College

I know that most of you are either in college or thinking about going to college, and let me tell you it isn't what it may seem.  You know the old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover," well college is certainly no exception.  I first arrived in college last fall, and needless to say I was pumped to do it.  I had a scholarship from the AFROTC program, and I was going to start an engineering degree, great! Haha, not so much.  Soon after arriving, I realized my perception of college was completely wrong.  I wasn't meeting new friends or building relationships with professors or university faculty. No, in fact I was trying my hardest to get the heck out of here. I graduated high school with a strong 3.9 GPA, and a 1200 on SATs (without writing).  I knew that I wanted to be in the military, but didn't want to skip college because I figured I was smart enough.  Boy was I wrong.  I thought college was going to be a good experience, you know, being on your own, going to class when you want to, eating whatever and whenever.  I soon realized that I needed to change what was going on, or I was going to end up back home at a local community college getting no where fast.  So to spare you some time I ended up dropping out of ROTC, and changing my degree to a non-technical degree program in the field of science.  I am now in my third semester of college and I am having a great time!  Sure I miss family and friends (and my dog of course), but the things I get to do down here are something most people can only dream of.  I live off campus in a great townhouse with my roommate from freshmen year, and it gives me the freedom to do what I want without worrying about consequences i.e. drinking alcohol :) .  So what I am trying to point out is that when you are planning for college think about what you know you can handle, like in my case not engineering, and go from there.  If you are in college and see yourself in a similar situation, then do what I did, change it up.  There is nothing wrong with changing what you are doing in school.  That is the beauty of college; you can change your mind 3 or 4 times before you are satisfied and they will work with you all the way.  When it comes down to it picking a degree it should be based on mostly your own interests, but if your goal is to make a lot of money, then you must also research where the jobs that pay the most are going to be within the next 5-10 years.  Hope that helps.

RW