Hi everyone, long time lurker here. As the title says, I am a 29 yo US immigrant. I just got rejected from the universities that I applied to and now am not sure what I should do next. I apologize beforehand for any mistakes I will make in this post because English is not my first language. Also I am a bit distressed and uncertain at the moment so I want to apologize for that too if my post seems all over the place.
First a little background, I moved to the US 8 years ago and spent the first 4 years in another state before I moved to California. A lot of things (even traumatic stuff that I had never thought to prepare for) happened during the first 4 years and I was severely affected by those events -- took me a few years to deal with the emotional consequences with those events but thankfully I can say I am no longer as effected as I used to.
I moved to California for a change in life in late 2013 – early 2014, I have been living with my parents since and have worked odd jobs while waiting to return to college again. At the moment of this post I was trying to finish a degree in biotech engineering, and I just got rejected from the universities that I applied to. I knew the writing was on the wall anyway after last semester when my GPA went down hill to sub 2.9 because I made the mistake of being impatient and taking more than I could handle. I didn’t fail any class but got a B, C, and D respectively. I took the risk and now I have to bear the consequences of it.
It wouldn’t be a problem if I was younger. The problem is I am 29 years old now and failing yet again makes me seriously consider if I should keep going with this biotech engineering degree. Coming from an Asian country there is always this subconscious burden in my mind that made me aim for prestigious professions and universities because you know good schools good degree good money, that kind of stuff. Even though I have tried so hard to distance myself from my old culture for the past 8 years after coming to the US, I guess I can’t shake it all away in the end. Or maybe it’s because I tried hard to abandon my heritage, too hard, that I am where I am today in this mess. I am not sure anymore.
Anyhow, fellow Redditors I would like to ask for your advice on what to do next. To tell you the truth, I am afraid. I have tried so many things but I always ended up failing at the end so I am not sure about what I am going to do anymore.
Right now I have 2 options:
-
Continue taking a few more classes and reapply to more reasonable universities in 6 months. Then if I get accepted, another 2 years to finish the degree. Or,
-
Take the electrician fellowship route. I did a bit research and found out they have apprenticeships in my area.
To be honest even the military is a tempting option for me at the moment. I just want to get away from all this school stuff and do something else. Join the military, keep my head down, do what I’m told, learn a trade and after 4 years discharge and live a good life with the disciplines I learned from the military. Sounds better than withering my miserable life away in schools. I just need something anything that is substantial, that I can make money off of. I’m fed up with living with my parents, having not enough money to do anything for myself, having no meaningful social connections.
I guess you could call it sunk cost fallacy that I still want to keep going with the biotech degree. I spent so much time with it already, might as well finish it right? The problem is universities in the US is so expensive. I will have to take out loans and then have to pay them back later. Even if I get to the finish line I am not guaranteed to get a job anyway. With the military at least I don't have to worry about health care, I get paid and get to live far away from family for some time.
I don’t know. I’m not sure about anything anymore. Please any advice is welcome.
Submitted May 02, 2017 at 12:40PM by demfiils http://ift.tt/2qphQ4A
