This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Leeds chapter.

Recently, one of my good friends told me she was dropping out of university. My initial reaction was purely selfish. What was I supposed to do without her? How could she do this?! And then came the shock. Where had this curveball come from?

I have noticed that a worrying number of people in my social group are now starting to drop out. Maybe they just can’t handle the cray parday life of unay – it’s true we do go harder than Prince Harry in Vegas. I am trying to ignore the common denominator – they are all friends of yours truly – so whilst writing this, I’m going to go ahead and assume that it has nothing to do with lil’ old me.

Most of these people, when I ask for one, give the same unimaginative reason: I don’t like my course. Not that I was expecting any truly crazy answers, I know these guys aren’t as deluded as to think they are the protagonist in an Into the Wild sequel, but it would be nice to hear something a little different. For example if someone had said: “I’m in a band. We’ve been signed and invited to sing at Prince George’s christening. We are going to be b i g.” That would be interesting.

Why did people pick these courses they’ve ended up not liking? One of the answers given is that the Degree would get them a highly paid job (cue ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J.) Another one was that they didn’t know what else to do…

Then I started thinking: at what point did you realise that this course wasn’t The One? In my own degree, lecture halls at the start of term were so tightly packed they resembled cinemas on the first Orange Wednesday after Catching Fire was released. Now, in the shortest tragedy ever written, they are empty. Desolate. A wasteland like a bad Wild West film.

But this is not always the case; some people I know are not only religiously attending their own lectures, but others’ as well! A friend of mine sat through an entire lecture on neuroscience the other week and yesterday another voluntarily attended a chemical engineering one…

So, this question goes to the people dropping out: do you even realise how lucky you are to be at uni? Yes, there is hard work, but you get to live with your friends for three years, go a bit crazy and no one will judge you for it.

If we can’t go to university and experience life now when can we? People say age is just a number however I disagree. On holiday I saw a 54-year-old woman with a tattoo that said “Young, Wild and Free.” To me she was neither young nor free and the only wild part of her was her bikini line.

Having now begun university with training wheels, the end of the first term is when they need to come off. I know how hard it is to have stuck it out this long though, so if you have made it, well done you. You are AWESOME.

If you are one of my friends who have left, I miss you a lot. Even though you’re not here you’ve undoubtedly left me something to remember you by, like your cutlery, your leather jacket or maybe even a half-empty box of eggs. And all the memories. I won’t go forgetting them in a hurry.

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By Eleanor Canham

Fresher’s Blog: Drop Out?

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