As of today, there are eight days until I move north to Western Washington University.
I'm excited, nervous, ecstatic, and anxious; and a whole slough of other, random emotions. But overall, I am looking forward to school again. The year off was definitely a great idea! Not only did I dodge the mistake of going to The Art Institute of Seattle (less school than company) and having a huge amount of debt, I also spent time with my girl, worked a bunch, and even expanded my knowledge and interests to include writing for the local paper.
Hopefully in the next several months I can report on my college experience and younger, high school-age kids can read these experiences and use them to better plan their own lives.
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Experience number one:
If you feel rushed to jump straight into college out of high school, don't do it.!
Last summer I felt stressed out about going to a big, expensive college. I didn't want that crushing debt, and wasn't even completely sure what I wanted to study there.
The more my mom and I talked about it, the plan of taking the year off to work and look for alternative plans sounded more and more appealing, so we did it. I took the extra time to shrug off the stress, take up extra jobs to save money, and research other colleges. By March, I was pretty damn sure of where I wanted to go, and took the appropriate steps to get me there.
Talk with your parents and see what they think of you taking a year off. Don't use this year to sit around and chill out; you still need to work to save money and plan your next steps, but the added months really do help you get priorities in order, as well as try new experiences.
Advice number one:
Don't rush yourself into "the next step." Take your time and figure out what you want to do next.
If you're stressing out about college straight from high school, talk to your parents about it. If you include them in your thought process, they will more than likely support this endeavor. Just don't take the year off to couch-lounge and procrastinate until the following August.
You need to be proactive and productive if your parents are going to let you stay another year. Use the extra months to work and save up money, and find a college or next step that you really want to do.
Now, get offline, take a deep breath, and relax!
Hmmm, I wonder how this would work with scholarships. Most would likely be void if you don't hop in. Not to say that is the only criteria to use in making a decision, but certainly something to consider.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are many more paths than just jumping right into college.
The scholarships I got were able to be used up to a year later. I just got in contact with the organizations and explained my plan, and my money is being used this year.
ReplyDeleteSome scholarships aren't as flexible, so there is that too.