Why I Dropped Out and Back Into School

Freshmen year in college has to be one of the hardest years you will experience. Moving out of home and learning how to manage health, studies, and a social life is an overwhelming experience filled with lots of ups and downs. I had a teacher describe freshmen year as the time when you will cry over the price of toilet paper and ramen for no reason. My own ramen experience happened about a quarter way through the first semester, when I realized that I didn’t love my college experience. My classes weren’t what I expected and I wasn’t getting what I thought I should out of my first year of college.

Collegiettes, if you have ever felt this way, you are not alone! College is hard and figuring out where you fit is even more difficult. A lot of people enter college knowing exactly what they want to study and what internships they want to do etc. I was that person, and then out of nowhere I wasn’t anymore. I was struggling to understand what I wanted out of a career or a semester and that was really scary. 

After my second semester I decided to take time off from school, with no intentions to return. I decided to move to Australia, in all of three months I bought a ticket, a visa, and a backpack and moved to Sydney. I took time to figure out what I enjoyed doing, and what really didn’t matter to me. Travel became a top priority and then slowly I found myself wanting to find a career that would support my ambitions to see the world. I decided after a year to come back to the University of Utah and pursue a degree in journalism.

It can feel as though there is one correct path to take, you graduate high school, go to college, graduate, and have a career. It’s when we start to realize that there is no correct path or one way to achieve any goal that amazing things start to happen. Whether you are a high school senior trying to decide if college is right for you or a senior in college that hates her major, relax there is no right way to go about achieving your goals. Don’t be afraid to choose a path that none of your friends pick.

• college
• drop out
• gap year
• path
• travel