Thoughts and questions about attending college for the first time

Hey all. I'm looking for some guidance on going to college and could use some advice. As some background, I'm about 3 years out of high school. I've been working and traveling during that time and have really enjoyed it. I've carved a pretty solid niche for myself in seasonal outdoors work and education and feel like that time has been well spent.

I'm at a point now where I'd like to pursue some higher education, but I'm not sure if college is right for me. Most of my field is experience based, so education hasn't been a priority for me. I'm to the point, however, where I feel I may be limiting myself by not going to college. I'd like to do more work in the nonprofit sector, and that usually requires a degree in a field related to the specific type of work you want to do. Most other options are voluntourism which... I have a special disdain for.

Most of the reason I want to go to college is because I want to know a whole lot of things. I am deeply passionate about science in all its forms and feel like I've hit the limit of what I personally can learn without a more structured and formalized environment. I love architecture and agriculture and botany and mycology. I want to learn more about electricity and play with it until I understand it. I want to fully explore the academic side of the world that I live in.

The flip side of that is that I'm a terrible classroom student. I absolutely loath classroom learning. I get nothing from lecture and don't do well under a lecture format. I need to play with things and virtually interrogate a teacher to get a good grasp on a subject. I need a dynamic learning system in order to actually understand a concept, not just regurgitate nonsense. That's kept me off college for a long time. Plus, I'm paying for all my own schooling so before I make a massive financial commitment I want to know it will be something I'll still want to continue three years down the road.

I guess this is a long winded way of getting to the question, is there an alternative that might suit me better than college, and if not how could I make sure that I get the most out of going to college and don't burn out?

Submitted May 20, 2020 at 09:25PM by frustratedtree https://ift.tt/36j2KR1