Is college right for me?

Sounds like you are leaning toward leaving school. Continuing education isn’t for everyone but, before you quit, give it a lot of consideration because many times life circumstance will make it difficult to go back.
If you do decide to quit, be sure you know what other opportunities are available to you. You mentioned getting into construction, but right now with the bad economy, you may want to rethink that. My son is in construction and has been out of work for a year because they are not building homes due to the poor market. So, research the options in your area before quitting school.
Also, the holidays are just around the corner and it is likely you will be going homexat that time. Don’t make any decision until after the holiday. Going home might be a good dose of medicine for homesickness and, more importantly, will give you some perspective.

@njohnson, Take the girlfriend out of the equation. Commercial aviation is such a narrow employment field, and as basp said, construction is down. Normally I’m in the “stay in school” camp, but I would have to say, with a major with such narrow employability, I would think that going home, and taking classes at a community college would be a better choice. St. Paul has a lot of universities, and you could not incur as much debt staying in-state. You might want to think about a 2-year program or technical school, which would be much more hands-on.

Education is always good for everyone, but it doesn’t have to come in traditional forms.

If you’re not having fun, by all means get out of school and into the real working world. You can always come back to school later if you want to. If you’ve already earned college credits, request a transcript before you leave you can get a transcript anytime but it saves time in the mail; if you go to school in the future you may be able to get credit for the classes you’ve taken already.

You want less options in life down the road, then yah, quit college.

Remember, anything worth doing is going to be hard. I wish I had the opportunity to be a commercial pilot. I only got as far as my student license and a solo flight. But it was awesome.

Yeah, I agree with rob on this one (and alfreda). I think you would be best to go back to MN and go to school in state. You won’t have so much debt, and you can be closer to those you love (and the places you love). If you want to be a pilot, I’m sure you can find some place back home that offers that. I have a friend who went to Minnesota State (Mankato), and I know she has her pilot’s license (not commercial, yet), so there have to be some places for you. Pilot training is expensive, and I commend you for trying. But maybe you’re finding that it isn’t for you.

When I was a freshman, I had some really bad days where I just wanted to quit. I was lonely, in a new place, in the youngest group all over again. It was, at times, horrible. But I made some changes in my life to do things that would make me happy and make some new friends, and I eventually loved college. Think about the things that are making you the saddest (or the most “i-want-to-quit”), and see if you can’t make some changes there before deciding the answer is to quit school. But, if you decide that college is not for you, it is OK. In the end, you need to do what is best for you. Good luck.

well, i’m a freshmen too! and finishing my first semester here at college. just going through this one semester, there were times when i thought that college wasn’t for someone like me, but i grow to liking it. i know what you mean, i also have a girlfriend and we’re world’s apart i’m in Asia and she’s in North America. it’s hard, but you have to try. just wanna encourage you that if you two are committed then nothing can come between you. :) but one thing you have to bear in mind that college means better salary. if you wanna pay off your debts fast i advice you to go to college. well, it’s just my humble opinion. hope it meant something.

Everyone falls out of love with school at some point. Being closer to home would definitely help keep you grounded, though, so maybe going to a state university in St Paul would be better for you. Keep working hard, and it will pay off later on in life.

You’re likely to have a hard time finding construction or labor jobs. In a bad economy, the best place to be is school.

Is it possible that you’re at a school that’s not right for you? Or that you’re in the wrong major?

While all education is never wasted, I have to say there are to distinct camps: education for the love of knowledge, and education for employment. While some majors cross into both camps in a college setting, there are other ways to gain practical employment education, like trade and technical schools. Employers like some sort of proof that you can think and follow directions, and a degree or some sort of certificate seems to fill that need, especially in a down market, when as a high school graduate, you’ll be competing with college grads with years of experience for even temping positions.

College is right for everyone.

Oh my, girlofscience. I’m afraid I have to seriously disagree. University is often crammed down high school students’ throats, it was in my and my partner’s schooling, and some go off to it thinking its the only choice just to realize they weren’t interested in the field and now have how many thousands of dollars in debt with nothing to show for it. As well, some people have goals to work in the trades, and in Canada those tasks are left to the colleges (known as community colleges in the States I believe). University education doesn’t help in these cases. I thus disagree with your sentence, although I would say that continuing education as one goes on in life is right for everyone, whether through institutions or more often through picking up a hobby and having fun while learning something new.

I think that everyone benefits from college education, even if it doesn’t lead directly to employment. But knowledge isn’t necessarily a goal that is sought; most people are in the education for employment camp, so it’s hard to see knowledge as an outcome.

@dynamicduo, to your point, I had an electrician work on my house who told me that when he was in 5th grade, they had to do a career report. He said he wanted to be an electrician, and work with is dad, uncle and grandpa. The teacher told him, “You’re such a smart boy, you should aspire to be an electrical engineer, not just an electrician.” He said that made him wonder if there was something wrong with being an electrician, so he worked really hard in school, got a scholarship to college, and enrolled in the engineering program. He got straight A’s but hated every minute of it, so after his second year, he dropped out, entered a trade program, and is licensed electrician. He works with his dad and uncle, his grandfather retired and helps out now and then. He said at 39, he has a four bedroom house with a swimming pool in a modest neighborhood that’s paid for, he owns three cars that are paid for, and he takes his wife to Florida three times a year. What more could he want? He said he did go back to community college to take some accounting and business classes to help him run the business better.

American high school sort of drops young people off at the end of grade 12 not prepared to do much but wait tables or work in a call center if they don’t go on to some other form of education. The guidance that they are given for continuing education is college or nothing, especially if you don’t have money. Maybe that’s a question for flutherites…

Yes, I’ve spoken in other threads about the general benefits of college, whether it leads to employment in the given field or not.

I think a college education should be available, affordable, and possibly mandatory for all people.

I think college can be right for everyone, but it’s a question of timing and motivation.

College as it’s generally practiced—the step immediately after high school—is simply the wrong timing for most students. It’s just more school, and the students who are just there because it’s what you do after high school tend to miss out on 90% of what college has to offer. I think it would be far better for the personal development of most students if they could take time after high school and try out a few apprenticeship style programs so that they could figure out what they wanted to study or do and then go on to college, where they’d get a hell of a lot more out of it.

I concur completely with making college available and affordable to all. I’d need a far more compelling argument for making it mandatory, especially as I’ve seen far too many college students for whom it is effectively mandatory (because of parental expectations, for instance) who are really getting nothing out of the process.