My Diploma

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
My Diploma
18
Wed, 03-28-2007 - 8:51pm

I am thoroughly convinced that I made a big mistake in going to college. I never wanted to go to school, but went any way. I wasted so much time and energy, plus the student loan obligation may set me back for many years. I cannot find any value in my college experience save the lesson to not waste time on something of which you have no passion. I want to tear my diploma, perhaps to purge my anger, but the problem is that my mother is holding it. Since my parents brought us into the US so we can go to college, she will never let me rip it. What can I do?

Part of my anger is against my parents who never had faith in me. Part of it is against myself too, but I have not fully understood why .... I do not want to burn the diploma for the burning symbolically denies that I went to school, and that is not what I want to say. What do you suggest?

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Avatar for cfk_3
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-1999
In reply to: akt226
Thu, 03-29-2007 - 1:42am
Be glad that you went, I didn't, and regret it every time I have to update my resume. You worked hard for something, and have proof of it, no matter what major you chose. Employers will take notice. It will open doors.


Edited 3/29/2007 1:58 pm ET by cfk_3
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-13-2006
In reply to: akt226
Thu, 03-29-2007 - 3:12am

You should be proud of your degree. It will open doors for you and people with degrees make more money on average than people without degrees.

You seem to have issues you need to address, possibly through therapy. I can't quite comprehend your anger at your degree even if it is something you dont have a passion for. A degree is a really good thing and not something a lot of people get a chance to achieve. You need to figure out what your anger is really about.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-21-2005
In reply to: akt226
Thu, 03-29-2007 - 10:09am

Like the others have said, earning a college degree is quite an accomplishment, and I think you should be proud.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: akt226
Thu, 03-29-2007 - 10:28pm

"Even if you do not feel passionate about what you earned your degree in, a resume that lists a college degree is much more appealing to prospective employers than one that does not."

I will not be angry at you guys for saying that because you do not know me personally. I do not need a degree for my dream career, daytrading. In fact, BEFORE college, I found a daytrading company which would train and sponsor me. However, things did not work out and I went back to school thinking that I could use college as an excuse to move back home -- and to not work -- so I can devise a strategy to make money in the market. That was really stupid because school works distracted me and wasted my energy. Now after five years, I have finally started what I set out to do before college -- daytrading. I signed a contract with another company and this time I am not going to leave!

My parents wanted me to go to college for the same reason that you gave -- a better paying job. Since they think that daytrading is gambling, they never that I would be successful. When they learned that I was going back to daytrading, they tried to talk me out of it. When I refused to listen, they softened their stance and suggested that I should settle down and repay my student loans before undertaking something risky. I delayed long enough already, and I could not wait to make a lot of money to show them how wrong they were.

After leaving the first company, I should have looked for another daytrading company and not school. A little success in daytrading would have brought me so much confidence, the very thing that I am trying to nurture. I admit that academia honed my intellectual skills. Ironically it gave me the tools to "deconstruct" the ideology which advocates college education, to see how full of rubbish it is. But the price -- the wasted years, the monetary cost and the psychic pain -- was too great. In fact, the student loan is the financial problem that is keeping me at home with the people who are always putting me down.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2005
In reply to: akt226
Fri, 03-30-2007 - 9:23am
Find something that you ARE passionate about and do that.

Smile,

Deirdre

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2005
In reply to: akt226
Fri, 03-30-2007 - 9:44am
Don't kid yourself Stacey, I have a college degree and it's not the degree that is holding you back from getting you money it's the job. I have over 10 years experience as an administrative assistant. I work two jobs. One as an administrative assistant to a regional vice president and one at home depot. Unless you work **IN** Boston, it's going to be difficult to find people right out of the gate to pay you what you are worth anyhow degree or not because unfortunately the admin assistant doesn't have much respect pay wise.

Smile,

Deirdre

Avatar for cl_shywon
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
In reply to: akt226
Sat, 03-31-2007 - 11:30am

I don't understand how student loans are keeping you at home.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-21-2005
In reply to: akt226
Sat, 03-31-2007 - 12:30pm

Well, that's good that you're getting back into it if it's something you feel passionate about. But it's still not a bad thing to have a college degree. Maybe someday you'll think of something else you want to do, and that degree will be more helpful to you than you think. Maybe not, but you never know.













iVillage Member
Registered: 11-21-2005
In reply to: akt226
Sat, 03-31-2007 - 12:38pm

The thing is, all my experience is in customer-service and banking. I don't WANT to stay in banking because if I stay in the position I'm in now, there's no money in it (and I don't want to be in management because it STILL doesn't pay that much, and it's a ton of stress - lots of pressure), and I don't want to be an upper-level executive at a bank because, quite frankly, I'm just not interested in it.

I have no experience as an admin assistant, but I could certainly perform the duties so long as I had training. I'm very professional acting, polished on the phone and with clients/customers, and I'm very computer literate.

I'd love to go to school for technology and learn all about computers and graphic design, but I'd need to pay for it myself - financial aid, I've found, can only be obtained if you are in school full-time. I work full-time and am trying to secure a second part-time job, and there is just no way I can work two jobs AND go to school full-time. I only plan on working a second job for 6 months to a year (I'd be fine on my salary with just one job if it weren't for some bills I need to pay off, thus the second job - I live with roommates). So school is going to have to wait for now.













iVillage Member
Registered: 03-16-2006
In reply to: akt226
Sat, 03-31-2007 - 8:50pm
I saw a statistic a few years back that says that more than half the US population works in a field other than the one they studied in college mostly because of lack of pay, so you are definitely not alone. Lovinhockey is right, find something you're passionate about because it makes life a heck of a lot easier. I don't think that your parents don't have faith in you being a daytrader, they just know that the odds of success are very slim while the stress levels for them are extraordinary.

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