My head is about to burst, I need some help.

[Throwback24]

Prior to graduating high school I had hopes of becoming a lawyer. My father killed those inspirations by relocating and in turn putting me in a very awkward position. I finally decided to get off my ass and do something, I went over to a local college and was told my University level Business classes were not recognized in this province. I've got a high school diploma and I'm being told my credits are recognized? So I figure, instead of sitting around and moping why not take some math/science courses I missed out in high school? I am then told I have to pay $500 per course, I can't manage to keep up with my rent let alone pay for some courses and I have absol. no intentions of taking a gov't loan to take some bullshit high school courses. I made my around to visiting two colleges and one university/college and I came home feeling the counselor's had no intention of helping me get where I want. I'm really at a loss for words as I feel like a complete and utter loser. I can't get a job because of some stupid mistakes I made at the age of 16 which leaves me unbondable for another year, I can't get into any school, and my parents are on my back. I have no idea what I want to be, I was just tired of same old and decided to register at a local college. As long as i get a foot in things can get better but I can't even do that.

I only have one passion and that's sports. Unfortunately, I didn't take any math or sciences in high school so I doubt I'm qualified to become a therapist of any kind. Man, I'm on the verge of depression.

As for what I took in high school:

World Issues
English
English Lit
Int'l Business
Business Management
And some other course and I had an average of 78-80%. I feel like giving up.

[Dagan]

Trowback 24: your situations is almost exaclty the same as mine when i was graduating... my first piece of advise is read "think and Grow Rich" by Napolean hill. do not borrow this from friend or from the library, Buy it! you will see what i mean when you read it. This should give you some motivation and help you find your own direction as it has done for me!

Work out what YOU really want, what your passion is and build your life around that no the other way around... there are many courses for both sports industies, businesses which do not require university entry and will look good on a resume to get you some experience to move into a university degree or a job... whatever you decide, work towards your ultimate goals everyday...

other than this i cannot help anymore as i havent reached my ultimate goals yet, but i know what they are and how to get there and i am on my way

anyways i hope this helps

[machoman]

Originally Posted by Throwback24

Prior to graduating high school I had hopes of becoming a lawyer. My father killed those inspirations by relocating and in turn putting me in a very awkward position. I finally decided to get off my ass and do something, I went over to a local college and was told my University level Business classes were not recognized in this province. I've got a high school diploma and I'm being told my credits are recognized? So I figure, instead of sitting around and moping why not take some math/science courses I missed out in high school? I am then told I have to pay $500 per course, I can't manage to keep up with my rent let alone pay for some courses and I have absol. no intentions of taking a gov't loan to take some bullshit high school courses. I made my around to visiting two colleges and one university/college and I came home feeling the counselor's had no intention of helping me get where I want. I'm really at a loss for words as I feel like a complete and utter loser. I can't get a job because of some stupid mistakes I made at the age of 16 which leaves me unbondable for another year, I can't get into any school, and my parents are on my back. I have no idea what I want to be, I was just tired of same old and decided to register at a local college. As long as i get a foot in things can get better but I can't even do that.

I only have one passion and that's sports. Unfortunately, I didn't take any math or sciences in high school so I doubt I'm qualified to become a therapist of any kind. Man, I'm on the verge of depression.

As for what I took in high school:

World Issues
English
English Lit
Int'l Business
Business Management
And some other course and I had an average of 78-80%. I feel like giving up.

Hello Throwback24,
When I read your post, I came to a conclusion that you are definitely influenced by a negative sense of attitude because of your past events.Don't just look at negative side of your life. Instead see what you can really do tommorow. Brain Tracy, one of greatest speakers of our time said that,
"One of the keys to your living a wonderful life, having a successful career and feeling terrific about yourself is for you to develop the habit of starting and finishing important jobs. At that point, this behavior takes on a power of its own and you find it easier to complete important tasks than not to complete themYou need three key qualities to develop the habits of focus and concentration. They are all learnable. They are decision, discipline and determination.

First, make a decision to develop the habit of task completion. Second, discipline yourself to practice the principles you learn over and over until you master them. And finally, back everything you do with determination until the habit is locked in and becomes a permanent part of your personality."
I have included this so that you apply this to your life.
Hope this helps.

[zoner7]

I definitely want to start by giving you credit for efforts. Most people would never even have tried negotiating with one school, let alone three. I admire your perseverance, and I think it is important that you realize that we all at some point where we want to give up. This okay and natural. The only thing you need to remember is that this needs to be temporary. You cannot change the past, and you must simply live in the present. So, tomorrow, get your ass back out looking at new colleges. Sooner or later someone will accept your credits.

No one will hold your hand at this point, and I know that you know that, evidenced by your previous efforts to go to a college. So, if you really want to go to school, you need to use positive thoughts to encourage yourself to proceed. Depression is spiral into a black hole; the more you contemplate how awful your life is, the worse the depression becomes, the harder it becomes to get out of it. You need to turn things around now, instead of waiting until later.

I recommend going back to the same schools you already visited. If one person turns you down, argue your case. If he continues to reject it, ask someone else where a higher official in the bureaucracy of the college can be located. Present your case to this guy as well. Also, before you go to the schools, know what you are going to say. Develop your argument previous to speaking with these various admissions people, not relying improvisation. recite it in your head. Your words will be everything. if you did poorly in high school, you need to tell them how and why you will do better in college; you need to tell them why you are qualified to receive credit for your classes.

[Jim11]

If I may ask, what province do you live in?

In different provinces there are programs that subsidize or eliminate most of the costs to go back and pick up high school credits.

I'm in Ontario, and there is something called the Independent Learning Centre that will allow you to take all the common H/S courses online. There is a $40 admin fee and possibly some course material fees... but definitely not $500.

I would suggest looking into what else they have in your area.

[striving4peace]

Complete out of the box suggestion here:
you say your only passion is sports. Why not follow that? Maybe even start a blog / site on sports?

[Throwback24]

Originally Posted by Dagan

Trowback 24: your situations is almost exaclty the same as mine when i was graduating... my first piece of advise is read "think and Grow Rich" by Napolean hill. do not borrow this from friend or from the library, Buy it! you will see what i mean when you read it. This should give you some motivation and help you find your own direction as it has done for me!

Work out what YOU really want, what your passion is and build your life around that no the other way around... there are many courses for both sports industies, businesses which do not require university entry and will look good on a resume to get you some experience to move into a university degree or a job... whatever you decide, work towards your ultimate goals everyday...

other than this i cannot help anymore as i havent reached my ultimate goals yet, but i know what they are and how to get there and i am on my way

anyways i hope this helps

First of all, thanks for the words of encouragement all. I just purchased a used copy of, 'Think and Grow' off of ebay. Thanks for the recc.

My problem is I'm not sure exactly what is that I want to do. I haven't even narrowed it down to a particular field, I know it sounds lame seeing as how I've had almost 5-6 years to think it through but I'm at a stand still. Good luck to you as well.

"One of the keys to your living a wonderful life, having a successful career and feeling terrific about yourself is for you to develop the habit of starting and finishing important jobs. At that point, this behavior takes on a power of its own and you find it easier to complete important tasks than not to complete themYou need three key qualities to develop the habits of focus and concentration. They are all learnable. They are decision, discipline and determination.

That was a really uplifting quote. Machoman, developing a routine would a be way to start correct? I tend to sleep in and I may want to sleep at a set time and wake up at a set time starting as of Monday.

I definitely want to start by giving you credit for efforts. Most people would never even have tried negotiating with one school, let alone three. I admire your perseverance, and I think it is important that you realize that we all at some point where we want to give up. This okay and natural. The only thing you need to remember is that this needs to be temporary. You cannot change the past, and you must simply live in the present. So, tomorrow, get your ass back out looking at new colleges. Sooner or later someone will accept your credits.

No one will hold your hand at this point, and I know that you know that, evidenced by your previous efforts to go to a college. So, if you really want to go to school, you need to use positive thoughts to encourage yourself to proceed. Depression is spiral into a black hole; the more you contemplate how awful your life is, the worse the depression becomes, the harder it becomes to get out of it. You need to turn things around now, instead of waiting until later.

I recommend going back to the same schools you already visited. If one person turns you down, argue your case. If he continues to reject it, ask someone else where a higher official in the bureaucracy of the college can be located. Present your case to this guy as well. Also, before you go to the schools, know what you are going to say. Develop your argument previous to speaking with these various admissions people, not relying improvisation. recite it in your head. Your words will be everything. if you did poorly in high school, you need to tell them how and why you will do better in college; you need to tell them why you are qualified to receive credit for your classes.

It's just disheartening, I'm all for pushing the negativity side and ignoring the thoughts coming from within. The thing is, I wasn't a bad student in high school. I got a few honor roll awards in Gr.9/10 and averaged close to 80% in my last two years. I'm just at a loss as to why I'm being treated as someone who can't grasp how to apply for college. I go over to these colleges to speak to the counselors because I'm not sure how things work in this new province, not because I haven't been on your site or haven't done my research. As I sit there and explain my situation the only responses I ever seem to get are, "Go and upgrade some courses." I got accepted to University yet didn't go, why is it that hard to get accepted to college? I plan on going back on Tuesday with my transcript hoping to run into someone with a heart for a change. I won't sulk as I've done a lot of that as of late, I just want to feel accomplished and proud of myself at the end of the day.

Jim, I use to reside in Ontario and recently moved to Alberta. I found things to be a lot easier in Ontario, hell, I was accepted to York University and received a couple of $1000 scholarships. I just can't move back out there because of my financial situation at the moment. I've looked searched and found nothing. I'm fed up really.

Striving, I thought about that it's just I don't know where to start. Everything points to starting from scratch and I simply cannot afford to do that right now. At this point in this time I just want to get my foot in the door, I don't care about job happiness. I really don't. I just want to make a decent-waged salary preferably in the 40-60 k range so I can fend for myself.

[striving4peace]

That's all well and good that you just need to survive at the moment. I don't have a blog I earn from, so I am not an example for it - but a blog can be a source of income. And you CAN do it with zilch. Open a wordpress account, start writing, spread the word. One month and you will see progress, i'm pretty sure. Read everything problogger.net has to say and try it out. You have nothing to lose but some time and effort.
Because though now u dont, u WILL care about job happiness when you start working. And more times than not, it will matter more than money.
Umm... and hitting a little close to home, how about IT? Certifications in IT can be learnt at home with books that you can borrow (<cough> download <cough>) You just need to pay the cost of the exam when you give it. Each exam's about 150$.
I would recomend the CCNA, MCSE for helpdesk / networking... and there's tonnes of books on programming etc. If you're in the states, you're in the land where dropouts learnt stuff on thier own and started revolutions. University isn't the only place where u can learn. Thank god for that, else I'd have been stuck somewhere with a crummy job in electronics which I abhor. its trut you can't become a lawyer through self study, but make a larger plan. get that 40-50k through other means and THEN save enough for university.

[Throwback24]

Originally Posted by striving4peace

That's all well and good that you just need to survive at the moment. I don't have a blog I earn from, so I am not an example for it - but a blog can be a source of income. And you CAN do it with zilch. Open a wordpress account, start writing, spread the word. One month and you will see progress, i'm pretty sure. Read everything problogger.net has to say and try it out. You have nothing to lose but some time and effort.
Because though now u dont, u WILL care about job happiness when you start working. And more times than not, it will matter more than money.
Umm... and hitting a little close to home, how about IT? Certifications in IT can be learnt at home with books that you can borrow (<cough> download <cough>) You just need to pay the cost of the exam when you give it. Each exam's about 150$.
I would recomend the CCNA, MCSE for helpdesk / networking... and there's tonnes of books on programming etc. If you're in the states, you're in the land where dropouts learnt stuff on thier own and started revolutions. University isn't the only place where u can learn. Thank god for that, else I'd have been stuck somewhere with a crummy job in electronics which I abhor. its trut you can't become a lawyer through self study, but make a larger plan. get that 40-50k through other means and THEN save enough for university.

I haven't been able to browse the net lately which may be a good thing. I had a pretty productive week for the first time in years. I got around to going back to a college that rejected me, I met this very helpful counselor who sympathized with me and referred me to the program director. I've got an appointment with her this Wednesday at which time I may be able to sway her to accept me. I'm in Canada unfortunately but I appreciate the suggestions. I actually worked at a computer store not too long so that's def. a possibility. I may start reading up on it now while I'm waiting to get in school and take the exam asap.

I need to find a virtual school accepting registrations to take some Gr.11 courses argh... I'm having a hard time finding any. Just thought I'd give an update. Things are as gloom as they were say a week ago.

[Throwback24]

I finally caught a break, I ran into someone I knew from high school and coincidentally, was in a position very similar to mine a year back. He had referred me to a school counselor, I just had finished talking with her and she hard said I could drop into Gr.12 Math and Physics anytime I felt ready. I plan on taking Gr.11 physics right now, my problem is, I was never the math guy. She said I could literally drop into Gr.12 math without any pre-requisites, is it really that hard? I have every intention of trying my hardest but she sounded quite condescending, "you can take it but I wouldn't suggest it." I successfully finished Gr.11 math and *want* to start college this September but am lacking some confidence. Should I dive into it?

[Gaz]

Maths is one of those things that if you put in the work and persevere at it you can get to the point where you can understand and apply it. You may never excel at it, but to be honest, you don't need to. Proficiency is generally good enough. If you feel you can do physics, I can pretty much guarantee that you can do maths.

The first thing you need to do is stop telling yourself that "you're not the maths guy" rather say something like "I am able to do maths, I just need to apply myself to it."

I always was the maths guy, and to some extent still am, but because of a lack of application to my studies i failed my second year maths course at university, I can point out a lot of external reasons, but ultimately, they're all excuses, and the real reason I failed is that I thought I didn't need to work.

My advice. Jump in and if you get stuck, I'll be happy to help, at least as much as I am able.

[Throwback24]

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I believe in myself, I'ma do it.

[Throwback24]

7 chapters in, 3 chapters remain and I've got to hand in my full course load tomorrow and have an exam looming over my head this Wednesday. I failed

I tried my best.

[zoner7]

NEVER and I mean never say that you have failed.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have all anxiety (this is what you have).
You can get through this. You have a day left to study. That's plenty of time to accomplish something. You have done all the work up to this point.
You cannot give up in the final stretch.
Now get your ass in gear, and get to work.