What Did It Get You?

[quasarvs]

Okay so maybe I am a typical teen student, but regardless... lately I have been frustrated with and distracted from studying.

So I want to know...

1. What did it get you?

2. You spend all you're life learning and what happens?

3. What do you have today that you really appreciate and are glad you studied for?

4. Was it worth it?

5. How long did it take you and why?

6. Was it worth the time?

7. Were you worried about the time?

8. Or did you go at completing your degree at your own pace?

9. Did you have a lot of counseling?

10. Did that help or not?

11. Did you study what you hated to do what you love?

Yes, this posted topic is a rant, but I am hoping to discover something I haven't heard before.

Thank you for your posts.

[ShotoJuku]

[COLOR="#000080"]Hello,

Perhaps you may wish to condense your very first post "rant" of 11-questions down to something more manageable?

Welcome aboard! [/COLOR]

[Lindagerr]

I won't go through and answer each question but the general answer is yes it was worth it. I had been in a job in a lab for over 30 years I knew alot more at my first job then the MS that came in at 1/4 more money and I had to teach him everything about our work. As the years went by I couldn't even apply for jobs because I didn't have the required piece of paper.

Did I study things I wasn't interested in? To some extent yes but I was surprised that most of the things did get me interested at least to some extent.

When I started this journey over 30 years ago I wanted to be a nurse very much, but life got in the way. Several times I went back thinking either I would be a nurse or stay in a lab, but again life got in the way. Finally when I was probably older then your parents are now, I decided I wanted the degree9Just an AA at first and I wanted just for me not so I could get ahead just so I could say I did it. Then I started substitute teaching just to make some extra money, and I decided I love teaching. So now I have my AA and my BA and I am going for a second of each and I still might go for that Masters.

Yes I know my granddaughter is probably older then you so you can't relate, but I do have sons in their 20's and they are having a hard time finding a job or making minimum wage because they don't have a degree. They are not doing what they love and unless they get themselves together and decide what they want their prospects are not good.

So stay studying and decide what you want and go for it.

[Chebasaz]

I'll second what Linda said with a healthy dose of what you've probably heard from your teachers and parents already - This is one of the most important times of your life. It's not just about the knowledge that you're getting, but also the habits that you're allowing to form. Will they be good habits that will help you in the future, or will they be bad habits that you'll need to get rid of later on?

In answer to your questions:

1. What did it get you?

It gave me options, which to my way of thinking is one of the most important things there is. Getting your degree will open doors that would otherwise be shut. Being able to choose whether or not you walk through those doors is much better than not being given the choice at all.

2. You spend all you're life learning and what happens?

You lead a richer and fuller life than you would have otherwise. In my personal opinion, you should never stop learning. This goes back to those habits I was talking about earlier. If you 'learn' to enjoy learning, it will continue to help you all of your life. There is so much knowledge out there that you will never know it all, but every bit you pick up will help shape you as a person. How sad it would be to stop learning once you reach a certain age!

3. What do you have today that you really appreciate and are glad you studied for?

Are we talking specific subjects? I really enjoyed Astronomy though I don't use it for my actual job. I like not only being able to understand how the universe works, but also because it provides a certain perspective. We're very small in the grand scheme of things. Helps keep me humble.

4. Was it worth it?
5. How long did it take you and why?
6. Was it worth the time?

Yes, because of the before-mentioned options and also the sense of personal accomplishment. It took me a little under two years because I was working close to 60+ hours a week. I consider it time well spent even with my insane job requirements.

7. Were you worried about the time?
8. Or did you go at completing your degree at your own pace?

I wasn't worried about a deadline if that's what you are asking. It was more of a personal goal to be done by the second year.

9. Did you have a lot of counseling?

I lurked a lot on these forums. It's great for that.

10. Did that help or not?

Of course. Things are always easier when you have someone to help you along. In the end, it's still up to you though. Whether or not you cross the finish line is up to nobody else. Goes back to those habits...

11. Did you study what you hated to do what you love?

I don't know anybody who loves every single subject they're forced to study for a degree. There are just going to be some classes/exams that you need to push through.

Final thoughts -

I have many friends that I grew up with who are hating life now, simply because they didn't take the time to do what they knew they needed to. It's never too late to change your lot in life, but it gets much harder later on. A little bit of suffering now goes a long way to not working at the Burger Barn for the next 20 years.

Keep at it. You'll thank yourself later on.

[dcan]

I think part of the issue is your age and basic lack of real-world experience to see how what you are learning is applicable. Because let's face it, what you learn in school is largely NOT applicable to a typical teenager's life. There is brain science to back this up -- when you learn a concept your brain tries to tie it to existing concepts, which is why analogies work so well for teaching. But if you are learning a new concept then you have little or no prior learning to tie it to, so you are learning new ideas "in the air" so to speak with nothing to tie them to. Once you have something to tie them to they start making a lot more sense. Unfortunately at this point in your life you have a lot of little islands of knowledge floating around in your skull but only limited ties between them, so it's hard for you to see the "use" sometimes. Most of us here have years of real life under our belts and we (a) can see the value of the knowledge we gain and (b) have an incentive to just "suck it up" and get through it in order to get ahead.

Regarding your general line of questioning, it sounds cliche but it's true: education opens doors for you that you never knew existed. The saying is "you don't know what you don't know" is completely accurate. With more education you see more possibilities open up in your everyday life. For example, I'm taking a business law course right now, and I'm just now coming to understand the amount of negligence that occurred in a couple of previous accidents I was involved in. I had more options for suing than I thought, but my options were limited because I didn't know what my options were.

I think that last part really sums everything up, actually.

[ryoder]

Too many questions for a first post.

[burbuja0512]

My comments are a little different and I think that none of us is going to provide the right answer, so I would add some questions for the OP.

I didn't study what I love. I like people, not business theory, but in order to advance my career where I get to work with lots of cool people, I had to study something.

I dropped out of college at 19, moved out of the country and learned a foreign language. Somewhere along the line, I went from teaching English to sales and found that I was actually good at it. Came back to the states, worked my way up and then got the degree.


I guess the question is: How do you know what you love until you learn more? How do you know what is fulfilling until you try it? There are professions out there that you've never even heard of. Many people find their perfect job only because they get an entry-level position in a company and discover something within their organization that excites them. I did not know about B2B sales nor would I have considered it when I was younger. I would have never gotten into it if someone at the English school I was teaching at hadn't thought that it would be a fun experiment to give the young blonde American girl a sales job, one that was almost entirely men in their 40's-50's.

So then the second question is Would you love your job more or less if it wouldn't pay the bills and support a family? I complain about sales sometimes even though I like it. It's extremely stressful and numbers-driven. There is lots of travel, long hours and I am attached to my email and cell phone. When a major client needs something, I don't care if they are on the other side of the world, I have to be ready and able to assist. However, I can pay my bills. I would be willing to take a lower paying job if it was something I really loved, but I like what I do, so why struggle needlessly? No I don't have to drink champagne and eat caviar, but I don't want to worry about my water getting shut off because I chose to buy food instead of pay the water bill.

Finally: How likely is it that a degree in "what you love" will give you a job that relates to your beloved area of study? Well, that depends on your area of studies. Go to pharmacy school? Yes you will get a job immediately doing exactly what you studied. Brand new degree in Liberal Arts? What are you going to do? Be a liberal artist? As much as you may love liberal arts, and learning a broad range of different areas, you have to do something different for work unless you want to go the academic route.


I don't think it's bad to post a lot of questions as a rant. Education is frustrating and expensive and there aren't a lot of people out there that give good advice. My guidance counselor in high school told everyone that you had to go to a four year university right off the bat. It didn't matter what you study, just go to the four year school and remember that community college is for losers. Well... that's not exactly what he said, but almost. I didn't get the best advice and had to figure it out on my own. Even on the forum, we're typically split among different biases that may not provide advice that applies to your particular situation.

I will be very curious to see if the OP comes back to respond or just wants to get us all going. Ha ha ha... not difficult to do that

[quasarvs]

Wow, well first, I want to say Thank You to everyone for the time and energy you took to reply here.

I have just recently had to look at changing some of the way I study to meet some, granted, self-imposed deadlines, nonetheless deadlines for goals that I want to reach, so that I spend less time, less money and can, so to speak, move on with life. A bit daunted and depressed as I had been, this has helped a lot to hear about people's experiences who have been there and done that.



To ShotoJuku
Thank you for the welcome. Also with respect to what ryoder said, I understand about the long posts. It can take a lot of time. Another forum I am a part of, is very used to making long posts, and I guess I have gotten used to it.

To Lindagerr,
I appreciate hearing your thoughts and that it was worth it for you, and obviously because you had pursued what you wanted, just because you wanted it. I think a big thing for a lot of people is not knowing what they really want or not wanting to admit what they really want to do.

To Justin:
Great advice! Very good points about the options. I have been very frustrated with even just little situations where there wasn't more than one option. Definitely agree with you; options are important and I believe that is what helped make America great. What a trooper for your 60+ hr.s work and school! Wow!
I guess it must be teenage mentality, but building the habit to "like" learning is not natural, but its gotta be done with respect to 'going places' in life. In my relatively short life span, so far, I have begun to see habits that are there and shape what I do; even at this point seeing some habits I've needed to try and break. And yes, being patient now does beat working at burger barn for 20 years! Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions; hearing someone's view on all was beneficial.

To dcan:
Thank you for your thoughts. What you said about learning and what youth have in their lack of experience was interesting and encouraging to be able to continue to be patient in pursuing education. I have a birthday coming up this weekend, and though I will still be a teen; as a kid I never thought I'd ever get there to this age; so now that I'm here, the irony is still, patience and work. Interestingly, though, I still have something to look forward to as I did then; while I work, to see what more and new options will be coming. Very helpful illustrations about the brain science. At least there is a logical explanation to this part of life existence.

To burbuja0512:
You certainly, had an exciting experience in moving out of the country to extend your education. That is cool!
Here are my considerations on your questions :
1. "How do you know what you love until you learn more?" Good question. I suppose that is why they teach a variety of subjects in school, and still even in college. Then even after college, internships can give you a sample.

2. "Would you love your job more or less if it wouldn't pay the bills and support a family?" Also a good one here. This is informative to help evaluate whether someone is picking something because they do truly enjoy doing it, or are just doing it to earn money. I will be using this to evaluate. Honestly, I think everyone would want to be able to love their job and pay the bills. That would be ideal.

3. "How likely is it that a degree in "what you love" will give you a job that relates to your beloved area of study?" Answering that, I think is key for every student before they pick their degree. Of course after answering the second also.
Fortunately most degrees are practical so what is chosen will most likely be used somewhere.
My degree is in history. Sometimes when considering the future I wish it were something narrow and very specific. Then I would know exactly what I'm going to study and work. But history is applicable in so many fields that it leaves me with plenty of options and directions to pursue, so I am not hemmed in by something that I find out I didn't like.

Thank you everyone for all your information and thoughts regarding my questions. I am glad I asked!

[ShotoJuku]

To ShotoJuku
Thank you for the welcome. Also with respect to what ryoder said, I understand about the long posts. It can take a lot of time. Another forum I am a part of, is very used to making long posts, and I guess I have gotten used to it.

You're quite welcome and I must say for a "typical teen student" you sound (write) like you are significantly much older. Neverthelss - welcome once again!

[dcan]

You're quite welcome and I must say for a "typical teen student" you sound (write) like you are significantly much older. Neverthelss - welcome once again!

I agree. You are far more self-aware than the "typical" teen seems to be. I have no doubt you will do well in life with this attitude.