School and motivation...

[IndorilTheGreat]

I am currently a junior in college (Uni), and I am having a hard time staying motivated for school.

 

I'm not sure if it's because I'm not interested in the material, or if I just need a break from school, but recently, I've been having the hardest time working up the effort to go to class.

 

I'm thinking about maybe changing my major, but it is awfully late to do that, and I fear that if I do, I will end up stuck in another rut having a really hard time getting out.

 

Any ideas on what I should do?

 

Thanks.

 

Cheers,

IndorilTheGreat

[Iv000]

I'm not in college, but I too have quite a few problems with staying motivated and generally picking up my material and studying it.

Like, I've got this project to do which can get me easy entry to college, and I know I can do it really great and with ease. But I can't get motivated to start doing it or continue doing it. Same with my programming course online, I can't bring myself to do it.

 

I would appreciate any ideas too.

 

And thanks for the thread Indoril.

[flamenx01]

Try going to classes with friends and doing something with them right after lectures that way it feels more like a social event than a chore.

[AliasTheory]

Try going to classes with friends and doing something with them right after lectures that way it feels more like a social event than a chore.

That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm an electrical engineering major, and due to small class sizes, I'm with the same people all the time. As a result, we all know each other pretty well. It becomes more fun to learn when you have people to learn with.

 

@IndorilTheGreat: You should try ask yourself what you are really interested in. If a class can't quite encompass that specific thing, perhaps you should try look into doing research at your university or getting involved with academic extracurriculars. Also, talk to your university class adviser.

[Vagrant0]

Try going to classes with friends and doing something with them right after lectures that way it feels more like a social event than a chore.

I would suggest against this actually. Not only does this require having friends with a similar major, they can often end up being too much of a distraction to keep you from focusing on the coursework. And more often than not, it usually leads to one person losing interest in the class and not show up, causing the remaining others to drop out soon after unless they can retain the feeling that the class is necessary; which at that point just ends up back at the beginning and now being aware that friends are doing something else while you're stuck at class and constantly being reminded about them leaving you behind.

 

 

The better suggestion is to think about the end goal. Where is the degree going to get you exactly. Take a good hard look as to who is hiring persons with that degree, what experience or background is needed, how much they are earning, and what percentage of people with that degree are employed in the field. If the prospects for employment aren't too promising, look around at related fields which might also get a benefit from that degree. Optimistically it would be work which you could find some level of enjoyment from. But the reality is that usually the job is something you won't really like very much, but is something you have to keep doing in order to afford the lifestyle you want (or make you think you can afford it until your credit runs out). But if there is no work for that profession, you might end up having to scrub toilets to afford that shitty 1 room apartment in a building filled with addicts, violent types, and people with 15 children who are getting high on government assistance.

 

If you are going to start over, as a Junior, you're almost better off just pushing and completing the degree anyway just so that you can have it over and done with should the job market open up or you want to start off as being slightly higher than a peon in retail (even then it only helps if you interview well enough and show some capability at performing the work).

 

 

*The scrubbing toilets part is actually a reality for one of my co-workers who has a Masters in Art History. He's not the most practical minded person, and probably interviewed poorly since he was desperate for any kind of work and had little experience in retail, and admittedly the company (or just my store) seems to suck balls for utilizing people effectively, but you can see how even a degree doesn't mean anything any more, and how crucial it is to interview well and give an employer a sense of what you are capable of.

[IndorilTheGreat]

That's true, Vagrant. I do need to think about the end result rather than the current state of things; that's how people get bogged down and quit; by dwelling on the current struggles too much. I just need to "grin and bear it."

 

That being said, I have plowed through the majority of the work that I needed to catch up on this weekend; maybe I was just over-tired. I should really start keeping a regular sleep schedule.