type work, started 2 businesses, etc) and am really motivated now. The sucky thing is I could be in my professional career making 90k instead of having 5 more years of school......
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I think, you should just do something you like. Anything really. As long as you think its a cool thing, i believe it will be fine. If you think doing a year of hardcore gaming is cool, than thats cool. Do it. If you think one year of "civilization survival" or however you want to call that is cool, like just go to some foreign country for a year, try to find a job and try to keep providing for that year and then go back, then that is cool, do it. I don't think you should be worried about people thinking your strange. If anyone does so in a unfriendly and not funny way, then that person is an ass.
Sure, whatever else you do, you might lose contact to some of your friends or at least slow things down a lot, but you'll probably have a ton of stories to tell afterwards. And also, you have a ton of opportunities to find new people, maybe even cooler ones.
Most important thing is just, you have to be convinced its a cool thing. For the most part, just ignore what you think what others might think. Just think how you feel about that. The weirdest people get along doing very weird things. Why shouldn't you get a long with something thats probably a not even that weird? As long as you think its good, its fine to try it.
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Are you sure you need to take a full time job ?
The best solution I can see for your situation would be to actually work part time and still take 1 or 2 courses at school.
I strongly discourage anybody to work full time for more than a semester, it often ends up bad, the fact is getting a full time job often make you dependent about it financially and therefore you cannot stop it or you will be in a worse situation that the one you started. (unless you actually make a lot of money and you are not throwing it away).
You can look at alternatives, financial support by friends/family, if you are aiming for a great degree (ingineering, finance etc) you might also borrow money if your credit score is good now.
Good luck it's tough.
On the other end, as some have stated it also can turn well socially and financially 
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I took a couple years off of college for various reasons - financial, emotional, academic... Anyway, after 2 years of working temp jobs and retail I was dying to go back to school. I did WAYY better my second half of college than I would have done if I had stayed for 4 straight years. Granted, I felt older than all the other students and felt a little more alienated from them during my second half of school, but that's probably just me (and it made it a lot easier to focus on my studies).
I drifted away from my friends from my first school because I moved far away from them (philly to boston). I never drifted from my good friends though, even though they got jobs while I was still in school (and vice-versa), and moved to various locations. I met new friends and contacts during the years I worked.
You're not in highschool anymore, there's no schedule you need to follow for your life. Make your decision because you want to or because it makes practical sense, not because you feel obligated to follow some normal course of action.
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I would highly recommend to not do this. Staying in school, even if you feel burned out, is a much better investment than anything else. I have met some awesome people while interning, and they have all told me to stay. One took a one year vacation to travel the world, and although he really enjoyed the experience, he ended up taking another 2 years to finish his degree.
I would have to agree with rezoacken, and it would be best to get a partime job or two and just continue your education.
Good luck though with everything!
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Calgary25951 Posts
Don't do it.
If it's financial, I would just work harder. If you can't support yourself, common sense tells me you would come out further ahead if you took out a loan. Although you would have interest, your payrate should be much higher after you graduate. You should be able to outpace the interest (depending on your degree?).
If it's not financial, I just don't see the point. People who take years off are usually just demotivated people who take a year off to "find themselves" and accomplish fucking nothing. My friend took a year off before 3rd year and is now finishing his degree in political science. He started engineering with me 9 years ago. People who take years off with no good reason tend to lose focus and drift along.
Your OP doesn't have a sharp point driving this decision. It feels like you're just like "ugh fuck this... should I take a year off?" If that is the case, the answer is decidedly "NO".
Well, that's my advice. Why don't you talk to your parents about it?
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This is a more than valid concern. I had similar thoughts between undergrad and grad studies for this very reason -- I was scared that I would no longer be motivated to go back after I had worked a few years on a steady income.
This is really a question about discipline and how much you (yourself, not external pressure) want the degree.
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My situation is slightly different, but not too much in the end. I took a year off after highschool because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I worked full time and looking back on it now it's easy to see it was the best decision I have ever made. I met some great friends at work, partied so hard that year it hurt, and still built up a good sized bank.
I went back into school mentally refreshed and motivated. I was a bit sad that I was now a year behind those who dove right in, but really down the road it's me who's getting the last laugh. Half of my friends and peers have switched programs or graduated with some useless degree. On top of that, most of them have built up debt that makes me shudder when I think about it (I'm sorry to hear about your case, I have a few close friends in the same situation.)
I graduated last year as an electrical engineer and set myself up with a decent job, stress free life, etc. A lot of those that graduated a measly year before me cannot find work or are working as a cashier at the local grocery store. A few exceptions, but nothing exceptional. Amongst the wisdom and intellect I have acquired throughout post secondary education, there's things you cannot learn through school. Your hand is still being held when your in school. Your being fed the material, and your more or less limited to learning at the pace of the program your in. It's once your out in the real world that you alone are responsible just how efficient you make yourself. A lot of people think a crummy piece of paper behind a thing piece of glass and frame is a ticket to easy street.
For example, some of my friends graduated from law. Throughout their undergrad, it was years of bragging "ah 6 figure job at the end of this" "ez life with degree" "mansion with porsche? np".
I won't tell you how it ended up, but needless to say they're not exactly smiling on a daily basis. As far as the social aspect, friends come and go all the time, new ones are always forming, older ones may or may not become distant, that's normal, and you know that.
So don't sweat it. It really isn't a big deal at all.
Take a year off.
Work and have fun.
????
Go back, graduate and really prove who you are. It just takes a bit of work, that's all.
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If it is strictly financial, then take out a student loan to graduate on time. If you get a career out of it, it's totally worth it.
If it's due to lack of motivation, then suck it up and work harder. Get yourself a scrip for Adderall or something.
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The reason for taking time off from school is purely financial, big mess up with my loans- its a long story. All I want to friggin do is go to school =(. I can't believe I said it, but the more I think about the matter the more I just want to go to school and not deal with all the hassle.
I just got off the phone with a counselor and I definitely will not be able to make it this semester. Right now my plans are to save up as much money as possible to shave off the amount I would need from loans. Sometimes I wish I could have gone back in time, saved a bit more money, made less mistakes, and I guess even apply to a cheaper school =_=.
Thanks again guys, all this advice really helped eased the anxiety. I really want to go to school... so I guess if I work hard enough and be disciplined enough I'll be able to get back on track without losing that motivation.
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It might be worth knowing - when you turn a certain age (23? 24?) you don't have to report your parents' income on the FAFSA. I went from getting no aid to getting full aid instantly when I turned that magic age, my last year of school. It might or might not make sense to you to wait until then to continue school, if you really can't afford it right now.
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I had to take a 1 year break between school and university for civil service. While I don't think it was a bad thing, it certainly made me lose quite some motivation for studying...
Try to keep studying in private for a few hours per week or so (at a fixed time), just to keep a glimpse of the academic life. Might help in keeping the motivation alive.
Good luck for the future!
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9931 Posts
i took a year off. it was the best decision i ever made. it is exactly what you make of it, which is both its greatest appeal and danger.
On September 18 2010 01:37 Jacobine wrote:
My one year break from school turned into a 5 year break.... I'm just getting back. I learned a lot of great things from my break but actually did something (Peace Corps type work, started 2 businesses, etc) and am really motivated now. The sucky thing is I could be in my professional career making 90k instead of having 5 more years of school......
why go back to school if you're making 90k?
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This thread depressed me a lot for some reason. I dropped out from college last year after one semester because I hated the course I was doing (in Ireland you have to choose a specific course instead of just a college). I did very little during that the last 8 months. I've worked 1 night a week and seemingly got progressively worse at TF2 and SC2. I just started back this week doing something completely different and while saying I'm loving would be a horrible overstatement but I am enjoying it so far. My situation is completely different since college in Ireland is for the most part free so I have no financial concerns. Looking back I'm glad I dropped out but wish I'd done something more constructive.
If you are being forced out of college for a semester due to money then I suppose the best you can do is get a full-time job near you college and try to stay in contact with your friends there as much as possible. While it's obviously far from perfect things could be worse. Just take the semester out do something and try and make sure that you have enough money to keep going for the rest of you degree.
Edit: Oh and one other thing try and stay physically active, I didn't. Which might have turned into a pretty big problem if I had been out for more than a semester.
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I never have taken time off from school, but we are required to do internships so I have taken 6mo off to go work full time. Honestly going back to school was so awesome I had a lot more control over my time vs having to work 9-5 every day and I find going to school and getting educated in several different subject much more interesting then going to work and doing the same damn thing every single fucking day.
If you need to take time off for what ever reason do it, just keep busy or going back will be much more difficult
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