Women who didn’t go to university or college,how are your lives now? Do you regret not going or are you happy with your decision?

10 comments

1. I’m happy with it over all. It sucked at first working in factory making only minimum wage but I was able to make it work till I could get into a factory that paid more. After 9 years I’m bout to start at a new factory that’ll be paying me almost $20 to start.

   Student loans with that long fight to get a good paying job would crush me.

   I’ll take that grind up the pay ladder than the struggle a ton of college grads seem to have getting decent work with a shit ton of loans to pay back on top of that.

2. I knew from a young age that college would never be for me, so I started working right out of high school.

   Now, I’ve settled on a job I love, have a nice chuck of savings, and no debt. No regrets.

3. I went but didn’t finish. I hated it, so no I don’t regret not going through that anymore. I managed to get myself financially secure without it.

4. My college situation was a bit complicated and a big part of why I didn’t go was my parents manipulation. I enjoy the job I have right now and I enjoy the people I work with. I also don’t think a college degree should be necessary for people to make a livable wage and be financially secure. I don’t necessarily regret not having gone, but I do often wonder what my life would have been like had I made that decision despite them, put distance between us, and got more of the social aspects of college life.

5. I tried and failed, due to mental health issues. I became a Mom. I’m really good at being a Mom, but yeah, part of me wishes I had been able to see it through. I still feel like a failure sometimes, and I’m not sure what I will do when my kids are older and don’t need SAHM anymore.

6. I never wanted to go to college and started in the corporate world a year after highschool. I’ve moved up accordingly and am still very happy with my decision 25+ plus years later.

7. I regretted it at the time when I saw my friends meeting new people, partying and graduating, but now we’re 26, most of the people I know have left the field they went to college for.. and I work with people who have college degrees, we have the same job but they obviously have student loans whereas I have nearly £70k/$85k in savings and no debt. I think too many people are going to college now for jobs that don’t need degrees, so much so that they’re becoming a bit worthless imo.

   I don’t regret it a single bit now.

8. I didn’t regret it at all. I don’t have debt and I don’t have to do school work. I get paid well over minimum wage.

9. other perspective> im a woman doing my masters degree now.

   If i could go back in time i would do a profession bachelor or tradeschool cuz there is way more money. Consider this. Highschool 3 years uni 5 years. that is 8 years of barely an income while people who went to trade school or got a profession bachelor like (dentist, nurse, EMT) get hands on experience and job security just as they graduate and sometimes even before.

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   My masters is in ‘development and international relations’ and i hope one day to earn sort of big bucks in a cooperation, but i still have no real life job experience other than pizzeria, store or customer service roles. I have to do a 6 months unpaid internship (minimum 444 hours of unpaid work in a RELEVANT role) and then a thesis before i finish my masters. I will never get a PhD i don’t have the grades and I’m not smart enough nor a hard enough worker. IF i wanted to do 3-4 years for a PhD to then POTENTIALLY become a university prof then that would be cool as u have LEGIT 4+ months a year as “time off” to pursue other academic things and then teach maybe 4-6 hours a week for 4 months a year. Then grading and exams come in as well but it is not a stable job. Pay is stable but the hours are not. Stable hours mean a lot to a rewarding life.

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   As a student i have had to do classes, exams, part time job, internship applications IN THE MIDDLE OF EXAMS, projects, group work where often time no matter the size of the group you end up doing far more than the others SIMULTANEOUSLY- You go between extreme stressful months to 3 months you can work full time. Not having a set schedule is a nightmare for me personally. But each degree is VERY different. Humaniora is very lax and has less job security but also a very wide net of job options meaning job hunting can be extremely difficult and depressing because you need to search 20+ keywords whereas a nurse just types ‘nurse’.

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   So my personal recommendation is do a trade or a profession bachelor. IF you want to do university pick a JOBROLE like lawyer, doctor, accountant etc. do not pick a degree that sounds like fun or useful UNLESS you have a foot in the door or a good network or want to do something very specific like to become a diplomat.

   I would also only recommend uni if a bachelor is enough. If you need a masters do it for a job with a lot of security with a much bigger payraise. e.g cyber security masters u will earn BANK.

   I honestly also believe that many degrees could be done in half the time and you are just told that a bachelor should take 3 years to show you can put in the effort for 3 years.

   Do what makes you happy and what you like. And don’t forget that a choice now is not a choice for life. You can always change your mind! Many people go back to school after x amount of years on the jobmarket. And those people take their degree much more seriously. Also hiring people prefer applicants with full-time job experience rather than a graduate who has been in school the past 8 years without a job. So unless you are BURNING to become a e.g vet, nurse, dentist etc. i would not recommend university. And if you have to pay for uni in your country i would recommend it even less. If its free like here you can always try and look into it, try a semester and then you will know both sides. Is it for me or not 🙂

10. i didn’t go, and i don’t necessarily regret it because i know that if i tried and failed due to my adhd, that i would feel way worse. i know that’s maybe not constructive thinking but i have a debilitating fear of failure.