OT: Is this normal?

[Renegade 13]

Alright, so as you may or may not know, I've recently started university...and hate it. Absolutely hate it. I hate the people here, my roommates, the work is absolutely nuts, etc etc ad nauseum.

I respect the opinions of the people here greatly, and so I'd like to ask...is it normal to feel this way when first attending a university, or am I just totally crazy gone nuts? I'm seriously thinking about dropping it, and finding something else to do that doesn't require university. Is that a wise choice? How vital is a university degree to get a good job?

Help me! Or just shoot me...

[General Woundwort]

I've been in your shoes twice. Once, in the early years of the Second Age of Middle-Earth, when I first went to college; and back in January when I started my grad program. And what you say sounds about right. Just stick with it, and try to get networked with people there who have similar interests and hobbies.

[Alneyan]

I felt pretty much the same way myself last year, though for relatively different reasons: the whole place felt more apathic than anything else, and I didn't sleep on campus (well, not that we are on a campus, but still). And no, you're not going nuts - probably not anyway.

I would give you the same kind of advice as the General did: try to stick with it, and find a few friends. Dropping university may not be a wise choice, as degrees are often used for applications, if only to filter out the candidates. I know my degree is virtually worthless, and its sole purpose will be to give me access to something actually useful, but yours ought to be slightly more useful.

I would wish you good luck, but you know what they say about that phrase, so I will settle with... Well, show them what kind of an EEE you are.

[Arkcon]

It was hard for me at first to find people I thought I'd like, but I am naturally shy.

If your're not, it may be confusing for you to be surrounded by total @$$#()||@5, who seem to have very set ways of behaviour, that don't seem to mesh with yours.

But in time, you will meet people with common interests, and the jerks will learn to get along with the group and everything will proceed swimmingly

Don't make my mistake, and fall behind in your coursework. Just plug through, as best you can. If you are the person the admissions board thought you were, you'll end up fine -- and better than the lusers who just give up.

[Captain Kwok]

You probably just need to adjust to life living in a small space and dealing with other people in close proximity that you haven't become comfortable with yet. You'll get used to it and find your own way to adapt, but I wouldn't recommend dropping school. It's almost always better to stick with it than to drop it!

[El_Phil]

To use a well known phrase 'Culture Shock.' It took me a couple of weeks to find any decent mates when I went to uni, which sounds bad but I was fairly lucky. My sister hated her entire first semester and was seriously close to quitting and just not going back after the Christmas break. She went back and met some new people as her lectures changed and started to like it.

It is a fairly different experience, which I enjoyed immensely. Although like everything else in life I have tended to forget the boring bits, the hours spent learning stuff I really didn't (and still don't ) care about.

Give it till Christmas, if it still nasty with no redeming features then consider dropping it. Thats my 1.5 Trillion Turkish Lira.

[Atrocities]

Its a change in life. Changes are seldom nice and cozzy. But give it time, I am sure you will adapt.

[Renegade 13]

Change is evil. I do not adapt well to change. Well, I adapted pretty good to the change from dial-up to high speed internet, but that's a separate matter

[Puke]

change is good. the alternative is stagnation and decadance.

[Renegade 13]

I could use a little of that right now