Am I taking on too much?

[Cootie]

Before you guys even start to bitch, I am able to handle this... so don't spout off on your "you're a pussy" nonsense to make yourselves feel better.

Anyways, you know how sometimes people make it seem like college is awesome? Maybe the best time of your life? Well for me it has proven itself to be the worst time of my life. I don't have time for leisure at all really. Rarely do I ever get a chance to come on here.

I think the problem comes from the fact that I am taking 16 credit hours (six classes, one of those split term meaning full credit in just a month and a half) and I also have to work around 30 hours per week. Is this too much? My friends act like it is fucking ridiculous and it is wearing me down a bit and making me miserable. Somehow my mom was able to work full time and take 23 credit hours... so I would feel like a pussy complaining.

There isn't really a way out of it. I have to take five classes per semester and maintain a 3.0 in each, so I can't take less classwork. On top of that my degree won't mean jack shit without me having work experience.

wut do?

[Sekhem]

it's your fault for picking a shitty major/job

[Tony-DarkGrave]

Here you go.

[Light]

At 9/20/12 12:44 AM, Cootie wrote:

There isn't really a way out of it. I have to take five classes per semester and maintain a 3.0 in each, so I can't take less classwork.

Why do you have to take five classes every semester?

[T3XT]

At 9/20/12 12:47 AM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: Here you go.

We can't lose one of our best posters!

[Cootie]

At 9/20/12 12:48 AM, Light wrote:

At 9/20/12 12:44 AM, Cootie wrote:

There isn't really a way out of it. I have to take five classes per semester and maintain a 3.0 in each, so I can't take less classwork.

Why do you have to take five classes every semester?

My scholarship requires that I take at least five or I lose it. Right now I am taking six, and the one split term class makes it more like seven due to a double load until October.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

At 9/20/12 12:48 AM, Light wrote:

At 9/20/12 12:44 AM, Cootie wrote:

There isn't really a way out of it. I have to take five classes per semester and maintain a 3.0 in each, so I can't take less classwork.

Why do you have to take five classes every semester?

If you get grant money or ascholarship you have to have a base minimum requiremnt they set but i dont know cooties situTion. Only a guess because my sister had to have that much for some grant and scholarship mone.

Or he is trying to fastrack In a useless major.

[Light]

At 9/20/12 12:52 AM, Cootie wrote:

My scholarship requires that I take at least five or I lose it. Right now I am taking six, and the one split term class makes it more like seven due to a double load until October.

What a stupid scholarship requirement.

[T3XT]

At 9/20/12 12:52 AM, Cootie wrote: My scholarship requires that I take at least five or I lose it. Right now I am taking six, and the one more split term class

There's your problem. That's a lot of classwork.

If there's really no way out of it by now and you're really feeling this overwhelmed, I'd honestly recommend you save up a little money and invest in a therapist. Sure, they don't make work disappear but they'll certainly give you techniques to hold out until October.

[Cootie]

At 9/20/12 01:02 AM, T3XT wrote:
If there's really no way out of it by now and you're really feeling this overwhelmed, I'd honestly recommend you save up a little money and invest in a therapist. Sure, they don't make work disappear but they'll certainly give you techniques to hold out until October.

Oh no. It doesn't make me sad or depressed. It is just weathering me down and exhausting me. I wake up at 6AM and start classes at 7:15 and go until 12:45PM and then I get home at 1:15 and work from 2:00 until 11:00. Then I stay up for about an hour and go to sleep and do it all over.

[tarahloveshentai]

It's sad but that's how usually it is to pay for college or just in general.

I used to work full time, go to school full time, and juggle a relationship. It was a horrible time because I never got to hang out with my friends because the few bits of free time I got, I spent doing homework, studying, and hanging out with my boyfriend at the time.

When I started going back to school after quitting my job, it was amazing. I got all Bs and As, I had time to actually make friends at school, time to hang out with my friends, and plenty of time to study or do homework. It was virtually no stress and I felt healthier.

The people that always brag about college as the 'time of your life' were the type that felt college was the time to party or 'experiment'. I never saw it that way and I just enjoyed being in college in general. But not everyone gets the luxury of having their parents or fafsa pay for their classes.

[wwwyzzerdd]

Welcome to life dude. At least you're learning earlier than most that your idea of society and society's expectations of you are nowhere close to each other (or at least I hope you're learning that). Apply yourself and work hard to meet other people's standards in order to gain anything from them. Sadly your thoughts of "personal time" or "taking a break" doesn't matter to others, so you may as well get those out of your head as quick as you can.

[Cootie]

At 9/20/12 01:40 AM, wwwyzzerdd wrote: Welcome to life dude. At least you're learning earlier than most that your idea of society and society's expectations of you are nowhere close to each other (or at least I hope you're learning that). Apply yourself and work hard to meet other people's standards in order to gain anything from them. Sadly your thoughts of "personal time" or "taking a break" doesn't matter to others, so you may as well get those out of your head as quick as you can.

I think I am exceeding society's expectations of me. Hell, just stepping foot inside a college for a day means that I have a more advanced education than half of the country.

[wwwyzzerdd]

At 9/20/12 01:48 AM, Cootie wrote: I think I am exceeding society's expectations of me. Hell, just stepping foot inside a college for a day means that I have a more advanced education than half of the country.

You'll soon learn the next lesson that will help you in life; be a bit more modest and try not to shit on people indirectly just because you have a piece of paper over them. I work with plenty of high school graduates (most of them are my supervisors and managers), but they still work just as hard as anyone else. The last thing I'd care to do is try to flaunt being a former nuclear technician and an engineering student over them because everyone you come across in life has an overwhelming ability to make or break you.

And not to knock what you're doing right now, but countless people do what you're doing right now, and some do even more. Consider yourself lucky that someone else is footing your tuition bill and all they expect from you is to just apply yourself. Not to get into a "my cock is bigger than yours" debate, but I worked twice as many hours while doing the same amount of credits my first year of college. My classes are paid for because I sucked military dick for 4 years, and part of my pay-off for that is going to school for free. Instead of taking that for granted, I try to put forth way more effort than I gave in high school (partially the reason I ended up having to go into the military) because I'd rather not have wasted 4 shitty years to earn a very helpful chance to better myself over a short-term gain.

Being a 24-year old freshman was quite the eye-opener honestly. I would say that at most I did what was normally required of me at work; show up on time, complete the tasks that were expected of me, ask for help when needed, and stay awake. I'd say most people in my classes though were more short-sighted than that, even though they were paying to be there and didn't have a semi-decent fall-back plan like I did. What humbled me was the handful of people in a lot of my classes who actually were older than I was, and had WAY more on their plate. Soon, having a full-time job with tons of overtime and going to school full-time was nothing compared to being unemployed, taking on more debt on top of a mortgage and being a parent, and reeducating yourself to give life another go when you're in your 40s or 50s.

What you're doing is completely doable. It's gonna suck at first, but it's 4 years. And if you're concerned really that you can't go on Newgrounds as much, fuck this fucking place.

[DarkMatter]

Honestly I would tone it down if your feeling that ill about it. I take 2-4 classes a semester. Don't load up so much schoolwork that you don't have time to enjoy your young adult years. Having a job and income is healthy and shows your responsible to a certain degree. It sounds to me like your trying to prove something. Right now I pretty much have one day off and a week if I'm lucky.

[Halberd]

I guess it depends on what kind of future you want

if you have high hopes then you have to work hard for it

[Lionelion]

Are you paying your own way through college? If not, drop the job, and drop one of the classes so youre down to 5. Seriously bro, if its making you miserable, its a sign that you need to change something, and doing this will give you at least a little more free time if nothing else
Everybody needs a time to relax and de-stress from the day, or else they just become miserable, like you have

[Evark]

Looks like you'll need to cut back some hours at your job. I'm really hoping you're finding the time to do all the work that you need to do between classes/during work hours. In situations like this, it can actually help to invest time in organizing yourself. Even though it might feel like you're wasting time you could be spending doing work, it can make you more productive overall.

You should find at least one block of time each week to have to yourself though, for the things you enjoy. Try to treat class and work like the opportunities to socialize that they are: you can meet cool people and feel just as fulfilled "hanging out" with them (while getting paid and/or learning as the primary focus) as you would like you used to cut loose with your friends in High School when you had nothing else to do.

Pull it off this semester, maybe consider reducing your work hours, and then next semester DEFINITELY don't take the full 6 courses. You can always do a summer session or supplement credits by taking a class at a CC over the summer and transferring the credits. Good luck, dude.