Dropping out of Uni

[darlingg]

Hi,

I have a question for those who didn’t go to uni or those who dropped out. Because I’m thinking about dropping out. But I’m not sure because then I won’t have a diploma except for high school and maybe a certificate for the two years I went to uni.

I did economics/modern languages in high school and I did two years of tourism management in uni. So maybe I could get a job in the tourism industry because I know you don't need a bachelor or master diploma to do the job I want. (flight attendant or ground stewardess)

Now my question is if you regret dropping out or if you regret not going to uni. And what kind of job do you have now? Because if you don’t have a diploma there aren’t many jobs you can do right? And with that job you have now, do you earn enough to save a little? I still live with my parents so I don’t have to worry about rent for the next few years.

Maybe I’ll drop out of uni but then I can still take a course elsewhere or something. I’m not sure yet.

[~Dom~]

I am not at the time for Uni yet, I haven't even done my GCSEs, so you will have to get an opinion from someone who did drop out or not go.

But here is my advice.

At the end of the day it's your decision, follow the advice from your heart and not your head. No-one really decides apart from yourself, your the one that changes things. Sure people help you towards your decision, but ultimately, it's your choice to take. And don't forget think hard. Don't decide suddenly. Take time to thing about your options.

And good luck with your decision.

[whispered_envy]

I agree with Dom! If you're really not happy at uni, then leave, and if you think you've made the wrong decision, then there are alternative ways to get back in to uni.

I haven't dropped out (I'm going to uni next year- I defferred), but my boyfriend left high school after year ten to do a mechanics apprenticeship- he works full time, and earns a reasonable amount (not the greatest but its enough), and is able to save up money, even though he also has a loan to pay off. I suppose it depends on the job you end up getting and how often you work...if you don't have to worry about rent then that's a huge help!

[emmasi]

Ah, I was just on my way to the "Have a Moan" thread to complain about all the assignments I have due this week

I am not a fan of uni at all - I find it soul-crushing and pointless - but that mostly comes from the fact that I've never had a plan about what I want to do with my life. I see other people working for their degrees because they know what they want to do with them and they know what they're aiming for. So, my advice would be to have a plan. I don't have one and am therefore on an endless treadmill of futility and disappointment, watching myself fade away more and more into an indifferent system who wants all "artists" - either visual artists or writers - to be exactly the same and do the same thing as each other and the same thing as every other artist that's come before them... So... yeah. Uni is not a fun place for me, but it's somewhere to be. If you have nowhere else to be, then I don't know if you should drop out. Maybe just hold on until you have a plan.

Deferring is an excellent way of taking a break and giving yourself time to sort things out. I deferred and have decided that I want a degree - any degree - just to get people off my back. It's not at all fulfilling, but to the outside world it gives off the appearance of doing "something" with my life, and at the moment that's all I care about.

[KaitieL]

I dropped out of uni after a semester and I don't regret it. I was studying teaching and it's not what I wanted to do. I don't even know why I decided to do it. I think it was the fact that everyone else was doing it so I thought why not? I didn't see the point in wasting my money on something that I didn't want to do. I'm glad I did because I still don't want to be a teacher and I wouldn't have had a job when I graduated. One of my friends who I went to uni with graduated last year and coudn't find a job anywhere.

So yeah, I think it was one of my better decisions. But if I were you, I would probably defer because you're so far into your degree. Take a year off and work and just do nothing. Have a break and just relax.

[thelonius]

I definitely agree with Emmasi. For a while doing my BA I absolutely hated it because I wasn't sure what direction I was going in and everyone else seemed to know! And I definitely feel what you're saying about how certain people need to act certain ways! But having realised what I want to do (journalism), I now feel like there's a point afterall. I hope you realise and decide too Emmasi, because it really does make a difference once you feel something! All that crap you put up with serves some purpose in the overall scheme of things ;) So I think its great that you know what you want to do darlingg.

I agree that deferring is a good idea. Gives you time to think, time to save, time to scout out if you can get into flight attending/ground stewarding. If you can't, you can always go back. If you do, then you've made the right decision to leave earlier Another thing you could do is ask a course advisor or someone who would know, do your credits count in the future? If say, in five years time, you found a job that needed a degree, could you go back and do the rest of your course?

Another thing is - how long is your course? If its 3 years, then you only have 1 to go! Of course if you really hate it, a year is a long time. Good luck with your decision anyway!

[Barbara]

You want to be a fligh attendant or a ground hostess and you don't need a bachelor or master diploma to do that. Then you can always apply for one of those jobs.

You studied modern languages in high school. Those languages are Dutch, French, English and German or Spanish, right? In a tourism school, you learnt languages too. If you're going to work for a Belgian airline company, those are the languages you'll have to be able to speak and you can speak them already. So that's a good thing. So, if it's what you really want to do, go for it!

On the other hand, you're probably going to a Dutch school but my friend went to a French tourism school in Brussels and she only had 3 years to study. I don't know how long it lasts in your school but if you only have one more year to go, it might be a good idea to keep going. That way you'll have a bachelor diploma, which can be a good thing if someday you decide you don't want to be a flight attendant anymore or if the company you work for goes bankrupt (i.e. Sabena - you're from Belgium, you know what I'm talking about ).

In the end, you're the one who has to study. If you really don't feel like going back, maybe you shouldn't or you can always take a year off and think about it.

[darlingg]

Thank you all for your replies. I still don’t know what I’m going to do but I’ll think about it a little longer

[SAB]

Here in Australia we often find ads for flight attendant jobs with Emirates Airlines, they do their own courses so you don't need uni. Ofcourse, uni does look good on your resume but not *everything* needs it.

If you wanna be flight attendent, just go for it and apply, you never know yuo may just get the job!

[Eli]

My friend never went to uni. After high school she kinda just drifted around for a few years and tried different things without really finding anything she liked. She was planning to become a flight attendant, and not having uni was never an issue in that plan (then again, I think the whole high school - uni - job thing here in Norway is pretty different from a lot of other countries). However, she changed her mind and decided to become a teacher instead, so I wouldn't know everything about how it would be if she had actually gone for that plan.

Anyway, when it comes to the whole dropping out, not dropping out from uni thing, I don't know if I'm much of a help... I'm still in high school. I start my senior year next week, but I remember I wanted to change my study program pretty much all of my Freshman year. I never did, and I'm happy about that now, but I think it's like what others have already said. If you're far into the degree you probably know for sure whether you like it or not, and that's a lot different than just changing your minds and thinking about quitting after a few months (like I did my freshman year). On the other hand, even though it might not be necessary to get a job, it does look nice on a resumé. I don't think you will regret getting the degree after you've completed it, but on the other hand, if you really hate it, it's a long time going to uni for one or two years if it feels completely useless, even if you might not regret doing it afterwards.

Like pretty much everyone else said, I think you should consider taking a year off. Just spend a year working, relaxing anf thinking, and maybe things will sort themselves out. Good luck