this is an interesting topic as I can relate to this.
More than 15 years ago, I have no clue what I want out of
life, what I will become and definitely not the cut out material to
study. Why I did it ? Because all my friends did it ,simple
as that.
Then I went to the Army and fell in love with hitting the gym. I
found a buddy and we worked hard together to build our "perfect
body". I was passionate and obsessed in in , training about 4 x a
week.
One day, I was talking to him and he said this to me; I see you
are not very happy in your job but when you are here (the gym) you
are a totally different animal. You know, if you upgrade yourself
by taking a part-time degree, you could up your salary, increase
your chance to look for better jobs.
That piece of advice was worst than my last heavy rep and it hit
me hard. I think about what he said over the weeks. And I
took his advice to complete my part-time degree at a private
University for 18 months. It was very tough as I had to rush off
from work to attend lectures at night, sometime stay till 12
midnite to complete assignments.
But what he said was true! I did leave my job upon receiving my
transcript and indeed it open many doors for me. Ironically, for
someone who did not ace in school is now actually an educator in
the Uni.
Of course, time have changed and the teenagers these days are so
much smarter, brighter, tech savvy than my time. To take up
the degree or not , it depends on the person goals in life.
1. What is your expectation from achieving this degree?
2. Why are you doing it ? Parents pressure, peers influence or
is just the way it is ?
3. Understand what is your strength** (cant emphasize enough of
this)
I would advise going to take a course on something you truly
like than to follow what others said.
Look at your hobbies, interest, how friends describe you, your
part-time works, internships if any, etc. These are tell-tale
signs.
When you know what you really want then taking the next step (be
it a degree or not) is one of the many options to choose.
All the best !
Desmond
