Basically I've arrived at college after taking a year off and already dropping out of HS. I was a slacker in HS, who did most of the work in a rushed fashion, got by, was nice to everyone but wasn't being pushed or being productive so I left in my senior year. I then worked my ass off doing things I was passionate about afterward doing fulltime construction at habitat for humanity for $6 an hour and then supplementing that with tutoring in the ghetto neighborhood where I lived(65+ hours every week for 10 months with 2 weeks of vacation to see family).
Based on my very high standardized tests, recs, and extracurriculars I got into Northwestern. I now:
- despise my roommate because all he does is masturbate to anandtech hardware reviews all day and relies on me to be his only friend. He thinks I care about everything he talks about, talks in baby voices all day (including calling me "Bradsies" IF YOU ARE READING THIS, NO I DONT GIVE A ****** IF YOUR ARCH.OS 40GB PLAYER DOESNT SUPPORT MPEG-1 OR WANT TO PUT UP WITH YOUR GOO-GOO GA-GA TALK, I'M NOT YOUR HS GIRLFRIEND WHO YOU VIDEOCHAT WITH)
- Hate the people on the floor who are loud assholes who talk boisterously and shout out to their other meat-head friends to announce their presence in some sick animalistic territorial way. I thought getting a 1400 on your SAT at least ensured you could be a quiet asshole.
-I enjoy the professors who have great things to say and then have miserable TA's who give unjustified sh!t grades to me and unjustifiable good grades (Got a B+ on a midterm that was strictly an essay that was poorly done in my opinion thought I had a C-, and a D because of "poor writing" on a midterm that was a shorter essay where I was given a 45% that I though I'd aced). Again, they aren't out to get me, I just don't agree with the academic philosophy and the discretion over difficulty litmus tests.
-it costs $45,000 a year to have a miserable time that is being paid for by my wealthy grandparents. Keeping this money in the family, or allowing them to pursue other charitable avenues is something I'm all for if I cannot appreciate the diploma it buys. The fact that I'm from such a well off background makes me not concerned with my salary after school, although economic competition is something that interests me at some level. I'd much rather be contributing to society than earning seven figures.
-I can retain long term about 90% of what I ACTUALLY learn thanks to a wonderful memory, which is about 80% of the material but have no motivation to study beyond that because I define work from the philosophy of production (thus why I can work diligently for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week at a job but can't put up with random homework assignments)
-We have the worst team in the Big T1E1N for football which just plain sucks to go watch
-While I respect the advanced topics of many fields, my interests in all math and science is gone since I last took linear algebra 2 years ago and hated it ever since. My true interest is in policymaking and law. Problem being I can't skip straight to law school or master one subject because of requirements.
-School is located in a generally upscale area and limits my ability to seek out the most at risk areas where I have typically done community service in the past.
-I have yet to miss a single class, discussion etc... and always participate when I have something of value to contribute. (unlike most people who are silent or make comments that are not based on the reading, the topic, or experience outside of personal situations) Even still, my efforts are useless because the entire quarter is determined by 3 hours of unobjective bluebook scribbling where my genuine interest in topics is hidden in poor handwriting and the same questions answered by the rest of the folks who don't care.
Thus far I've considered these options:
-Suck it up and be miserable until I can hopefully find some petty niche rather than seek out the truly meaningful and empowering work that interests me.
- Dropout at the end of the quarter and attend a Community College in the bay area, do comm serve on the side and if I feel like I want to get a BA/BS from a State university.
- Dropout and look for a random job that could possibly be parlayed into career advancement (problem here being that public sector jobs that I'm interested in use the merit system and would generally require at minimum a B.A)
-Dropout and move to a far off place such as Canada, Southeast Asia, anywhere that I could safely live and be able to enjoy the world in a more simple form. (Saved up about $25k in cash over the years from my various endeavors that could keep me afloat for the moment)
- Join the armed forces (As a way to give me a little clout if I went into policy, gov etc...)
-Attempt to transfer to Brown (for open curriculum with no requirements, got waitlist there initially and could use connection to possibly push me over the edge the 2nd go around) , Harvard, or Stanford (previous involvement with oncampus community tutoring outreach programs at both of these schools plus students who are truly gifted= why I consider these schools only, as it isn't sociability that I crave, rather the plane at which this interaction takes place and the fact that when I can truly feel intellectually inferior it is motivation to work harder). Problem being they have low transfer acceptance and I won't have anything spectacular to show them besides a good SAT score and extracurriculars, which is why they all rejected me the first go around.
What sounds like the best option to you? Anyone been in a similar situation and made a choice to leave?
I do expect some replies to be "dude you're in your first quarter, lots of people have doubts but they go away". If you truly believe this then I encourage you to post it.
My end goal is to assist society using my abilities/interests in social progress, but the more I stay in school the more sh!t I have to put up with, and the less I want to be a nice person. It's not that I lack social skills (very good actually considering I can put up such a normal schmoe facade all day to fit in), have emotional mood swings daily, use any drugs, etc... I AM NOT A NIHILIST BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION, I just cannot find a situation that inspires me and am not one to sit and rot away in my misery. I want to improve my condition!
Cliffs:
A poorlty constructed pity story for the truly nice folks of ATOT to read. I appreciate your interest but valid advice requires a complete read in my selfish opinion. I hope you understand this and don't think I'm talking down to you. -Brad
Based on my very high standardized tests, recs, and extracurriculars I got into Northwestern. I now:
- despise my roommate because all he does is masturbate to anandtech hardware reviews all day and relies on me to be his only friend. He thinks I care about everything he talks about, talks in baby voices all day (including calling me "Bradsies" IF YOU ARE READING THIS, NO I DONT GIVE A ****** IF YOUR ARCH.OS 40GB PLAYER DOESNT SUPPORT MPEG-1 OR WANT TO PUT UP WITH YOUR GOO-GOO GA-GA TALK, I'M NOT YOUR HS GIRLFRIEND WHO YOU VIDEOCHAT WITH)
- Hate the people on the floor who are loud assholes who talk boisterously and shout out to their other meat-head friends to announce their presence in some sick animalistic territorial way. I thought getting a 1400 on your SAT at least ensured you could be a quiet asshole.
-I enjoy the professors who have great things to say and then have miserable TA's who give unjustified sh!t grades to me and unjustifiable good grades (Got a B+ on a midterm that was strictly an essay that was poorly done in my opinion thought I had a C-, and a D because of "poor writing" on a midterm that was a shorter essay where I was given a 45% that I though I'd aced). Again, they aren't out to get me, I just don't agree with the academic philosophy and the discretion over difficulty litmus tests.
-it costs $45,000 a year to have a miserable time that is being paid for by my wealthy grandparents. Keeping this money in the family, or allowing them to pursue other charitable avenues is something I'm all for if I cannot appreciate the diploma it buys. The fact that I'm from such a well off background makes me not concerned with my salary after school, although economic competition is something that interests me at some level. I'd much rather be contributing to society than earning seven figures.
-I can retain long term about 90% of what I ACTUALLY learn thanks to a wonderful memory, which is about 80% of the material but have no motivation to study beyond that because I define work from the philosophy of production (thus why I can work diligently for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week at a job but can't put up with random homework assignments)
-We have the worst team in the Big T1E1N for football which just plain sucks to go watch
-While I respect the advanced topics of many fields, my interests in all math and science is gone since I last took linear algebra 2 years ago and hated it ever since. My true interest is in policymaking and law. Problem being I can't skip straight to law school or master one subject because of requirements.
-School is located in a generally upscale area and limits my ability to seek out the most at risk areas where I have typically done community service in the past.
-I have yet to miss a single class, discussion etc... and always participate when I have something of value to contribute. (unlike most people who are silent or make comments that are not based on the reading, the topic, or experience outside of personal situations) Even still, my efforts are useless because the entire quarter is determined by 3 hours of unobjective bluebook scribbling where my genuine interest in topics is hidden in poor handwriting and the same questions answered by the rest of the folks who don't care.
Thus far I've considered these options:
-Suck it up and be miserable until I can hopefully find some petty niche rather than seek out the truly meaningful and empowering work that interests me.
- Dropout at the end of the quarter and attend a Community College in the bay area, do comm serve on the side and if I feel like I want to get a BA/BS from a State university.
- Dropout and look for a random job that could possibly be parlayed into career advancement (problem here being that public sector jobs that I'm interested in use the merit system and would generally require at minimum a B.A)
-Dropout and move to a far off place such as Canada, Southeast Asia, anywhere that I could safely live and be able to enjoy the world in a more simple form. (Saved up about $25k in cash over the years from my various endeavors that could keep me afloat for the moment)
- Join the armed forces (As a way to give me a little clout if I went into policy, gov etc...)
-Attempt to transfer to Brown (for open curriculum with no requirements, got waitlist there initially and could use connection to possibly push me over the edge the 2nd go around) , Harvard, or Stanford (previous involvement with oncampus community tutoring outreach programs at both of these schools plus students who are truly gifted= why I consider these schools only, as it isn't sociability that I crave, rather the plane at which this interaction takes place and the fact that when I can truly feel intellectually inferior it is motivation to work harder). Problem being they have low transfer acceptance and I won't have anything spectacular to show them besides a good SAT score and extracurriculars, which is why they all rejected me the first go around.
What sounds like the best option to you? Anyone been in a similar situation and made a choice to leave?
I do expect some replies to be "dude you're in your first quarter, lots of people have doubts but they go away". If you truly believe this then I encourage you to post it.
My end goal is to assist society using my abilities/interests in social progress, but the more I stay in school the more sh!t I have to put up with, and the less I want to be a nice person. It's not that I lack social skills (very good actually considering I can put up such a normal schmoe facade all day to fit in), have emotional mood swings daily, use any drugs, etc... I AM NOT A NIHILIST BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION, I just cannot find a situation that inspires me and am not one to sit and rot away in my misery. I want to improve my condition!
Cliffs:
A poorlty constructed pity story for the truly nice folks of ATOT to read. I appreciate your interest but valid advice requires a complete read in my selfish opinion. I hope you understand this and don't think I'm talking down to you. -Brad
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