is university worth it?

Question

I am in my second year at coventry uni (studying psychology and criminology) I hate the course, i've made no friends and am very depressed. I am almost 100% sure a degree will in no way help me get to where i want to be in life. if i leave i don't to work some low paying dead end job for the rest of my life, but if i stay i might just shoot myself. With so many people getting degrees (most of which from a better uni) is it really worth my time and effort?
thank you for taking the time to read this!

Answer 1

In my circumstance it has been. I did a couple of years of uni on leaving school, faced similar thoughts, and dropped out. After a few years in the workforce, I went back to uni and got some qualifications. I can empathise with your situation, but the deal is this:

1. You will be better off in later life terms of standard of living if you get a degree.
2. It will be easier for you to finish the degree you are currently doing (again, in terms of standard of living) now than it would be to return to study later.

I don't know enough about your personal situation to comment on the emotional difficulty you seem to be having with your studies, but from experience I would really recommend you give it all you've got to stick it out, and whenever the uni life is not panning out how you want it to then channel your frustrations into the work itself! It's a relatively short commitment to hard work to provide a much longer period of fulfilment.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Look into yourself and see what makes you feel satisfied and do that,life is just far too short for anything else.

If you feel psychology/criminology is not your thing don't continue,if however your'e just stressed or having a hard time socially think about changing uni's or degrees.


My sister never finished high school and is a director for a large company and earns over $100,000 PA,a degree is not a guarantee.

I dropped out of my BA degree much to everyones dismay,and became an independant designer.I earn more than I would have with my BA but most importantly I am extremely satisfied in my work and love getting up in the morning.


Don't do a degree simply for the security of money or for others,at the end of your life you have to live with the decisions you've taken not them.


You are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain.

Answer 3

I'd say it is. Employers still look favourably on a degree.

I can't say working life is going to be any more enjoyable. Join some societies and make some friends. Go and see the Uni counsellor as well as you sound depressed.

I didn't enjoy a great deal of my time at uni but I do look back at it fondly now. I'm glad I went even though I only got a third. It helped open doors all the same

Answer 4

I visited Coventry University and didn't like the look of it :)

You have two options:

1. Leave university, spend your life thinking "if only" and be passed over for promotions etc.

or

2. Come away from Coventry with a degree, knowing that you overcame all obsticals, rose to the challenge and have achieved something for yourself that you can look back on with pride.

If I were you (and at one time I was :D), start looking at what you want to do as a career and what you will do once you have graduated. This might give you some inspirtation on why you are pursuing your degree.

Or start writing your potential title:
(Your Name) Bsc (hons)
and see how good it looks! :D

Answer 5

If you don't like the course you a doing change it to something you do like, but whatever you do, do not quit. If you do you will end up in the dead-end-job that you don't want.

As for not making friends join some of the student clubs or become part of the Student Union.

Get out there and start enjoying student life and maybe if you do start enjoying yourself rather than feeling down, you will feel a lot better about the course you are doing.

Answer 6

you've got this far so stick with it! You may just be having a bad patch, criminology sounds cool! Try and think a little more optimistically and you may (hopefully) start to feel a bit better about stuff.

Although, I am not a believer in Uni for a lot of things. I started as an office junior and am now doing my accreditation in Employment Law to be a paralegal, it is possible to do it without uni!

Answer 7

READ ALL OF THIS:
In 1986 I left school with virtually no qualifications, after one year on a YTS I went back to college and pretty much pratted about for the year that I was there and left with nothing.
In Sept 1988 I was employed by the big factory in my town, I worked there for fifteen years, during this time I was elected as a union shop steward, a position that I had to go to college for to qualify me for the position. That was in 2002/03, whilst at college I re-discovered my desire to improve my life, the following September I enrolled on a GCSE English course (Lang & Lit) and after getting my results, an A and a B I quit my job at the big factory, went to college full-time to qualify me for university and I'm now in my final year and in the new year I've ot an interview at teacher training college.
Do you really need or want to go through all of this to get to were you want to be?
When I quit my job I was 33, I had worked in a job with carciagenic chemicals, I was passed over for promotion on several occassions, I then had three daughters, I now have three daughters and a son.
Yes I've enjoyed my time at Uni, but I wish that I had done it earlier, don't quit, change course if you have to, but DO NOT QUIT!!!

Answer 8

Well, I haven't been to university yet, but I think it will definetly be worth it! I think you could form a study group. Do you stay in a dorm? Go with your dorm partner's friends! Also, MAKE SURE YOU STAY THERE AND DON'T COMMIT SUICIDE. Go see your counseler. I mean, you worked hard to get there and you're so far already. I'm sure you could also transfer majors if you wanted too. Oh yeah, degrees really really really do help in looking for jobs. Unless your aspiration was to be a hamburger flipper at your local fast food restaruant.

Answer 9

im in my first year at university and although from the outset it seems like an expensive and sometimes questionable thing to do, its an investment in your future. saying that, i think the best life to live is one where you are happy and doing what you want to do, and you dont sound to happy at the moment. the most important thing you need to consider is your happiness, if its a stake then maybe university isnt for you, why not make a concious effort to mix with new people and make new friends, you'll feel worlds better if you meet people that you connect with and that can share the experience with you.

Answer 10

Just having a degree - any degree - will improve your chances at employment and increase your pay.

Please talk to a counsellor about this; they're free at uni and they help a lot of people with problems just like yours.

Good luck!