I am having somewhat of an emotional loss for words here.
I am a college student at UW Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and I come to school twice a week. Tuesday/Thursday. On those days I am here for 12 hours. (This is because I am a full-time student). Last semester I was in school 5 days a week, however, taking the bus too and from school took 2 hours a day. So, 10+ hours a week for travel. I decided to make the days I came to school limited to two days. And so far, I love this opposed to a 5 day week.
Anyways, on the Tuesdays and Thursdays I am here and the days I am not (Monday/Wednesday/Friday), I work a parking lot job as a tenet. I sit in my car, waiting for cars to pull in and give me their parking fee and I give them their ticket. I do this for 3 hours and then I go home by 9:30am in the morning. I make 10 dollars an hour sitting in my car, where I can study and do my homework. $90.00 a week.
So theres, Monday through Friday. Well here's the 3rd aspect, I have a band. I choose to be in this band over a girlfriend in spending my time on weekends. The Friday/Saturday/Sunday (I am not in school or working), we have band practice. We've worked hard for years, almost 6 years now. We haven't done a lot of gig's, because we had many issues with a bassist or singer leaving here and there, and the bassists we brought in simply continued to be more undetermined than those previously in the band. However, we recently said we were going to be playing without a bassist for a while until we're ready to audition for someone. My guitar player and I have stuck together since the beginning.
=========================================
There's that out of the way. Now, my situation is awkward. I've always been a hard worker, but I've always wanted to go out and see what my band and I could do. We want to be avid participants in the music industry, however, if I leave college, I loose my coverage under my parents health insurance... and of course, I loose my education.
We understand the steep hill we will have to climb in order to get anywhere in the music industry. (We're all high-honer students here, not couch potato dreamboys who think they're going to be rockstars). So the idea has come up: Lets try the music thing for a year, and if nothing good comes out of it, we'll go to college and get our degree's. Now I don't know about the band, but I don't want to be poor my whole life. Leaving college would be a big jump for me, usually I wouldn't want to leave college, but then again, music has been a part of my family ever since I was born, and really see myself giving music a shot.
So I'm asking AT folks here. What would you do in my position:
A. Leave College, and do what I've always wanted to do.
B. Stay In College, and try the band at the same time. But if band starts to take off, leave college.
C. Become a non-full time student at UW Milwaukee, and work full time. In which I would still come to school two days a week, but replacing that time with a full-time job to pay for health insurance?
D. Go to a tech-school for 2 years, transfer from UWM and once I'm 21 (I'm 19), I'll have a steady, moderately well paying job, and a band. With my Associates Degree.
E. Another reasonable suggestion you may have. Leaving my band and just quitting to go into school is not an option. Music is my life, it's something I want to do and I don't want to give it up. I know a lot of people wont respect that and just post some stupid comment suggesting I quit. But please just respect it.
I'm lost here. My guitar player is talking about going to trade school if I stay in school, but that takes away from our band time. In order to succeed, we need to work insanely hard. But is that to say that we are still very young, and going to school perhaps at a CC and trade school and finishing by 21 is the smartest idea? Or perhaps there is another way?
I am a college student at UW Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and I come to school twice a week. Tuesday/Thursday. On those days I am here for 12 hours. (This is because I am a full-time student). Last semester I was in school 5 days a week, however, taking the bus too and from school took 2 hours a day. So, 10+ hours a week for travel. I decided to make the days I came to school limited to two days. And so far, I love this opposed to a 5 day week.
Anyways, on the Tuesdays and Thursdays I am here and the days I am not (Monday/Wednesday/Friday), I work a parking lot job as a tenet. I sit in my car, waiting for cars to pull in and give me their parking fee and I give them their ticket. I do this for 3 hours and then I go home by 9:30am in the morning. I make 10 dollars an hour sitting in my car, where I can study and do my homework. $90.00 a week.
So theres, Monday through Friday. Well here's the 3rd aspect, I have a band. I choose to be in this band over a girlfriend in spending my time on weekends. The Friday/Saturday/Sunday (I am not in school or working), we have band practice. We've worked hard for years, almost 6 years now. We haven't done a lot of gig's, because we had many issues with a bassist or singer leaving here and there, and the bassists we brought in simply continued to be more undetermined than those previously in the band. However, we recently said we were going to be playing without a bassist for a while until we're ready to audition for someone. My guitar player and I have stuck together since the beginning.
=========================================
There's that out of the way. Now, my situation is awkward. I've always been a hard worker, but I've always wanted to go out and see what my band and I could do. We want to be avid participants in the music industry, however, if I leave college, I loose my coverage under my parents health insurance... and of course, I loose my education.
We understand the steep hill we will have to climb in order to get anywhere in the music industry. (We're all high-honer students here, not couch potato dreamboys who think they're going to be rockstars). So the idea has come up: Lets try the music thing for a year, and if nothing good comes out of it, we'll go to college and get our degree's. Now I don't know about the band, but I don't want to be poor my whole life. Leaving college would be a big jump for me, usually I wouldn't want to leave college, but then again, music has been a part of my family ever since I was born, and really see myself giving music a shot.
So I'm asking AT folks here. What would you do in my position:
A. Leave College, and do what I've always wanted to do.
B. Stay In College, and try the band at the same time. But if band starts to take off, leave college.
C. Become a non-full time student at UW Milwaukee, and work full time. In which I would still come to school two days a week, but replacing that time with a full-time job to pay for health insurance?
D. Go to a tech-school for 2 years, transfer from UWM and once I'm 21 (I'm 19), I'll have a steady, moderately well paying job, and a band. With my Associates Degree.
E. Another reasonable suggestion you may have. Leaving my band and just quitting to go into school is not an option. Music is my life, it's something I want to do and I don't want to give it up. I know a lot of people wont respect that and just post some stupid comment suggesting I quit. But please just respect it.
I'm lost here. My guitar player is talking about going to trade school if I stay in school, but that takes away from our band time. In order to succeed, we need to work insanely hard. But is that to say that we are still very young, and going to school perhaps at a CC and trade school and finishing by 21 is the smartest idea? Or perhaps there is another way?
