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Should i take a semester off of school?

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  1. charder charder is offline

    Annapolis, MD
    United States

    Posts: 2,511
    Joined: May 06

    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 7:53am)

    Well recently i have become increasingly un-motivated to go to class and doing school work etc, and i have been really thinking of taking next semester off (and basically playing poker, traveling). there are many down sides, including upsetting my parents a lot, and possibly never going back to school (which many people have mentioned to me, once you leave you will never go back). Im basically in my 4th semester of college right now. I go to a [censored] state school and get average to bad grades and im currently a business major. Obviously a big choice, and i was hoping too get some feedback, thx everyone. (posted on 2+2 as welll)
    -zj123 aka charder30
     
  2. YourTimeIsUp YourTimeIsUp is offline

    Orange, CT
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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 7:57am) in reply to charder

    DON'T RUIN YOUR LIFE DAWG, PLZ DON'T DO IT. BE LIEK BRSAVAAGE.
    1
  3. JWorth JWorth is offline

    Grand Blanc, MI
    United States

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:03am) in reply to charder

    I am currently in my 2nd year and play a solid amount of poker but I took a light schedule so I could have time for various activities like poker. Speaking from experience, I'd recommend taking less classes so you can do better or just not spend the time and money on something you won't dedicate time to. If you are paying thousands of dollars a year to go to school and not really get anything out of it, you could spend that time playing poker, working (lol @ that idea) etc, instead of going to school.
  4. SgtKyle SgtKyle is offline

    Baltimore, MD
    United States

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:07am) in reply to charder

    GL charder

    Taking a semester off is no big deal, if thats what you need/want. There is no point in paying for classes that you won't attend (ive done this). Overall, you should hang around and get a degree though. Still plenty of time to fit poker in even with a full schedule of classes.
     
  5. kevin070 kevin070 is offline

    Gaylord, MI
    United States

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:24am) in reply to charder

    I recommend getting your degree. Taking a semester off often leads to not going back. I took a semester off when I was getting my degree. It was difficult going back, most who take a break never go back. You might consider a light schedule as well.
  6. jesterwords jesterwords is offline

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:32am) in reply to charder

    Hell, I took years off in the pursuit of my degree. I never took off to be a poker player, but I did to run some businesses and have real world experiences.

    I heard the BS about never going back to finish, etc... but I made a promise to my mother that I would finish my degree and at the ripe old age of 31 I got my BS in Management.

    Now, by the time that I had gotten that degree, I had run a retail store that grossed well over $1mil, then I went back to school part time and started working in IT for another company. Within 2 years I was the Manager of my department so I took off from school again for 2 or 3 years. Then I finally finished up.

    Everyone seems to grow up with this elaborate plan as to how life should be lived. Well, frankly, there is no such thing. Sometimes you have to make promises that you will honor and go on your way to discover the world.

    Just absolutely make sure that when you promise to finish what you started... you are not lying to yourself, nor anyone else to whom you make the promise.
  7. TheMayor TheMayor is offline

    Boston, MA
    United States

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:35am) in reply to charder

    Dude you have your whole life to travel around playing poker. Man up and finish your last 2 years or whatever and then go do what you want. Play poker, travel, sit on your ass playing video games, whatever...just do it with your degree so that you don't wind up working in Costco punching holes in peoples reciepts someday if poker for some reason doesn't work out.

    A ton of great student poker players i'm sure are taking semesters/years off and in their minds they know they are not going to really ever go back and finish even though they tell themselves (and their parents and everyone else) that they are. A good fraction of them are going to go busto at some point for whatever reason and be shit out of luck in life. Don't be one of them if you can help it. That's my advice...college is easy, don't be lazy. Just fucking finish it.
  8. jesterwords jesterwords is offline

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:42am) in reply to TheMayor

    I completely disagree with those who say "MAN UP" finish your degree.

    Well, you know what... NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO GO TO SCHOOL AT 21... good lord, I learned more from school in my late 20's and early 30's than I EVER did when I was 18, 19, or 20.

    SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT READY TO BE IN SCHOOL AT THAT AGE.

    Its not a cop-out, or being lazy... maybe they are not ready to focus on at that stage of their lives.

    Lemme ask you this, retorical any one can answer,

    Would you rather fight through school maybe getting C's to graduate, but never even remember anything from class?

    or

    Take a few years off from school, work, get life experiences, go back, get straight A's and high B's because you are ready to focus and actually learn something for your money?

    I think its a huge waste of time and a lot of MONEY to force yourself to go to school. The number of idiots coming out of college with a piece of paper greatly discounts my degree which I worked my ass off to get. I've seen more 22/23/24 year old kids coming out of huge state schools with some degree and they don't know shit. Trust me, I interviewd them for years.

    Favorite interview question to prospeciteve employees...

    So, Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now? (follow-up, "What do you expect to accomplish).

    You would be shocked to know that that over 90% of them had no idea where they'd be in 5 years, which was fine. But the same % had almost 0 expectation of themselves. I wish I was making this up as well.
  9. jesterwords jesterwords is offline

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:50am) in reply to jesterwords

    Since I was on a rant...

    Funny aside from one of my management classes. I was the ONLY person over 30 in this class because I would walk to it during my lunch break from work (yes my job is that close to a university).

    We were having a discussion as to running a business and a situation came up where we were discussing how to deal with certain situations. I sat there listening to these fine young people say how they would fire such and such and that they would do this and that, it was clear that NONE of them had ever been a boss. So, I asked this question:

    "How many people here have had to fire someone at work? Please raise your hand.
    (Only 2 people raised their hands, the professor and myself.) At this point I made it clear to these fine young people that they were way off on their reactions. They acted as though firing someone was the easiest thing in the world to do. They were all Vlad the impailer and no one would be spared.

    The fact is that the times I've had to fire someone I would have like to get my nervous system taken physically out of my body and put somewhere else. I've been through childbirth with my wife, operations, injuries, but nothing in my life compared to having to LAY someone off, not fire, but downsize. It was fine though for these young people who had never been there to make it trivial, but hey WTF do they know its not real life... just a class room.

    man, I have no idea why I am ranting so much...

    DO what you want to do, but finish the degree sometime... don't lie to yourself.
  10. TheMayor TheMayor is offline

    Boston, MA
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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:52am) in reply to jesterwords

    Everyone is different obviously. Some people can take a year off, or 5 years off, and comeback with a positive attitude and finish off their degree and go on to great things. But many people who don't feel motivated to do school now are just going to just feel less motivated to do it after stepping away from it for a year.
  11. Peeig Peeig is offline

    Chicago, IL
    United States

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 8:57am) in reply to TheMayor

    THere is obviously no right answer to this as each individual is different...............but how about a compromise, one of the earlier posters mentioned taking a lighter load this semester.............I know I had a semester in college where I had some real goof off classes, how about doing that...................take a bunch of electives that are a piece of cake...........take only the minimum amount of hours this way you can take a few classes, but try out playing poker (almost full time), this way you will still earn some credits while seeing if you actually want to do this on a semi-full-time basis....................also, there are many, many women on a college campus............so you might want to stick around for that as well.
  12. DexterCain DexterCain is offline

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    Sep 26th, 2007 (9/26/2007 9:03am) in reply to Peeig

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    by bmac on 9/6/2007 01:50 </td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>wait until you are ready, the time will come. everyone is unique. if going to school scares you right now, wait, just don't do it. this isn't something someone can really give you advice on. </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table>
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