Did anyone here drop out of College- What did you Do?

Glacier

I dropped out of UCD Arts last year and don't even know where to turn for advice as to what to do next. I don't really want to do the FAS thing that has been suggested, but is there any alternative?
Did anyone here drop out & where did you go? Any experience helpful.
Thank You

nesf

Sales then mature student essentially. I'm still doing sales work while in college but the kind of work I do can be done from home etc.

In general:

The apprenticeship route is very viable. Not for everybody but if it suits you you can make a decent living and be relatively happy with your job.

Going back to college as a mature student is viable if college suits you. Again, not for everybody.

Find a field you are interested in that the entry level jobs don't require a degree and work your way up from the bottom.


I'm sure others can give you more ideas.

Oryx

I dropped out of a fine art degree, I simply didnt like it. I got a job in retail to pay the bills. Studied with the OU while working and did a work related diploma also.

Hindsight is a great thing, but i shouldve stayed in a full time course and got a degree in a subject that interested me. :rolleyes: So I wouldnt really recommend my career path....

Are you interested in a particular field?

Glacier

I did Economics and would have done something in that area probably, not sure exactly. Anyone else have any experience?

tonyj_mc

on't know if its much help i was doind management dropped out cuz i was way too young when i started to decide on a good course.

Started in electronic retail worked there for like five year and then applied to a bank to workin their head office, now they are paying me to back to college full time to become a qualifed Financial Advsior then a degree in banking, something i would not have even considered when i was applying through CAO

HankScorpio

nesf wrote:

Sales then mature student essentially. I'm still doing sales work while in college but the kind of work I do can be done from home etc.

In general:

The apprenticeship route is very viable. Not for everybody but if it suits you you can make a decent living and be relatively happy with your job.

Going back to college as a mature student is viable if college suits you. Again, not for everybody.

Find a field you are interested in that the entry level jobs don't require a degree and work your way up from the bottom.


I'm sure others can give you more ideas.

nesf: How did you go about getting involved in sales work that you can do at home. A mature student also but the funds are dwindling and have worked in sales before.Any advice/info? Cheers

ptashka

1. research possible careers that might suit you. there is loads of very useful information on the net ( job specs, salaries, possible carees jumps and links between industries, etc.), talk to people that you know that are in that field (once again, professional forums), browse the web for carees tests, or go speak to your careers' officer at your school or college, they tend to be very helpful.

2. WHILE you are doing all that research, get yourself a cash cow job, the only ones i can think of - a brain numbing boring factory job ( and make sure you do night shift, you get up to a third more), or labouring on site. Not sure if the second one is a cash job, but you might get plenty of overtime. You will need lots of money if you are going back to college as a drop-out and NON-mature student.

3. hopefully, you have your mind made up, so fill out the CAO form, make sure to check out the deadlines, and start the college life all over again!!!

Cheese Princess

Have you considered taking a year out and going travelling? Maybe just get a job for a few months, save your cash and go. If you're not sure what to do now, a year away could give you a new perspective and it's a fantastic experience.

I studied Communications, failed first year, repeated, failed second year, repeated, passed the first semester of third year then didn't do two final projects or my thesis. I just never felt motivated. Looking back I wish I had taken some time out to think about what I was doing.

As far as anyone knows though I got my degree. I never told my parents I didn't finish it and it's on my cv. No one has yet asked for the proof!

nesf

HankScorpio wrote:

nesf: How did you go about getting involved in sales work that you can do at home. A mature student also but the funds are dwindling and have worked in sales before.Any advice/info? Cheers

My father has a sales company and I do the back office stuff, he does the field work essentially. I can't really advise you a whole lot, the field we work in is small and highly technical so even looking for quotations means needing a solid hands-on knowledge of the products and what they do. We do nearly all of our work by phone or email so having an actual office is an unnecessary expense ergo we work from home or from the car etc.

PeakOutput

i did 2 weeks of computer science in dit dropped out and did sound engineering fetac course and then a diploma in music production..............complete waste of time as regards getting a job but great fun..........

now im waiting on next mondays cao offers to hopefully go back to college.

i also worked for an insurance company for a year and found i didnt hate it but quite liked the work and if i dont get into college thats probably were i will end up.

im 3 years behind my mates in relation to having a qualification but in terms of how the real world works im miles ahead of them (in their opinion not mine)............i completely plan on regressing back to full student life tho if i get into college.

lostexpectation

Glacier wrote:

I dropped out of UCD Arts last year and don't even know where to turn for advice as to what to do next. I don't really want to do the FAS thing that has been suggested, but is there any alternative?
Did anyone here drop out & where did you go? Any experience helpful.
Thank You

you were doing economics in arts?

fas is generally **** for anything other then trades tell us what they suggested for a laugh.

well done on dropping out economics whats that mean, job terms.

Stephen

Cheese Princess wrote:

As far as anyone knows though I got my degree. I never told my parents I didn't finish it and it's on my cv. No one has yet asked for the proof!

Did your parents not want to go to your conferring ceremony?

newestUser

Glacier wrote:

I dropped out of UCD Arts last year and don't even know where to turn for advice as to what to do next. I don't really want to do the FAS thing that has been suggested, but is there any alternative?
Did anyone here drop out & where did you go? Any experience helpful.
Thank You

If you weren't interested in your course, dropping out of it was a smart choice. Not only is doing a course you've no interest in a waste of time, you're also using up the one free ride the government gives you on the third-level merry-go-round.

I wouldn't diss the idea of doing FAS courses or PLCs. They're a great way of dipping your toe into various subjects without committing lots of time/money.

Try getting jobs in various areas that you think, maybe, might interest you. If you find something that you click with, that's great. If not, at least you've scratched a few potential options off your list. And if you need to go back to college to further your career in it, well you've a bit of insight into what you want to do, what the working world is like, etc. which is more than a large number of undergrads tbh.

Above all, chill out, and give yourself a pat on the back for dropping out of the course. If you honestly gave it a go, put some effort into making it work, but it still wasn't for you, you made the right choice.

Oh, and from a career perspective, I wouldn't agree with the person who's telling you to travel. If you travel for a particular job, fine. But while seeing the world in itself is a great thing, all the beautiful sunsets over Sydney harbour aren't going to tell you what work you'd be happiest doing.

Cheese Princess

Stephen wrote:

Did your parents not want to go to your conferring ceremony?

Luckily for me it was on in November and I had left the country in October to go travelling! The strange thing is they got a letter from the college inviting them to the graduation. Must have been some kind of admin error