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i jsut graduated highschool, a miracle if you know me. Well now i'm faced with a decision, college, or job. i cant make up my mind and i was hoping some of you dakkaites would help me.

Well if graduating high school was a miracle I would look into getting an apprenticeship in a specialized manual labor field such as plumbing, carpeting , electrician. If you struggled in high school college might give you some trouble(and a lot of debt for no gain). My 2 cents

There is always the military, though that isn't a job, it is an adventure.

Go Military. It's the most stable thing to do after high school, if you truly enjoy it. I'm enlisted in the navy, on DEP. Feels good.

Join the USMC

COLLEGE! THEN UNIVERSITY!
PHYSICS IS WHERE ITS AT YO!

Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Edited for just letting things slide.

Kragura wrote:Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Yes, because every job in the military is all about killing.

If you don't know what your talking about, keep your ignorance to yourself, instead of posting this garbage.

First Rule: Don't ask the Internet for advice.

well i think you need to take something you like doing and try and find a job that's similar.

take myself for instance. i really like computers. i really like making things work and i really like fiddling with settings and stuff.

hence I took a degree course in forensic computing as it includes all the things I like and also some things that i find interesting (such as penetration testing and security). this will hopefully get me a job as a professional witness or part of a forensic company.

as to the question of HE or getting a job, its a quite tough decision to make as HE (higher education if you hadn't of guessed) is completely different from normal school as its mostly on your own time. so you need two things to get though it. first, a really good sense of time keeping and prioritising. since if you cant get stuff in on time or get to lectures then there is no point going. and second is a subject you want to do. as i said, its nothing like school. you aren't forced to do stuff you don't want to do, so you need to be interested in your subject or you will fail it. and failing a degree course is something you don't want in your life.

in the end, its entirely your choice. either path can lead to higher places, so don't think its an all or nothing choice. and you don't have to go to HE right now. some people go in their 30s, 40s or even 50s so don't think that its completely closed to you if you don't go now.

AvatarForm wrote:First Rule: Don't ask the Internet for advice.

I'd go with this...
I've seen some weird questions in the OT Forum regarding life choices and such and this isn't the weirdest but it's one that can be better answered by the people around you. Ask some of your teachers and your family about it... they know you better.

Leech off the state as a welfare-whore.

Join the military

If you're not sure about college, try going to a community college for a year or two. It'll be relatively cheap, and if you feel like college is for you, thne you can transfer to a four year university. If not, you won't have wasted too much time, and too much money, and you can go looking for something else to do.

Sasori wrote:

Kragura wrote:Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Yes, because every job in the military is all about killing.

If you don't know what your talking about, keep your ignorance to yourself, instead of posting this garbage.

I don't know about you, but the American military sucks. Not as in skill, just overall.

Join the Coast Guard.

Benefits of being in the military without having to get shot, develop back problems, or (most likely) be deployed.

Join the military. Then go to college on their dime. That's what I'm doing.

Join the Marines, if you're man enough.

Kasrkai wrote:

Sasori wrote:

Kragura wrote:Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Yes, because every job in the military is all about killing.

If you don't know what your talking about, keep your ignorance to yourself, instead of posting this garbage.

I don't know about you, but the American military sucks. Not as in skill, just overall.

Please don't speak unless you have some experience regarding the subject you're speaking of. From your post, I'm guessing you don't, since I myself and many others I know would strongly disagree with you.

I find it is best to ignore ignorant trolling like that, chaosoxomega.

It's not worth the effort of being annoyed over. Now that you've responded he's probably thinking of something even more idiotic to say.

Have to say regarding these posts... is America basically like the Federation in Starship Troopers? Seems like joining the military is a 'given' when one is growing up?

If you're indecisive about what to do it opens a lot of doors, particularly if you don't have the cash for college.

Also, service guarantees citizenship.

Ask your family and teachers about what to do.

Henners91 wrote:Have to say regarding these posts... is America basically like the Federation in Starship Troopers? Seems like joining the military is a 'given' when one is growing up?

Would you like to know more?

Henners91 wrote:Have to say regarding these posts... is America basically like the Federation in Starship Troopers? Seems like joining the military is a 'given' when one is growing up?

No, considering something like 1% of the population ends up serving (post cold war/conscription), its hardly a given, just a (very good) option that a lot of people look into.

You could always take an apptitude test (or whatever its called) I know the community colleges (some of them at least) offer them for a small fee.

Sasori wrote:

Kragura wrote:Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Yes, because every job in the military is all about killing.

If you don't know what your talking about, keep your ignorance to yourself, instead of posting this garbage.

Well I'm disregarding institutions like the coastguard in my post because I don't really think that's what people think of when they say the military. I'm also assuming (since the poster is american) that we are talking about the american military. based on that... yes it is about killing people, that's all that it's for. killing people who threaten you, killing people who disagree, killing "the enemy", that's it's entire purpose.

Well military is always a decent thing to do, if nothing else it looks good on a resume, if you graduated by the skin of your teeth/sanity then I would recommend against college. My recommendation would have to be an apprenticeship

(Trolls be trolling on this thread)

Being in the military and having just earned my degree on their dime, I'd have to vouch for a similar path.

I also have to second the idea to become a tradesman, good money in that and very respected.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Please don't speak unless you have some experience regarding the subject you're speaking of. From your post, I'm guessing you don't, since I myself and many others I know would strongly disagree with you.

The post was obviously trolling, but there are people with experience in the military who don't like the military. Far be it for some to believe, I know, but they do exist.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Monster Rain wrote:Join the military. Then go to college on their dime. That's what I'm doing.

Sound advice, though you also have to carefully consider whether or not the GI Bill will give you enough money to make up for time lost (the pay probably isn't what you're looking for, let's be honest), though unless you're looking at some kind of elite education, its probably a good bet given two active deployments.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

JFizzle51 wrote:i jsut graduated highschool, a miracle if you know me. Well now i'm faced with a decision, college, or job. i cant make up my mind and i was hoping some of you dakkaites would help me.

I would take the third way, which is anything other than the two options you've posited. Getting a job right out of high school that has any upside is going to be almost impossible. Its one thing if you're just doing something to earn money while interning somewhere, or taking night classes, but don't just drop into a workplace and consider yourself done.

Don't be completely discouraged from college if you just barely graduated, I've known many people that barely graduated HS, or even failed to do so only to earn a GED, who became leading students in college. I've also known people who were great HS students who washed out of college due to the greater independence given. Collegiate life is very different from high school life as you can get away with just showing up and turning in work, without having to deal with teachers or other students more than you want to.

That said, if you're just now thinking about college, and you're in the US, then you're basically going to a JuCo unless you take a semester off. Not necessarily a bad idea in either case. Given the former you can try school out, given the latter you can get some money together, or develop some other options.

Ahtman wrote:There is always the military, though that isn't a job, it is an adventure.

Don't even get me started!!

Think about what YOU really want to do.

And by YOU I mean what you and you alone want to do. Not what somebody else thinks, or what you think would be a good job.

Me, everyone thought I'd go off to college, then off to med school because I was such a "great student". Unbeknownst to them I wanted to leave my boring life and be thrown into an international conflict where I get to shoot people. So there I was as an airborne infantryman.
....AND THEN it turns out I got sent to the unit that didn't go anywhere... WHAT A TWIST!!

So after so time I am now out of the Army and came to the same decision where you are at. And I thought to myself: "What would I REALLY enjoy doing?" Well, I love building stuff, I love working with machines, I love disassembling things and putting them back together, I love using critical thinking to solve problems so I decided to go to a trade school to be a mechanic. And now I'm about to start school and I'm really psyched to do so.

It's not about the money. It never is. ESPECIALLY if you're single. It doesn't take much to survive on your own. Do what YOU want!

THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER:
~High paying jobs. Yeah, you make more money... SO WHAT?! Do you like the job? No? Thought so.
~What OTHERS expect you to become. Other people? feth them, they don't know gak about you. You know what's best for you.
And here's a big one:
~Relationships. Seriously, it can wait. 18 years old you should be worried about setting up your life.