Are you using your major?

JRB · Mar 29, 2005

I don't have one.

*but I did some networking, and I am now a customer service manager.

Toshi · Mar 29, 2005

go work for a bit. working sucks. i bet you'll find new motivation from the experience

Ridemonkey · Mar 29, 2005

Dude, quit spending your money right now. Leave school. There will be a time in your life when you may feel a lot more motivated about it. College isn't worth the time and money if you aren't giving it 100%

Toshi · Mar 29, 2005

maybe it's "pretty damn easy" to get a 3.0, but there's a lot of headroom there...

Full Trucker · Mar 29, 2005

TheInedibleHulk said:
Are you using your major?

Yes.

TheInedibleHulk said:
...because if you arent you should save me some time and give it to me...

No.

blue · Mar 29, 2005

Speaking for my dad, he majored in Marketing (minor in Mandarin Chinese, he was a Mormon missionary to Taiwan). He graduated from college, and realized he hated marketing. His real love was for electronic and imbedded system stuff. Now he's a software engineer building robots for the Israeli Army and John Deere.

I'm 17 and entering college in the fall, but I too am contemplating whether it would be the best choice at this point. I kind of have the murky goal of maybe law, international law, or working for the State Dept./CIA abroad, but I'm not sure. I think maybe working for a year would help me find something I like. I dunno.

Ridemonkey · Mar 29, 2005

I think every kid should tak one or two years off after HS and experience life.

pixelninja · Mar 29, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
I think every kid should tak one or two years off after HS and experience life.

I wish I would have.

Back to the original question, yes I'm using my major and have been for the past 15 years. Luckily I majored in something that I enjoy doing.

Craw · Mar 29, 2005

I went to school for film, got a film degree. I work in the film industry but I didn't need to go to school for film in order to do what I do now...in fact I'd probably be better off with a different degree. Like business or something..but getting a film degree kept me interested in school.

Whereas if I were to just take any old major thinking that it will only help my career jobwise, then I would have quit school way earlier..

ummbikes · Mar 29, 2005

I was a Poly-Sci major, with a minor in computer science. I am now a service manager for a IT firm that does network, hardware, and software support. But, I sit behind a desk and put out fires and find fixes to the crazy stuff businesses do to their computer systems. So I would say I blend my educational paths together to do my job.

Toshi · Mar 29, 2005

TheInedibleHulk said:
Thats true, but it's like I can do no work at all and get a B or do a bunch and get an A. I have never really cared much about grades, grades are just numbers. My high school GPA was 3.3 but my test scores were huge, like 99th percentile. Laziness and lack of motivation prevails when it comes time to do all the busywork they throw at me. The weird thing is Im not lazy at all when it comes to real work or things that I care about. I got a job when I was 14 and held it for 5 years, and last summer I got up at 5:45 every morning and did very crappy manual labor for a complete toolbox for 10-13 hours a day because thats what I had to do to get myself to races.

"You see Bob, it's not that Im lazy, it's that I just dont care."

sooner or later you will realize that no one is going to reward you for simply being smart. there are no high iq handout lines. you have to find something you want to do, and work at it.

oh, and i don't use my major. CS degree, worked for 6 months as the IT Director for a hotel group just to pass the time until med school. didn't like the job or the people much.

speedster · Mar 29, 2005

I'm a 5th year Mechanical Engineering student and yes i will use my degree when I graduate in June. The reason it is so easy for you so far is because you haven't had to take hard classes and it's boring as hell. I did really well in highschool and in all my G.E. classes in college...they were a joke. However, my ME classes are very different and my senior level classes require a lot of work and dedicated time. It is only your second year and after you pick something you really enjoy college will become a lot more fun in the academic aspect. Stick with it and find what you love, and you'll never be bored.

splat · Mar 29, 2005

I got a BS in electrical engineering ,did it for a little while and decided I prefered running the computer rather than designing them , and now I'm a Unix administrator

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

Went to college after a 5 year hitch with the Navy SeaBees. I was an electrician so I went to work for a contractor when I got out. After seeing the electrical engineers in their air conditioned offices while I was digging ditches for duct banks, I decided it was time to get my ass in college.

My weakest subject in high school was math so I of course chose to got into electrical engineering.... :dead:

I currently do electrical engineering for the US Air Force and (because I had too much freetime and not enough stress in my life) I own a homebuilding business.

Discostu · Mar 29, 2005

What school are you going to? I'm a freshmen Mechanical Engineering major at Lehigh University (technically I have sophomore standing, 3.86 GPA 33 credits). I'm not sure what exactly I want to do with a degree, but I like my classes and I think ME will give be a solid foundation for whatever I decide I want to pursue.

I agree that if you really don't like what you're doing and its not getting you to some goal you really desire, there is no point in contuing along the same path. The way I see it you have two choices: First you could stay where you are and take new courses until you find something you like. Or second, drop out at the end of the semester and join the workforce, find something you like, if it requires higher education to advance to a position you want, go back to school, if not you probably found the job you've been looking for.

TreeSaw · Mar 29, 2005

Yes, I am using all of them! I am teaching music and perform (not as often as I would like, but I have too many hobbies) and I do curriculum development and teach technology for my district as well.

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

In the engineering field, your GPA dosen't matter that much.

The old joke when I was in school was, "What do you call an engineer with a low GPA?"

The answer was, "An engineer!"

Most of my classmates who had 3.5+ gpa's got highpaying (and very high stress) jobs out of college.... but nearly everyone of them burned out with in 5 years... There are only so many 80 hour weeks you can work, and when you divide your high salary by the number of actual hours you work, you'll find that you ain't making jack.

jaydee · Mar 29, 2005

I went to university right out of high school and it was a total waste of time for everyone concerned, but I did learn to play the guitar and then played in bands for 10 years. I could have done that without university, except that I did learn who had the best herb in town. I went back years later and got a degree, which I used for 13 years. Then I chucked the whole thing and started over again. If I was reincarnated, I wouldn't go to university straight out of high school unless I really really knew what I wanted to do. Better to work at a few really crappy jobs, so you can use them as motivation when you do decide to voluntarily return to school.

Batman · Mar 29, 2005

I did what a lot of you suggested and am currently taking a year off school and working. I'm heading to university in the fall though, so we'll see how I like it. I found highschool quite easy so I'm hoping university will be more of a challenge; plus I'm choosing a field i'm interested in. I'm more than happy to continue working, but I feel some need to get a degree.

rvlacich · Mar 29, 2005

N8 said:
Went to college after a 5 year hitch with the Navy SeaBees. I was an electrician so I went to work for a contractor when I got out. After seeing the electrical engineers in their air conditioned offices while I was digging ditches for duct banks, I decided it was time to get my ass in college.

My weakest subject in high school was math so I of course chose to got into electrical engineering....

I currently do electrical engineering for the US Air Force and (because I had too much freetime and not enough stress in my life) I own a homebuilding business.

So, am I in for good stuff? I'm a HS senior right now and I'm going to do EE next year. I'm down with math and physics and working hard. Anything to watch out for?

Off topic here- I need to find some monkeys in NYC (Manhattan) to ride with! Otherwise it'll be a lonely fours years...

Smelly · Mar 29, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
I think every kid should tak one or two years off after HS and experience life.

Travel, work, anything. Too many people just go thru college with no idea why they're there, and I know that because I was one of them my first year at school. I worked for a year and then went back with a much better idea of who I was and what I might want to do with my life.
Just don't waste the fours years. My best friend is graduating next month and feels like college was, academically speaking, a complete waste of time and money. It isn't madatory that you go to college. You can always go back later if you want.

reflux · Mar 29, 2005

speedster said:
I'm a 5th year Mechanical Engineering student and yes i will use my degree when I graduate in June. The reason it is so easy for you so far is because you haven't had to take hard classes and it's boring as hell. I did really well in highschool and in all my G.E. classes in college...they were a joke. However, my ME classes are very different and my senior level classes require a lot of work and dedicated time. It is only your second year and after you pick something you really enjoy college will become a lot more fun in the academic aspect. Stick with it and find what you love, and you'll never be bored.

Chris, it's AC, what's up? Congrats on graduating, where are you headed after slo?

Back to the original topic and question: the way I looked at it, I didn't want to be a "high school graduate" for the rest of my life. For 23 years of my life, my achievements nowhere near approached my potential and it really upset me. If you can live with that, enjoy it, but I couldn't and hopefully won't have to anytime soon.

blue · Mar 29, 2005

My parents let me live under their roof as long as I'm a student, but from hearing all of this, I'm considering taking a year off. How am I going to approach them about this idea...?

reflux · Mar 30, 2005

blue said:
My parents let me live under their roof as long as I'm a student, but from hearing all of this, I'm considering taking a year off. How am I going to approach them about this idea...?

If you think your parents would shoot the idea down immediatly, try this. Find an internship or co-op somewhere else in the country doing something that you find interesting, major related or not. Btw, just say no to the Southwestern Company (is that the one? the pyramid scheme?).

Westy · Mar 30, 2005

N8 said:
In the engineering field, your GPA dosen't matter that much.

The old joke when I was in school was, "What do you call an engineer with a low GPA?"

The answer was, "An engineer!"

Most of my classmates who had 3.5+ gpa's got highpaying (and very high stress) jobs out of college.... but nearly everyone of them burned out with in 5 years... There are only so many 80 hour weeks you can work, and when you divide your high salary by the number of actual hours you work, you'll find that you ain't making jack.

To a point I agree that your GPA does not matter that much after school, but for me keeping a good GPA meant some serious scratch in grants and scholarships.

scrublover · Mar 30, 2005

yup. at least, i sure hope so. more to the point, my patients sure hope so....

i went for 2.5 years, stopped for two years to figure out what i wanted to do. that, and pay for some school debt i'd already accrued, and save up for going back.

school is worth it in the long run, but only if you know what you want to do with it, IMO.

W4S · Mar 30, 2005

No answer is correct, make the most of all your adventures and learn everything you can about everything you do.

case in point:

1. Go to highly tauted eastern seaboard boarding school, barely graduate.
2. EARN athletic scholarship to western seaboard state university.
3. Blow up body parts from years of athletic abuse, find fraternity/alcohol, fail out of school.
4. Learn from athletic and alcohol abuse, become interested in Physical Therapy from multiple surgeries.
5. EARN graduate honors in PT. Decide that's not what you want to do for a living, move to the mountains and become a ski/bike bum for 5 years.
6. Learn lots about people and decide to join work force and start a 'career'.
7. toil for years in less than appealing jobs, work your butt off, decide that this is the place for you.
8. Finally, find out who, what and why you are. Find out what you truely believe, have company send you to executive MBA course at west coast university.
9. live the rest of your life like it's your last day, but don't take it too seriously.

Good luck, sounds like you have a good head. Just remember, you have a life time to figure out what really makes you happy and you'll probably need it.

Toshi · Mar 30, 2005

Westy said:
To a point I agree that your GPA does not matter that much after school, but for me keeping a good GPA meant some serious scratch in grants and scholarships.

and if you want to continue on being a bachelors you need to pull good grades or have one good story for why you didn't

stevew · Mar 30, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
I think every kid should tak one or two years off after HS and experience life.

I did that.

It has been a 17 year vacation.

ALEXIS_DH · Mar 30, 2005

i was an aerospace engineering major. junior.

and i also wish i had a year or 2 off when i finished High school. (i finished high school when I was 16, and I was way too young to know crap about what i wanted i think)....

i quit college about a year ago, am 22 right now and living the life, working in a casino, and frecuently translating stuff and doing contacts overseas for my sisters juice bottling factory.

truly, i dont know if i would ever use my major, probably i will switch to mechanical engineering as its easier to land a job with that. said that... i shall return.... to college.
i tried to move to Paris to school there, but seems my grades aint good nuff for the good schools, plus they will set me back a lot, and i really dont want to be in college for many years to come.

this year am going back to school to (drums) "the dreaded US" (hitchcock sountrack) get my B.S.

anyway i will hopefully start a business on my own later here, and use the oldschool South American working schedule, with a 3 hour lunch break with naptime and all... because working 9-5 SUCKS MAJOR BALLS!!!!!!!

scrublover · Mar 30, 2005

TheInedibleHulk said:
.......
To answer somebody's question, I go to University of Colorado at boulder. I came here for the mountains and it has been worth it, but I think the huge size of the school has contributed to my disallusionment with it. If I were to take some time off it would definately be in Boulder.

if you're going to stay around here, maybe a small compromise. take a few classes at front range CC, just in whatever the hell interests you.
way cheaper, and you may really find something you like/are interested in/are really good at. then when you need to or are ready to, transfer back to the U. and by then, your in-state will be cheaper.

and ride the rest of the time.

-dustin · Mar 30, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
I think every kid should tak one or two years off after HS and experience life.

surprisingly, or not, everyone who heard me say i wanted to take a break said "you'll never go back to school."

Ridemonkey said:
Dude, quit spending your money right now.

yep. i've floated between 3 different majors (undeclared Nat Sci, music ed, and now eco), and still am not completely satisfied. i chose economics 'cause micro- and macro- were the only classes i had fun in.

N8 said:
The old joke when I was in school was, "What do you call an engineer with a low GPA?"

The answer was, "An engineer!"

definitely an enginerd joke.

man, college must be a different game in my hometown. it's expected for you to go, and if you don't, you're pretty much a failure, unless you go to the military. then you're god's gift to mankind 'cause you ****ed up in high school and your last resort at any sort of useful life was the military (note: not raggin' on military, just expressing my experiences). even if you did go to college, some people consider you useless. i remember...Senior Dinner at my church, and one old ****stick stood up and said "that Shawn...he's gonna make something of himself. that boy is going to the Navy." that pretty much pissed off me, and everyone else who wasn't going into some branch of the military. 3 months later, Shawn was out of the Navy, getting married to some high school chick he knocked up. i wanted to kick the old ****stick in the shins and say "where you at now, bitch?!"

but anywho, i felt pressured into going to school, and staying. i've wanted to drop out for a semester since my first (horrid) semester as an undergrad. i have had 2 semesters with <2.0 gpa, 'cause i just didn't give 2 ****s about the classes, or the grading procedures. no one seems to understand my distaste for how grades are handed out, and "engineered". still don't care about grades, actually, but now my classes are at least interesting (best classes i have taken, though, were music theory). one of the classes i'm taking has involved a lot of reading regarding various philosophers' view of education. it has pretty well solidified my thoughts towards the University; the system is messed up. Harry Cleaver is the professor. if you're into reading philosophy, look him up. if you're interested in reading philosophers' views of education, look up Political Economy of Education Cleaver on Google.

nevermind: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/

ugh, i'm getting long-winded. TIH, take a year off to establish in-state tuition.

I Are Baboon · Mar 30, 2005

I have a business degree and yes I am using it.

I started off an accounting major and realized quickly that it was not something I wanted to do for 40 years, so I got the hell out of that. I was not sure what I wanted to do, so took the advice of my academic advisor and became a management major because that teaches you basic business skills. Best move I made. Management is a friggin easy degree to earn too.

McGRP01 · Mar 30, 2005

No.

Degree = Sociology/Cultural Anthropology
Job = Network Admin.

pixelninja · Mar 30, 2005

TheInedibleHulk said:
Wow, I got quite a response on this, thanks guys. I need to talk all this over with the pops, he's a very reasonable guy but does place alot of value on education (he's a doctor) so I'm not sure what he's gonna say.

I don't think anyone here is saying that education isn't valuable. It is. Its just that if you don't know what you want to do, you have a few years still to figure it out without wasting tens of thousands of dollars.

Are you using your major?

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