Hey all.:help: I have been in college for 2 years now. In high school I was a good student (I think I got maybe 2 Bs the entire time, the rest were As) and for my first semester in college I was a good student. After my first semester I had a personal tragedy, so I turned to partying and alcohol to deal with it. For the first time in my life, I got a C and a D. I took summer courses to bring up my GPA, but then last semester I got a C again (due to being so far behind from doing poorly in my classes before) and I lost my scholarship. This semester I have had a lot of issues to work out (my mom hating me because I'm gay, my dad being stressed due to my grandfather being very sick), and then my grandfather just died. I took it pretty hard, and missed quite a bit of class. The classes that I should have easy As in now, I have Bs and Cs. I want to take a year off from college and work to save some money, and figure out what I really want to do. I would continue to take some courses (maybe 6-9 credits online or something), but would not be the 15-18 credit hour full time student I am right now. Also, I am at the college I am at because of the scholarship I was given. Now that I no longer have it, I would like to transfer to a bigger place (the town that I'm in has less than 5,000 people). Has anyone here ever taken time of from school, and actually went back? I've been told by many that "once I quit the chances of me ever going back are slim to none." Also, to the EC adults, how can I go about telling my parents that I need to do this? I've ran it past them just briefly once before, and I was forcefully told that there was no way I was taking anytime off from school. Period. Also, they are against me transferring. It's not that they have anything against the college I want to transfer to either, because I have many friends there and my little sister will be going there in the fall. Thanks for all your help!!!
stuff happens. I'll just let you know from the school i go to there are lots of older adults there who coming back for a education. It going to be hard once u stop but in your cause ur not stopping ur cutting back on how many classes u have so that good. Taking a year off to work while still taking online courses is a smart idea it better than staying in school and failling out.
Well it seems that you don't have the same system in America than in England. In England there are loads of kids that take a 'gap' year. They finish their 6th form college, they get accepted into a university and then they go off for a year often to do volontary work in a third world country. My cousin went to help in a refuge for baby elephants in India. Then you go back home with a year's experience under your belt and an different outlook on life. You do go back to study because you have your place at Uni and you have a moral engagement with your parents. Both Prince William and Prince Harry took a 'gap' year and spent time helping people less fortunate than themselves, then went back home and got on with thier lives and their various duties. You could always find out more about 'gap' years and explain the system to your parents. Your parents are worried that you will drop your studies and end up with nothing, it is down to you to reassure them and show them that it doesn't have to be like that. Having said that if you take a moral undertaking to return to your studies you have to really mean it and live up to the promises you make your parents if you want them to trust you in the future.
I suggest you take a Standard Period of Non-Enrollment (SPNE) for 3 months. This way your loan paperwork doesn't have to be restarted. I've taken 2 SPNE's so far during my 3 years of college. They each gave me time to save up about $3000 each time, getting me ready for school again. I also work part-time while I attend school to pay for living expenses. When I took my second SPNE I actually changed majors from Animation to Game Art Design, and I'm way happier with that decision. 3 Months is plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. School and life circumstances caused me to take these breaks, and they really helped with stress levels and paid for several of my school supplies, including my $2300 custom PC fine tuned for my field of work. I do suggest you take a break, but not for a year. I think that is a bad idea. Theres a pretty good probability you won't go back to school. Its just a matter of - do you want a well:high paying job where you're stressed out all the time or a very low paying job where you're stressed out all the time, lol. When you take a break make sure you are saving money for college and not spending it. When you get to college you can do whatever you want with that money. If you're saving, though, you will be more likely to want to return to college because you just worked for 3 months so you could go back and buy school supplies and whatnot. Working a decent job while not studying for classes is stress relief enough. Good luck with whatever you decide!
I can identify with the situation your in. I left school with the thought i would take online or part time classes but i didnt enroll right away. Now desperately wish i could go back but because of debt and circumstances I wont be able to do it for a while. My advice is dont quit school without enrolling in part-time or online classes.
