college or no college

LegacyUser

Hi,

I am in my final year of Secondary school.

My problem is that I am expected to go to College, as its the done thing among my family and friends. I know how lucky I am to have the opportunity to go to college but I keep finding myself not wanting to. My sister is currently in college and spends less than
€10 euro a week on food and basically lives a fairly basic life. If i go to college I will also be expected to live like this as money is tight.

I live in rural Ireland so if I don't go to college I have no other way out of here, I can't afford to drive and my town is very small.

If i don't go to college is there anything I can do or will I end up sitting here doing nothing. I would LOVE to go travelling but definitely don't have enough money to do that. Is there any countries I can go to work in without a degree?

I just feel really conflicted, if i don't go I won't know if i am throwing away my future or not!

Tokyo

whatcanidohelp wrote: »

If i don't go to college is there anything I can do or will I end up sitting here doing nothing.

Not to be sound critical but, that's something that you should be asking yourself - we can't come up with a list of alternative career paths for you. There's no problem with not going down the college route, but having said that then, what do you want to do?? Are you interested in a trade? Or retail? Or something else? These are things that you need to ask yourself, otherwise you will, as you put it, end up sitting there doing nothing...

I would LOVE to go travelling but definitely don't have enough money to do that. Is there any countries I can go to work in without a degree?

Take it from me, there aren't many places in the world that you can go without some seed money to get you settled in while you try to find work. There are way too many stories on here already about people who went abroad, some only to England, and ended up on the streets for periods of time because they couldn't find work, and couldn't afford to get back home. If you want to go down the route of traveling/working abroad, then work here first to save enough to get you on your way.

Teyla Emmagan

Well, you are 17/18 with no job experience, so it's not very likely you'll get a job, particularly in a very small town. Which is not to say you won't, but if you do, it will take you a hell of a long time to make enough money to do what you want to do, if that is traveling. And without qualifications, you will probably be working a low paid job for life (again, not always, but probably).

Your sister may not be living the life of Riley in college, but is she having fun? She is meeting new people, exploring new things, gaining new opportunities. That's a lot to turn your back on. And if you did the same, you could get a part time job, and have some cash. And at the end of the day, you would ultimately be in a position that you could make some actual money, and be fulfilled.

To me this is a no brainer, to be honest. Go to college.

skooterblue2

What Teyla Emmagan said...... only picture it a few more years down the line.

Any qualification at college worth pursuing is going to take 4 years after that you can do whatever you like in whatever country you want. If you pursue money for you life you will always be a poor man no matter how much money you have. If you pursue education and experience you will never have to work a day in your life, and you will understand the meaning of wealth.

After 4 years in rural Ireland working in retail you will be no better off then when you started. Sure you will have 50 euro at the end of the week living at home like the boys in Pure mule .... but that is it. 4 years is a short time and you will have 4 months to work during the summer.

As you get on in life every three years you will see the gap increasing between those who have education and those who dont have it. You not only get paid better, you travel more, you get offered more experience, you will get more opportunities for promotion...... you get more.

LegacyUser

Hey OP,

With regards your question, it is possible to work in some countries without a degree, you can go anywhere you want in the EU. But you would be very lucky to get a job in the first place and secondly, it would probably be menial and badly paid. My younger sister never went to college and she lives abroad, working in a restaurant. She works very long hours on minimum wage. She went through two badly paid, temporary jobs and a year unemployed after leaving school and in the end literally hopped on a plane out of frustration! (Obviously I don’t recommend that, she could easily have not gotten anything, luckily she had a friend over there that helped her out). She is saving to go to college now. In some ways, I think she made the absolute right decision, because she will say herself that she had no focus at 18, and would not have lasted in college.

Having said that though, if you have any interest in a subject or career path at all, I would say go to college and get your degree. It will be tough, no denying that, I lived on aldi noodles and air for most of the 4 years of my degree even with part-time work, but can honestly say it was worth it. You will be in a much better position to go travelling then if you want.

LegacyUser

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the informative replies!

Ye are right it would make much better sense for me to go to college now seeing as I am lucky enough to have the opportunity.

I can study a course that has work experience abroad incorporated.


Thanks a million!
whatcanidohelp

December2012

Could you au pair for the summer?

LegacyUser

OP without knowing you or your school I don't know how good they are for giving you all the options college wise. My secondary school only talked about courses that were on the CAO but there are lots of PLC courses and similar that are bloody good courses that aren't listed and you need to go look at each college. I did an animation course at a PLC course and have traveled around the world working in the animation industry and the PLC course cost a fraction of both my sisters standard college degrees. My friend had no interest in college, her whole life was horses and she found there are actually college courses for different areas of equestrian study. So the question isn't college or no college but what do you want to do and what do you need to do education/training wise in order to do that. Don't think college equals a four year degree, there are many options but you need to go explore. If your not sure consider doing a one year course at a PLC college rather then starting a four year degree and finding you hate it.

LegacyUser

Hi,
I have applied for a PLC course but I'm not really that interested in any of them or what I have applied for.

I was really considering au pairing but a lot require driving skills.

I think I will go to college and study a course than includes work experience abroad.

Then I have the best of both worlds.

Thanks a million!

Stavro Mueller

OP, don't let your obsession with travelling lead you into picking the wrong course. What's concerning me a little is that you started this thread wondering should you go to college at all because you couldn't see any further than the tight financial situation your sister finds herself in for now. Even your choice of words is interesting - you said going to college is the done thing amongst your family and friends (what on earth did you put on your CAO form by the way?). It's as if you're not seeing any connection between someone getting an education and getting a better job. What's coming out of your mouth like a mantra is travel, travel, travel. How can I get out of here. Can I move to another country without a degree?

Don't get me wrong - there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to travel or study abroad but it is not a career. Your priority should be to pick a course which will suit you and lead to you getting a decent job at the end of it all. I really hope you're not going to dismiss courses just because they may not have the option of studying abroad. Your college years are actually a very short period in your life. You will have plenty of opportunities to travel throughout your life so hold your horses. There'll be nothing to stop you working abroad during the summer, travelling once you graduate, working abroad etc. etc. I think deferred gratification is the phrase I'm looking for