by Ashley Bradley

Created on: November 06, 2008   Last Updated: August 25, 2009

College is merely a delay in accepting adulthood.

It's 4:04 AM as I begin writing this article. Why am I up at this ungodly hour writing on Helium? you may ask. Well, because I've been avoiding doing homework for the past six hours. I wrote a couple of paragraphs down for a past-due paper assigned to me by my Computer Science teacher, and then decided to press the minimize button and check my messages on Facebook. Somewhere along the line, I ended up Googling "I Hate College" and came across this article.

If you haven't guess already, I am currently a college student. And even worse? A freshman college student who is desperately counting down the days until I can finally rid myself of this wasteful institution.

My feelings of wanting to drop out filled my mind very early on. I had only began attending classes for a couple of days when I begin to despise this place they call a "university." But I forced myself into believing things would get better. My dry, boring, seemingly pointless classes would peak in interesting topics, the people would eventually became less "douchey" after the first wave of "WHOO! NO PARENTS!" wore off, and alas, I would find a place near campus that served actual food, and not cardboard saturated in gravy.

Wrong was I. My classes not only dramactically UPPED the boredom factor, but they also begin requiring me to do basic skills assignments, that were so mind numbingly unimportant i could've sworn they'd asked me to sit in a chair and stare at the wall for two weeks straight. The kids not only became more "douchey" but they decided that EVERY NIGHT needed to be party night. Manic Mondays! Tasty Tuesdays! Wild Wednesday's! Thirsty Thursday's! Freaky Fridays'! Slutty Saturday's!

Here's an idea: SHUT THE F*CK UP SUNDAYS! (They don't have a name for Sunday...thought i'd make a little suggestion)

But if the people and classes aren't bad enough, it's the disgusting food that tops this deliciously horrid college sundae.

There is nothing about college that is even remotely important. The clubs are a joke, and a simple excuse to exercise leftover tuition money to dish out free food, albeit the same lame gravy diluted food from the cafeteria...

Since I've been so hard set on dropping out, I decided to research what life would be like without a degree, and honestly, a life (sans degree) is no different if not better than a life with one. College students are racked with mounds and mounds of student loan debt, and even when they get the so-called "lucrative" job they are promised upon commencement, whatever money they earn is going toward paying off those bills. Those without a degree can still land a well-paying job, that they (GASP!) actually like, and (DOUBLE GASP!) their income is higher because they don't have to pay off thousands of dollars in debt that they so slyly avoided by ignoring the mass opinion and paving their own path for success.

I wish I'd been smarter about my decision to attend college, or at least, done research on what other options i had. If you're reading this and trying to decide what to do with your life, ask yourself what you want to do and figure out how to do it.

Then, ask yourself would you mind going to 2, 4 or 8 years of schooling to do it.

Then assess ALL possible options, and take the road you feel most comfortable with.

And lastly, something I should've realized a long time ago, it's YOUR life now. You don't belong to the educational school system anymore, or under your parents reign. Do what YOU want, not what THEY told you was best.

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