Should I stay at my university or go to a trade school? Advice desperately needed.

I’m thinking of ending things. Well, at least my relationship with a university education.

I just finished my first year up at college (2020-2021) and honestly I hated it. To be fair, this year iSn’T lIkE oThEr yEaRs due to Covid, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been thinking about dropping out for pretty much this entire year. For one, my grades aren’t very good and in order to keep my scholarship I NEED my grades to be good. On the topic of me not doing well in college, It’s important to note that I actually did very well in high school. I had a 4.3 gpa and graduated in the top 10% of my class all while having a job that I worked at 5/6 days a week after school and a very stressful home life. Ive been up on campus this year surrounded by the same 5 people reliving the same day over and over with no job for the better part of the year -thanks to me saving up over the summer so I could “focus on school”- and this has been my most pathetic attempt at school yet. I feel like I’ve ruined my whole potential for a successful university experience just in this year alone by rushing into college.

I’ve also decided that I don’t like the way university education works. I’d much rather pay to learn how to actually do something and have my skills tested and put to work than to pay for a bunch of classes I don’t need and feel like I’m just continuing high school for another 4 years. Which has lead me to the route of looking into trades. I live in central Arizona and I’m looking for some good trade schools. I’m really into art and I want to do something creative. I’m studying fashion up at school which I love so far. I was thinking about maybe trying to become a seamstress or tailor. I also love tattoos and piercings and would be interested in being an apprentice if possible. Even something like custom painting for houses or cars would interest me. Hair, Esthetician, Cosmetology, something. Anything with some creative opportunities and variety.

I’m an almost 19 year old girl, I’m not necessarily worried about making a mistake by dropping out of college, because I know that I’m young and could potentially always go back, I’m worried that I’ll waste my time here not knowing what I want to do and end up regretting it. I have to take initiative and make some kind of decision and stick with it for now.

I have a lot of interests and I don’t want to just pick one, I want to do them all at some point in my life but I would really appreciate some advice on where to start and how to handle moving forward. I just really want to find a career/job that I actually like and makes me feel like I’m not wasting my time and money on unnecessary schooling. What are some good trade schools or trades you guys would recommend?

Should I stay in college, drop out, buy a van and travel the country with my pets, build a tiny home and order a plot of land off Craigslist and live off the grid?

Submitted May 04, 2021 at 01:42PM by Garbag3fire https://ift.tt/33etqRZ