Very reluctant to attend college....

[anyaa]

Hi ....

Not something new for us....but this has gone beyond limits for me...so I decided to post this...

I'm in my final year engg [Mech]
Its been almost 3.5 years that I've been cursing myself and everyone and anyone that I can [but i do regret this sometimes.....very rarely though..] that I got into the collg. I'm currently in...[though its a reputed collg. in my city...and ranked second for my stream in engg. ..{but the point I dont get why its ranked 2nd...???...but thats not of much concern} ]

So it almost six months back...I decided to act up and stopped going to collg. ..attended collg...once in week or so....and studied at home on my own from some of the best books [starting from second year syllabus..not final year!..for obvious reasons...]
This really satisfied me as to "Going to collg. is timewaste"...but this also messed me bcoz I was cmpletely deattached from the collg. and I was totally fuck*d up in the recent collg. exams....mainly coz our collg. is autonomous and exams mainly benefit regularly attending students {in autnomous collgs..specifically}.... for obvious reasons...

well I'm pretty sure I can deal with this very effectively...
I just wanted to know ur experiences on the same lines...[especially if u think the teaching ur collg. doesn't satisfy you..and you can do it better on your own..having just ocassional interactions with a GOOD teacher...]
How did you respond to....what were the results of ur actions???

[I don't think any INTP would do much different than I choose to....if yes..what it could be..]
Glad to here anything{-ve also} from anyone...

 

[Da Blob]

Fortunately I attended college at a school that did not care if one attended classes/lectures at all - as long as one completed the coursework. This made sense to me, I have trouble paying attention to lectures. Most people simply do not talk fast enough to keep my attention. (I think my reading comprehension rate is 3 or 4 times faster that most person's speaking rate) anyway I seemingly can read the transcript of an hour long lecture in under ten minutes - so like for me actually going to class was a waste of a couple of hours ( If travel time back and forth is added in). In the final analysis, one must educate one's Self. Unfortunately the world requires some documentation of this education and that documentation is made available only through the academic process.

 

[gepcy loc]

I made sure I attended every class I had because i was paying for them and not going was a real wast of money. Doing homework and studying is another story. I'm doing physics right now. *winks*

 

[Infinite Regress]

I only went to uni once a week to attend any compulsory classes. I chose my subjects for the next semester dependent on the class availability and how I could cram it into least number of days as possible.

Most of the lectures I skipped, because I personally learn better doing examples - and all answers to tutorials were put on line - so there was no need to turn up.

I didn't go for a variety of reasons 1) being I spent most of my time practising martial arts, drawing, photography, travel 2) there were alot of bankers/accountants who acted like they were royalty especially those who got into large firms.

But I'd advise you turn up in your last year. I made some valuable contacts which helped me score some job positions I would never have had a chance at.

btw there's nothing wrong with getting into college. You'll guarantee yourself a comfortable job, before pursuing other interests [as I suspect an INTP will]

 

[fullerene]

^^what she said. It's a lot easier to attend classes if you remember that you're paying for them.

I got lucky because most of my teachers have been excellent. Up until Junior year, that is. I would not want to go to grad school here, because the professors get worse and worse as you go up the ladder (I think). In the past, intro level courses and all, they tended to put their very best professors, to help ease the transition on the freshman and all. Once you hit a certain point, though, they just sort of stopped explaining things and the quality went way down, in most cases.

 

[anyaa]

I made sure I attended every class I had because i was paying for them and not going was a real wast of money. Doing homework and studying is another story. I'm doing physics right now. *winks*

But what if one day you realise you can learn even better on your own...
Then attending classes should be no more a matter of money..I think...

 

[bluesquid]

Im going to combine all your thoughts into a salient statement.

Dont go to school unless you really want to, or your wasting money.

 

[sagewolf]

^^ Which is why I'm applying to a new, incredible college this year instead of attending a smaller, not-so-well-equipped college now. The next 4-5 years of my life will probably land me in debt for the following ten. I'm doing this right the first time, and studying something I really care about. In the end, I'll have spent four years doing what I really care about (animation/comic art), and that's what I intend to pay for, not a piece of paper that says I graduated.

If you're in your final year, just... stick it out? I can't say anything better than that, sorry. I did exactly what you're doing now in my senior year of highschool and really fscked up my grades. (Meaning I got B3s instead of A2s and A1s, which is what I was expecting, so...yeah, I'm one of those smart kids everyone secretly/subconsciously hates. They were still good grades, but I coud have done a lot better, and I'm still kicking myself for it.) You'll be out of there soon enough in any case: don't ruin your chances of getting out with what you came in for, as opposed to just dropping out or failing to meet graduation requirements.

 

[EditorOne]

But what if one day you realise you can learn even better on your own...
Then attending classes should be no more a matter of money..I think...

Much of the rest of the world depends on the provenance of a diploma for you to even get a foot in the door of any place where you'd like to get a chance to show what you can do.

I'm sure I could say that better if I had more time but I'm out the door in a rush. ...

 

[Ermine]

^What he said. Also, there's more to college than the classes. I look at it as access to lots of smart professors who are good at what they do, access to research tools, a large group of people (there's higher probability that I'll find people I click with), and a great opportunity for me to reinvent myself, socially. It's definitely been all of these. But at the same time, I guess it's easy for me to say that since I managed to find a good, challenging 4 year college at the price of a community college. It's to the point that I'd actually have to try to get into debt. I figured I ought to get my undergrad degree with as little debt as possible, and spend big on the graduate degree.

 

[KazeCraven]

Once you realize the difference a college degree makes in getting a job, you'll put effort into getting a degree.

Conventional wisdom says, "Don't go to college unless you want to." I say chances are, you will eventually realize that you want to. Or, at least, that you have picked one of the lesser out of hundreds of evils.

 

[Trebuchet]

But what if one day you realise you can learn even better on your own...
Then attending classes should be no more a matter of money..I think...

You are right, it should be that way. But college isn't just about learning. As EditorOne said, it is also about the diploma. Employers want to hire people who finish degrees, whether they learned anything or not. And it is about making connections that will be useful for the rest of your life. Even for us non-social INTPs, the connections matter later on.

If there is any way you can graduate, I suggest you do it. A degree in mechanical engineering is valuable, and you get to keep that forever. No guarantees that you will still remember what you learned 10 years from now.

 

[sagewolf]

Much of the rest of the world depends on the provenance of a diploma for you to even get a foot in the door of any place where you'd like to get a chance to show what you can do.

That. I remember one of my teachers in secondary school saying that finishing a diploma isn't solely about learning about a given topic, it's just as much about showing that you can see something through: no-body wants to hire someone who might just quit on them in a few months. They want to hire people who tend to stay in one place, because finding, hiring and training new employees is time consuming and expensive, even if they filter applicants through a temp service.

Also, Engineering is a very good degree to have (I kind of gave the impression above that I didn't think a degree was that important, but I'm applying to an art college, so... the emphasis is more on your professional portfolio in the industries I'm planning on entering, than on your degree, although that doesn't mean it's useless for the reasons above, and I have to admit, having a Master's would be so cool someday...after I pay of my BFAs ).

 

[Agent Intellect]

I think Ermine had a good point - college can be more than just going to class and doing homework. I don't know about all colleges, but the one I go to has a lot of good resources (and I'm in community college, I imagine a university would be even better), in addition to professors who one can talk to one-on-one (I talked to my science professor after class all the time). College material is also a great jumping off point for personal, independent research - think of it as the first page you visit on Wikipedia, giving you access to all those juicy links that will soon consume a noticeable fraction of your day.

I think the biggest problem I've had with going to college is that I have always been such a 'theoretical' sort of person and college has forced me to look at the details and practical applications of certain concepts a lot more, which I often find much less interesting, yet I understand the importance (and it even helps with understanding the theoretical stuff better).

 

[-Z-]

I find myself learning much better at home, without attending classes, but some of my professors insist on class attendance so I just go with the flow. When I have to attend those really boring and uninteresting classes (mostly due to a bad lecturer) sitting in the back rows works, especially when armed with a good book or some sudoku/kakuro puzzles.
The reason why I don't find this a total waste of time is because it is way out of my comfort zone and is pretty much beneficial to personal growth, mostly when handling social situations.

It's not all bad and there sure are some interesting people on campus which I actually like so it makes the whole "social life sucking" bearable plus, it pays off to keep in touch with people that attend the classes on a regular basis, if nothing else, just to keep you updated

 

[anyaa]

WoW....
All those posts are indeed valuable...
Will think and act considering each one...
Thanks everyone!

But that doesn't mean you stop posting...

 

[asdfasdfasdfsdf]

Hi ....

Not something new for us....but this has gone beyond limits for me...so I decided to post this...

I'm in my final year engg [Mech]
Its been almost 3.5 years that I've been cursing myself and everyone and anyone that I can [but i do regret this sometimes.....very rarely though..] that I got into the collg. I'm currently in...[though its a reputed collg. in my city...and ranked second for my stream in engg. ..{but the point I dont get why its ranked 2nd...???...but thats not of much concern} ]

So it almost six months back...I decided to act up and stopped going to collg. ..attended collg...once in week or so....and studied at home on my own from some of the best books [starting from second year syllabus..not final year!..for obvious reasons...]
This really satisfied me as to "Going to collg. is timewaste"...but this also messed me bcoz I was cmpletely deattached from the collg. and I was totally fuck*d up in the recent collg. exams....mainly coz our collg. is autonomous and exams mainly benefit regularly attending students {in autnomous collgs..specifically}.... for obvious reasons...

well I'm pretty sure I can deal with this very effectively...
I just wanted to know ur experiences on the same lines...[especially if u think the teaching ur collg. doesn't satisfy you..and you can do it better on your own..having just ocassional interactions with a GOOD teacher...]
How did you respond to....what were the results of ur actions???

[I don't think any INTP would do much different than I choose to....if yes..what it could be..]
Glad to here anything{-ve also} from anyone...

I dont mean it as an insult.. but it almost gives me a headache to read your post with the abbreviations and what seems like unfinished descriptions of an idea..(could be because im low on sleep)

im majoring in computer engineering.. and i found that all my teachers suck ass.. and im better off learning on my own. HOWEVER when i leave it to myself to do so.. i just end up procrastinating.. and EVERYTHING becomes a last minute super stress. So, to me, attending class is something that keeps me in line so that i dont fail because of procrastination. if i had the discipline to actually study during the times i would be in class.. i would probably learn 10x faster.

 

[anyaa]

I dont mean it as an insult.. but it almost gives me a headache to read your post with the abbreviations and what seems like unfinished descriptions of an idea..(could be because im low on sleep)

im majoring in computer engineering.. and i found that all my teachers suck ass.. and im better off learning on my own. HOWEVER when i leave it to myself to do so.. i just end up procrastinating.. and EVERYTHING becomes a last minute super stress. So, to me, attending class is something that keeps me in line so that i dont fail because of procrastination. if i had the discipline to actually study during the times i would be in class.. i would probably learn 10x faster.

Actually,
Studying at home gets me into a flow which is disrupted when I attend college [sounds to be a problem only for me]..... and the more I keep attending college the more I get away from planning and actually studying at home...
And about procrastanating..I don't think we are at fault...because if I'm not studying at college...its definitely because the college fails to arouse my interest...which is more easy to retain being home...

Ya..and attending college does get me learning but not at the speed I can at home...and the most important .."To the depth I want to explore"

secondly...I've used some common shortcuts..anyways I won't hereafter.

 

[TeaBeforeWar]

For me, the most important thing college makes available that you would have trouble finding elsewhere, is connections.

I'm currently an animation student in a cinema school, but since my second term I've been spending as much or more time working on other people's projects from the game department as actual assigned work. I've done work for several games that did well in various competitions, which is great for my portfolio, and have made a ridiculous number of connections.

It's to the point that I rarely have to actively seek out projects; people are contacting me when they need art design and animation because they know me, and when those people go out into the industry, I will have friends in good places.

(And yeah, there have been a couple classes where attending the lectures was a complete waste of time - but those classes are ones you should drop, and if they're prerequisites for something you do want to attend, learn it yourself and go to the teacher for permission to join - they're usually quite amicable.)

You are paying for classes, yes, but it is important to focus on whatever will help you the most in the long run.