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Making the Transition to University?

Posted by Cliff on from the college-plans dept.

fracex asks: "I am currently finishing my last year of high school, and have some important decisions to make about next year. Pretty much all my life I have seen myself as going to university as soon as I finished high school, but recently I have been considering taking a year off from school to work and travel. Not only this, I'm not even totally sure what I want to take in university, is what I still want to take. So, taking a year off could give me time to find more direction and focus. What was your experience with your transition between high school and university, and are you glad you made the decisions you did?"

5 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Just go by Scottarius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you really want to go to college, then just go. If you decide to "take a year off" odds are you'll never actually end up going.

  2. Keep the Momentum by CTalkobt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My recommendation would be to go to school. If it's not to your liking after a semester or two - drop out. It's much better to say that you've tried at something than to never have even attempted.

    In addition, it's much harder to go back to school later in life once you start the drudgery of "life maintenance" : I work because I have to pay the bills. I pay the bills because I need a roof over my head. I need a roof over my head so I can sleep after working. It's a viscious cycle.

    Taking a year off to travel etc sounds nice now but it's the beginning of a very slippery slope known as sloth. Too much laziness will propel you into a life that's mediocre: it'll be okay but not great.

    --
    There's a gorilla from Manilla whose a fella that stinks of vanilla and has salmonella.
    1. Re:Keep the Momentum by WhiteBandit · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My recommendation would be to go to school. If it's not to your liking after a semester or two - drop out. It's much better to say that you've tried at something than to never have even attempted.

      I completely agree. At the very least, enroll in a community college. It's a cheap and fairly easy way to get the basic general education requirements out of your way. You'll have to take them no matter what university you go to. It's pretty nice to pay something like $15 a unit at a C.C. (which adds up to $180 a semester or so) compared to knocking off the same GE classes at a 4 year institution for $1,000/$5,000/$10,000 a semester or more. Interestingly enough, some of the best professors I've ever had in my academic career were at my community college.

      It also gives you a chance to take some electives and extra classes to see what you might be interested in. After working a database administration job to pay my way through C.C., I realized that Computer Science (which is what I intended to major all along before going to college), just wasn't for me. After taking some interesting classes on a whim (that a cute girl I knew was taking... oh yes, pathetic!), I ended up loving geology. I eventually changed that to my major and by the time I transferred to a four year institution, I was ready to start the coursework, having completed all the GE stuff at my C.C.

      Regarding traveling, I think you should wait to do it. You do a lot of growing up in college (well... most people do anyway), and I think the extra maturatiy and knowledge of the world you gain will make any chance to travel and explore the world much more enjoyable. I'm planning on tooling around New Zealand next year for some field work and then perhaps explore parts of South America next year after I graduate.

      Mentally and emotionally, I don't think that I would have been able to try anything like that right out of high school.

  3. Time off? by emmetropia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I took a year off to work/travel six years ago, and here I am, working like a dog, and still haven't returned to school. Go, and at least finish a bachelor's degree, or a diploma in something.

  4. Stay in school! by Brown3y3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The idea of traveling is great and all, but seriously, there's a lot of opportunity in going straight to University, and exploring your options there. There's always the option of studying abroad, which I HIGHLY reccomend if you have the bug to go see Europe or Asia or whatever. Not only will you get to see what you want to see, you'll be that much closer to the ultimate goal, graduation!

    Travel aside, University is an experience that I am grateful every day for having done, and would repeat again in an instant. I often have dreams about quitting my job and going back to school, and I like my job! Do yourself a favor and go, don't think twice, try everything that comes your way no matter what, and in the end you may even have a few good memories to reflect on along with an education.