I'm in college but I'm doing a diploma i have little-no interest in. I want to drop out so I don't have to do another year of this (I did 1 and a half years of college before in this subject but the current level 3 work is more difficult intense & based around career-of which I am not wanting to pursue-I am mainly a writer and have aims to start a home uni course on English Literature/Language when I leave). I am also going/currently am sending my cvs out to everywhere to get a part time job, I will be getting two once I leave this course to makeup for time perhaps but if I'm doing open uni course i may just get one part time job.

my problem is ..... am i making an ok decision because i really don't want to do this anymore but alot of relatives place emphasis on going to college. I am not a college kind of person I wanted to do an apprenticeship but nothing was available that i wanted to do and that fit my career path (writing).

I really want to drop out but its just the fact I am leaving college that gets my parents anxious. I WILL look for jobs like i said i am sending cvs out to and fro and have got replies. I just want to leave this course though and pursue something that is related to my own ambitions in life.

my sister went to college but my father himself didn't and out of my mother and him I am more like my dad in terms of personality so probably that's why i feel the same about college


p.s. i am finding it very hard to keep up with the work; we get a lot of assignments and they're quite detailed & like i say, based around career of it & as i have little interest/it is not my career path, I get a bit-very behind as i don't seem to have enough motivation to keep doing the assigments. if it was english I'd make sure i did my best.

[Jan1212]

What are the pros of getting a degree for you? You will have that for the rest of your life, I am biased because I made the mistake of leaving college and not finishing up. I don't want you to make the same mistake as I did, but if you feel so strongly about not attending college and following your passion, nobody can stop you

[H3rmit]

Originally Posted by LaurieLee

I am not a college kind of person I wanted to do an apprenticeship but nothing was available that i wanted to do and that fit my career path (writing).

Writing is not specific enough to be a career path. What kind of writing do you want to do as a career? If creative writing, it can be great to have a practical day job to keep you going, as getting paid for creative writing is difficult. Is your current field of study practical?

Try to make your various decisions work as a package. I suggest.

[Yoda]

Just because you don't want to go to school now doesn't mean you won't want to go to school ever.

I dropped out of university after two years because every semester I had a different major and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I worked at McD's and took an EMT course and start volunteering with EMS. Later I got a paramedic certificate and worked a paid medic job for a bit and then went back to school for my RN. I am happy that I took the break to 'find myself'.

[Maven]

I don't even know what I'm doing in college. I have changed my degree program a couple of times now; it's not officially listed as Liberal Arts/Communication yet, but that's what I'm taking courses in, to see how I like it. I think it's ok to drop out and "find yourself," and figure out what you want in life. I agree also, that you need to figure out what kind of writing you're interested in. Creative writing, journalism, scriptwriting/screenwriting, etc.? That might help you focus better.

[Perna]

It is easy to say we would work hard if we liked something better or if we had this or that set up but we cannot really imagine the future, how it is actually going to turn out. I would certainly stick out your college courses, working as hard as you can on them, until you have something else in place to replace them.

No job is all fun and for writing you have to be especially self-starting and if you cannot figure out how to work hard where you are now, come up with a plan on transitioning to something else, you may get stuck somewhere you have an even harder time transitioning from.

Pretend you have been assigned to write about you, your life, your problems, your current subject in school and you have to learn all about it. Start keeping a journal on that "project"/book, and keep a track of the CVs you are sending out, what responses you are getting, why you are sending to those particular jobs (how are they any better than your school work?) how you intend to save/spend the money to support yourself (if your parents are paying for school and would like you to be in school, it would not be very polite to ask them to support you when you are doing your own thing that may or may not give a result?).

Generally when we graduate from school, we get a job and go out on our own, start our own life and support ourselves. If you want to have someone else support you, you might want to make a plan and contract to discuss with them; pay them for your upkeep or promise when you are another year along (since you are in your 3rd year, of four?) you will pay them X or move out, etc. If your parents are contributing to your schooling, maybe sell them on your plan for working on English/writing and have them continue to contribute to your version of school, explaining where exactly that will get you and benefit them for their investment.

I would go talk to real people working as you wish to work and get some feel for the lifestyle and how it happens. Writing has an apprenticeship/learning period just like any other occupation, one doesn't suddenly write a best-selling book without having been working for 10+years at writing. Working full-time to support yourself eats away time and energy for writing (been there, tried that) but you cannot expect other people to support you, that's not how life works.

If your uni work will give you a degree that has a high possibility of giving you a job, I would work on that, whether I liked it or not, make a 5-year plan and do my writing on my own time, make sure I am committed and realize how difficult writing is and have some success, have been to classes and conferences and published an article/story or two, etc. before I decided to pursue it full-time.

In the 1990's when I was working full-time I took a great many writing courses and worked extremely hard on my writing but did not write my novel until I finished my second degree and was a couple years into retirement and, allegedly, able to write full-time if I wanted. I got excellent training in writing, a second degree to help me in 2007 and now I have been working on a project 24/7 for over 3 years, spending over $1,000 a month on my research but still am having trouble starting the book I really want to write.

Do some writing first. Make a good plan and work at it no matter how hard but do not start by letting go of everything else. You can let go of this vine, after you have grabbed hold of the next and are moving forward through the jungle.

[5678scream]

I'd say follow your heart, do what is right for you. I dropped out of college after the first year, joined the army then went back to school and got my degree. I'm glad I did too because now I'm not swimming in loans of degrees that just weren't right for me.