Taking a semester off?

[alannanana]

I would greatly appreciate your guys' input/experience with taking time off from school. Was it worth it? What did you do? Did your "one semester off" ultimately manifest into a five-year-long summer vacation in your mom's basement?

Here's what's up:

- I'm 19. I've transferred colleges once after being placed on involuntarily medical leave at my first institution.
- Recently started working part-time
- Aspiring musician
- Never traveled beyond the borders of the US; I've never even been to the west coast. Maybe it's time to pull a Kerouac?
- I have no idea what the hell I want to do once I do graduate.

How about you? Anyone else?

[fluxquanta]

I'm currently taking time off from graduate school after one year. Knowing what I know now, if I had the money, I would've stayed. Unfortunately I was facing no job/research funding for this past summer, had only about a thousand dollars, and was 900 miles from home. There's no way I could've made it until school started again. Plus, I hated that school.

But, considering how shitty things have been since leaving, I wish I could've stayed.

If I were you, I'd just stay, especially if you don't have secure employment or concrete plans during your break.

[alannanana]

Very true and best of luck to you next year. From a practical standpoint, yes, it would make more sense to stick it out and finish undergrad while I have the funds and availability to do so.

I suppose mine is a more philosophical dilemma. I'm so unsatisfied and I don't appreciate the experience that I've been fortunate enough to have provided for me. Perhaps taking time off to pursue what does give me satisfaction (art, music, traveling) will allow me to appreciate the value of education later on. Maybe.

[missmilf25]

Originally Posted by fluxquanta

If I were you, I'd just stay, especially if you don't have secure employment or concrete plans during your break.

^^yup.

i wish i hadn't taken time off or had a better plan during my time off. my "one semester" turned into 2 years. i wish i woulda stayed, too

[Kimberly]

When I was 19, I took a semester off. I went to California. I learned a bunch of stuff about myself. I wandered and took pictures. I got to know family better. For me, it actually worked out to be only one semester. I gained a greater appreciation of college life etc. and took it a bit more seriously when I went back. I think it's a good idea. It can be risky, but so what, really? If you've got sense things'll turn out ok.

[Ansur]

If you have the option, get the degree without taking a semester off. Finish it. Just get the degree in something business, finance, or IT related.

In the job market, there are many jobs that require a degree to apply. Often, it doesn't even matter what the degree is in, as long as you have bachelor's degree. After 8 years in accounting, I had to go back and am in the middle of getting a degree in accounting. Once I have it, I can make $30k or more a year MORE than I make now. I mean, take what I make now and add $30k on top of it with that degree. There was a lot of luck involved with how far I got in my career without the degree, but you do eventually hit a wall.

I know a lot of people that decided to take a little time off. Most of the time, life happens and it's years before they get back (if they manage to get back). Meanwhile, they miss a lot of career opportunities.

Just don't lose those other interests and remember them when you're done. Get the nice job, and have an extra room or basement that you can then afford for art projects. Take a decent vacation every year. Play some music on the weekend. You can do all that in a few years, either as someone who has hobbies they can afford, or as someone living paycheck to paycheck and has the stress of trying to get by all the time.

[blackpussy]

I'm looking at going back to school in January, my HS class was '93. If I could do things differently, I would have started this road a long time ago. I know it seems like "just" a semester, but as someone already stated, sometimes life gets in the way. This is a big part of the reason it took so long for me to go back. Get it out of the way and you'll have the rest of your life to do whatever it was you were thinking of doing. Hope it all works out for you, whatever you decide.

[blackpussy]

Hmmm... nope, not gonna do it, but I have a feeling someone else will I'm trying to be nice and see how that works out.

[DWarrior]

Originally Posted by alannanana

Very true and best of luck to you next year. From a practical standpoint, yes, it would make more sense to stick it out and finish undergrad while I have the funds and availability to do so.

I suppose mine is a more philosophical dilemma. I'm so unsatisfied and I don't appreciate the experience that I've been fortunate enough to have provided for me. Perhaps taking time off to pursue what does give me satisfaction (art, music, traveling) will allow me to appreciate the value of education later on. Maybe.

How are you paying for school now? Will that still be available if you take time off? Since you only recently started working, I'm guessing your savings are somewhere close to $0, so how do you plan to travel?

I know absolutely nothing on the subject of pursuing a career in arts, but if you take time off to travel and pursue music/art, what would that entail? Would you try to get gigs, or just get high and play your musical instrument at someone's house?

If music is your serious hobby, but not a career pursuit, your school has music-related clubs, or you could join a local band. As far as pursuing an art degree, I'm guessing the biggest value it gives is force you to get a portfolio and makes it easier to get entry level jobs to start. I have no idea what music majors do at all, I've never talked to one.

If you have no idea what you want to do, you can start by talking to your counselor and checking out your school's career counselor office. You can also check out U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and just type different jobs in top right search bar and you'll also get related job suggestions.

[DWarrior]

Originally Posted by bluesiren

im currently taking time off. it turned into 2 years so far. I love it. dont care if i go back. dont need degrees. im not looking to be a faggot. do what you want. you can do anything. why brag about your car? same shit with degrees. good job buying something. you can learn it all from the nets. goodluck. come visit.

This post should make it evident that a college education does give you something you can't learn simply from browsing the interwebs.