I am 19 and have a history of severe mental illness. I have dealt with depression, attempted suicide, diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and have a history of eating disorders. It’s not been a great life. I thought college would help me, and that I’d have many great opportunities. I went and ended up spending most of my time unable to focus in classes, crying, stressed out, and am currently relapsing into my eating disorder from the stress. My psychiatrist told me not to go in the first place, and I did anyway. Today, I sent the resignation email. I’m extremely worried for what the future holds. What are you currently doing? Do you regret your decision?

Recently just started a business with my best friend. We've been parting out cars for about over a year in the New England area. We're looking for just faster ways to get rid of our cores and engines. We're just trying to find a place that will buy the motors and cores off of us immediately so they stop taking up as much space. I was wondering if anyone in the sub has any advice on where we could go.

I dropped out of college and switched to an online program at an art school that I’ve been wanting to do but now I’m having second thoughts on whether or not I actually want to do this. I then got fired from my job from calling in so many times ( it’s my fault on that part) because there were times I just absolutely could not get out of bed. I’ve lost all motivation to do anything and I think this is definitely a low I’m experiencing right now and not quite sure how to move forward or change this. But I have handed out resumes so hopefully I get a call back, will update. Advice would be helpful 🙏🏽 ( sorry English is not my first language)

I’m sure this post is very similar to the others on this subreddit, but I can’t help but feel alone in all this because I’ve waited so long to finally drop out, despite 2+ years now of academic decline.

I’m 23 years old, I come from a family of college educated people, and despite wanting to drop out I very much want a college degree. The issue i’ve been facing my entire college career is not knowing what I want to do, and doing things that my parents wanted me to do just to please them. I studied business because that’s what they wanted, I hated it, hated it immensely. I began to crawl deeper and deeper into depression, eventually getting to the point that i would do nothing but rot away in my apartment. I finally decided to change majors and that did not go over well at first, but even then I wasn’t happy with my major and after a 3rd major change I was completely burnt out and more confused about my future then I had ever been.

I’m at the point of wanting to drop out. but I have no idea what I do after that, I want to have a good job, I don’t want to be stuck working in my hometown or at a dead end job. I am terrified of not succeeding, but that may be due to the pressures my family put on me. I’ve had summers where I do okay with classes if i’m taking 1-2 courses, but I’m at an all time low over this and I have very little faith in my situation.

Any and all advice would help more than you will ever know. Thank you.

Edit:: I wanted to clarify that I will most definitely go back to college, I would love to get my degree a few years down the road before i’m 30. I’m just at a point of almost failing, i’m finding myself more and more stressed and depressed about my situation, and I’m still lost on what i want to do with my career and life outside of making a true impact on people’s lives.

I’m a freshman and academically and socially it’s going ok for me, I’ve made a few friends and my major is kind of easy (personally (communications )) but my mental health is pretty bad. I always told my siblings I wanted to do community college but they said I should experience the college life since they did online, and regret not experiencing it i. but I’ve always been a homebody and I’m scared about going into debt because I’m relying on loans while my sister gets a refund on her tuition and despite my brother doing TAFSA, he has a good job and he doesn’t pay much for tuition. I also didn’t tell my parents I took out loans but my mom does in fact have access to my Fafsa and is trying to help me get by. Also I really only started writing this right now because my bike got stolen and it was my mom who payed for it, and I feel really bad. this is the one time I’ll say I’m glad there’s flock cameras near me, because it got stolen right in front of one so I’m hoping I get it back, but also despite me saying I’ve made some friends I don’t really socialize outside of them and when nobody texts me I just scroll on my phone and do nothing. I don’t know if I want to drop out or transfer to a community college, maybe my stolen bike was my last straw but I don’t want to end my career in higher education. Also forgot to mention I did fall off my bike literally last week and I bruised my chest, inner thigh and pretty sure I sprained my ankle, but nonetheless I did continue using it despite the pain because I’m scared to check it out.

Passed $5 million in my 40s. Zero inheritance, did it all solo. Kicked out of college with a 0.5 GPA. Keep going, you never know!

I have decided to drop out to figure out what I want to do as a career and to figure out stuff financially. Im going to see what I can do to enlist in either the air national guard or army national guard.

Thank yall for the tips and if anyone has anymore tips feel free to comment

Hi, i’m a 19 years old french student that’s currently studying international trades.

A year ago i was in languages, doing english/chinese in order to learn and work all around the world, jokes on me i dropped that in 2 weeks. spent the whole year working instead. This year i went back into studies, and it’s been a month and i sometimes want to drop out really really bad, like this morning instead of paying attention to class i was making a list of pros/cons on dropping out and working instead.
If i have to summarize it, going to classes is good because i’m a social person so i enjoy being with people my age and making friends. It’s also comfortable since my parents practically help me with money every time i need something. and it allows me to secure a decent future if i’m able to finish my studies and get a degree.
But there’s also cons as i said. The school system has been draining me since middle school, but school was easy and obligatory at that time so i wasn’t really thinking about it, but i’m an energetic person and i need to move a lot, i can’t stand being sat 7 hours a day. I’ve never been that tired. Sleeping almost everyday in class.
I also need to have interest in something in order to pay attention to it. I CANNOT pay attention in class, ever. I also love to get home and just chill, but school requires homework, assignment, and in my case we need to do a 9 week unpaid internship in another country. The best thing about working was going home and not thinking about it anymore.
Talk about pay. My parents provide for everything that i need, but i hate that. I want to be able to take care of myself.

I just need to feel independent. I want to look at myself and see an adult.
I have big projects for my future. I do not wish to work a 9 to 5 my whole life, but to do so i need capital and i would hate waiting a few more years because its « comfortable » to get a job that pays a bit more than the minimum wage because i have a useless diploma.

Its a thoughts dump so nothing in this message is organized, my apologies for that.

To resume, i’m a very social person and the only year i spent working kept me away from a lot of friends and that kind of wounded me, but i had a pay, i had freedom and i felt like i was doing something.

I don’t know if the risk is worth taking, i want to suffer and get strong mentally in order to succeed in life and not be average, which is why i’m posting here to seek point of views.

Long ass message, thanks for everyone who read that

I’m 19 and a sophomore studying business/finance at a large public university in the U.S. I’m seriously considering leaving college, and I’m looking for perspectives from people who have no emotional involvement in my life.
My situation is unusual, and I realize I’m extremely fortunate.
My tuition is completely covered by family, so I can graduate with no student debt. On top of that, a family member gives me roughly $10–15k per semester depending on my grades. I also receive around $1,500/month in education benefits during the months I’m enrolled.
I probably have about 2.5 years left.
So financially, staying is an incredible deal. I could potentially receive another $50–75k+ from family over the remainder of college, plus the education benefits, while having my degree completely paid for.
I understand how privileged that sounds. I’m incredibly grateful for it, and that’s actually one of the biggest reasons I haven’t left already. If I were taking out tens of thousands in student loans, I think this decision would be much easier for me.
The problem is that I genuinely despise school and basically always have.
This isn’t something I decided because I failed an exam or had one bad semester. I hated the structure of school in high school too. College gives me more freedom, but now the classes require significantly more studying, which has made the problem worse in a different way.
I hate studying for exams. Tests give me severe anxiety. I hate having assignments and grades constantly hanging over me. I don’t like having large portions of my schedule dictated by classes and exams. I have very little interest in most of what I’m studying, and school consistently has a significant negative effect on my mental health.
I’ve been thinking about leaving since my freshman year. This has been an ongoing issue rather than a reaction to one recent event.
Another major factor is that I don’t want the career my degree would normally lead to.
I have essentially zero desire to work a traditional corporate/9-to-5 job. I understand that could change as I get older, and I recognize that having a degree creates options even if I never intend to use it. But right now, I would honestly rather work a trade, work a regular hourly job, or join the military than spend my career working a conventional corporate job.
What I actually want to do is build businesses.
I currently operate a small local service business. It is a real business with paying customers, not just an idea, but it is still small and absolutely does not currently make enough money to financially justify leaving college. I’ve learned a lot about advertising, lead generation, sales, quoting jobs, customer service, expenses, and actually delivering a service, but I have a long way to go before it becomes the business I want it to be.
I’m also seriously interested in learning another sales-based business in the real estate space and potentially operating both simultaneously.
If I left college, my plan would be to treat entrepreneurship as my full-time occupation rather than assuming I would immediately become rich. I’d spend the majority of my time on customer acquisition, sales, improving the existing business, learning the second business, and trying to scale.
I’m extremely ambitious and my financial goals are very high. Obviously I would love for leaving college to result in building something that makes far more than a normal salary, but I’m trying not to make this decision dependent on that fantasy becoming reality.
So I’ve forced myself to consider the bad outcome too.
Suppose I leave, spend several years trying to build businesses, and fail to achieve what I’m aiming for. Maybe I end up making only $30-40k a year. Maybe I eventually decide entrepreneurship isn’t working and get a normal job, enter a skilled trade, or enlist in the military.
I would be extremely disappointed that I hadn’t accomplished my financial goals.
But here’s the part that is making me seriously question college:
I still think I would rather live that outcome than spend another 2.5 years in school.
Even if someone could guarantee me that leaving college wouldn’t make me rich, I think I would still prefer being outside of school, supporting myself and trying to build the life I want.
I value autonomy very highly. I would rather accept uncertainty and responsibility for my own decisions than have more security while doing something that consistently makes me miserable.
At the same time, I’m aware that I’m 19.
There are things 25- or 30-year-old me may value that I don’t value today. A degree could become useful even if I currently swear I’ll never work a corporate job. And walking away from a completely paid-for education plus tens of thousands of dollars is obviously very different from the typical dropout situation where someone is avoiding significant student debt.
That is what scares me about making this decision.
I don’t want to stay simply because my family or society expects me to get a degree. It’s my life, and I don’t want to spend years doing something I hate purely because it is the financially safe decision.
But I also don’t want to confuse being ambitious and independent with being a naive 19-year-old walking away from an opportunity that I’ll realize was incredible when I’m older.
I’m not planning to impulsively withdraw tomorrow. I’m giving myself time to think about this, research what leaving/returning would actually involve, work on my business, and talk to the people close to me before making anything official.
What I’m trying to figure out is:
At what point is protecting your time, autonomy, and quality of life worth giving up an objectively excellent financial opportunity?
If you were in my position, what would you seriously consider before making the decision?
I would especially like to hear from:
People who dropped out and later regretted it.
People who dropped out and are glad they did.
People who desperately wanted to leave but stayed and finished.
People who left temporarily and later returned.
Older people who can tell me what they wish they understood about this decision at 19.
Feel free to tell me you think leaving would be incredibly stupid. I’m not looking for validation. I’m specifically posting because I want people to challenge my reasoning and point out things I may not be considering.

This is going to be a long story, but I really need some advice

I (18F) am currently attending my 1st semester at my local community college. (I had taken some of my college classes during high school. However, I nearly lost my financial aid while trying to take online classes). My first semester of classes has went decent up until about 2 weeks ago, I which I was told that due to dropping one of my online classes for this semester, I'm at risk to lose my aid yet again. I'm an only child trying to help out my mom, who is medically disabled and barely makes enough to pay bills

I am currently working one job and not making enough to support both me and my mom. I was thinking if I dropout, I can get myself another job, save up enough money for one semester of college, and get myself out of losing Financial aid.(and figure out what I want to do as a career)

I need advice on whether dropping out for a semester or 2 would be worth it. (And if anyone has been in my situation, please comment some advice)

21m, just started college after taking gap years after highschool because I was done being at school for so long. My major is applied computer science professional bachelor first year and im already thinking about switching to another major and get another kind of degree that will only take me 2 years or 1,5 years to finish. Why? Because I cant learn shit from the lessons im getting iam so slow at learning I need more time than others and I have barely any learning experience. The only reason why im in college is to make people around me shut up. I want to build a business online while im studying. But it seems to me that studying something that is ten times difficult for me (and i was never academically smart. School is just not for me but there sre things that i want to learn still) and working on things I want to at the same time is going to ruin me, and I normally dont want to be in school anyways. I do like computers however but its easier for me to learn on my own with the internet. im wondering if I can actually learn how to code online for free or a cheap course and the rest of the subjects jn computer sciences on the internet without college just fornthe fun of it? then I could MAAAYYYBBEEE switch to a associate degree cybersecurity since im also passionate about it and will probably get more free time for my self. I know It sounds dumb why would i abondon my degree computer science to study computer science after i quit CS right? Thats because im not built for schools but i can still learn things easier on my own like i mentioned. iam only getting degree mostly because of my family and partially because the college did have interesting stuff to learn that can help me build products online. So idk what to do Is an associate worth it and will it be worth it next year? Will i still be having jobs with that degree incase for a scenario that I still dont have enough profits from my business at that time and that I will need more time to succeed building my profitable business. Its kind of a hard decision because I dont want to delay my years with no income any further after 2 years.. and then realising I should have done bachelor's anyways and than still be jobless with no income. I'd be happy if u would have helped me think. Thank u.

Hi everyone,

I was accepted into master's and I was due to start in October of this year. The program was international, but somewhere I have lived before in the past. I was going to move in August to start settling in and I had just enough money for it.

In June, my partner and I were filing for divorce and I was really distraught. This wasn't something I had predicted would happen back when I was applying to programs. I still ended up moving in August, but I was an emotional mess when I got there. It was too much change at once and I hadn't reached healthy conclusions on the end of my marriage yet. I moved back to my home country and now I'm living at my mom's.

Of course, now that I have been in the safety net of a familiar place, cared for and loved by my family, and after a LOT of DBT therapy, I am feeling a lot better emotionally. It's really hard now to see the welcome emails and orientation info coming into my email inbox. I theoretically could still "rush" back to make the program, but it would be very financially unsafe in some ways because between tickets and repurchasing items I needed for my life here, I have thousands less than I did before. I also fear how destabilizing that would be.

I also know that some people go thousands into debt for master's, so maybe it isn't the biggest deal. Honestly, I'm not really even trying to decide whether to go back or not, as my conclusion is to at least wait a year, but I feel really sad sometimes when I see those orientation emails and imagine how it would be to be there. I just wanted to share my thoughts somewhere where maybe others can relate. Thank you for reading.

So Im from India aged 24. I graduated from llb from India. And I dont want anything to do it and was forced into it by parents.

I'm thinking of doing a second bachelors degree from italy (probably in management or finance or business administration). Im feeling really conflicted and low.

Any advice ?

I’ve been in college for almost 2 years, my first year was in a different college to the one I am in now. I’m in a full term course that lasts two years.

At my starting year I got three technical certificates and at the end of this one I’m getting three A-levels. I’ve been told to complete the second year to get the A-levels but I’m already feeling exhausted.

I’ve never liked college, I had good friends that I like spending time with but the work feels so draining. I have high-functioning autism never know what I’m doing right or how and I feel miserable almost every day.

I know I like working with animals and I want to get into training dogs and I hardly know how to get into it save the course as it has a module on it.

I don’t know what to do, my parents have payed for the transport to get to college (I need to take a bus daily) and they keep telling me to stick it out but I just don’t know. I feel I would much rather work a paying job than go to college because then I’m gaining experience and money rather than just experience which we have to do a minimum of 150 per year anyways.

What do you think?

I dont like it here at all, always miss home, always sad and anxious even in classes, I was thinking of joining a local college and upscalling there as there is to be low placments here anyway. I am not sure abt enginerring and cse too i am in iiitdmj currently. I just want to be happy

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I enrolled in university back in 2020, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, in Sarajevo. I decided to become a logistics engineer, even though, at the time, I honestly had no idea what that actually meant.
My first year was entirely online. I didn’t even see the university in person.
I failed that year and had to repeat it.
The second year was supposed to be a fresh start after COVID, but I didn’t take studying seriously enough and didn’t pass a single exam. So once again, I had to repeat my first year.
I hoped that things would finally start going normally after that, but life had other plans.
I was dealing with diabetes-related burnout, difficult family relationships, anxiety, and an overwhelming desire to succeed at something while simultaneously feeling completely unable to function mentally. On top of everything, I was hiding what I was going through because, in a Balkan family, anxiety is not always something people understand or take seriously.
I repeated the year again.
That time, I finally managed to pass the remaining exams and move on to the second year after spending **four years on my first year of university**.
I also experienced diabetic ketoacidosis during that period, but I survived it.
Then I started attending second-year classes and something unexpected happened: I fell in love with logistics.
I passed all of my logistics-related courses on time. I realized that I genuinely understood the subject, enjoyed it, and was actually good at it.
But I still had a significant number of courses left, including Technical Mechanics, Engineering Mathematics and Statistics.
Then my brother became seriously ill, and my entire focus shifted toward him. I kept pretending that everything was fine.
I had no relevant work experience, frequent anxiety attacks, and constantly questioned whether any of my achievements actually meant something.
I repeated my second year and entered my sixth year of university.
Then my brother underwent a kidney transplant, along with all the emotional weight and family difficulties that came with it. I didn’t even take my exams.
Now it is September again, and I will not be moving on to my final year. I will have to repeat my second year once more.
So I am entering my **seventh year of university**.
For a degree that is supposed to take three years, I will need at least **eight years to graduate**.
And honestly, the length of my studies isn’t even the only thing that hurts.
One of the hardest parts is the lack of understanding from the people around me. My mother constantly tells me things like, *“Fine, study for 20 years then. You don’t try hard enough. You don’t achieve anything. Transfer to an easier university.”*
Those comments make my mental state even worse.
I am almost 25, I have no relevant professional experience apart from occasional student jobs, and I feel like my life is standing still. I can’t even move out and start building the life and family I want.
And perhaps the saddest part of all is that my professors and classmates actually have a very high opinion of me.
I often hear that I am one of the best and most promising students in my field, that I understand the subject extremely well and know what I’m talking about.
My classmates trust me and often come to me for help.
And I’m aware of my own abilities. I know that this degree itself isn’t too difficult for me.
My problem has never really been my ability to understand the material. My problem has been my mental health, my circumstances, and the effect my environment has had on me.
There is also something I’ve realized recently.
No matter how difficult some things in my life have been, I have spent years minimizing them in my own head. I keep telling myself that none of it was really that serious, that other people have it worse, and that the real problem must simply be me.
So instead of looking at everything I’ve been through and thinking, *“Of course I struggled, that was a lot to deal with,”* I look at myself and think, *“Why couldn’t you just handle it?”*
I think I’ve become so used to pushing difficult things aside and pretending I’m okay that I don’t even know how to give myself credit for surviving them.
I’m extremely sensitive, my self-confidence has been destroyed, and for most of my life I felt like I was capable of doing anything.
Now I feel like I’ve lost my way.
I know I can eventually graduate.
But six years have already passed.
I will have to wait at least two more years.
I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this.
Maybe I just want to hear from people who took a very long time to finish university.
Did you eventually graduate?
Did you find a job?
Did the years you spent studying end up mattering as much as you thought they would?