/lit/ - Literature

If you can support yourself without college then more power to you.

I'm only doing it for general enrichment and social interaction, I have the good fortune to run into decent teachers who know how to think.

I am in the exact same dilemma. :/

>>4583675
That's the thing, I don't know how I'd support myself. I live with my gf and one of her friends right now. My parents pay my portion of the rent and the 15ish hours a week I work at my shitty minimum wage job goes mainly to booze. If I dropped out my parents would definitely not help me financially.

I could work a lot more at this shitty job but my big fear is being stuck there forever

Just go for philosophy. There's a substantial probability that your degree has nothing to do with what your eventual job will be. Sure, you won't get paid like an engineering major, but you also won't take engineering jobs.

And if money is that much of a concern, there's still substantial evidence that your salary will be high enough to offset the student debt.

>>4583683
Start finding other ways to get money then, ask your parents for advice if you have to. Just don't be hooked to someone else for the rest of your life.

>>4583668
I'm finishing my philosophy degree right now, and it's been a spectacular waste of time and money. I did not learn anything I couldn't have learned by myself.
It might open up a few job opportunities or look somewhat good on my CV, but it doesn't mean much in the end. I should have made more friends and licked some teacher's ass, cause now I'm all alone with my useless diploma and there's nothing I can do.

You're better off using the money that would pay for your final year to buy two years or whatever at a trade school. Learn something hands on and practical to do for money. Skilled labor pays better than minimum and maybe better than what your peers would be making when they graduate.

Keep reading philosophy or whatever in your spare time.

get a proper workingmans job and dedicate yourself to the life of an autodidact

Learn a trade or join the military.

What country do you live in? this is extremely important

Youll be fine, I didnt finish my degree and I'm rolling in money and bitches. I made 16 grand last year, let's see you degreefags top that.
>protip: you can't

>>4583745
>join the military.
No thanks, I don't want to be a murderer.

>>4583698
This. College is not mandatory, but having a High School diploma is barely better than holding a GED cert.
Best bang for your buck is to choose and graduate from a 2 year trade or vocational school.
Everyone keeps going on about how colleges is necessary for professional success, but plenty of liberal arts majors end up flipping burgers. Meanwhile we still have a shortage of skilled blue collar workers

I was paying out of pocket for my college education and after a year left it behind. Admittedly I went to a community college--I planned on getting an Associate's and then transferring--but my feelings were the same.

If you can find some line of work that you enjoy, and that does not require a college degree, then go for it. I work two part-time jobs, totaling 38 hours a week, as a library employee and waiter. I worked my way up in the library from a shelving position and am currently as high as I can go without a degree. I make 13-some-and-such an hour. The waiter position brings in considerable amounts of money--if you can find a restaurant in an affluent city or in a hot tourist spot, take it and let the money roll in.

I have nothing against people who pursue a college education. For some it's a great experience. But as much as I enjoyed the coursework, the professors, and meeting new people, I felt that I was becoming a machine who was simply throwing his money into a system merely to acquire a piece of paper that would allow me to go higher within my current position.

And I didn't want that. I wanted to enjoy my youth, work on my stories, and live in a blissful state of melancholy. So far my lack of higher learning hasn't been detrimental. I live in a two-story town-home with my girlfriend--patio, fireplace, basement, two bedrooms, the usual needless amenities--in a nice city, and can walk to both jobs, using my car only when necessary.

I struck out, honestly, but I think the lesson's there: I have a comfortable life no shorter in worth than the next man's. I achieved this without a degree. It will be harder for you, obviously, as it's been harder for me, but I think you can make it work.

>>4583754
Because youre required to meet your quota of 10 kills per week even if you have a logistics/shipping job stateside, I forgot

Go for learning a trade or switch to a STEM major. Though realize that if you're serious about your philosophical studies, you will need a research library. Luckily, a lot of colleges have ways for non-students to use their libraries, so it isn't that much of a problem. Or just make friends with people going to college and have them check out stuff for you. I actually went through the same thing man, just realize that your studies will always be more important than whatever bullshit institution you claim to be apart of.

>>4583766
>logistics/shipping job stateside

Regardless of one's MOS, they are contributing to an organization that kills innocent people.

>>4583766
>I'm not a murderer I just help out murderers as part of my job

I attended college as a Physics/Math double major & Astronomy minor for a semester. Over the course of that semester, I realized two things.

1) I hate learning in a classroom setting.
2) I don't ever want a job.

After not taking any of my finals, I dropped out and moved to a commune. It's definitely not for everyone, but I've been here for a year now, and I'm definitely still enjoying it.

>>4583775
Not even in the military, but goddamn you guys are moralfags, didnt realize lit was so holy and morally pure

>>4583754

You could join a branch of the national guard, working in maintenance of aircraft or ships and such.

>>4583784
>I dropped out and moved to a commune.
So you just gonna tell us any details about how you did this? I'm assuming it's a european commune?

Do you still work? In a co-op?

>>4583796

>So you just gonna tell us any details about how you did this?

A friend of mine had mentioned this place a year or two earlier in casual conversation. I googled it, did a three week visitor period, and was accepted for membership. The basic deal is that you work 42 hours of week in areas of your choosing, and, in return, you get all the basic amenities (food, housing, healthcare, cars, vacation time, etc.) as well as a monthly allowance.

>I'm assuming it's a european commune?

Nope. Virginia.

>Do you still work?

Yup. I mainly do log sawyering and dairy farming.

>In a co-op?

Our businesses are indeed organized as cooperatives.

>>4583805

Sounds fantastic. Would you share more? Such as the interview process, first impressions, name of place specifically, etc.?

>>4583668
Change your major to something that will secure you financially, regardless if you're uninterested in learning about it. Money actually does bring happiness, being poor fucking sucks. Continue your independent studies which you learn more from anyways. There.

>>4583813

>Such as the interview process

Where I am, you first do a three week visitor period. During the last week of this, you do an interview with the membership team. After all that, you leave for a month and reflect on how you liked the place while the members give input to the membership team. The membership team makes a decision and notifies you. Then, given that there's an opening, you can come back as a provisional member. After six months of provisional membership, another round of input is had to make you a full member.

>first impressions

I don't know. I suppose I just thought that the place was interesting. I liked that, if I moved here, I wouldn't have a boss and would be able to set my own schedule.

>>4583824

>Where I am, you first do a three week visitor period. During the last week of this, you do an interview with the membership team. After all that, you leave for a month and reflect on how you liked the place while the members give input to the membership team. The membership team makes a decision and notifies you. Then, given that there's an opening, you can come back as a provisional member. After six months of provisional membership, another round of input is had to make you a full member.

I have a pretty comfortable life at the moment but I've felt pretty discontent with my lot, lately. I don't know why I never thought of seeking something like this out but it seems interesting. Your response has me curious. Thanks for the info. I just found a commune about a half hour's drive away from where I live, if the internet's anything to go by. Apparently they'll take visitors by appointment. I think I'm going to check this out now.

Thanks a bunch.

>>4583668
fucked fuck totally fucked, twiddly duck this world sucks

>>4583668
>muh utilitarianism

stop being such an american

should've picked up a trade like plumber/electrician, be self-employed, rake in that cash and read on your own time

Be homeless and write constantly. living isn't as hard as everyone makes it for themselves.

Anyone top 50 here?

Just plow through your philosophy undergraduate and go into pre-law. Face it. If you want to win you have to play the game. And part of the game is getting a degree in a lucrative field.

Fuck everyone on this board who disparages "wage slaves". Fuck every romanticized notion you've ever had about money not mattering. And ESPECIALLY fuck every dream you've ever had of becoming a successful writer/philosopher/boyband musician. Just play by the rules, win big, and get to point B. I can think of no better advice to give anybody in their undergraduate

>>4583893
>*Go into law-school

>>4583893
perhaps you should fuck yourself in thinking law school guarantees anything

>>4583893

>So this is for my family, the kid who had a cameo
>On my last jam plus the man who never had a plan B
>Be all you can be, cause once you make an instant hit
>I'm tensed a bit and tempted when I see the sins my friends commit
>I'm infinite

You just didn't have it in you to be infinite, anon. Don't bring OP down.

>>4583902

this. The field is flooded right now. Unless you can get into a top-tier school, don't bother with law. Otherwise, graduate school seems like a good option though. It gives you a more marketable degree and your parents will keep supporting you.

>>4583902
It's true there is a surplus of law degrees in proportion to how many law degree-related jobs there are right now. But it guarantees a whole lot more than no degree. I'm sorry dude. That's just the way the world works.

Working a paid internship at a local law firm right now. As soon as I graduate, I'm guaranteed employment. That's better than most people with a philosophy BA can say.

>>4583908
What comes of a masters in philosophy? Also I don't know how much longer I want my parents to keep supporting me. They've been doing it my whole life I'm beginning to fee like a leech.

>>4583782
Why would you kill for the state? What does taking life do for you?

>>4583922
Literally nothing. You could teach philosophy at a lesser university, or you could get your PhD and try to teach philosophy at a major university. It is extremely, EXTREMELY, difficult to get even an instructor job in any humanitarian field. We're talking 80 applicants for every job opening. And ALL of them are just as qualified as you will be.

>>4583921
i'm currently an electrician and plumber, and i'm happy you found a good path for yourself, but too many of my good buddies ended up going even to ivy league law and got fucked.

didn't mean for it to be a matter of delusion, just anecdotal. good for you.

>>4583774
stop paying taxes

>>4584005
I was just giving the OP some advice I wish someone I respected had given me when I was younger. In my undergraduate years I was so full of romanticized notions of money not mattering for happiness, of making it big as a writer etc. I just wish someone had told me it straight. It took me a long time to correct myself after I made a glorious fuckup of my early college years.

>>4584024
right on. good luck to you and him both. your comment just had a gravity to it; my apologies for the acidic tone.

fact is, if you're serious enough in literature, you can do it just fine. the other fact is, you can always go, if not to a nice university, to a two year trade school for something good. granted, both sides take a know-how, as you said, in proper network building. perhaps our little cat fight will help op in his next step to lesser trembling.

English does not mean becoming a teacher you fucking kike

>>4583675
Every teacher must be a great teacher. I go to a public state and some professors seem to be wasting everyone's time.
Or maybe I'm the only one who feels this way
It's confusing

If you don't know what else you want to do with yourself I strongly recommend staying in school, because at least you will have something to your name.

If you don't have any artistic ambitions I also strongly recommend staying in school; because artistic degrees are the only ones where having a college degree won't really matter.

>>4584229
>artistic degrees
artistic careers*

op
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VX93QbzF2c

>>4583668
We are told that we should study what we find interesting and we have been told this by our parents over and over.
But it's based on how we want the world to be, not how it is.

You might not need college depending on where you live but I would suggest that you get a degree in something that will give you a job, preferably in something you don't hate.

>>4583668
Well OP, I dropped out and moved back home and collect welfare and do nothing all day and I'm firmly convinced this is by far the superior path to take for me.

But it all depends on what you want from life. If you like pride and success and social standing and women and children and possessions and holidays and such this isn't the way to go, It's all about determining what you want, determining what you have to do for it, and then either adjust your desires or adjust your income. If you plan on walking the deadbeat road, be aware that there is nearly no return.

>>4583906
fuck that song is great. didn't even realize I was reading it and then had goosebumps at the end.

Study something which is most likely to land you a job that does not make you hate life and yourself. That's what I should have done, too.

>>4583893
bougie nigga detected

>>4583668
Just start going to /out/ to learn how to live off the land. Get out of the city and you will find that it is remarkably easy to stay alive, see beautiful places, and be happy.

>>4583893

I wish my parents had impressed on me the importance of studying something with job prospects. Even now, when I talk to them about maybe studying again to get a degree that is useful, my mum says 'Don't think about which jobs the degree could get you, think about what you really want to do'. Well, I really want to not work a shitty job.

If you can't even earn a living to support yourself and your family, you're a parasite.

If you're a philosopher, try going into maths. That's the most intellectual life there is, where you'll read books that actually make you think for every page (unless you're the trash that just reads the proofs for everything and learns nothing), mostly ignore the lectures and attempt to solve actual problems for many fields no one has ever solved. Literature and philosophy are second rate things you can teach yourselves.

Every place welcomes a mathematician if you work hard.

>>4584368
>If you can't even earn a living to support yourself and your family, you're a parasite.
Nice third world mentality, friend.

>>4584443
Start working NEET. The Jewish banks need your savings.

>>4584461
I would prefer not to.

The easiest way to survive without College is to learn something skill based. I got given a 3 month Web Development internship, learnt loads about programming and stuff. I'm now 20 and I work at one of the top 10 "Creative Digital" agencies in the world. I'm debt free and making pretty good money.

I used to wish I had gone just for the social aspects - drinking, partying, drugs, sex, etc. but I'm now sharing a house with three friends who all go to art school so we get enough of that done

>>4583668
There's more to life than money. It'll provide you necessities and fruitful materialism, sure, but you could live a nice life with a philosophy degree.

>>4583668
Shuffling through CVs in an office somewhere:

Twentysomething, no degree, no experience, toss
Thirtysomething, no degree, has very specific work experience, put in the "will actually read" pile for decent positions
Thirtysomething, bachelors, has experience, will give priority in "will actually read" pile to the above guy
Thirtysomething, postdoctorate in some irrelevant whoozawhazza, no experience, a fucking space cadet, toss
Twentysomething, has bachelors in whoozawhazza, no experience yet, guess I'll give him a chance in the "will actually read" pile for pondscum-tier positions

Just got a Bachelor's and two academic certificates last year.

I am in graduate school right now, a decision which I am… questioning, to be sure. I didn't have the most difficult major but spending my time doing things for classes killed what little social life/social skills I had, and with it my ability to come across as the least bit attractive. It also took away from any time or ability I would have to take a few breaths and enjoy life.

>>4584522

>Thirtysomething, postdoctorate in some irrelevant whoozawhazza, no experience, a fucking space cadet, toss

This is why I question whether graduate school, even at the Master's level, is a good idea

Any tips on how to make graduating with a History degree less terrifying? Apparently my Econ minor has no real effect (despite it being a measly 4 classes less than a double major)

>>4584591

The Department of the Interior or your country's equivalent probably needs tour guides and archivists, aka jobs for history majors. Start by looking for internships.

>das Gefühl, wenn you couldn't finish high school due to crippling depression
>das schwieriges Gefühl, wenn you can't go to university

Doesn't feel very good, mane. I am barely a 20 year old and I already feel that my life is a burden for me and for the rest of the people in my surroundings.

>>4584680
English teaching in China.
Yes, you're a German-speaker, yes you have no qualifications, but they won't notice. It's pretty much a circus.

>>4584690

China is great but the inevitable Facebook addiction withdrawals you will experience there are terrible. It's a first world problem for sure but you really start to realize what an addict you are, especially if that's your main/only way of keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances back home.

>>4584690
Actually I am from Spain, and I speak far better English than German. I used to be a good student before the illness happened; for the past year I have been attempting to teach myself stuff, in addition to the search for a job, but nobody would hire me since I have absolutely no experience or studies or qualifications, furthermore because of our economic situation, which will surely take a lot of time to recover. I can't help feeling like a useless piece of trash without hope of ever becoming independent. It is said that going abroad is the best alternative, and albeit suicidal (I have no money to sustain myself), that is what I should be doing as soon as possible.

>>4584693
I don't have any friends or acquaintances other than my girlfriend. And I am not into social networking. So I don't think that would be much of a problem.

>>4584693
>having a facebook

non-bohemian with non-bohemian social life detected

>>4584740

I'm not sure having a Facebook precludes being into the arts, but if you mean I'm not on some back to nature commune working on abstract modern art projects then yeah I'm non-Bohemian

dont go to college


travel the world hitchhiking, reading books and appreciating the life, and then die from hunger in some Alaskan forest

>>4584746

>doesn't know what bohemianism is

>>4584746
>tfw I followed your advice
>tfw I died absurdly in the third week of my journey, devoured by a bunch ooga-booga cannibals in some Southern Pacific island
>tfw I sincerely believed life was an adventure, and the world, my playground
>tfw I could have devoted my existence to love and well-being
>tfw I'm dead

fag

>>4584746
>not realizing that facebook and google are expressions of the spectacle
>being this illiterate in situationism and zen anarchism
we dont like non-pseudointellectuals in this website my friend, you better leave

>>4583775
you support the military by paying your taxes

>>4584842
>situationism
kek

>>4583668
I know how you feel, OP. I'm on my 8th semester at music school and it feels completely pointless (mostly because it is) but the thing is, what you get your degree in doesn't always matter. Having a degree is what's important and if your family is willing to help pay for it, you really might as well stick it out. Also, getting an English degree doesn't mean you will become a teacher; there's a lot you can do with that degree. In fact, a lot of people have jobs that have nothing to do with their majors; employers often just want to see that you can stick with something for 4 years and that you have "higher education". Tl;dr OP, try out some English classes; try out lots of stuff but whatever you do, get SOME kind of degree

>>4584853
>>4584853
If you're on welfare you cost more tax money than you contribute, essentially diminishing the military budget. It's the only moral thing to do.

>>4584896
can't argue with that logic

>>4584896
Touché

>>4584896
>mfw I'll be repping pacifism as an excuse from now on

>>4584368
>unless you're the trash that just reads the proofs for everything and learns nothing
What do you mean? You don't need the proof to be able to solve the problem if you practice enough. The proofs are the extras.

>>4583782
/lit/ is the most sane board on 4chan

maybe least insane is a better description

>>4584882
>[G]etting an English degree doesn't mean you will become a teacher; there's a lot you can do with that degree.
Like?

>>4584013
Trust me, I would if I could get away with it and still live comfortably. You're comparing apples and oranges though. Military service isn't being forced on me (at the moment).

>>4585442
>, I would if I could get away with it and still live comfortably
welfare

inb4 bourgeois notions of comfort

>>4584564
excuses.

>>4584690
as an english as 1st language speaker this sounds pretty appealing, i need to get away from my city for a while

how hard is it to get a working visa and land yourself in not a total shithole

also i dont speak chinese lol

>>4584693
lol i hope this is a joke. speak for your fucking self.

>>4584896
if youre in the military youre on welfare anyway.