Finding your place

This question is directed towards anyone who has graduated from high school or is about to graduate from high school. I am stating this up front because unless you apply to these conditions your advice is no good to me.

I am about five weeks off from graduating and I have no idea what I want to do afterward. I am going to community college for two years, I know that. But I have no idea what I am going to major in, no idea what classes to take, no idea what college/university I want to transfer to. Has anyone else been in this situation? If so how did you find your place?

 

I'm in this situation right now. Been out of school for months now and everyone I ask about it tells me the same thing. You usually find out what you ant to major in about 2 years into college. Or even more.

 

Well I'm not sure two years time will even be enough, I have no direction.
Americas failing economy only makes it worse.

 

It mainly depends on what you're interested in. What interests you everyday in your life, or what profession do you truly admire or wish you could achieve?

 

Don't fret, that's what college is for. I can't tell you how many of my senior friends have gone off to college not having any future goals or knowing what they're going to do, but once they go to college, they find something they like, take more classes in it, end up majoring and there you have it.

College is about the experience, you'll find out what you want to do when you're there.

 

I've been outta school for about 3 years now, and must say I've made many mistakes that I can't believe I did.

1. Don't rush into college, don't do it unless you have lots and lots of money.

2. Don't get a job that exhausts you, but work enough and save all your money up. Try not to spend any money, except on bare essentials.

3. When you start applying to schools, have grants, loans, etc all on standby. Don't worry so much about where you're going when you're in school, worry more about how you're going to pay for it.

4. After you get in school, or during admissions, the counsellor will talk to you about what you wanna do. They'll give you plans, courses, all of that, and let you decide. Some colleges have specially designed courses to get a degree in a certain field as quick as possible, cutting out the bullshit of random classes you really won't need.

5. Don't try to overdue it, find yourself a good past time, and keep focussed on school. If it gets too overbearing, just step back and take a breath. It's really difficult to make it through college when you live out of home, and when you're poor . I've spent the past 6 months out of school because of debt, and I only have a few credits in...

So yeah, don't focus on what you're going for, focus on how you're going to get there. Use grants, get a steady, simple job, and just ride the waves until you graduate.

 

Thanks for taking the time to help me guys, really appreciate it.

 

I took a welding class in 8th grade years ago, and that's what interested me into things like creating stuff, so I plan on becoming an Architect.

Although, I am interested in joining the Air Force, which would help me pay for my college(possibly completely). I, too, have a few weeks left until graduation.

To me, I think this would also help me not be as lazy as I am, because knowing myself, I would probably be overwhelmed, and not go through college nice and sweet. Basically - discipline, since I know I lack it.

But joining the military is a very big commitment. And although it's not as dangerous as the Marine Corp or the Army, you would have to serve for an X amount of years.

 

You are me two years ago, I graduated 2008 and pretty much had no idea what I wanted to do at all...I mean after all it is my life career we're thinking about, not an easy choice to say the least. Here is my story hopefully it will help you out.

So I graduated June of 2008, no idea what I wanted to do, my mom on my balls the whole time asking me the same questions I'm sure you're being ask right now. So I decide I'm going to go to community college, bang out my core classes wile figuring out what I want to major in. So I went threw one semester of community college, the whole time completely slacking off because I didn't want to be there wanted to be at a "real college" not a community one. That discouraged me from going to class and was just a bad semester all around. I finally said something had to give, because I didn't like where I was heading. I was only 18 but wasn't doing shit with my life and I knew it would have kept up if I didn't change it quick.

So I enlisted in the army and went to basic January 1st of 2009. Shit sucked dick in the beginning, was completely hating life to the fullest extent. Now I'm loving it to tell you the truth, I pretty much have 3 years to figure out what I want to major in (which is law enforcement, I finally decided haha). When I get out I get to use my GI bill which pays for my college. In my contract I was able to guarantee an interview with the chief of my police depart. Prior military looks great on you're resume, I'm far more responsible than I was before, stronger willed, and determined. You learn a lot about yourself.

So here is my advice if you KNOW for a fact military is not for you.

- Go to a community college and bang out you're core classes that you would need to get wile attending any other college, It'll be cheaper than a university. BUT!! You must make sure those credit hours are transferable in the event you want to finish you're associates somewhere else.

- If you do go to a community college I would advise staying the full 2 years and getting you're associates. An associates degree is good anywhere, credit hours might not be.

- Wile in community college or now watch the news, watch tv and observe people working (sounds stupid but hear me out) Observe people doing their jobs ask yourself if you could see yourself doing that for the rest of you're life or something that relates to it.

- Think about what you're good at (ex: are you good with people, do you like children, are you more of a hands on kinda guy, what was you're favorite class in school, etc. . .) Then look up jobs that relate to those interests in and strong points.

That's all I really have now, but if you have any questions I'll be around for a couple more days and would be happy to answer.

PS- Or if you think you could see yourself in the military go to you're local recruiting office...My advice for that

- Do some research on you're own first, hit up the Navy/Marines/Air Force/Army/Coast Guard web sites. Figure out which one's appeal to you most (pick like 2 or 3 branches)

- Go to there recruiting office and collect information see what they can do for you

- DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT let them suck you in. Which they will, because they're in uniform and have some god damn power I can't explain haha. You'll get the line "well lets take the practice asvab, to see what jobs we can put you in"

- Take the practice asvab see what jobs you can get with them
- Then go to another recruiting office of a different branch and do the same (and so on with whatever branches you want to check out)
- Collect information take key notes, and weigh the pro's and con's of what each branch can give you.
- Don't let them pressure you into signing papers. If you're not happy with something about the contract DO NOT SIGN, you will regret it for a wile.

Military has a lot to offer and a lot to teach, if you play you're cards right you could use you're military job experience in the civilian world.