SamIAm
01-20-2003, 09:40 PM
When I was junior in high school last year, I started taking a Japanese language class at the University of Montana through a special program. I got college credit for it, as well as a chance to escape the extremely confined world of high school every day. Since then, Japanese has become my universe. It is the first and only time in my life that I've genuinely been excited to study and learn about something, at least over a long period of time. I have no doubt that Japanese will be an integral part of the rest of my life. Nothing is more important to me right now, or ever has been.
So it would make sense that I also took Japanese at the beginning of this year, my senior year of high school. I took German at UM as well, just to try it out. Needless to say, I became even more detached from high school than I already was. I've signed up to take both Japanese and German again for the coming 2nd semester. After that, I'll become of full time student of UM, majoring in Japanese, which has a strong program here.
This is my dilemma: Ever since I was a little kid, I've been told that a trust fund, which was created by my late grandfather, would pay for college entirely, for almost any school other than the ivy leagues. Yet as the economy continues to sway, the stock-based trust keeps going down. At this point, it's low enough that my mom, the overseer of the trust, has declared that she will not use any money from it until it goes back up. Combine that with the fact that I just moved out of my mom's house and into a place with my dad, whom she hates, and it means that I just went from having college paid for 100% to having absolutely nothing. My mom called me a couple days ago and told me that regardless of what happens to the trust's value, I will not receive any of it until she is dead. She did the same thing to my brother and sister, and they're both really struggling to get through college now. And by the way, my dad and I are broke.
There is a solution to this problem, but I have mixed feelings about it, and I want to know what anyone here thinks. The path I'm on right now will lead me to overwhelming college debt. The only way to stifle that is to start working, and put money in the bank. I'm fine with work, but with as many classes as I have to take in a day, along with many hours of daily homework, I don't think I could handle a job right now. This might sound lazy to some of you, but there just aren't enough hours in the day. However, it has come to my attention that UM will let just about anybody in, even if they only have a GED, so long as they are from in state. I could get a GED in a pinch, and I also have enough credits at the U to be a sophomore already. I could skip out of the rest of high school and slide into the university with no problem. Getting in is not the issue at all; instead, my mother and high school counselor keep insisting that having a GED will come back to bite me after I graduate from college. I argue that it won't matter as long as I have a college degree, especially considering that I have straight A's so far.
So my choices are: Stay in high school, get my diploma, and pray for divine financial intervention.
or
Get the GED, and get to work. Working for 1 extra semester won't end all of my money problems, but it will help out a lot. I have to pay for the classes I am taking right now. I'll remain in my UM classes either way. I'd also like to add that my high school GPA sucks, because I fucking hate high school like nothing else. I could create a whole thread about that. It's not like dropping out would have me losing a great high school transcript or anything. Dropping out is what I personally want to do at the moment.
So yeah, will having a GED ever hurt me when I apply for jobs, even with a good college degree? I'm eager to hear anyone's thoughts.
<P ID="signature">`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````
We won't be beaten by a bad guy! - Marle, CT</P>
So it would make sense that I also took Japanese at the beginning of this year, my senior year of high school. I took German at UM as well, just to try it out. Needless to say, I became even more detached from high school than I already was. I've signed up to take both Japanese and German again for the coming 2nd semester. After that, I'll become of full time student of UM, majoring in Japanese, which has a strong program here.
This is my dilemma: Ever since I was a little kid, I've been told that a trust fund, which was created by my late grandfather, would pay for college entirely, for almost any school other than the ivy leagues. Yet as the economy continues to sway, the stock-based trust keeps going down. At this point, it's low enough that my mom, the overseer of the trust, has declared that she will not use any money from it until it goes back up. Combine that with the fact that I just moved out of my mom's house and into a place with my dad, whom she hates, and it means that I just went from having college paid for 100% to having absolutely nothing. My mom called me a couple days ago and told me that regardless of what happens to the trust's value, I will not receive any of it until she is dead. She did the same thing to my brother and sister, and they're both really struggling to get through college now. And by the way, my dad and I are broke.
There is a solution to this problem, but I have mixed feelings about it, and I want to know what anyone here thinks. The path I'm on right now will lead me to overwhelming college debt. The only way to stifle that is to start working, and put money in the bank. I'm fine with work, but with as many classes as I have to take in a day, along with many hours of daily homework, I don't think I could handle a job right now. This might sound lazy to some of you, but there just aren't enough hours in the day. However, it has come to my attention that UM will let just about anybody in, even if they only have a GED, so long as they are from in state. I could get a GED in a pinch, and I also have enough credits at the U to be a sophomore already. I could skip out of the rest of high school and slide into the university with no problem. Getting in is not the issue at all; instead, my mother and high school counselor keep insisting that having a GED will come back to bite me after I graduate from college. I argue that it won't matter as long as I have a college degree, especially considering that I have straight A's so far.
So my choices are: Stay in high school, get my diploma, and pray for divine financial intervention.
or
Get the GED, and get to work. Working for 1 extra semester won't end all of my money problems, but it will help out a lot. I have to pay for the classes I am taking right now. I'll remain in my UM classes either way. I'd also like to add that my high school GPA sucks, because I fucking hate high school like nothing else. I could create a whole thread about that. It's not like dropping out would have me losing a great high school transcript or anything. Dropping out is what I personally want to do at the moment.
So yeah, will having a GED ever hurt me when I apply for jobs, even with a good college degree? I'm eager to hear anyone's thoughts.
<P ID="signature">`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````
We won't be beaten by a bad guy! - Marle, CT</P>