Did you make the right choice with regards to college?

Corkfeen

Corkfeen wrote: »

You wanted to be Patrick Bateman! :eek: What sort of business card did you have?

http://zahidlilani.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/LarryPageGoogleBusinessCard1998-300x225.jpg

PharmNS

PharmNS wrote: »

How exactly is it selling out to work in Community Pharmacy?

Maybe, choice of words wasn't the best. I meant it in the sense that you get paid more so they expect you to do more stuff/meet targets etc.

Piste

rainbow kirby wrote: »

In terms of finding a job? Definitely picked the right course (BSc and MSc in computer science). Deep down though, I do kinda regret not picking medicine, but at 28 it feels a bit too late to start again.

28 is certainly not too late if it's something you genuinely feel you'd like to do with your life. In my class there are a few students aged 28+ and a few who are married/have kids if that's something you want in the near future. If you were to do a graduate entry programme you'd be with people aged 22/23 and not 18/19 year olds so there wouldn't be as much of an age gap either.

Acacia

Good god, no. Arts degree, biggest waste of 3 years ever. I mean, sure, I did enjoy what I studied but it counts for absolutely sweet fcuk all in the real world. Unless you wanna be a teacher. I wish, wish, wish I could go back in time and change my choice.

Any Leaving Certs that have Arts as number 1- change it- change it now, before it's too late!

Helix

Acacia wrote: »

Good god, no. Arts degree, biggest waste of 3 years ever. I mean, sure, I did enjoy what I studied but it counts for absolutely sweet fcuk all in the real world. Unless you wanna be a teacher. I wish, wish, wish I could go back in time and change my choice.

Any Leaving Certs that have Arts as number 1- change it- change it now, before it's too late!

were you not told in advance that arts was completely pointless by just about everyone you knew no?

cocoshovel

Initially no. I didnt get any CAO offers after my leaving cert, so I went and did a 1 year fetac course in I.T. Now that Ive finished that I know that I.T is not the kind of academic path I want to go down, and Im glad Im not going to.

However, now that I have done the fetac course in I.T. I cant apply for anything but level 7/8 courses in I.T! :pac:

So Its back to Fetac for me, but its so late in the year I dont think any place is going to accept my application seeing as most places and interviews were held back in April/May. And even at that, I dont think Im going to get my desired choice until I become a Mature student. So 24 here I come! (yes I know its 23, but it has to be 23 on January of the year you're applying).

Shur whats the rush

Sappa

Went back twice,did two different degrees and now currently half way through a post grad in a separate area.
You never know and it's a challenge to change it up a bit.

Fight_Night

Acacia wrote: »

Good god, no. Arts degree, biggest waste of 3 years ever. I mean, sure, I did enjoy what I studied but it counts for absolutely sweet fcuk all in the real world. Unless you wanna be a teacher. I wish, wish, wish I could go back in time and change my choice.

Any Leaving Certs that have Arts as number 1- change it- change it now, before it's too late!

Not trying to be a dick, but would ya not look into career opportunities before selecting your degree?

Acacia

Helix wrote: »

were you not told in advance that arts was completely pointless by just about everyone you knew no?

Not really, my guidance counsellor told me it would be good to have a ''broad degree''... in fairness, when I was leaving school, in 2006, you could pretty much be guaranteed a cushy civil service job if you had a Arts degree. The recession kinda fcuked the whole thing up. It probably wouldn't have been the totally terrible decision it turned out to be if it wasn't for that.

Fight_Night wrote: »

Not trying to be a dick, but would ya not look into career opportunities before selecting your degree?

Of course I looked into it, I agonised over it. I spent 5 hours a night and weekends studying my balls off cause I didn't want to end up in some sh1tty job or on the dole. And, well, see above for my reasons for choosing Arts. In fairness, I am on my way to doing what I actually want to do , it's just not very straightforward cause I have to go back and do another Masters.

Helix

Acacia wrote: »

Not really, my guidance counsellor told me it would be good to have a ''broad degree''... in fairness, when I was leaving school, in 2006, you could pretty much be guaranteed a cushy civil service job if you had a Arts degree. The recession kinda fcuked the whole thing up. It probably wouldn't have been the totally terrible decision it turned out to be if it wasn't for that.

an arts degree wouldnt really have helped you land a civil service job to be fair

surprised nobody told you it was a waste. usually what happens there is a kid decides they'll do arts, everyone tells them not to, the kid pays absolutely no attention, then when they've graduated they complain that it was a pointless degree

it's the strangest thing

Acacia

Helix wrote: »

an arts degree wouldnt really have helped you land a civil service job to be fair

surprised nobody told you it was a waste. usually what happens there is a kid decides they'll do arts, everyone tells them not to, the kid pays absolutely no attention, then when they've graduated they complain that it was a pointless degree

it's the strangest thing

I always thought a lot of people with Arts degrees ended up in the civil service, another idea the guidance counsellor planted in my head , I guess!

Ah no, a few people told me not to do it, but yeah, I thought it would be grand. And I do think if the recession hadn't hit, I wouldn't be quite as fecked as I am now... I'm sure an exciting career in admin or an office or something would have popped up.

cheesefiend

Currently half way through a degree in Psychology. I find it really interesting and can't think of anything else I'd rather be studying. Sometimes I do have those moments where I think to myself "Will I actually be good at this?", I suppose because in the area I would like to get into I'll be dealing one on one with patients and of course there's a huge amount of responsibility that comes with that.

Anyway, OP, try to pick a course that you truly believe you will be happy doing but more importantly, if you find yourself in a course you're not happy in it is much braver and wiser to drop out and find something you actually enjoy than to stick with something for the sake of it. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself, you have lots of time to make mistakes. As you see from so many of these posts a lot of people don't find what they love until there second/third/fourth trys. Even if you don't qualify until you're forty you still have 24+ years left in the job.

Best of luck!:)

DEFTLEFTHAND

Competed an LLB and currently working in the family business. I completely hate it and I'm very unhappy. I'm thinking of giving Nautical Science at the NMCI a go, my dad originally worked in the industry. Ship's Officer positions are more plentiful than ever worldwide so it is a career path that I'd like to explore.

confuseddotcom

One reason I didn't go to College is because I genuinely didn't have a bull's clue what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be. Still don't but turns out I made the right choice as it doesn't make pi$$ all difference now either, because they keep moving the ...... :rolleyes: keep changing the .... oh what's the feicing word ............... Grrrrrrrrrrr keep moving the feicin whaddyacallit oh that'll drive me daft now.

CathyMoran

I always wanted to do either computer science or electronic engineering but my mother was very against it - I finally got to do it several years later at my own epense after doing things because my mother wanted me to do them. The only reason why I do not regret it is because if the people I met along the way (and I loved one of the things I did it has to be said) - the most important person that I met was my husband.

Jimmyhologram

Thread touches a very raw nerve at the moment, I must say.

I choose to do a Humanities course which I enjoyed very much at the time. It was a good experience.

I am now in my early thirties, have no savings, no career path. I will become a father in the next 30 days and don't know how we will manage.

Would love to have done something in the sciences, lab-based work, but will never afford it now.

eviltwin

I left school in 95, took my first offer which was a business degree which I hated. I don't know why I even applied for it, I would have had more luck throwing darts at the courses on offer.

Needless to say I hated it but stuck it out for two years until my daughter was born then I took some time out to rethink my options and went back to do another course in another business field.

Graduated, worked in that for 12 yrs in a great job, business went kaput and found myself at a lose end. Out of sheer boredom started volunteering in the social care field working with abuse victims and I feel now I have found my calling. I would love to go back and study it but I'm in the middle of a maths degree now so it will have to wait.

Its kinda depressing to realise I had to wait until my mid 30's to decide what I wanted to do with my life.

I think asking a teenager to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life is crazy but we do it year on year and never seem to see any point in changing it.

homemadecider

I went to college when I was 25. Spent 4 years doing an undergrad and another year doing a Masters. It was tough as all my friends were settled into jobs with good salaries and I was always broke.

Definitely worth it though - I'm now in a job that I love, it makes me happy and it challenges me every day. Lots of my friends work in banks or corporate offices and hate it; I definitely made the right choice.

Blisterman

I'm gonna have to go against the grain of this thread, and say that I'm happy with my choice of studying architecture. Started in 2004, and should be fully qualified this year.

Granted, there are a lot less jobs out there, than there were when I started, but I'm fortunate now to have a job which I really enjoy.

Obviously I'm an exception. There are 180 students in first year, and only 12 in seventh year.

token101

Jimmyhologram wrote: »

Thread touches a very raw nerve at the moment, I must say.

I choose to do a Humanities course which I enjoyed very much at the time. It was a good experience.

I am now in my early thirties, have no savings, no career path. I will become a father in the next 30 days and don't know how we will manage.

Would love to have done something in the sciences, lab-based work, but will never afford it now.

What did you do? I found the same when I did Media studies, but I kind of saw the writing on the wall in 3rd year and did a postgrad the next year that saved me.

GEasy

yep! Straight into a good job after college.I like the work too.

FishBowel

Blisterman wrote: »

Obviously I'm an exception. There are 180 students in first year, and only 12 in seventh year.

What happened to the other 168?

IzzyWizzy

I started college when the economy was booming and graduated into a recession. At first I thought I'd made a mistake studying languages - my parents wanted me to do something businesses or economics related - but now, I'm not so sure it was a mistake. I went on to do a TEFL course and obviously TEFL is the perfect career choice for someone who loves travelling. I also did a Masters in Translation (on a full scholarship from a good London uni) so I'm hoping to start doing more and more of that soon, as it's not location dependent and you can work from home avoiding all that office politics and commuting crap.

I know my parents think I'm underachieving, but to be honest, I think what I'm doing now is perfect for me. I'm not a corporate/officey/9-5 job person and don't reallly want a job like that for at least the next 5 years. No way could I ever hack working in finance or anything like that. The demand for TEFL teachers has only increased since the recession because people in other countries have realised how important English is for work. I've never been unemployed, have never received a penny of dole in my life and haven't lived with my parents since I was 17. So I don't see myself as much of a 'failure' at all. I do worry about the long term prospects, as this is not a well-paid career choice, but I have good qualifications and I'm hoping that my translation experience will eventually lead to an in-house position at one of the European institutions.

kylith

Yeah, my poor college choice probably feced up my life. Did a rather specific media course, no jobs after I left college, fell into a decent job in a totally different industry which went south last year. Now I've no qualifictions that are good for anything, no job, and no money for retraining.

Minimum age for college should be 25, imo. It'd give you time to figure out what you actually want to do.

Dwellingdweller

I'm going to do Biomed in NUIG in September (if I get the points :P). I'm pretty sure it's what I'd like to do. I have far reaching interests, for a long time I wanted to do either Linguistics or Journalism. In the end I decided on Biomed as I want to get into something Neuroscience-related. Does anyone know if it would be possible to do an M.Sc in Compsci with a degree in Biomed? I have a feeling it'd be a good combination. I want to have the option of working in an IT environment and apply Biomed skills Or, I just want to work in Google. Haha.

Dwellingdweller

IzzyWizzy wrote: »

I started college when the economy was booming and graduated into a recession. At first I thought I'd made a mistake studying languages - my parents wanted me to do something businesses or economics related - but now, I'm not so sure it was a mistake. I went on to do a TEFL course and obviously TEFL is the perfect career choice for someone who loves travelling. I also did a Masters in Translation (on a full scholarship from a good London uni) so I'm hoping to start doing more and more of that soon, as it's not location dependent and you can work from home avoiding all that office politics and commuting crap.

I know my parents think I'm underachieving, but to be honest, I think what I'm doing now is perfect for me. I'm not a corporate/officey/9-5 job person and don't reallly want a job like that for at least the next 5 years. No way could I ever hack working in finance or anything like that. The demand for TEFL teachers has only increased since the recession because people in other countries have realised how important English is for work. I've never been unemployed, have never received a penny of dole in my life and haven't lived with my parents since I was 17. So I don't see myself as much of a 'failure' at all. I do worry about the long term prospects, as this is not a well-paid career choice, but I have good qualifications and I'm hoping that my translation experience will eventually lead to an in-house position at one of the European institutions.

Now you're making me feel bad about my choice :P Haha, jk. I really wanted to do Linguistics for the longest time (fluent Irish and French as well as English ofc... Learning Turkish with my spare time this summer ), but of course I got the whole spiel from the family about 'jobs nya nya nya'.

I'm definitely going to learn as many languages as I can in my spare time however I don't think I'll be going to college to study Linguistics at any point in the foreseeable future. Sadly. :P I'm just going to learn whatever languages take my fancy in my own time. Is it possible to teach TEFL with just a diploma in languages?

What do you study on a Linguistics course, out of curiousity?

Pedant

If everyone did what they really wanted to do then the world would fall apart.

For example, I doubt there are many people out there who'd like to be a binman (not saying anything against binmen), but we still need them. If we didn't have them, there'd be piles of rubbish built up outside on the road and the street would smell awful. That's why you get so many migrant workers filling those positions because not many Irish people want them. The same goes for labourers on building sites, cleaners and other menial jobs; many people don't want them because there isn't much "prestige" associated with them but we still need them. That's slowly beginning to change now though.

Irish people were brainwashed during the Boom (or "the illusion") into thinking that they are entitled to live their dreams. Reality beckons. Do what you're able to do and be realistic. Only follow your dreams if they're realistic and you're willing to work for them and you know you'll get something out of it in the end. Think long term. If you're willing to do a degree in some far fetched subject, will that help you after college? Will you look back in twenty odd years thinking "oh yes, I enjoyed that, good experience", but at the same time not have a penny to your name?

I think college should be less about the experience and the parties. Plenty of time to enjoy that. People seem to think that you can only enjoy yourself during college and life ends after that.

SilverScreen

I was on the verge of dropping out of my course in first year, but just decided to stay put. I ended up with a 1:1 honours degree in software engineering at the end of it all

Got a good job easily enough and I enjoy it a lot so I guess I made the right decision. Even when I started college I wasn't really sure if it was what I really wanted to do but I'm glad I went into IT.

Frank Grimes

Yes, but only because I had the benefit of being 27 when I was starting my degree - I definitely benefited from working after I finished secondary school, seeing bits of the world etc.

megaten

Pedant wrote: »

If everyone did what they really wanted to do then the world would fall apart.
For example, I doubt there are many people out there who'd like to be a binman (not saying anything against binmen), but we still need them. The same goes for labourers on building sites, cleaners and other menial jobs; many people don't want them but we still need them. That's why you get so many migrant workers filling those positions because not many Irish people wanted them. That's slowly beginning to change now though.

Irish people were brainwashed during the Boom (or "the illusion") into thinking that they are entitled to live their dreams. Reality beckons. Do what you're able to do and be realistic. Only follow your dreams if they're realistic and you're willing to work for them and you know you'll get something out of it in the end. Think long term. If you're willing to do a degree in some far fetched subject, will that help you after college? Will you look back in twenty odd years thinking "oh yes, I enjoyed that, good experience", but at the same time not have a penny to your name?

I think college should be less about the experience and the parties. Plenty of time to enjoy that. People seem to think that you can only enjoy yourself during college and life ends after that.

Your thinkings a bit narrow there. There's plenty of people that would be happy to be binmen. You seem to believe all dreams are grandiose ones.