Dropping out of college after 1st year to re-sit LC. Thoughts?

EddieBurke

So I did the Leaving Cert in June of 2019. Did the exams knowing full well that I was capable of doing far better than I had. Did the best in my year in the JC but became lazy and undisciplined after TY. I've always been academic and interested in education and that didn't change. I just became undisciplined and got used to doing enough to scrape by. Hadn't decided what I wanted to do by the exams. It was between doing something STEM for the sake of doing something STEM (money, decent prospects, job security) and doing economics (hadn't done it in school but through reading about it on my own and researching/going to open days, I was fascinated by the field). Due to outside pressure and a bit of indifference at that point, I picked engineering. I wasn't really brave enough to go for the economics which I had a genuine interest in and I thought "I don't have to like engineering. I just have to get through the course and get a good job."

Now, I'm just finished 1st year in university and I feel like crap. After about 3-4 weeks I was despising the course. Was motivated at first because new things tend to be a bit exciting but once I realised I had no interest whatsoever in the course my discipline and work ethic plummeted. I had no friends in my course. I ended up despising the people in my course because they actually seemed interested in this stuff. Should of had the balls to drop out there and then but I stayed in. I failed two Christmas exams meaning I have to repeat them in August if I want to continue.

Just dropping out and re-applying for the CAO in 2020 wasn't really an option because I hadn't enough points in the Leaving Cert to do economics or something else anyway. I got engineering by one point. So if I'm dropping out now it means repeating the Leaving Cert in 2021. I do feel a desire to straighten myself out, get disciplined and get that result I know I could of gotten in 2019 if I'd applied myself.

Has anyone done this? Gone from college back to the Leaving Cert and back to college again? Is it worth it if you can pull it off or am I out of my mind.

rainbowtrout

There are plenty of students who drop out of a college course or even don't go to college at all after the LC, and then go back and repeat after a year or two. If you really don't like engineering there is no point sticking it out for another 3 years to end up in a job you hate.

You can start planning for LC, and potentially consider the cost of starting a new course again as you will have to pay fees for the first year. It might also be worth making a late application to the CAO for this year if you have the finances to go to college in the autumn. With the way the situation is at the moment, it's really impossible to say how it will work out and how many will sit the LC, and how points will be affected for college. For the sake of €40-50 it might be worth applying to the CAO anyway and if you get the course you would have the choice of starting this year or deferring for a year if you needed to save money for fees.

If not you can repeat the LC in 20/21 and start again. You certainly wouldn't be the first. It might also be worth your while going and getting a LC economics book to see what the course entails (I think there is a new syllabus this year) and also some past LC exam papers on examinations.ie to see what the exam entails.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

EddieBurke wrote: »

So I did the Leaving Cert in June of 2019. Did the exams knowing full well that I was capable of doing far better than I had. Did the best in my year in the JC but became lazy and undisciplined after TY. I've always been academic and interested in education and that didn't change. I just became undisciplined and got used to doing enough to scrape by. Hadn't decided what I wanted to do by the exams. It was between doing something STEM for the sake of doing something STEM (money, decent prospects, job security) and doing economics (hadn't done it in school but through reading about it on my own and researching/going to open days, I was fascinated by the field). Due to outside pressure and a bit of indifference at that point, I picked engineering. I wasn't really brave enough to go for the economics which I had a genuine interest in and I thought "I don't have to like engineering. I just have to get through the course and get a good job."

Now, I'm just finished 1st year in university and I feel like crap. After about 3-4 weeks I was despising the course. Was motivated at first because new things tend to be a bit exciting but once I realised I had no interest whatsoever in the course my discipline and work ethic plummeted. I had no friends in my course. I ended up despising the people in my course because they actually seemed interested in this stuff. Should of had the balls to drop out there and then but I stayed in. I failed two Christmas exams meaning I have to repeat them in August if I want to continue.

Just dropping out and re-applying for the CAO in 2020 wasn't really an option because I hadn't enough points in the Leaving Cert to do economics or something else anyway. I got engineering by one point. So if I'm dropping out now it means repeating the Leaving Cert in 2021. I do feel a desire to straighten myself out, get disciplined and get that result I know I could of gotten in 2019 if I'd applied myself.

Has anyone done this? Gone from college back to the Leaving Cert and back to college again? Is it worth it if you can pull it off or am I out of my mind.

Question to ask yourself: are you being honest with yourself that you aren't interested in the course and not that it's what you are telling yourself because you let yourself fall behind. See what I mean?

But, if you are honest with yourself, it's not a bad idea to resit the leaving cert to get the points to gain entry to your desired course. It's relatively a small time to pay for your life's career.

If you do resit your Leaving, you can also have more time to think about what you really want to do. Your mind might change closer to application time. But by then, you'll have had a better LC with more options.

Resitting your leaving, isn't going to stall your growth. It's going to give you more options. I think it's a wise thing to do.

Having said that, if you don't resit your LC, it's not the end of the road. I never say my leaving cert but went on to community college, then eventually got my degree from as a mature student. But I took the long way around.

What ever decision you choose to make, is your own and will be the right one for you. Both have their benefits. I'm just saying, it's not a bad idea to resit it and find something you like doing.

But remember, even the things we love to do are still hard work. Doing something you are interested in makes it more bearable.

Best of luck

EddieBurke

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

Question to ask yourself: are you being honest with yourself that you aren't interested in the course and not that it's what you are telling yourself because you let yourself fall behind. See what I mean?

Yea, I’m quite sure that it is a genuine feeling as opposed to a story I’m telling myself. There were many times throughout the year when I sat down and made a plan to get back on track, ace the exams and ace the course that would start off good and motivated and then just break down because as always there just wasn’t a baseline level of interest in the material being covered. I honestly can’t see myself going through four years of this. Even if I make it through I’m not sure it’s worth the misery and being stuck in a career I’m uninterested in.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

But, if you are honest with yourself, it's not a bad idea to resit the leaving cert to get the points to gain entry to your desired course. It's relatively a small time to pay for your life's career.

If you do resit your Leaving, you can also have more time to think about what you really want to do. Your mind might change closer to application time. But by then, you'll have had a better LC with more options.

Resitting your leaving, isn't going to stall your growth. It's going to give you more options. I think it's a wise thing to do.

Yea. There’s also an element of wanting to right an old wrong in that I know exactly that the Leaving Cert I got was below what I wanted because I genuinely did fail to apply myself.

It wasn’t just that I picked engineering for bad reasons. I SETTLED for it because it was more accessible given the points that I got. The more economics/business related courses that I was interested in were higher points but not that much higher. There’s definitely room for me to improve by at least 20-30 points.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Hope I didn't come across like I was assuming your weren't being really honest with yourself. I only mentioned it because I've lied to myself on occasion. I actually don't like to see it as lies. It's more of a coping mechanism to deal with choices that perhaps weren't the wisest. Well, either way, you get what I mean.

I can understand that feeling of wanting to settle and old wrong. You know you are much better than your performance at the time. I've seen other academic guys in my year, always smart but for some reason became undisciplined and it had a very detremintal effect on their options.

I think, you got good experience in knowing what you don't want to do and what university is like covering a subject that isn't your first choice. I think that could be motivation for you to succeed at doing your LC again.

It's hard being disciplined. I'm a student now actually and there are just so many distractions. I'm studying online, I always struggled but I just got to keep going and get it. I don't want to be working lower-income jobs all my life.

Anyway, I hope it's clearer to you want you want. I'm sure your family will be supportive too.

All the best.

robjenn

Rather than dropping out and repeating the Leaving could you look at applying through CAO for a Level 6 or 7 course in the area you are interested in and within the points range you have already achieved. You would then have the option of continuing on to Level 8.

spurious

Just make sure you understand the implications for fees for your repeat of first year, or have a way of self-funding it.

jrosen

I would imagine there are many like you, who feel the next step is college and you have to go straight from school. There is no point in staying if you have no interest and are not going to try. Its wasted time, both for you and your teachers.

Maybe take a year out, get a job or travel (who knows how easy either will be with current situations) but take some time out to find you. But productive time, explore other cities, try get some work experience in areas you think might interest you.

Im not sure if I would re sit the LC, is there a value in that time? Or could your time be better spent?

kalych

As someone who has done Economics at B.A. level I can honestly say that you'll have no issues getting into M.Sc. in Economics with an engineering degree and likely have any future employers be really keen on hiring you should you consider completing the degree and then doing masters in Economics after.

If the main consideration is just switching to Economics as a field I would just switch at masters level rather than quitting Engineering.
If you feel you won't be able to complete the Engineering degree then obviously look into repeating the LC.
Best of luck!