Don't know what to do about college

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I'm having issues at the moment with school. I totally regret starting college right after high school. It has been pretty overwhelming and my grades are really suffering.
I hate learning stuff that I'm not interested in. I am an IT major working on a Bachelor's degree. Working on computers is my life. I have no other specialties and I don't think I could ever work in any other field.

I have learned a lot by studying by myself during junior high and high school. I have just recently got two jobs, one doing computer maintanice for a small medical clinic, and the other working with my cousin in his IT consulting firm. The 1st job is a breeze and not very challenging, and I could easily do my cousin's job after familarizing myself with his client's and the software he uses.

My parents really push me into schooling because they think it is the only way I will ever get a good job. I must get a Bachelor's and straight A's, just like my older sister.
They don't really understand me, how I feel, or anything about my field of study.

During my last two years of high school I enrolled part time at a tech center in a nearby city. It was fantastic. Aside from life at my high school, I was in heaven. I was learning the stuff that I felt was actually relevant to my life. I was really happy there. I was truely learning. I never really did that before.

I thought going through the IT program at college would be the same, maybe even better. It was worse. I had to go through the same courses over, but not as well constructed. I am only in my 2nd semester now and it has been hell.

I have been feeling really depressed about it all and I don't know what to do about it.
I could give in to my parents and the system, or I could do what I want to do, and what I think is best for my life.

I want to go back to the tech center, do some independent studies, and learn on my own through books and real world practice and application.
I have two jobs, one with great potential, and that is what college is about right, getting a good job.

I just need to get my parents to understand all of this. I have mentioned going back to the tech center, but they think I cannot succeed in life without graduating from college and getting a degree.

(Sorry for the length, but I can't sleep and I don't know how else to say all of this)

It sounds like you have really thought things out and know yourself better than anyone else does.

Nowadays, a Bachelor Degree is no guarantee of a good paying job as it once was...many people have several degrees and still
can't find a job. Do you think you can live independently in those two jobs you currently are employed in? Prehaps you should
take some time off, maybe for a year or two, and just work and take one college course. After all, life is a journey not a destination.

It may be difficult to convince your mom and dad of what you feel is important in your life right now but, you are an adult now and should have some say in what makes you happy. There are young people who decide to go off to the war in Iraq and for them, that's their choice...and parents and friends have to respect their decision.

For many parents, it is difficult to watch their children go off into the world and make mistakes but, it is all part of the learning
process and in becoming the master of your own destiny. Just take your time and think things thoroughly before you make any
major life altering decisions...and remember no decision is ever carved in stone. You can always change your mind.

Good luck!

there is a major difference between your first year and a half of a bachelors degree and the last 2 and a half years... if you can tough out those first few years where you are repeating what you learned in high school and doing the stupid stuff that they say you have (Gen Ed) you get to go on to the stuff that you actually want to study....the stuff that really gets interesting.... there is no reason that you should have to get straight A's.... I am really happy that i simply passed some of the classes those first few years...

Wintersun: I regretted not starting college sooner (I waited two years after HS). I also hated classes I wasn't interested in, but I forced myself through it with the mantra "the class is temporary, the transcripts are permanent".

You have to do this for you, regardless of what your parents' wishes and your sister's grades, and whether your parents even know what IT stands for. One thing I've learned in my 30 years on this planet is that unless you set your own goals, they're not really worth achieving and you're setting yourself up for major disappointment.

As far as college being much different from the tech school, yeah, especially your freshman and sophomore years. However, once you get into your junior and senior years when the gen ed requirements are fulfilled and you can focus on your specialty, it does get better!

Ultimately you need to do what is best for you. College does offer more than just an academic education with which to attain better employment, it also offers a different perspective. Have you ever considered an Associate's Degree as a stepping stone? It's sort of a halfway point for you, if you're on the fence. There's nothing saying you MUST have a Bachelor's Degree.

As for getting your parents to understand you, don't count on it. Just do what you need to do.

I work at a university and have for many, many years. It's a business. In a very broad sense they are marketing a product, most of which is obsolete by the time you graduate or that is generically not particularly useful in the workforce. If you have the time and money to go get "enlightened" to your culture, and want to do so, great! Go for it. (It's really a lot of fun, though expensive.)

A BA used to mean a lot when the schools weren't cranking out 10,000 of them every year, per school. Now it's just a way of proving you've gotten through the equivalent of middle-class finishing school - and, with a lot of the schools (not all, but a lot) with which I've come in contact, the quality of the graduates has diminished with the lowering of entrance standards. It's roughly equivalent, in too many cases, to what a really good high-school education was forty years ago.

I work with a lot of people who are high-level secretaries (that is the old term for "administrative assistant") and administrative staff who have master's degrees. There's really no use for the degrees, as far as "jobs" go. At the University, benefits are good and the job is secure - a good reasons to stay. The pay is awful. (I made more, adjusted for inflation, in 1986 as a drop-out than I do now with two degrees.) This is a similar situation to that of a lot of the staff I know. That's something to consider - will the degrees bring you money, or is that what you are really after? If you just love the subject, you'll find a way to make a living anyway. In my day-to-day job functions, there's nothing that I do that a high school graduate who can type and who can write decently (spelling/grammar) cannot do.

In hiring situations in private sector and government sector jobs I've held, given the choice between hiring someone who's got a resume that shows they can do a job and someone with a BA in history or english or whatever and no experience, we almost always went with the person with experience. An employer needs to know you can do the job and are familiar with the world of work. Quoting Dante really doesn't do much for ya there!

Unless you are going into a highly technical field for which a BA is required to get into grad school (and, oh, grad school is a wonderful place - so different than undergrad!), if you do not love what you are doing in school, save your money until you find out what you really want to do. If a university diploma is required for that, go for it. If not... save your money. You might look into a two-year tech school. Alternately, if you can get on with a good, larger corporation, a lot of them will actually fund your studies. That way you graduate with a resume and debt free.

You might want to just work for a few years, save up a little money, decide what you want to do. Most people these days change careers half-a-dozen times in their lives, so spending a ton of money to get training in something you might not stay in for very long doesn't make a whole lot of sense - unless it's something you truly love. It's hard to know what you really love when you're just out of high school and haven't experienced very much of life.

Good luck!

PS - Your parents don't have to live the rest of your life - you do. They're not the ones inside your head (I hope) when you get up in the morning and go to sleep at night. You have to decide what it is YOU want. Hard to do, yes, but you won't be happy until you do so. And so hard for mommy and daddy to understand, and to let go of you....

Thanks for all of your replies. I am feeling much better now than when I first posted. I was feeling really angry and needed to rant a bit. But I don't feel much different about leaving college. I really thought college was going to be this new, exciting experience where I could really be a new person.

I have talked to my mom on the subject (she takes things much better than my dad). But we never really reached a conclusion. I think I am going to offcially drop and concentrate on my jobs and keep learning on my own.

My later years at college may turn out to much better than now. But I don't know that for sure. And I don't feel like wasting all of that time and especially money on that chance. I'm a smart person, I love doing what I do with computers, and I work hard when I feel the task at hand is important and relevant enough to work on.

I'm really good with computers, and I enjoy the work very much. I couldn't imagine doing anything else for a living. I don't know what my future holds, but I think I'll do alright for myself.

MIS major here. The nice thing about my school is that they don't make you wait until your Junior year to get into classes that pertain to your major. I'm a sophmore and I'm in several computer courses. I understand about being uninterested or bored with a topic and howv irritating it can be, but I put up with it fir the sake of my grades. Around here, you can't get a decent job without a BA or BS (Bachelor's of Science not Bull S***t ), you can't even get a decent internship until you are a Junior. If you think you will get bored at your cousin's job, you might want to continue some type of education... maybe at a tech school or something.