If you could go back...
- Thread starter ClonesFTW
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Cyclonepride
Thought Police
I only went for a semester (half a semester if you count going to class), and I didn't need it. I might consider going back if I had it to do over again with my current experience and mindset intact (just to get into a field of interest).
I enjoyed college, but would not do it again within my timeframe.
I went with no real passion or plan. I just did engineering because "i was good at math & science." Now here I am. Sometimes feeling like I do it just because it's what I do.
Personally, I wish I did the military out of high school. Used that experience to figure things out. I would support my children doing the same thing. It does not need to be the military by any means (peace corps, etc). But if you don't have a strong sense of direction you want your life to take, I'm a firm believer that you should just go help someone. You'll at least be doing some good, and it'll likely help you figure out your preferred path.
17/18 years old is very young to be making these decisions. Gaining additional life experiences & perspectives while being a valuable, helpful member to society until I was 25 - 30 would have certainly resulted in different life & career choices.
I went with no real passion or plan. I just did engineering because "i was good at math & science." Now here I am. Sometimes feeling like I do it just because it's what I do.
Personally, I wish I did the military out of high school. Used that experience to figure things out. I would support my children doing the same thing. It does not need to be the military by any means (peace corps, etc). But if you don't have a strong sense of direction you want your life to take, I'm a firm believer that you should just go help someone. You'll at least be doing some good, and it'll likely help you figure out your preferred path.
17/18 years old is very young to be making these decisions. Gaining additional life experiences & perspectives while being a valuable, helpful member to society until I was 25 - 30 would have certainly resulted in different life & career choices.
I lived that nightmare IRL. This was during my...um...booze and boobs phase. I was always the smart kid who could pass classes with ease. So, during my sophomore year I went to class for about a week. I would submit some homework here and there just to pad the grades a bit. Then after many weeks, I just felt like maybe I should actually go to class. I showed up, got my notebook & textbook out and was just chilling waiting for class to start. I noticed everyone else seemed to be a bit stressed out. Turns out midterms were that day. F*@%. At least I could pull enough out of my ass to pass it. Had I missed that day I would have failed the class for sure and that would have set my graduation back an entire semester. I realized after that semester that I had better get my **** together.
I'm usually wandering around Pearson or Marston desperately trying to find the right classroom to take my final. And it's always for some class I forgot to go to all semester that I need to graduate.
Would I go back now at this stage of the game - no.
Am I happy with my choice as an 18 year old to go to ISU and get the major that I did - absolutely. I had a blast at my dorm , my fraternity, made life-long friends and use my major about 20 times a day. It has been an unbelievably great decision and I thrived from making this choice.
Am I happy with my choice as an 18 year old to go to ISU and get the major that I did - absolutely. I had a blast at my dorm , my fraternity, made life-long friends and use my major about 20 times a day. It has been an unbelievably great decision and I thrived from making this choice.
Dont need my degree for what I'm doing, although, it sped the progress up about 10 years. If I could go back in time, I would handle things so much better. I just never put in much effort because I had no idea how to be a good student.
I don't need it and yes I would go back. I love learning. I would be a professional student if it were an actual paying job.
Ha, I was pretty much the opposite.. < 1.0 GPA first semester, ended with 4 straight dean's lists.. for a cumulative GPA of ~2.8..
I have this dream anytime I’m stressed from work. I realize during finals week that I forgot to drop a class. So, I have to take the final having never attended a class.
Ya, I get those too. Supposedly it's due to subconscious impotence or insecurity much relating to your shared experience of anxiety.
Well done. The whole I started in wasn’t quite that deep but it was close. Little too much pot blown out 7th floor of maple that fall.
Ha, I was pretty much the opposite.. < 1.0 GPA first semester, ended with 4 straight dean's lists.. for a cumulative GPA of ~2.8..
I'd absolutely go back. Got into a toxic relationship two months into my time in Ames and was too naive to realize it. I felt like I was held back for two years, and feel like I missed out on a lot of fun things like studying abroad and having fun with my friends because of that.
No, I wouldn't go back. I received a degree in marketing/management. I've now been in IT for 22 out of the last 25 years and my degree has made zero difference. I would have been better off with two years in a technical school. Things turned out great but it had little to do with a degree. My wife quit college as a junior and has done very well in her career.
Mine were a slight variation of this. I had a schedule with two classes at the same time. And had to decide which to attend and then at the end of the term I still had to take the final.
My typical dream is that it is dead week and I look at my class schedule only to notice I have a class I have never attended. At 54, I still wake up in a panic.
My roommate had a similar real life experience. He went to his Chemistry test and saw all his classmates leaving the lecture hall as he was waiting to enter. He then realized that he had studied too long in the library and was actually an hour late for class. Lucky for him the professor took him directly to another classroom and let him take the test. Can't even imagine.
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Would do it the exact same way. Loved my time at Iowa State and definitely need the engineering degree.
