Have you ever dropped out?

[Anon7075]

I have trauma from elementary and middle school. I barely finished 2 grades of high school and in 3rd grade of high school i completely stoped going to school because i was extremely mentally drained, extremely suicidal and hospitalized 2 times so i gave up completely and failed the grade. Im 24 and decided to finish it as an adult. Remember that school is not a priority, your health be it psychological or physical is your top priority. You can always finish school at a later date. It took me 6 years to re-enter high school. Take your time. Don't stress too much and if things get stressfull to the point of suicide it's better to quit and resume schooling when you feel better again at a later date.

 

[halfway_y]

I dropped out 4th year of my bachelors.
Even tho I didn't like it, it was the worst major you can think of (history, I don't even like it, honestly I didn't even learn much because I was so tired all the time), it was still devastating. It feels so bad to just waste four years down the drain, and then spend a lot more years just recovring from it (I still haven't, my living situation is disaster).
It hurts so bad seeing everyone graduate and proceed, while I'm stuck so many years behind. I attended a fancy school where everyone went to prestigious universities and where everyone knew what they wanted except me. Honestly it feels so bad still, pain never went away. But I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't. A lot of bad stuff happened, I was losing my mind, I was so incredibly exhausted. I just collapsed. Still in collapse many years after.

I have two copes.
1) At least I don't have debt. Many people go in debt because of this, I didn't, it's free in my country as long as you pass exams well.
2) I could go again and pick a major that actually does something and I give a shit about it (as long as I don't have a diploma I can start university as much as I like for free in my country)

Still, it's devastating. Considering going to university is literally the only thing I was expected to do in life. Everyone wanted me to be successful and educated and bright and self-sufficient. I failed all the expectations. All of them. I'm a complete mess. At least I didn't kill anyone I suppose?

 

[missedmybus]

Dropped out at 15, got hs degree through homeschooling exams.

Dropped out of uni back to back years in my early 20s (philosophy and language/linguistics). Hated the pretentious student types. Had already been working manual labour with adults and also made money doing other things. Couldn't deal with elitist teenagers. Was also on a lot of drugs and making a lot of money in this period so didn't really care about failing.

Started a bachelors in clinical psychology last September, had a bit of a mental breakdown in December, almost dropped out, but professors/school convinced me to just put it on hold because they think I have a talent for it (I am pretty good at reading people) and my grades were very good.

Going into some long-term psychiatric hospital/rehab program in one of the following weeks. Hope to go back to the bachelors next September.

Kind of regret not playing along in middle/high school and also not just ignoring fellow students in my 20s, but oh well it is what it is.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

I'm graduating from college at the end of the year. Computer Science major, (yeah, I've fell for the "just learn to code bro" meme). Programming and computing in general is not something I enjoy that much, but I'm trying to force myself to like since it's my life now. Dropping out was never a option because my helicopter mom (a teacher), she would have become even crazier than she already was. Sometimes I think that Uni, mine at least, is the most useless thing ever; It could be that I'm in a bad institution, probably I'm just a bad student or is just the economy that is fucked up. Anyway, it is what it is.

Oh, and I'm facing some problems that can delay my graduation. If that happens I'm just going to hang myself.

Fellow CS major as well, though I don't graduate until end of next year. However, my graduation might be delayed as well, struggling in classes right now. Transitioning from community college to uni is tough.

Ironically, I didn't fall for the "just learn to code," I learned about CS and it's salaries (money was my motivator) in like 2018-2019, and then it boomed in 2020. I started college in 2023. I actually still don't think it's a bad degree choice. Just extremely competitive and terrible job market all around right now, which I imagine is, in part, lasting effects from the 2020 hiring boom. I can relate though, been trying to stay alive since late 2024, as my suicidal ideation has really peaked since then.

 

[Mr. Silver]

Fellow CS major as well, though I don't graduate until end of next year. However, my graduation might be delayed as well, struggling in classes right now. Transitioning from community college to uni is tough.

Ironically, I didn't fall for the "just learn to code," I learned about CS and it's salaries (money was my motivator) in like 2018-2019, and then it boomed in 2020. I started college in 2023. I actually still don't think it's a bad degree choice. Just extremely competitive and terrible job market all around right now, which I imagine is, in part, lasting effects from the 2020 hiring boom. I can relate though, been trying to stay alive since late 2024, as my suicidal ideation has really peaked since then.

May I ask your age, bro(sis)ter? I got into IT since I've never knew with my life, but some job experiences (the constant stress, the always demanding
sprints and long work hours) got me a little demotivated to continue in the field (which sucks, as I don't know what to do with my life).

Also, I'm 23

 

[zulu123]

Yes I dropped out 2nd year of college. I regret it

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

May I ask your age, bro(sis)ter? I got into IT since I've never knew with my life, but some job experiences (the constant stress, the always demanding
sprints and long work hours) got me a little demotivated to continue in the field (which sucks, as I don't know what to do with my life).

Also, I'm 23

I typically don't share age on this site. I can say, I'm around the same age as you. I started college a little later than most.

Have you done an internship? Only reason I ask is because you mention sprints and other terms while saying you graduate later this year.

Anyways, I've never had any formal work experience but I always worry about burnout because idk what I'm getting myself into with this field, and I worry the constant learning will be at the detriment of my mental health. I love learning but sometimes I'm extremely intellectually lazy.

 

[Mr. Silver]

I typically don't share age on this site. I can say, I'm around the same age as you. I started college a little later than most.

Have you done an internship? Only reason I ask is because you mention sprints and other terms while saying you graduate later this year.

Anyways, I've never had any formal work experience but I always worry about burnout because idk what I'm getting myself into with this field, and I worry the constant learning will be at the detriment of my mental health. I love learning but sometimes I'm extremely intellectually lazy.

I was working as a PHP (+ other things) programmer for a small startup while in Uni. It started as an internship (indication from a familiar) and them I was hired; but the constant demand from both my boss and Uni made me choose one or the other. Since dropping out of college is a big no no, I got out of the job. I was doing Uni by the morning and working 6 to 7 hours from Mond ~ Sat.

I share with you the "Love learning but sometimes I'm lazy". I think that the only problem with this job is dealing with deadlines and mental exhaustion. Always they ask you for a deadline on something you don't even know where to begin with, and then, you discover that you need more time; or that you're too tired to give your all, like yesterday; or that the problem you've been hitting your head in the past 3 hours was really a simple logic mistake that could be fixed with 20% of those hours.

Everything will start to build up and you will question if your not taking too long to finish that feature, or that you're falling behind your colleagues, or start to wonder if you'll get replaced for someone better (with a smaller pay); or ask yourself if you still be employed next month, simply because AI is making everyone more efficient (minus you). And then, there's always the "getting more up to date with new technologies" (which is not a problem depending where you work) that you have to do in your free time (like, "how can we integrate an AI to our produt", but you have to figure it out that when you have nothing to do, but you always have something to do).

These where always in my head on that job. Of course, everything here are the ramblings of someone that is not that good on their job; perhaps is not going to happen to you, perhaps you're way better than me, perhaps you will find a very good job with a very good environment. No way to know without trying I guess.