Disillusioned with college- advice/help please.

klad101

Hi boardies

I am a second year business degree student at a leading uni. Im having some mal thought and feelings and am considering dropping out before friday, the final free-fee day to do so. My experience thus far has been unfulfilling and I am worried as to whether there is any worth in the degree, whether it is a waste of time, and whether I should stay or go.

I consider myself to be quite a bright young fella and got 475 in the leaving w/o much sweat. I chose the course mainly cos i was unsure of what to do and i heard it was " a bit of everything ". I have a familly business I could go into in the future and having the degree could be of some use in management etc.

My main issue is the lack of real learning I have had thus far, many subjects are either waffley management/marketing with little critical thinking, or subjects thought at too basic a level ie statistics, info systems. The only areas I feel to have gained in are economics and law, and will take as many as these subjects as i can should i continue with the course.

My main question, I guess, is whether post-grad courses in areas such as IT ie diploma,conversion courses, are worth their weight v. a degree. Should i finish this year and next years finals or drop out? Is a business degree worthless on its own if i plan at this stage to go into IT or another area? Will it stand to me to have this degree + conversion into other area, or would i be better served dropping this now and pursuing a more hands on, scientific, undergrad degree.

Also, finally, are there any ways I can take courses outside my degree now in say maths , that may have weight when it comes to applying for postgrads for say IT or engineering? Id love to have more challenging and engaging classes than I have with my current course alone, and am not sure if there is any way of studying say calculus at a level above the leaving cert, without doing it as part of a degree in college.

Thanks for reading, any help or opinions appreciated.

Procrastastudy

klad101 wrote: »

Hi boardies

I am a second year business degree student at a leading uni. Im having some mal thought and feelings and am considering dropping out before friday, the final free-fee day to do so. My experience thus far has been unfulfilling and I am worried as to whether there is any worth in the degree, whether it is a waste of time, and whether I should stay or go.

I consider myself to be quite a bright young fella and got 475 in the leaving w/o much sweat. I chose the course mainly cos i was unsure of what to do and i heard it was " a bit of everything ". I have a familly business I could go into in the future and having the degree could be of some use in management etc.

My main issue is the lack of real learning I have had thus far, many subjects are either waffley management/marketing with little critical thinking, or subjects thought at too basic a level ie statistics, info systems. The only areas I feel to have gained in are economics and law, and will take as many as these subjects as i can should i continue with the course.

My main question, I guess, is whether post-grad courses in areas such as IT ie diploma,conversion courses, are worth their weight v. a degree. Should i finish this year and next years finals or drop out? Is a business degree worthless on its own if i plan at this stage to go into IT or another area? Will it stand to me to have this degree + conversion into other area, or would i be better served dropping this now and pursuing a more hands on, scientific, undergrad degree.

Also, finally, are there any ways I can take courses outside my degree now in say maths , that may have weight when it comes to applying for postgrads for say IT or engineering? Id love to have more challenging and engaging classes than I have with my current course alone, and am not sure if there is any way of studying say calculus at a level above the leaving cert, without doing it as part of a degree in college.

Thanks for reading, any help or opinions appreciated.

Right first off I'm a mature student at a college so when I say this people can flame me to a well-done crisp about how much better their degree is etc... right.

Did you ever see that futurerama episode where the professor makes this thing that makes a monkey super intelligent. I think it ends up at MIT. The hat or what ever gets damaged and the monkey isn't anywhere near as intelligent anymore so it goes to business school.

I'd advise you you stick with it while you figure out exactly what you want to do. A third level degree, rightly or wrongly, is a prerequisite for many things you might want to do in life. Once you have your degree you can look at doing something more specialised and challenging.

I would suggest speaking to your tutors and seeing if there is anyway you can take additional modules or any projects that might be of benefit. To give you an example I'm involved with numerous projects at GCD outside of my degree (although all law related). My GPA last year was 67 and frankly I did very little study - I hear you on the challenge aspect.

I relaise you haven't asked specifically about this but there are barristers I know that have ended up at the bar by way of a B-COMM (?) degrees. Business is a good general degree.

TL;DR - Stick with it, get the degree - go and do a masters / professional qualification in the area you want to be in.

Just Like Heaven

Absolute waste of time by the sounds of it. It you wanna learn and be challenged cut your losses and go do Science, computer Science or Maths.

Just Like Heaven

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Right first off I'm a mature student

Did you ever see that futurerama episode /

LOL

Procrastastudy

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

LOL

Mature in years - not withstanding being a huge man-child.