Choice: Dropping College. Toning down on College, or saying NVM and just going

[Coldkilla]

Hey yall. I'm really worried about what fork in the road I will be facing here shortly. Some backround information:

0. I just started College (Freshmen), Graduated top 17% of graduation HS class
1. I have a band, we've been together 5+ years and are 200% committed to the band. We've all known eachother since grade school and have had 100s of ups and downs and know that things will get better with time.
2. I'm getting amazingly tired living at my mom and dad's houses (devorced) every other week. having to take a 35lb pc tower + cords/monitor, preferables, into a car and into another house every week.
3. Band practices are limited to 2 hours per week. We want to make more originals but don't have the time in that short 2 hour rushed block.

Proposition: Our band seriously consider buying a dulpex (duplex to ease tensions if they ever arise in the future). Thus allowing us to play on the weekends when we are not working for extended periods of time, allowing us more time for originals (We're a mix between both cover and originals).

Problem: I feel as if I am burning out in college. I go to school over an hour early to make it on time. (I take a bus instead of driving due to parking). I go to school, come home, go to work, study, go to sleep. Everyday. I don't know if it's just freshmen's cold feet or is this how college really is? Im in it for the C.S. degree, but am considering:

A. Instead of being a Full Time Student, go to the area's tech school, learn ONLY my Math and English to get them out of the way instead of having 5 classes all day to overload my mind. Thus allowing me to work full time, and save money, work with my band, and get lined up for 30+ gig's everyweekend, thus bringing in more money per-week. Then, determining where we are and if things are going well, if they aren't (financially) as good as I think they could be, and I have the extra time.. Go back to college to work on the courses I missed. This time not having to worry about math or english.

B. Stay in college until june next year (2 semester's total), save for 2 months, then go buy our duplex.

C. Try to work Full Time College and try to pay off the house? (I fear I will not only burn out but crash)..

D. Your idea..

I feel like things are changing, but the positives of living in a duplex away from would out-weigh the negatives (financially). But I am beginning to worry, since I wont be in college full time, working 10 dollars an hour isn't enough..and college would suffice for that.. I'm so clueless.

Any idea's appreciated. Thanks.
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Please refrain from the: "Wait wait wait, your moving in, with a BAND, Its going to fail anyway.. and LEAVING college to do that? BAHAHA" Please keep those to yourselves, I'd Apppreciate it.

Thanks again yall

 

[Scouzer]

1) 35lb pc tower eh...do you have a server rack or what

2) no one cares where you graduated in HS

3) Wait wait wait, your moving in, with a BAND, Its going to fail anyway.. and LEAVING college to do that? BAHAHA

 

[Coldkilla]

Figures..

thermaltake armor

i never said "where" i graduation hs... i said "how" i did, to establish that i wasnt some stoner who blew off hs as if it were nothing.. and going into college, thus a different attitude going in... if you had a druggie going into college, his urge to cut off college would be much greater than say the valid victorian of a high-school... see my point? anyways... next time instead of me asking people what not to say.. KNOWING that they will say it.. i'll just edit that out

 

[preslove]

Ether is a drug. Take a bunch of it, drop out, and stop posting.

Or just learn some grammar.

 

[Coldkilla]

been up 34 hours... dont give a shi#$% about spelling right now, just been on my mind last few days -- what is this public ridicule forum number 1? jeeze...

i come seeking yall's help but i should have figured that i'd just be ridiculed

 

[PHiuR]

Defintely finish your first year in school. Work as much as you can now, while you're in school. Work full time over the summer to save money for a place for next year.

Go back to school for Fall 2007 but get your own place with the money that you've saved up or take out a financial loan. Keep working a job if possible, but don't burn yourself out.

Or you can work full time, and go to school part time...But going to school full time is the smarter thing to do since you can graduate in 4 years and get a decent job.

Dave

 

[Sc4freak]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
been up 34 hours... dont give a shi#$% about spelling right now, just been on my mind last few days -- what is this public ridicule forum number 1? jeeze...

i come seeking yall's help but i should have figured that i'd just be ridiculed

And you should be, for even thinking about dropping out of college to join a band, buy a house, and live with them. AND you're already doing well in college.

 

[KarmaPolice]

If you SERIOULSY think your band will make it..which you probably realize is VERY SMALL no matter how good you are then get a job full time, maybe go to school part time and work on the band. Taking one year off of school is not that big of a deal and i know a lot of people that have done that. If after a year you see in progress in your band then deff go back to school.


Honestly staying in school is probably the better idea. Its just a band and if you arnt really going to try and make it school is much more important. Take out loans if you cant take all the work at the same time. My friend started a band while in college. They were damn good too. After college he tried to get the band to where he wanted it to be....you know..make it. After 2 years of trying he gave up and is now going to grad school I believe.

I am still in college..and dont know what I am talking about..so dont listen to me.

 

[Compton]

If I was in your shoes I would join the Army.

 

[UncleWai]

Move out and rent an apartment is a possible option, but buying a house with your bandmates?

I think you are on the brink of self-destruction, please think wisely when deciding your next step.

 

[Evander]

You're asking the wrong crowd, there are 2 things almost every atecher insists you need:

1) twice as much RAM as you got
2) a college degree

 

[fire400]

alright I think......

stop moving in and out, it's a waste of gas, and it's adding to your misery. I mean, as if divorced parents isn't bad enough, don't try to gain both sides of your mom and dad, you're an adult, gain your own trust and understand yourself. stick with one parent, and only one. visit the other, but let them know it's not a love or hate thing because you stopped moving back and forth, that's a terrible thing to have to deal with through college.

before you buy a house with your band, you have to understand all of their outlooks on life. getting a house with your wife is one thing, but with a band? who's going to be the one in charge? studying with party animals who don't go to college.. you will never study most likely. even if they do go to college, what about the environment? my friend said he was in college with his best friends and all he did was play Halo with them and never got homework done. don't set yourself up for failure, are they guys that you can rely on to help you make decisions based on certainty or failure?

so you want to drop out of college? most positive people with well rounded outlooks on life will tell you that would be foolish. if you put the math together, more and more Americans (whether you are or not) are living from paycheck to paycheck, so before you think about quiting, imagine how bad you'd feel if your options became more and more limited. you could be the best achieving grade student, but if you don't know how money works, shame on you.

I think that music is a form of art. that what you can offer through what you already have, if it's good enough for you, so be it. but if you are thinking about having an option in your careers available, know that even the best artists today have an education. there are Asian superstars who went solo with their music, but contracted with dependable music production studios and companies to help get them both an education and a career to becoming the best.

I like what the other guy said,
join the army? see the world if you want.
obviously if you are unsure of what you want to do with your life, then you are definetly still developing your attributes to making key decisions.

people who already know what they really want will bite tooth and nail to get to the next level. if you're so scared of losing your brain cells from being a full time student, know that some of us are kicking the dust with full time jobs, hours upon hours of school work, and personal research that involves advancing our status in both mind, body and spirit.

and right beneath all of that, addictions like Starcraft. hanging out with frenz, getting trashed as trance concerts and jacking up the music in our cars when we're on the road so we can forget about all the fvcking things our parents couldn't do well on our part, but no in behalf of everything we already own.

I think that college is a hell hole to begin with. it's like high school with a lot more homework. it can feel like the same thing everyday. but that's why when we look up at the clouds, we feel different than when we were younger, because we know how to relieve stress even better than before - when our minds were still in youth hood stage, we screamed and shouted a bit more because it felt better as kids, but now if we ever do that in front of a person, they'd think we were idiots unless it was necessary under the extremes of time and space, "like the Army."

edit: by the way, 2 hours a week of practice is nothing.

 

[tamik]

I took a year break from college to chase my dreams. That was 17 yrs ago. I never went back. Do I regret not going back and finishing my college degree? Yes, sometimes. Do I regret dropping out to chase my dreams. No, never.

 

[j00fek]

do not quit college, itll haunt you all your life

 

[huberm]

few years ago i faced a similiar situation. Quit college and work full time or continue going to college and being poor for the next two years.

Let me make this easy for you - stay in school. Needless to say I quit college to work full time. I got a well paying job but now hate it. To make matters worse, I hate it and cannot leave. Why? Because no one else wants me since I don't have a college degree.

A college degree will make you much happier and give you more opportunities in the long run. Even if your band were to do well by focusing on it more, it would wither away and lose popularity quickly, leaving you with no income source and no college education to find another good occupation.

 

[mercanucaribe]

If your band wants to buy a freaking house, they need a reality check. Sounds like they aren't the sharpest crayons in the Crayola box.

 

[kami333]

Stay in school. Cut back on work hours if you still feel like you are burning out, take out some loans (a couple extra thousand in loans from a few less hours of $10/hr work can be made up in a couple of months once you get out of college). Stop moving around so much, consider getting a place closer to school. Are you studying on the bus (I've had 1hr+ commutes to school, use the time wisely and it really makes a difference).

If you insist on taking a break from school to focus on the band (not a good idea, but hey it's a once in a lifetime oppurtunity), make goals. Sell a certain amount of cds, start playing regularly somewhere, etc set a high but realistic goal for 6months, stick to it, and if you aren't at that goal in 6months, reevaluate.

 

[badmouse]

Originally posted by: j00fek
do not quit college, itll haunt you all your life

Don't give up your dreams, it'll haunt you all your life.

Seriously, it sounds like you have several different issues here. First, your living situation with your parents sucks. It would make sense to cut back on college, get a job that pays enough to pay for your own place and move. No need to quit college for that.

Second, if the band is your dream, go for it. Nobody ever regrets following a dream. But don't use the band situation to fix your living situation. Also, if you have to ASK if you should follow your dream, the answer is no. You know inside yourself whether to do it or not.

Third, college is a learning experience - and not in the way you expect. You are learning that 5 courses is too much for you in your current situation, and that CS might not be your best choice. Lots of opportunities to fix those problems.

Good luck :beer:

 

[Garet Jax]

Get you college degree. That way you will always have something to fall back on.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
1) 35lb pc tower eh...do you have a server rack or what

2) no one cares where you graduated in HS

3) Wait wait wait, your moving in, with a BAND, Its going to fail anyway.. and LEAVING college to do that? BAHAHA

Shh, no everyone can be successful. The world needs people like what this guy is going to turn out to be.

 

[PricklyPete]

Drop out of college. Don't get a degree if you have no idea what you are wanting to do. Try to make the band thing work, but put a cut-off time (maybe 5 years) that if it doesn't work by then, you'll figure out what else you are going to do. Put those next 5 years into making the band into something.

 

[DaWhim]

Wait wait wait, your moving in, with a BAND, Its going to fail anyway.. and LEAVING college to do that? BAHAHA

 

[ArchCenturion]

Pick your parent with the home closer to your school, then just stay there and tell the other parent you still like them, but they shouldn't have gotten divorced, moving back and forth is annoying and you don't want to deal with it anymore.

Stay in school, work really hard during the week so you have time on the weekends with your band mates. If you are living with one of you parents maybe you will not need to work as much.

Try to get your band mates to get all their sh1t done during the week, and you guys can rock out from friday night to sunday night!!!

 

[gsellis]

Obviously you are not in Weezer. They knew what they were doing. They put the band on hold after having a big time start. Why? To finish college. They are now back.

 

[step-dawg]

I know some people like to say just chase your dreams, you'll never regret it. But I think that is a naive way of thinking. You can't just "do it" w/o thinking of the consequences, cost/benefits, etc. This is espeicially true with a career in music. It is not an easy life. I play in a band too, but it's more of a side thing I spend a lot of time on. In the chance that we get discovered or somethign major happens, then sure I would jump on the opportunity. But as it stands, I had to ask myself, would I be willing to grind it out as a musician, playing bar gigs and cover band stuff when I was 35. I had to answer honestly no. There are of course different levels of success, but I had to look at the bottom line and decide if that is where I would be willing to live at.

In my mind there is very little disadvantage for finishing college. There is some stress and financial cost, but that is recovered when you get a real job. The key is to get into a situation where you will be comfortable. From what you've written, you've got a lot of outside factors that are affecting your college experience. I'm having trouble understanding how you can't move out of your parents' houses and move into an apt and yet are considering BUYING a duplex. I'm guessing your bandmates are in a similar situation as you and I'm not seeing how you guys can even beging to think of affording a house on a $10/hour salary.

So back to your band situation. How good are you guys. I mean honestly how good are guys? Is your style marketable? Have you done any recording? Have you met many other musicians and compared yourself to them?

Some musicians will get into the engineering side of music and learn how to work in a recording studio. Some colleges offer such programs through their RTF schools or you can go through tech schools. I know the engineer that recorded my band's CD has a decently successful band. Of course it isn't to the point where he can do it full time but he has found a balance that works for him.

The other thing a lot of successful musicians do is become studion musicians as their day job and then have their own projects on the side until things start to take off for them. Do you think you'd be good enough to do that? If you are able to combine the dedication and techinique of a studio musician with the creativity of an original artist, then I think you stand a much better chance at succeding. That's why I say you have to honestly evaluate your skill and songwriting ability.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but good luck with your decision. I say the most important thing is to think about the bottom line of your choice, what would you be willing to settle for (i.e. grinding it out as a cover band) and decide if you are willing to do that. Don't blindly chase your dreams. You'll always have to make some comprimises along the way.