Weirdly enough, I also took a Cisco Networking class in high school (never met someone else on the internet that took one). That was the start of my regrets. That, along with a dual-enrollment college class I took were terrible ideas - the workload put me in a very deep depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies that I'm yet to recover from 6 years later. I definitely recommend just sticking to normal classes in high school, get by with the easiest classes you can if you don't want to burn out before you even get to college.
My biggest regret, overall, is college. I want to go against what you said and instead say "definitely do take at least a year off", but unless you do so by deferring your college then you probably will have no scholarships (even by deferring I'm not sure if that might also cause you to lose your scholarships). Probably in 10+ years, when/if I have been graduated for some time, I'll say it might be worth it (ignoring the debt, of course), but at this very moment it's hands down the biggest regret in my life. Waking up after every night with nightmares of not turning in homework, failing tests, or not going to class... and those are just the days that I actually have some time to sleep. College is such a huge test of your constitution, I cannot believe how many all nighters I've needed to do to pass classes (as of last year I averaged 4 fucking days per week). Having PTSD-like anxiety and wanting to take your life all because of school seems absurd (and surprisingly [at least to me], from conversations with other students, this isn't a mentality held just by the depressed or anxious [though more frequent for them], very "normal" students are bombarded by these thoughts a lot as well).
I guess it depends on what aspects you're looking at. I feel like I missed a lot of social milestones and experiences by not going to college. I also feel like, at this point, the idea of doing papers, homework, and bullshit projects - all while working a full-time job, just isn't really something I look forward to in terms of going back. Whereas, straight out of high school, that's just what I'd been doing, day in, day out, for most of my life.
I definitely don't disagree though. I feel like I would have burned myself out if I'd gone to college. By senior year of HS, I was just "done." The classes I took that year were either required, or stuff I actually wanted to take. I don't regret any of that. I needed the break, but the idea of going back never appealed to me. The idea of having a degree and having the possibility to open up opportunities does, but realistically, a degree doesn't promise you anything, and all you will definitely have at the end of your college career is a mountain of debt.
I'm very torn on the college thing, so excuse my "double-think" about it. :)
When did you graduate high school? 2003-2004ish? I've never heard of anyone taking Cisco classes in high school either, outside of the people that were in my classes. I don't know how widespread that program was, or how long they did it.
Weirdly enough, I also took a Cisco Networking class in high school (never met someone else on the internet that took one). That was the start of my regrets. That, along with a dual-enrollment college class I took were terrible ideas - the workload put me in a very deep depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies that I'm yet to recover from 6 years later. I definitely recommend just sticking to normal classes in high school, get by with the easiest classes you can if you don't want to burn out before you even get to college.
My biggest regret, overall, is college. I want to go against what you said and instead say "definitely do take at least a year off", but unless you do so by deferring your college then you probably will have no scholarships (even by deferring I'm not sure if that might also cause you to lose your scholarships). Probably in 10+ years, when/if I have been graduated for some time, I'll say it might be worth it (ignoring the debt, of course), but at this very moment it's hands down the biggest regret in my life. Waking up after every night with nightmares of not turning in homework, failing tests, or not going to class... and those are just the days that I actually have some time to sleep. College is such a huge test of your constitution, I cannot believe how many all nighters I've needed to do to pass classes (as of last year I averaged 4 fucking days per week). Having PTSD-like anxiety and wanting to take your life all because of school seems absurd (and surprisingly [at least to me], from conversations with other students, this isn't a mentality held just by the depressed or anxious [though more frequent for them], very "normal" students are bombarded by these thoughts a lot as well).
I guess it depends on what aspects you're looking at. I feel like I missed a lot of social milestones and experiences by not going to college. I also feel like, at this point, the idea of doing papers, homework, and bullshit projects - all while working a full-time job, just isn't really something I look forward to in terms of going back. Whereas, straight out of high school, that's just what I'd been doing, day in, day out, for most of my life.
I definitely don't disagree though. I feel like I would have burned myself out if I'd gone to college. By senior year of HS, I was just "done." The classes I took that year were either required, or stuff I actually wanted to take. I don't regret any of that. I needed the break, but the idea of going back never appealed to me. The idea of having a degree and having the possibility to open up opportunities does, but realistically, a degree doesn't promise you anything, and all you will definitely have at the end of your college career is a mountain of debt.
I'm very torn on the college thing, so excuse my "double-think" about it. :)
When did you graduate high school? 2003-2004ish? I've never heard of anyone taking Cisco classes in high school either, outside of the people that were in my classes. I don't know how widespread that program was, or how long they did it.