No Regrets: Why I Am Leaving University

Most of our time is spent in school, and we have yet to make any real choices in life. During my second year at Acadia I began to doubt what it was that I wanted to get out of my education and had no idea what I wanted to do for a career, so I decided to take a year off for the 2015-2016 term. The year I spent working at home was interesting, and I guess you could call it a learning experience. I knew for sure that I didn’t want to work at a menial minimum-wage job forever, and it gave me initiative to come back this fall. But upon my return, I found that it was a challenge to fit back into student life. At first, I thought that it was Acadia and my friends that had changed and moved on without me. But then I realized it was me who had changed.

One of my professors called university a bubble, and I absolutely agree with him. Many of us are bubbled off and separated from the real world here, especially while living in residence with no real knowledge of what it’s like to pay bills or to have true independence in general. I think that this realization is what has driven me to drop out after this semester. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to drop out and play video games at your parent’s house for the rest of your life. What I mean is this: university just isn’t meant for everyone. For most of us, our bachelor’s degree is the first step in attaining a career,. But what do you do when you can’t even get a job in your field after graduating? What do you do when you realize that you’ll need multiple degrees and specializations to have a decent enough career to be able to afford having a family later on? I applaud the people who strive to do this because their dream and their goal is to go into education, to have a Masters or PhD, but when it’s a necessity to be a successful human being, it becomes an overbearing weight on your shoulders.

Education is absolutely important in our society, but there is a stigma around higher education and I think it’s time for it to go. If someone had asked me in twelfth grade if I was going to community college or university, I wouldn’t have hesitated in saying university. I was given the impression that if you’re smart, then you need to go to university. But that notion is complete bullshit. People learn in different ways, and from my time at Acadia I’ve learned a lot of great and interesting things. However, I haven’t learned anything that I feel will benefit me that greatly later in the work force. I don’t feel like I’ve been prepared for any job at all, and it’s been two and a half years. If nothing else, that was my sign that university just isn’t working for me. Also, from what I see around me, people in our generation who have gone to community college are more successful now than the ones who have graduated with their Bachelors; they all have jobs in their field while those that have gone to university are working at Starbucks. For me this just isn’t worth it, especially when the price for a semester at university is the price for a year at a college.

Again, by asserting all of this I am not trying to say that university isn’t worth doing and graduating from. What I am suggesting is that it is not the only way to get a decent education. I am trying to give you insight from a position that is not commonly heard from for the students who are unsure of what they’re doing. For those of you who may be on the fence about whether it is the right place for you, or if you’re only doing it because it is what you feel you are expected to do, you should put the same effort in any decision about leaving school as you did to get into your program. To elaborate, don’t spontaneously decide to leave because you’re scared or homesick. It should be something that you weigh heavily upon. You should not take your education lightly. As Nelson Mandela said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”