This is all true. I felt almost exactly the same way. My biggest problem though was that I missed my family. So I transferred from Loyola University Chicago to a community college close to my hometown. This is probably the best thing that I could have done in that situation, and at first I had my reservations because I thought that maybe I just had to give things more time to work themselves out, but I think that for now I belong at home, not just because of school but because of a lot of crap that has happened within my family during the past few months. The worst was probably when two of my cousins (ages 6 and 2, and the older one has autism) were taken from my aunt and uncle because my uncle has been running a meth lab for a while now. My cousins are now in the custody of my other uncle and my grandma, who share a house. They live really close to me, so I see them a lot, and I love being with my cousins because before all of this, I rarely got the chance to see them. I don't know how long my grandma and my uncle will be able to take care of them, but my mom said that if the time ever comes when they can no longer take care of them, that my cousins could hopefully come live with us. And that more than anything is motivating me when it comes to doing well in school, and looking for jobs, and just not fucking up too badly in the near future. Because this whole situation with school and everything is so much greater than myself now, and I can't really be too self-centered anymore. My cousins are nice kids but they're messed up in certain ways because it's looking like my uncle (and occasionally my aunt) was probably abusive towards them. When my other uncle took the 6-year-old to get a haircut, the kid started shaking violently and then asked if my uncle was going to tie him up. So yeah, he's been mistreated, and probably just due to his autism, which isn't even that severe. I just want to make the rest of his childhood enjoyable for him, and have him around for as long as possible.

Stay in School, that's all I have to say. And anyways a High School Diploma doesn't mean shit anymore.

ow, luxy, that is quite, quite terrible, and yet, you seem to be taking it in the best possible way. i don't know what to say except that i hope things work out for you. really. all the best.

You could transfer to a Uni in London?

Remember this when people tell you that you need to stay in school and get a diploma if you want a good job: any job that you couldn't earn on your merits, but can instead be "earned" with a piece of paper will suck. Always. It's the nature of those jobs. They're the kind of jobs that can be filled with a person that simply has a document that says they are qualified, rather than REQUIRING a person that has talent and works hard for themselves. Does that mean that no one needs to go to college? Not really, it just means that people need to go to college to look intelligent to other people who went to college. Nevermind whether anyone is ACTUALLY intelligent.

you and your little cousins can come live in texas

4 words:
Skid Row Cover Band

sleep on it, let me know tommorow
k?

As long as you let me be Sebastian.

ugh, fine fine

I just can't picture you with bleach blonde hair. But that's okay, I mean the only thing working in my favor is that I look more feminine than you do.

No, you're 100% correct

so you're dropping out of oxford?

...uh, can i take your place? we have people here in the US who went to oxford . . . they're called rhodes scholars. as in, some of the most brilliant and accomplished people on the planet.

i say endure it. it is one of the most well-respected, oldest, and academically rigorous schools on the entire planet, and if you get out of there in four years the world will be in the palm of your hands. seriously, think about the rest of your life: is it worth four years of relative unhappiness for the unfathomable returns that will come to you with a degree from oxford? even if it does end up sucking (and, for the record, you come to this conclusion on the basis of ONE semester there -- nothing's saying you won't find some people there you'll really like and with whom you'll be friends for the rest of your life), the benefits of being so extraordinarily well-educated far, far outweigh the costs.

let me tell you a story. i'm a senior at the college of william and mary in virginia. damn good school, and pretty well-known (my mom has british friends who have heard of it) . . . but doesn't have quite the ring of, say, yale. at any rate, i'm applying to law school, and just for the hell of it, i'm applying to harvard and columbia. my stats are rather low by their standards -- good, good enough even to give me a good shot at getting into some of the top ten law schools in the country -- but nowhere near that good. i did it on a sort of lottery mentality -- however infinitesimal my chances of getting in there, they are reduced to zero by not applying. but let me tell you, if by some freak off-chance i get into harvard, i will never, ever, EVER leave the place -- i don't care if i find cambridge, massachusetts to be the armpit of the universe. for whatever reason harvard law graduates are somehow deemed the gods of the universe -- the best and brightest employers out there come looking for you, merely in virtue of the fact that you attend that illustrious institution. an acceptance letter from the school is essentially a ticket to automatic success, absolutely anywhere.

you, ma'am, currently attend the harvard of the united kingdom -- perhaps even better than harvard in terms of intellectual rigor. if you drop out of that, if you pass up that kind of astounding opportunity, the likes of which have rarely been enjoyed by anyone throughout the entire course of human history and which is not likely to come your way again, you are, in a word, insane. completely, utterly, and incurably insane. end of story.

To the original poster: If you really loathe your school, there's nothing wrong with dropping out. But because you enjoy the coursework, I would think twice about leaving so soon. It's easy enough to worry about how the particulars of your education will affect your future, especially your career of choice, but you don't have to let yourself be defined by your job alone. As soon as I got to college, my advisors were telling me that it didn't really matter what I majored in, but then they would recommend that I take some career tests anyways and figure it out soon. So I felt the pressure to pick something just for the sake of not being "undecided" anymore, like it would give me some kind of direction. I didn't want to screw myself over and make it impossible for me to get a job that I liked after college. But after a while I stopped caring, and by the time I left at the end of first semester, I was so glad to be out of there that I didn't really care anymore about jobs and career paths and all of that. As long as I'm doing something that I feel is productive, I think that's enough to satisfy me for the time being. And there are more important things to me, like my family and my hobbies/talents and that sort of thing. I'm in the process of filling out applications for a variety of jobs. I hope at least one will work out, it makes no difference which. I'll probably hate doing whatever it is, but that's a given.

shes right
love youluex

Hey, I'm in similar sort of position:
The people I know are obsessed only with money and getting jobs in the city, many public school but most raving tories so right wing they hate Cameron for being liberal. I end up spending nights with people I have little in common with because I happened to hang around with them earlier on and found out too late they weren't my sort.
Being in Oxford though I can imagine is worse as it has the highest proportion of that sort. Despite all this I'm going back because I beleive I can be more social then I have been (though I don't much want to) and have faith that I can meet people I click with.
I would say a lot of it is feeling lonely after having such deep relationships with my friends (Me and Washingmachine are best friends, in fact he showed me this thread!)

Don't know if anyone has suggested this, but what about societies? I would try to see how it goes for another term, especially since you will walk your way into a lot of jobs with such a respected degree! Although I beleive that career shouldn't be the overriding aim in life, I know a few people who flunked A levels and they have no future right now.

Edit: I've been thinking of moving to uni in Cardiff but am being put off by the crap looking course, it's important that you enjoy what you're doing!

I know a few people who went to Cambridge. Quite a few (about 20-odd). Some of them did very well. Books published, Actors, etc (these are the half-acquaintances). The others I know haven't seen any enormous advantage to getting work or an exciting job or a well-paid job. I do agree that it's somewhat frivolous to pass up the opportunity to go to a redbrick uni (semi-equivalent to America's Ivy League, I believe), but I don't think that Oxbridge (or UCL etc) immediately imbue one with the advantages that the same unis do in the States.

I maintain that it's impossible to say after one semester whether or not you should quit, however. But, then again, if someone really doesn't enjoy where they are, no amount of natural advantage is going to stop that person hating where they are. It's a very personal thing. I know one chap who enrolled in Greece's best uni, hated it, and ended up at a relatively crap one in the UK. He's infinitely happier, and doing very well for himself. It's a courses for horses case, methinks.

I hope my clever pun isn't entirely lost on you deathless electronic nobodies.

I know someone who quit Cambridge after one term and went off to Leeds instead. She was a lot happier. Ultimately, one can't try to second guess one's future, it being unwritten, and it's better to make the most of one's present. I say leave if you're not happy; stay if you can cope.