should i drop out of college?

emmajanesc

i'm doing pharmacy in college,i'm now in third year.the course is now 5 years as we have to do a compulsary masters,which was only put in place this year.When i started i signed up for a four year course.i hate the course and as a result am really struggling with it.i have had summer repeats the last two years,and so far this year have failed all my continuous assessment exams. i was very good at school in secondary school without ever studying very hard. however i just cant focus to study in college i really hate all our modules..however if i could focus (which i really dont think i can) its a good qualification with good employment prospects. anyway if i complete the year i think i will definitely have a few repeats and wont get a 2.2, at which case my degree is pretty much useless.

i know exactly what course i do want to do(which is also a good course with good job opportunities,though much less paid), but i just cant tell my parents i want to drop out i've left it so late. i get a full grant and we are very short on finances at home so i dont think my parents will pay for me to do another course, i'd have approx 20,000 of fees to pay for it, and it will take me a few years to save that so i am probably better off stick with what i'm at now,otherwise i'll be late twenties when i qualify as opposed to 22(i'm 20 now).... but a pass degree wont be much good to me and at the moment i really really cant study and i have no friends in my class at the moment and i dread going in. i havent gone in for more than 3 hours in the last 3 weeks and skipped about 5 consecutive weeks in first year i hated it so much..help please!! do you think maybe i should see a career guidance person?

everyone in my family is very old fashioned and basically just tells me stop complaining, we all have to do things we dont like etc etc. its just so difficult to drop out because i hate the thought of my parents not talking to me, which is what will happen, and i also dont like to upset my mother who suffers badly with depression..my siblings will be very very disappointed in me also and i am very close to them too..

LegacyUser

it's your life, after 3 years you know if it's for you or not, go and talk to the academic advisory office in college or even the counsilling service who can be great at times of stress. don't worry about other people, tell them exactly what you wrote here, they're not going to think any less of you, really think about this before you make any decisions!! have you talked to anyone else in your course about it? chances are many others are feeling the same and you's could get a study group together

Xterminator

This is an issue that only you can solve.

from what you say you have the capability of doing this course, but not the motivation.

this choice of course will impact the direction of your career & life, so if getting onto the course you want, leading to the career you want, is very understandable. the college are usually fairly sympathetic to changing courses, though it might have to be next year.

your behaviour is most immature, skipping classes and not applying yourself. possibly that fact you sailed through the leaving without forming a good study habit has not helped.

finally, yes the people at home will be dissapointed, but if you step up and act matualy to sort this situation, change course, and sit down and explain to your parents maturely, then they will get over it.

If you let things slide, miss days and fail your exams , then they will be far more dissapointed!

wicked_wytch

If there's no aspect of your course that you like, is there really any chance that you will enjoy spending the rest of your life working in that area? If theres really nothing about pharmacy you like, I really couldn't see you enjoying it even if you did finish it. But on the other hand, you are underestimating the importance of even a pass degree. I don't know why people put so much emphasis on whether you have a pass or honours degree because to be honest because most employers don't once you build up experience, once you get good experience, whether you degree is pass or honours really has very little bearing. At that stage its your experience that will get you the job and just the fact that you have your degree so that they can tick the box that their minimum qualification requirements have been met.

In the area I work in, (science) I would much rather hire someone with a pass degree and excellent experience that someone with an honours degree and very little/not very good experience as I will only end up training them from scratch anyway. For example in my area I'm also more interested in where and what they studied than if their degree is pass or honours as there is a big difference in practical knowledge and ability to do the job. For example, I've found that people who did university degrees in the top universities tend to need more training in the practical elements of actually doing the job than say someone who got their degree from an Institute of technology, as IT courses are geared more specifically towards an understanding of the process in real life terms, instrumentation etc. and actually working day to day in the field, trouble shooting etc. aswell as the theory, whereas some of the university degrees really don't have enough emphasis on that and too much emphasis on theory, not all of which is useful. If your going to work in the pharmaceutical industry for example, the evolutionary traits of an elephant, while interesting, is really not much good to you working in a QC lab testing drug product. So don't think a pass degree is useless, its far from useless and as you progress in the workplace, honestly becomes less and less important when it boils down to hiring the right candidate.

If theres absolutely no aspect of pharmacy that you like, your not going to enjoy working in it, its not too late to change your mind if its not for you, your only 20, still plenty of time to start again in something else and begin your career in your early/mid 20's, most people don't usually really start until then anyway.

good luck

Ickle Magoo

Would it help to look at pharmacy as a stepping stone on the way to getting the job you really want? By far the fastest way to get onto the course you want is to qualify & get a job that pays well enough that you can save up & do what you really want to do. Check and see if you would have to do the full course in subject you want if you already have a degree, some courses let you take a bit of a side-step.

If you drop out now, it could take you a long time to get together the funds. It could be worth having a chat with your parents to see what they think the best course of action would be. I know you think they are going to be angry with you but most parents have their child's happiness at heart and wouldn't want you to be miserable, perhaps if you explained how you feel and your motives for changing and your long term plans, rather than just suggesting dropping out, they would be more supportive?

Best of luck.

farmchoice

As someone who was in your position once and did drop out my advice would be ‘’ DO NOT DROP OUT NOW’’. You have done 2 years and are half way through your third. Finish this year and then re-access the situation. Chances are the college might let you defer next year. With the year completed you will have many more options and if you say to your family you are just taking a year out they will be more accepting of your decision.

To get this far in pharmacy without fully committing yourself shows that you are very bright. You will be well able to get through this year. Talk to someone in the college and explain you have let yourself get a bit overwhelmed and they will help you get back on track.

You have put too much into this to quit now. See the year out and then see about the future.

Seriously, suck it up and finish the course. You have no idea how fortunate you are to get a basically free education. Skipping classes and so on is immature and not a way to resolve anything. If you really have difficulties, contact your personal tutor/head of dept and TELL THEM. They are there to help you.

I disagree with people saying to quit if you don't know you want to do pharmacy. You've done most of the course now. At the very worst, you'll finish and decide you don't want to go into pharmacy - you'll still have a good degree which opens lots of doors for you. It's a hell of a lot better than no degree or having to pay a fortune and get into debt for a degree you might not like much either.

LegacyUser

What if you decide 2 years into the other course that you don't like that either??

Just a question. At this stage, I'd finish it out and get a qualification. At least then you'd be in a position to earn decent money for a while and then afford to go for the other course yourself.
Honestly, do you really hate every single aspect of what you're doing or have you convinced yourself of it? You're never going to love every subject you do, but you could become so fixated on hating some of them that you convince yourself you hate the whole course.

Your parents aren't far wrong you know - you do have to do things you hate all your life, and if you have the intelligence for it, then why don't you have the intelligence to see that after 3 years you might aswell finish it out? At the age of 20, you're an adult, and nobody is going to make these decisions for you, but at this point - given the way things are - there's a lot more pros to staying with it than there are to leaving it.

btw, it's not to late to change things - make a few friends. It'll make the course far more bearable you know. But you'lve got to put yourself out there for that, and skipping college is not a good way to do that.

InReality

Its your life. Thats the most important thing to keep in mind and to me its seems like your worrying more about your family at the moment.

So keep that in mind but not , if possible , in a way that puts more pressure on yourself.

From my perspective , mid 30's , at 20 you have plenty of time try new courses , see what you like etc.

I'd look at taking a year out, research the other avenue as much as you can , talk to existing students and graduates if possible , and then decide whether to have 2 degrees or 1

best of luck with your decision.

LegacyUser

to drop out in 3rd year would be the height of madness. i'd say grit it out tbh

dirtydress

Get your head down and try to commit to your course. I know its not what you want to hear but you didnt get this far on a wing and a prayer so suck it up and finish what you started. You can always go in another direction after that. If its really really bothering you then you can take a year out next year to rethink things. Good luck!

SarahSassy

You can study but you are choosing not to. Do you know how lucky you are to be in that course and getting this education? You are coming across as spoilt and self indulgent. Get on with it and get your exams. Your parents dont need this grief if things are hard at home. Time to put up and shut up and count your blessings.

sam34

emmajanesc wrote: »

i hate the course and as a result am really struggling with it.i dread going in. i havent gone in for more than 3 hours in the last 3 weeks

emmajanesc wrote: »

i have had summer repeats the last two years,and so far this year have failed all my continuous assessment exams.

do you see a connection between these two points?

if you're not attending regularly, and not making an effort to keep up with the course, of course you're going to struggle with assessments and exams, and you're not going to like it when you do attend... if you keep parachuting in whenever you feel like it, you're just going to feel out of your depth and overwhelmed.

frankly, i think you need to cop on.

make the decision to study. it's not easy, it's time consuming and a damn hard slog. it's something you've not had to work hard at thus far. but leaving cert is no comparison when it comes to a pharmacy degree, thats one of teh toughest degrees out there. so it requires a lot of commitment and hard work, neither of which you have shown thus far.

what will dropping out achieve now? not much, and it will mean teh last few years have been a waste of time and precious money.

finishing the course will only take another two and a half years. then, you can decide to finance yourself through an alternative course, if you so wish, with a degree under your belt to fall back on, should the second career go belly up.

CDfm

I have to agree with Sam34 here for different reasons.

If you drop out now there is a recession on and dole payments etc are being cut. The likelyhood is that you will end up in a dead end job that you will like even less.

Get some routine in your life and attend classes. If you attend classes you will make friends with others in your class and it will become more enjoyable. Even if you dont like the academic side you may like the social side. If there is a faculty society in college go to its social events.

The good part of being part of a class is that people do help each other and this may be something that you are missing. Also, if the faculty members know you they can assist you too.

Pharmacy while its not rock and roll is a fairly cool job where people can travel and do locum and also move into other areas such as sales etc.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence -if its the lazy part of you that is talking -you will be equally lazy in another course and because the leaving certs going into it will be a lot younger you may find it equally hard to get on with them.

Small steps - just start by being disciplined and attending college and it should go your way.

LegacyUser

hi, i was the same as you. Doing a course i absolutely hated and had no friends. I used to start dreading having to in to class the night before. As a result i barely went in at all and ended up getting so far behind. I kept with it, struggled to a pass degree in the end (had to repeat some exams and one exam i had to repeat twice). I was on the verge of dropping out cos i knew i would only get a pass degree and that just seemed worthless. I spoke to one tutor about it who convinced me to keep going.

That was about 4 yrs ago and im now studying for a degree in a completely different area. So i know that probably makes you think you should drop out, but even with my pass degree i did manage to find work - work that i wouldnt have found without the degree. I have never once been asked about the grading of my degree in any interview. Sure there are some jobs that require in their specs a 2:1 or whatever - i didnt apply for those, but there was other jobs that just wanted a degree. The money i earned from these jobs has enabled me to pay for the degree im currently studying for so it wasnt totally wasted.

I really think you should see someone like the careers guidance but also one of your tutors. They'd know more about your particular course and could give you advice on how to catch up etc..

Good luck, i know how you feel right now and it sucks but it wont be forever.

obladee

It does not matter what degree result you get. All that matters is you pass the pharmaceutical society(Irish/British) exam at the end of your pre-reg year. As has been suggested even if you hate pharmacy, you will have a lot of freedom you will be able to pick up locum work or maybe just work part-time and study for something else if you wish. I was like you doing f'ing autumn repeats every year and got a 3rd in the end. You're too far in to quit now, but thats just my ha'pence worth.

Good Luck
O.

Dave!

Finish this year and then see where you're at.

Do you not get any qualification at all after 3 years? What about 4? You must get an undergraduate qualification after the 4 if the 5th is a Masters. If so I'd try see it out til then, you can do a postgrad in the other course if you want in the future.

Ordinarily I'd say finish this year and take a year out to get a break from it, but the way things are now you'd end up with no job, sitting on your arse for a year

That's what will happen if you drop out too I'm afraid !

I'd say you'll have to talk it out with an advisor/counsellor in the college, get yourself organised and get into a good frame of mind to get through the year.