Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

[Hassan Darkside]

Man...I'm right now a junior at Virginia Tech with a major in Business Management but I have no earthly idea what I want to do with myself. It's sort of late to transfer majors to something else and I figured business was the most practical when I embarked on this journey. Honestly, I have yet to work a serious job as circumstances prevented me in the past when I was in high school so I have very little experience.

All the business stuff seems really boring to me. The marketing class I'm taking is probably the most interesting out of all my classes, but even that just seems lifeless. I feel like I'm running out of time and I'm not sure what I want to do when I graduate. It's like I have no real motivation because I don't really have my eyes dead set on a goal.

Anybody else feel the same?

[stewaat]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Even if you're bored go do an internship.

I made the mistake of not interning, bad idea.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

I feel the same way. Over the last year, its like all my motivation and incentive has been shot, due to circumstances beyond my control. It's almost like "what's the point?".

We'll see what happens by the time I graduate.

[cubsfan203]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

I'm in the same boat. I planned on going to business management as well, but all of the business classes that I'm taking this semester are really killing my interest in it. It all is extremely boring to me and I just can't see myself doing anything like it for the rest of my life.

Luckily for me, I'm still pretty early on in my college career (I'll have like 40 hours after this semester is through), so it wouldn't be too hard for me to change majors.

[StacyHeartsMiami]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Totally feel ya. After high school i did a semester of college and realized its a waste of money at the moment. I lost all motivation and yes its stupid but my priorities were boys, parties, shopping nd thats pretty much it lol. Im not much better now at 22 but at least i have an idea im leaning towards: being a teacher.

[DocHolliday]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Totally feel ya. After high school i did a semester of college and realized its a waste of money at the moment. I lost all motivation and yes its stupid but my priorities were boys, parties, shopping nd thats pretty much it lol. Im not much better now at 22 but at least i have an idea im leaning towards: being a teacher.

A girl? Oh boy here we go....

[StacyHeartsMiami]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

what do you mean?..

[cubsfan203]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

A girl? Oh boy here we go....

Don't tell anybody.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Guys, please. If the floodgates open with nerds flying at her, I'm sure she'll be able to deal with it. Welcome.

Anyway, I had the same feeling when I was entering college. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with Music or Computer Science. I went to the campus, realized that CS was what I loved, and changed my major.

I wouldn't feel "stuck" in something. If you know you're not going to be happy doing one thing... why stay in it? If it's money, just try to get more scholarships or take out a loan. Sure, it sucks that it comes down to that, but would you rather be happy with what you do plus a loan, or be depressed without it?

If it's going to delay your graduation, who cares? I know a ton of people that are going to take 5 years... in fact, I would say a decent amount of people don't do the general 4 year track. I know a few people that did it in less than 4 (me included), and I'm sure I'll find people that did it in more.

Don't sell your happiness away because you feel stuck. Do what makes you happy... everything after that should fall into place.

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Guys, please. If the floodgates open with nerds flying at her, I'm sure she'll be able to deal with it. Welcome.

Anyway, I had the same feeling when I was entering college. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with Music or Computer Science. I went to the campus, realized that CS was what I loved, and changed my major.

I wouldn't feel "stuck" in something. If you know you're not going to be happy doing one thing... why stay in it? If it's money, just try to get more scholarships or take out a loan. Sure, it sucks that it comes down to that, but would you rather be happy with what you do plus a loan, or be depressed without it?

If it's going to delay your graduation, who cares? I know a ton of people that are going to take 5 years... in fact, I would say a decent amount of people don't do the general 4 year track. I know a few people that did it in less than 4 (me included), and I'm sure I'll find people that did it in more.

Don't sell your happiness away because you feel stuck. Do what makes you happy... everything after that should fall into place.

The thing is that I really have no other idea what I want to do. I thought about Psychology a little over the summer and spoke with my advisor about it and she recommended that I at least try to double major first and see how I like it. Then I realized I'd be taking 19 credits in business alone so I scrapped that idea. I just don't really know what I see myself doing in 5 years honestly.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

The thing is that I really have no other idea what I want to do. I thought about Psychology a little over the summer and spoke with my advisor about it and she recommended that I at least try to double major first and see how I like it. Then I realized I'd be taking 19 credits in business alone so I scrapped that idea. I just don't really know what I see myself doing in 5 years honestly.

What do you enjoy? Science? English?

What did you feel came easiest to you in High School?

What do you feel most confident about when you take on a problem?

[J.R. Locke]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Hate to break it to you but 9.8%. It sucks no matter what degree you graduate with.

I have been doing the life dance with majors/careers for years. I realized I am just as happy working lifeless jobs as I am something I am passionate about as long as I have free time.

RuffRyder I guess I am saying it is going to be hard to find a job no matter what major you have but in reality it shouldn't matter all that much because every job gets monotonous and boring sooner or later.

[Blzer]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Senior year in computer science... I feel like I really don't know squat, and I'm not having very much fun with it.

It's not that I'm not having fun with programming (when I know what I'm doing), I'm just not having fun with the assignments. I want to get into game programming but I haven't yet hit that elective. I'll still have another year or two after this year to figure out what I'm really going to do with my life, but I'd like to find a paid internship over the summer and get a good grasp of what the programming work field is like.

Until then, I just seem flat out lost. I feel I didn't read enough books and engage with the courses and the readings, do programs in my spare time, etc. I almost want to start over in some regards.

Probably not the best investment of time and money that you'll ever see in your lives.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

Senior year in computer science... I feel like I really don't know squat, and I'm not having very much fun with it.

It's not that I'm not having fun with programming (when I know what I'm doing), I'm just not having fun with the assignments. I want to get into game programming but I haven't yet hit that elective. I'll still have another year or two after this year to figure out what I'm really going to do with my life, but I'd like to find a paid internship over the summer and get a good grasp of what the programming work field is like.

Until then, I just seem flat out lost. I feel I didn't read enough books and engage with the courses and the readings, do programs in my spare time, etc. I almost want to start over in some regards.

Probably not the best investment of time and money that you'll ever see in your lives.

You could do what I do. When I had free time to waste, instead of wasting it, I did something productive, like programming on the side.

Why do you have to wait for game programming? Go ahead and try your hand at it! I wrote a PHP-based system that would decide for me which GameFly games I wanted (based on factors). I worked really hard on that, and now I have it where I put just enough info for it to start to do work, then it takes care of a lot of info that I used to have to tediously find.

I found that I loved programming so much that I would want to do it even when I wasn't required to. I have a ton of little projects I made that I tried to make my life easier. Is there anything you find yourself doing a lot that's repetitive? Try making a program out of it. One idea I always have but I can never seem to get started at is a program that would tell me a good lineup based on stats or ratings. I would always want to make one but I never seemed to really want to, if that makes sense.

Sometimes you have to make your own fun with it.

BTW, working in the real world isn't all Office Space. If you find a team you like working on (like I lucked into), it won't matter if you work on accounting programs, games, etc.

Also, if you're really wanting to get into game programming, bone up on your physics and your math. Just putting that out there.

[slickdtc]

Re: Anybody else here in college with no clue about what they're doing?

I've been out of high school going on 2 years now and have yet to hit college. If I had done better in high school, I probably would've been in college today, and likely majoring in something that I only liked at the time.

Now that I look back, I'm glad I didn't jump right from high school to college because it would feel like wasted time, especially with today's economy. Not to mention the money...

But as the weeks and months go by that I'm not in college, the people around me say that I'll never go and that I'll never have a career because once you're out of school for so long, you're less likely to go back. I've told them a million times that I'm going to go when I'm set on something. Sometimes they agree and think that's best, then other times its, "Oh you're just making excuses, you're never going to go." I'm starting to get sick of it.

But if I make that investment in school, I want to be 100% into it. I don't want to go to school because it's expected of me; I want to go because it's a means to an end. I bounce back and forth. I have great ideas for careers, but then I wonder, what if I go through all this school and I still can't find a job with the economy the way it is? Then I'm only farther behind where I am now. Well, not totally. I'll have that coveted piece of paper, but I'll be in debt and won't have as much money as I would've had I just worked full time instead of part time while in school.

I just don't like the uncertainty of it all. I've been thinking of going to a local community college for an associates degree in business and maybe following that path because I would love to open my own business someday. But I'm not completely sold on it and I don't like having that feeling for something so important.

Basically, I have no problems with going back to school. I really want to go back to school and learn more about something that I'm interested in. But I don't want it to be a big waste. It's scary, with the way things are today. But it seems necessary because I'm in a long-time relationship and want to have a good career to provide for my future family. But I do not want to "just settle."