College Has Me Down

[Camo & Gold]

I seriously cannot get motivated to proceed with college anymore.. This is my sophomore year and I'm losing the fire to keep on keeping on.. Before anybody jumps to conclusions and calls me "lazy" I've been working since I was 13, I've never been late to a 6am job before but yet I couldn't make a 10am class if my life depended on it..

Sitting in class and "learning" feels like regurgitating what a professor carelessly spits out before you 5 days a week. Throw in the online assignments, labs and pointless exams that "sum up" an entire semesters worth of garbage really makes me consider throwing in the towel.

I'm all for learning, self advancement and challenging oneself but I feel the education system could be better adapted to teaching us students. Sorry about the rant guys and thanks for reading.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZCP]

Suck it up. Even as an entrepreneur you have countless days of drudgery, paperwork, tax, classes, etc.
If you can't do it with pretty girls around and for only an hour or two at a time......

As an aside, go SEE the teacher. Spend time with the professors. Take them to lunch. Talk about 'why'. Give them feedback. You will end up learning a LOT outside of class (which is what college is all about in my opinion).

 

[Daniel A]

I can't think of much to say, because I also have my doubts about staying in college. What I'm most concerned about is the opportunity cost of my time and energy. It's getting harder to do just about anything because I'm so drained of energy. Sleep, nutrition and exercise are becoming priorities of mine again as a result. Especially if I want to make 2015 a great year. I'm sure you can find the motivation again if you make some changes / improvements on something.

Anyways, one of the books I'm reading on my own is relevant to this topic. I already said it here before but, I'll post cliffs on it once I finish. By the way, I registered for my Spring 2015 classes a little over an hour ago. Thankfully I have two business classes; Business Law and Principles of Accounting. Are you going to major in business?

 

[Vigilante]

or drop out

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Camo & Gold]

ZCP I wish I could, but I'm slowly burning out. I actually took a year off college due to health issues so I'm more mature and slowly fading away from the "hook up" lifestyle and more interested in making money and becoming successful. I was engulfed in the party lifestyle and lost a lot of valuable time, brain cells and money during this time and I'm trying hard to stay away from this lifestyle. I wouldn't mind hours of taxes, classes, ect.. if the immediate end result was potential success for my business but after graduating for college I have to compete for a career and have the burden of student loans... It's hard to stay motivated with a debt cloud ready to rain down on you.

Daniel I'm currently in Environmental Horticulture, it's a lot different than all the business majors on here. I was originally an Accounting major but the endless Debits/Credits got to me. Also the business classes seemed like torture to me, learning and memorizing definitions but not learning how they tied into real life until the "Advanced Classes". I'd rather teach myself business on my own accord than paying $1,200 for the class, $125 for the book to only learn the "basics".

 

[Charnell]

I feel the same way, but I also chose the wrong college. My current one is more geared towards health and agriculture, whereas the one two hours away is more law and business. That and the whole college lifestyle isn't for me, what with being a week from 24 and all. Luckily there is a program in the city I grew up in where you can take distance classes from all the public schools at one location, so I'm going to be transferring to the other school at the end of the school year and taking courses in my hometown.

Have you thought about getting an associates degree? I'm contemplating it, doing that or transferring to the other big school, only because I really don't want to take all the extra electives to become a "well-rounded student". How the hell is knowing the process or meiosis and mitosis going to help my business economics degree?

 

[Vigilante]

on our show this saturday, we discuss the perennial circular argument of going to college vs. not

there is no answer

as the answer varies per every individual circumstance

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Get Right]

Cool man, at least you are aware of your situation. Introspective question for ya' - if you were to drop out what would you do?

Nice location BTW

 

[Camo & Gold]

Precisely Vigilante,
Unfortunately throughout high school while we were busy with learning what was being taught, athletics and a social life not much effort was put into finding a career. While if I wanted to become a Nurse or Doctor a college degree would be absolutely necessary vs. owning your own business makes this decision optional.

To this day I'm uncertain, but I do know one thing for certain and that is I want to be independent. Independent in a physical, mental as well as financial sense.

 

[Camo & Gold]

Cool man, at least you are aware of your situation. Introspective question for ya' - if you were to drop out what would you do?

Nice location BTW

I've been contemplating this a lot recently. One of my options would be to work with my Dad's buddy in the movie industry, working on setting up & taking down the sets, filling the generators, ect.. It pays well which would be a financial start up.
Another option would be to work in a friends Dad's factory making a decent salary and potentially learning from a successful Entrepreneur.
Both routes are very plausible but the one thing I really plan on doing is starting up an Ebay store selling wholesale goods with a markup. I'm also seriously considering doing several Ebooks, but I'm on the fence about that.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZCP]

Start the ebay store today. Quit jacking around. Start today.

Figure out what you can learn in school to help the business. Finish out the classes you are in while networking with professors and students for your business. This gives you time to prepare a landing spot if you decide to bail on next semester.

Create value and make money.

Now, what will you do today to get you where you want to be?

 

[Camo & Gold]

I've been fumbling around with ideas on what to sell or a product to come up with.. As of yet I am too nervous to pull the trigger on an Alibaba source since many are scammers. I do agree with you on building contacts as well as testing out Ebay businesses before graduating.

Start the ebay store today. Quit jacking around. Start today.

Figure out what you can learn in school to help the business. Finish out the classes you are in while networking with professors and students for your business. This gives you time to prepare a landing spot if you decide to bail on next semester.

Create value and make money.

Now, what will you do today to get you where you want to be?

 

[The-J]

I felt this way for a while, too. I no longer feel this way and have committed myself to doing well in school. Not for the goal of some silly corporate job, mind you; because I've found that, despite the fact that I'm paying for it, the benefits of college for me outweigh the costs.

For you, it may be a different story. My recommendation to you is to take a year off and see what you get done. If you haven't done a damn thing in a year, then go back because that just means that school is the best place for you to be right now. If you find that year to be the most productive of your life, then don't go back.

Also, future tip: don't trust strangers on the Internet with your future.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Even Steven]

Daniel I'm currently in Environmental Horticulture

Camo, are you working toward this degree with a particular goal? I.e., is getting this degree going to help accomplish a bigger goal (get a solid job to start banking money toward a fastlane venture), or are you just going to college because you're not sure what else to do or are fearful of taking other options?

 

[Guest24480]

I know the feeling.

I really had to sit down and think about my options, but ultimately I decided that I was going to finish my education and possibly even pursue a job right out of college. Just for the value of the experience. I'll still work hard on business, and if I have enough of an income to live off of by the time I leave college, then I won't get a job. It's as simple as that.

Being an entrepreneur is about more than just starting a business or making money. It's really about understanding the real world as well as putting yourself in the shoes of the everyday person.

Yeah, I do feel like I'm going through the motions at school, but we're 19 freaking years old. I'm in no rush to become a millionaire as many young and aspiring entrepreneurs here are. "I want to make a million in a year, I want to do this and that by age 21." You're YOUNG. Live a little, experience the world and the people around you.

Age is just a number. In fact, I want to have a steady 9-5 just to see how much better being an entrepreneur really is. It will make me work that much harder to get out of it. You're not on a race against the clock. Do it at your own pace.

In fact, I think racing against the clock can be more damaging than helpful at times. I don't consider sitting back, learning, and really immersing yourself in the real world for a few years before you get really serious a limiting belief. In fact, I almost think it's necessary to some extent.

At first, my mindset was: I NEED to have a passive income before I leave college. I NEED to do this, I NEED to do that. That's great and all, but I still consider myself a kid. Don't put so much goddamn pressure on yourself just because you read MJ's life changing book. You have an entire life ahead of you to make it happen.

 

[Camo & Gold]

The career I am pursuing will bring in revenue for a fastlane venture, but so could anything else really. I enjoy working in this particular environment but at the same time it will be a 9-5 type job. I chose this career path because it was the best pill for me to swallow, I'd rather work for myself but then again I do not have the hands-on business experience to be successful, yet. Also this career path is the "safer option" for producing a steady revenue than attempting to start up my own business initially.

Camo, are you working toward this degree with a particular goal? I.e., is getting this degree going to help accomplish a bigger goal (get a solid job to start banking money toward a fastlane venture), or are you just going to college because you're not sure what else to do or are fearful of taking other options?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Even Steven]

I heard someone say that making the wrong decision often has fewer negative consequences than doing nothing at all. So, I wouldn't sweat too much over which path is the "right" one for you at this time. But whichever you go with, you gotta really go with it. Don't waffle back and forth and second guess yourself after you've made your decision.

Having said that, if you dig through the gold posts around here for just a week or two, you'll find plenty of instances of people starting a solo venture with very little money or experience starting out. Don't let lack of money scare you too badly, and for sure don't let lack of experience stop you from trying something small. for myself, I've spent the last week building an eCommerce site (first time for me) after reading a few of the gold posts. I've learned so much already.

 

[TrestonIngle]

I seriously cannot get motivated to proceed with college anymore.. This is my sophomore year and I'm losing the fire to keep on keeping on.. Before anybody jumps to conclusions and calls me "lazy" I've been working since I was 13, I've never been late to a 6am job before but yet I couldn't make a 10am class if my life depended on it..

Sitting in class and "learning" feels like regurgitating what a professor carelessly spits out before you 5 days a week. Throw in the online assignments, labs and pointless exams that "sum up" an entire semesters worth of garbage really makes me consider throwing in the towel.

I'm all for learning, self advancement and challenging oneself but I feel the education system could be better adapted to teaching us students. Sorry about the rant guys and thanks for reading.

How I feel about high school now. I'm still going to graduate because I would want some kind of plan E if my plans A-D don't work out.

But I'm sticking with entrepreneurship, so it's more like I'm staying with plan E, then if things get "too tough", I have plans A-D .

But I try to follow CENTS in most aspects of my life and any "job" or occupation would be a waste of my time knowing that I could possibly provide thousands of times more value to the world being my own boss.

 

[TrestonIngle]

I know the feeling.

I really had to sit down and think about my options, but ultimately I decided that I was going to finish my education and possibly even pursue a job right out of college. Just for the value of the experience. I'll still work hard on business, and if I have enough of an income to live off of by the time I leave college, then I won't get a job. It's as simple as that.

Being an entrepreneur is about more than just starting a business or making money. It's really about understanding the real world as well as putting yourself in the shoes of the everyday person.

Yeah, I do feel like I'm going through the motions at school, but we're 19 freaking years old. I'm in no rush to become a millionaire as many young and aspiring entrepreneurs here are. "I want to make a million in a year, I want to do this and that by age 21." You're YOUNG. Live a little, experience the world and the people around you.

Age is just a number. In fact, I want to have a steady 9-5 just to see how much better being an entrepreneur really is. It will make me work that much harder to get out of it. You're not on a race against the clock. Do it at your own pace.

In fact, I think racing against the clock can be more damaging than helpful at times. I don't consider sitting back, learning, and really immersing yourself in the real world for a few years before you get really serious a limiting belief. In fact, I almost think it's necessary to some extent.

At first, my mindset was: I NEED to have a passive income before I leave college. I NEED to do this, I NEED to do that. That's great and all, but I still consider myself a kid. Don't put so much goddamn pressure on yourself just because you read MJ's life changing book. You have an entire life ahead of you to make it happen.

The problem with what you're saying is that, we don't know how much time we have left on this earth.

I could die by a helicopter crashing through my roof and decapitating me. I don't know what's gonna happen 5 years down the road; The world could be gone tomorrow!

I'm not suggesting you go full-on prepper, but the best way to experience the world is young and with enough digits in your bank to take you anywhere you need/want to go or do.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Mattie]

Spend time with the professors.

I used to do this during breaks and ate my dinner or lunch with them. Really it's all attitude and perception. You can look at it as garbage, or information that may be helpful in the future. You have no clue where life will take you or whether you'll need it or not. I didn't like all my classes, but now where I'm at, international relations was important, communications, management etc, business math, presentation, computer classes, yada yada. So, you may just think it's a waste of time, but it may not be at a later time.

I listened to other students make the same complaints as you. I knew they'd drop out because of the attitude and mindset. If Bear Bryant was here, he'd tell you to go home, cause if you quit on yourself and you'll quit on the team. You won't like everything in life. And this isn't a picnic, and who ever says it's easy is full of crap. So, if you can't stick with school you won't stick with your business.

 

[Formless]

I took a Gap Year before coming to university. I worked shitty jobs from cleaning kitchens, to cleaning shitters in a dentistry at 4:00am. I learned to sell things in person, I learned to sell things over the phone. I learned how back of house in restaurants works. I learned how efficient stocking works. I learned the business game ('what's in it for them'). It was great. I have a glimpse of understanding how the world works (something I can't say about a lot of my peers)

I'm in university and I'm trying to take advantage of little things. Law professionals can answer my questions for free. Accounting professionals can answer my questions for free. In-fact, they will be glad to do so only because I showed interest in their field. Scholarship funds are waiting to throw their money at me as soon as my business makes sales, they want me to get rich and help me with it so that they can put my face on their league table report. They're ready to subsidize networking events for me, subsidize my accommodation, and all they ask is that I do a bit of puny studying. I can make good friends here. i can meet great girls here. I can learn new things here.

The courses suck and are useless though, but they can be quite interesting, and that's nice. I am learning to work independently without immediate gratification (something a job doesn't teach you) and that's a really good habit, and I get to learn it in a totally safe environment. Something that helps set me up for business Isn't that fantastic? That's a steal of a deal, considering the super favorable repayment method of university in the UK as well. All these opportunities around me just begging to be taken.

It's a matter of perspective. Humans have a very limited capacity for focus. Those who focus on negatives, see negatives, those who focus on positives, see positives. (Csikszentmihalyi)

Who are you? Are you a person who finds and takes opportunities or are you a person who sees trouble and drowns in it. If you are the latter, it's okay. Just become a different person. See yourself as a different person. Let it become in-congruent with your identity to not see opportunities.

You know, I don't think anything teaches me perception better than watching me cook and watching my mother cook. I look in the fridge some times, i see some left over vegetables, frozen bacon, some mincemeat, an apple and some lemon. And I think 'man, there ain't shit to eat.'

Then my mother goes into the fridge and she sees options. Possibilities. She make a mincemeat-wrapped-in-bacon sausage in a lemon sauced vegetable salad and apple sauce to dip the sausage in. Perception.

BTW, it's 03:18am, I'm in the library. I'm writing an essay. I'm practicing copy. I'm helping my friend redesign his website. I'm reading psycho-cybernetics. I have to be up at 07:00am tomorrow, and I love it... ALL because I chose to become a person who appreciates what live gives.

Because it is a choice. I don't know what choice you will make. But make sure that it's a choice, not a knee-jerk response.

 

[Mattie]

Nice Knee-jerk reaction. You just reacted rather than responded.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Formless]

No, I gave my own experiences from a different perspective. Trying to challenge his perspective of the opportunities/lack there-of provided by university. Everything I said tied back down to perception. Because this could just be a case of rationalizing a pre-set view point.

Maybe it's not, in which case everything I've said I was useless. But I feel pretty strongly that people, even smart ones are capable of bullshitting themselves out of a good deal with rationalization, so I wanted to get that across. That, and people who are READY to start business tend to... you know, start business. Regardless of whether they're in university, or cleaning toilets.

I should have made my intentions more clear, less anecdotal and less metaphorical.

 

[Camo & Gold]

I appreciate all of your responses and concern. Yesterday I was in a bad mood and would come here in-between studying to vent.
I do NOT plan on dropping out, for my field a degree will give you more opportunities than not having one. I was just getting everyone's perspectives on the subject, I like seeing both sides on any given issue. As of now I'm currently setting up my business on the side, it's related to my field of study and will help my business prosper and give myself credibility when establishing a reputation.

I just needed some time to settle down and appreciate how far I've come and where I am going to be.

 

[GuestUser112]

Dropout and go work in the factory.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SBS.95]

I don't know if you're familiar with this but- http://www.doityourselfdegree.com/

Also don't know where you are in your college education. But it's possible to get a lot of your degree knocked out using unconventional methods. Look into CLEP exams. It costs like $80 to register and like $20 for a study book and CD (which you can resell for $10-15 after the test.) Study for a few weeks, pass 1 test, BAM, 3 credits that would have taken you 16 weeks of classes and you got it done in 3 weeks for the price of 2 Xbox games.

In a college environment that keeps pushing students to graduate in 5 years (who wouldn't want a 20% revenue increase right?) I'm on track to graduate in 3.5. I'm a junior but I only started college last year. It's possible to sidestep a LOT of the typical college BS.

 

[RHL]

Sitting in class and "learning" feels like regurgitating what a professor carelessly spits out before you 5 days a week. Throw in the online assignments, labs and pointless exams that "sum up" an entire semesters worth of garbage really makes me consider throwing in the towel.

Everything you learn is a barrier to entry for someone else, and the harder or more boring it is to learn, the bigger a barrier it is. When you look at the courses available, ask "Which one of these could I turn around and use to make the biggest barrier for other people?" The farther you run, the more other people will have to work to catch up. Anyone could open an amazon store or a pizza parlor (not successfully, but I just mean, it's not as though huge amounts of initial study and background knowledge are required to grasp the concept). When you get into organic chemistry or materials engineering or electrical engineering, you're entering a space that has an explosive value combination= products almost everyone uses (plastics, carbon fiber, ceramics, oil, medicine, phones, drones, computers, etc. etc.) but that almost none of the people who use those things every day really understand how to make or design or modify. Take the classes that erect the huge barriers, grind to the other side, and enjoy big profits.

Study hard.

 

[SeanyHang]

I'm now 24 and just graduating college this semester because the entire time I've felt the way you do now. I F**KING HATE college (I also commuted so I never got to experience that whole "finding yourself" thing a lot of the college-enthusiasts talk about). I attended and stayed in college at first because I hadn't yet ever been exposed to any type of entrepreneurial mindset (let alone the fastlane mindset) and figured I needed it if I didn't want to be a server/bartender/garbage man for the rest of my life. At first (18-21 - TOO LONG) I dragged my feet through, partied my face off and dropped classes left and right because "who give's a sh*t?".. By the time I pulled my head out of my a$$ and realized how much money I had wasted, I figured that I was already screwed and I'd better get a move on and get the hell out of college so I could start my career.
By the time I was 22 1/2 I had really started self-educating myself on business after I thought to myself something like "You know..I really want to record more music..but that's expensive..and I already have a job.. And I REALLY hate working under one douche-boss let alone two..So I definitely don't want another job and if I could I'd like to leave the one I'm already at...what do I do?". Boom business books and forums all day and all night.. Honestly after I learned more about entrepreneurship and paving your own path, it made me despise going to class even more.. BUTTT at that point I was already almost all the way through with a fair amount of debt and decided to suck it up, play the game and graduate to get a better paying job (at first) to fund my businesses (something that at this point I may not even have to do if my importing business keeps doing what it's doing). To this day I still hate attending classes besides the ones on subjects I love (like the philosophy of space and time) but I go, and play the game because I'm already near the finish line.

You need to decide whether or not you're going to suck it up and keep going - play the game and befriend teachers ESPECIALLY if you're going to half a$$ your work (which you shouldn't) OR be confident enough to drop out and start your business. Here's the deal - there's nothing wrong with not being confident enough. You're REALLY FREAKING YOUNG and chances are you don't have that much cash to spare.. OR maybe you DO have enough cash but your business is a total failure.. OR maybe your business is growing but not at the rate you were hoping - there's a million scenarios that could screw up your plans. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU SHOULDN'T KEEP DREAMING AND TAKING ACTION!!!!!!!!!!

There are literally an infinite amount of paths that one can take in life that will lead them into a plethora of different places.. Which paths others take aren't for me or anyone else to judge..

It seems to me we can break the course of action you might want to take into to one of five paths..
1. Play it safe and stay in school - forget your aspirations.
2. Play it safe and stay in school - TAKE ACTION AND START A BUSINESS WITH THE FULL INTENT OF IT BECOMING YOUR FULL TIME GIG
3. Drop out and become a bartender - find that you make a decent amount of money and get too comfortable
4. Drop out and become a bartender - TAKE ACTION AND START A BUSINESS WITH THE FULL INTENT OF IT BECOMING YOUR FULL TIME GIG
5. Party hard, screw it all, be a bum.

Which one of those resonated the most with you? Do that.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Phones]

I don't know if you're familiar with this but- http://www.doityourselfdegree.com/

I would love to do this...

I have 60 ECTS credits (Total for Undergrad is 180) from Engineering School, switched to Business School.
Asked for recognition and waiver of the common subjects, rejected because on BSchool each subject has 7 Credits and on Engineering only 4 to 6.

BSchool has maximum subjects per semester, you can only take one additional subject each semester (makes a lot of sense... NOT)
You have a mixed evaluation, 50% from on-going grading, 50% from the Exam. Guess what, you can only do the exam for 100% if you are a Student-Worker, and even then they can give you 0 on the 10 or 15% part of Class attendance/participation.

Business Management is quite "general", apart from Calculus, Intro to Macro / microeconomics, Intro to statistics and Accounting, everything else should be OPTIONAL, has long as you had the credits, you should get the degree. Guess what, 16 out of 20 are mandatory subjects, including Calculus 2 (completely useless...), Macroeconomics (where you memorize stuff and spill it on the test), Advanc. Statistics and other useless stuff.

This BSchool is top30 on FT ranking.

Pros: 1000€/year tuition for undergrad, 8000-10000€ for the entire Masters

 

[ShannaGrace]

Save your money or spend it on trainings that will earn you money. I wish I didn't have the debt now.