Should I even bother finishing my degree?

[-nobodyknows-]

I have one semester left, but my motivation is pretty much gone at this point. I've spent a good amount of time looking at jobs and I don't have any of the experience or skills I would need for my field. I feel scammed. The most frustrating part is that the school I went to is supposed to be really good (you'd expect the absolute best from a private research university). But a degree doesn't mean shit these days I guess. No one wants to train anyone anymore. I'm horrible at remembering things for technical questions, and I hate talking myself up because I feel like I'm lying to people. I couldn't even get an internship.

I don't know what to do.

 

[A Dream of a Dream]

It's a good thing to finish things you start. Something I would've told my younger self (undiagnosed adhd, graduated upper school late and college, didnt finish things i started along the way; i lost resilience). You also have to sometimes learn to cut your losses. But if there is only one semester to go, I would lean towards get it done and out of the way and under your belt. Of course only if it's not at the cost of your mental health. What happens afterwards is afterwards. A job may turn up by the time you finish, or it might take a little time and come later. Hang in there.

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

If it's only one more semester, then I would say yes. Suck it up and find a way. The last thing you want to happen is to never gain the courage to CTB, then have to live for decades with the regret of not finishing.

 

[The Subhuman]

Why not? A degree is an achievement in of itself

 

[Kalista]

I feel scammed. The most frustrating part is that the school I went to is supposed to be really good (you'd expect the absolute best from a private research university).

for the most part, it is a 'scam.' expensive education with professors that barely teach you anything at times. incurring debt just to try and secure a future high paying job that you may never get.
just because a school is 'really good,' doesn't mean it produces 'intelligent' students. you also have to consider the number of students that actually became 'successful' after completing their studies. unfortunately, willpower and determination alone doesn't allow for success as luck is also a factor -- and if motivation is depleted, nothing's going to push you to continue.

people have completed degrees just for the sake of completing it. the majority of the time they don't even do the job they studied for. computer science majors ending up becoming bakers for a living. they use the degree just to show they finished college and hiring companies tend to only look at that fact.

But a degree doesn't mean shit these days I guess.

there has always been an issue with degrees. such as having one and still only able to get a minimum wage job and not what you studied for which cost a high amount.
having a degree but not work experience in the field eliminates you as a candidate for a lot of jobs. which to this day is still happening and it doesn't make any logical fucking sense why these damn companies list it in that way.

I couldn't even get an internship.

so many jobs out there are saturated with students looking for a job or internship. too much competition as these companies try to find 'the best of the best.' a lot of these internships are unpaid as well. if you continue to search for internships, try to avoid ones that don't pay as that's still your time and energy. unpaid ones only take advantage of kids for free employment.

I hate talking myself up because I feel like I'm lying to people.

this is literally what so many do. lie their way in the job and just try to do their best learning on the job. you're lying to the hiring managers to get the job. you don't have to continue the lie towards your colleagues.

if you're tired, you're tired. if you want to take a break and continue a semester much later on, that's your choice. if you want to never deal with education again, that's also an option. maybe a break is what's needed as the education system is built to place a lot of unnecessary amount pressure on students which can be highly draining.

 

[identity0]

I got scammed by university myself. It can be really awful. One semester is really close to finishing though, and having it done with could change how you feel a lot - being in that last phase of a degree can be a massive weight.

 

[jellie]

as much as it sucks, you should finish. you have already gone through so much work for college and getting that last push to have a degree will make your resume more appealing to potential employers.

 

[webb&flow]

I have one semester left, but my motivation is pretty much gone at this point.

I'm sorry to hear that. I can definitely understand how you feel hollowed out by things.

I've spent a good amount of time looking at jobs and I don't have any of the experience or skills I would need for my field. I feel scammed. The most frustrating part is that the school I went to is supposed to be really good (you'd expect the absolute best from a private research university). But a degree doesn't mean shit these days I guess. No one wants to train anyone anymore. I'm horrible at remembering things for technical questions, and I hate talking myself up because I feel like I'm lying to people. I couldn't even get an internship.

Oof, that's rough.

I don't know what to do.

As much rough is in this spot... I believe in you. I mean, stuff's rough of course, but--you've made it all the way to here. I believe that you have it in you, to get through this semester and obtain your degree, that you've worked so hard for. I feel that at the very least, you deserve a degree with all the struggle and confusion that has come through your college experience.

I wish you the best of luck, whichever job or place you end up stopping by or getting into; know that we are all here for you and are most willing to hear how you feel about things and how it's going for you. And feel free to say what degree it might be too. I wish you way more than luck.

 

[-Link-]

I have one semester left

Do everything you can, whatever you can, to see it through.

I've been in your position... Well, I had an additional year to go, and my school wasn't on the same level as what you're implying here... But I know what it is to struggle with this. In my case, I dropped out. To this day, I don't regret it. But if I could go back and do it over again, I would change a couple things that would make me more likely to stick with it. So, in your position, that's what I'd be asking myself right now, "What can I do to make this less taxing on myself?"

A degree is an achievement in of itself

Definitely!

If you're questioning the practical reasons for finishing your degree, then maybe you can make it more personal and try to approach it from the perspective of personal achievement.

I do believe in you @-nobodyknows- and am sending you strength and good vibes in figuring this out.

 

[MercenariesofMidgar]

The future is unwritten, on the chance you do live beyond college... I feel like it'd be better to just power throw the semester. I believe in you friend!

 

[Johnzaga23]

do it for me.

 

[webb&flow]

The future is unwritten, on the chance you do live beyond college... I feel like it'd be better to just power throw the semester. I believe in you friend!

"Power throw" is quite a word! I echo your sentiment--!

 

[steppenwolf]

Unless it's making you suicidal you should absolutely complete the course. A degree is a degree no matter where it's awarded, or if it's a pass or a first, and once you've got one, you can always say you've got one. If you have a chance to get a degree, get one. Not everybody has the chance.

But... don't expect a degree to equate to higher earnings, social prestige or privileges. It doesn't. It just means you can truthfully tell people you've got a degree when they ask you about your education. If it equates to anything, it equates to higher social responsibility, and that's all it equates to. There's no easy way to break it to young people who expected a high-flying career that it's never going to happen for them.

I hold a first class honours degree in music, and I was just laid off from three months of moving boxes around in a shoe warehouse with a graduate in neuroscience and another in pharmacology, and that was the first job I've had in over twenty years. I'm now having to threaten the employer and the recruitment agency with an Employment Tribunal for a number of breaches of employment legislation if they won't give me my job back, which they won't. They don't think they have to. People who are desperate for a job are nothing but a disposable resource to employers. But if no one fights employers for their employment rights nothing ever changes. This is how graduates have to learn how the poor uneducated little people who never had the opportunity to get a degree have to live, and how to use an education to try to change things for them. Higher social responsibility, see. Get ready for that, or the disappointment of not having all the material advantages you thought an élite graduate should have drop into your lap will crush you.

 

[Jaded_Wolf]

What would you gain by not finishing your degree? Unless there are extraordinary, compelling reasons for you to not finish your classes (i.e. you need extensive treatment for a medical condition that is otherwise impairing your ability to do your schoolwork or you got the opportunity of a lifetime to become financially independent and it absolutely can't wait until after you finish your degree), I think it'll probably be for the best to finish what you've started. For whatever reasons, you got this far already with your coursework, why not continue at it for one more semester?

 

[celestialstarzz]

I have one semester left, but my motivation is pretty much gone at this point. I've spent a good amount of time looking at jobs and I don't have any of the experience or skills I would need for my field. I feel scammed. The most frustrating part is that the school I went to is supposed to be really good (you'd expect the absolute best from a private research university). But a degree doesn't mean shit these days I guess. No one wants to train anyone anymore. I'm horrible at remembering things for technical questions, and I hate talking myself up because I feel like I'm lying to people. I couldn't even get an internship.

I don't know what to do.

I would finish it. regardless of what happens, it could be beneficial in the future

 

[yowai]

My bf quit university when he had a year or two left before getting a degree if I remember correctly, because of depression and grief over a close one dying, and later regretted it a lot, better to have that piece of paper than have nothing I guess. If you drop it now you'll have a harder time picking it up again if you change your mind in the future