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Perpetual students

MyDoorsAreOpen

MyDoorsAreOpen

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Aug 20, 2003
Messages
8,549
You know the type. In their late 20s or early 30s. Never dropped or failed out. Just... never left.

At the school where I took my science prerequisites for med school, I was in a student activist group with a dude who was quite obviously Indian, but was utterly convinced he was black. I never knew how old he was, but he was definitely older than me, and I was 26 at the time. He had wandered aimlessly through all the humanities departments, in a fruitless search for a department that would put up enough with his something-to-prove about race to grant him a major. He was a drama queen, who left the activist group with a sermon-like speech one day about how and why he was severing ties. He caught me outside class one day. Having no one to eat the lunch I'd brought with, I sat with him. He would not let me go for two whole hours, and took no hint that I didn't want to talk anymore and needed to be on my way. I have no idea A) if and when he will ever graduate B) What awaits him if he does, and most al all, C) who is funding him.

And why.
 
Was my 4th year and I was finishing up by taking a boatload of units each quarter but still partying like a rockstar several nights a week. I started hanging out with a group of people who were really into partying all the time and there was a lot of cocaine going on. There was this one guy in the group and nobody knew how old he was or what year he was and he was constantly on a good one.. he was like an enigma. Personally I think he HAD to have been a 8th year undergrad student (he was taking Basic Organic Chem at the time lol). He was having the time of his life though so it was hard to hate on him.. but damn.. eventually you just gotta get your degree and move on.
 
i have a friend who is in his eighth year of college. he has switched schools three or four times, and changed his major a half dozen times. he has always been considered full time and never taken more than a semester off either. i think he plans on finally graduating at the end of fall 08.
 
I knew a woman who I met when I was 19/20 and she was almost 30 and she'd been to like 6 different schools and basically changed schools/majors after a semester/year.

I also knew this one guy who I met when I was a sophmore and he was a few years older and a rich pothead and after I graduated and worked as a TA at a college I attended my first two years he was STILL there and wasn't planning on graduating anytime soon and he'd either take a year off or just take 1-2 classes a semester or just change majors a lot, or just not go to classes that his parents had paid for and he'd just stay at home and blaze.
 
I love the major changers. If some of them only knew how little employers care what you majored in as an undergrad, and how much they care that you're a person who finishes what you start. Unless their circumstances were unusual (health problems, family issues, etc.), if I were in charge of hiring people, anyone who took more than five years to finish an undergraduate degree would raise my eyebrow. How could I trust that person to meet long term deadlines as a worker?

Of course, some perpetual students are precisely those who will never have to worry about a job.

I knew another dude at my undergraduate college who was 26. He'd been there continuously since he was 18, and was a triple or quadruple major. He became friends with my roommate, because they were both from Japan. This guy was going to be the nth generation heir of an established traditional Japanese inn in Kyoto -- a guaranteed moneymaker even if he hired others to manage everything, and the land alone would be worth a fortune if he ever chose to sell it. Needless to say, the guy was in no rush to finish a degree (handful of degrees, actually) which he would never need to use. He even admitted he was just waiting for his father to retire. He'd been an exchange student to several countries -- a real man of leisure. He also admitted he stuck around to pick up younger American chicks.
 
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I think im well on my way I only take 1 class a semester but Ive only been in college for 2 semesters I dunno I just have such a hard time with 1 I cant imagine taking 4 or 5
 
^
it sucks.

i graduated high school (young) in 2003, took a year off and then began as a freshman in 2004, and now it turns out i need an extra semester to get done with all my requirements because i switched concentrations (majors) three times, and i've dropped more than a couple requirements that i really hated. i've decided to take next semester off and then do a full year next year. thus, i will graduate in 2009.

.....and i wish i could change my concentration again. i'm only 21 now, though.
 
MyDoorsAreOpen said:
You know the type. In their late 20s or early 30s. Never dropped or failed out. Just... never left.

At the school where I took my science prerequisites for med school, I was in a student activist group with a dude who was quite obviously Indian, but was utterly convinced he was black. I never knew how old he was, but he was definitely older than me, and I was 26 at the time. He had wandered aimlessly through all the humanities departments, in a fruitless search for a department that would put up enough with his something-to-prove about race to grant him a major. He was a drama queen, who left the activist group with a sermon-like speech one day about how and why he was severing ties. He caught me outside class one day. Having no one to eat the lunch I'd brought with, I sat with him. He would not let me go for two whole hours, and took no hint that I didn't want to talk anymore and needed to be on my way. I have no idea A) if and when he will ever graduate B) What awaits him if he does, and most al all, C) who is funding him.

And why.
Click to expand...


I really have no idea what you are talking about.
 
Lol I'm probably going to be that guy. Although I do fit the extenuating circumstances category with the family/drug - and depression due to both - issues I have going on.

Apparently I'm kind of a person people remember since I already got accused of being that guy in my second year.
 
Edvard Munch said:
I really have no idea what you are talking about.
Click to expand...

Watch the movie Road Trip. The tour guide at the beginning, who frames the main story, is a good example of what I'm talking about.
 
There is this guy who goes to my university... according to my mom he went here 20 years ago when she was a student. He is probably like 50 now, he is homeless and lives out of his van. He smells really bad. He also has like 5+ masters. Apparently he spent some time working as a teacher but got fired for hygiene. I don't know how much of this is true since it's all word of mouth among people, but I do know that he still goes here and has been here at least 20 years, and I can personally vouch for the smell.
 
I had this guy in one of my classes called The History of Architecture and Decor...I guess he was a perpetual student because he had been around for a really long time, floating through humanities classes and stuff. Who knows why he was taking theatre classes.

Anyway, he was seriously balding and wore those shirts with like constellations or wolves (that I would secretly sport myself) but with really short shorts and sneakers with high socks. He would take his shoes off during class--smelly feet. Then he would fart loudly all throughout class and make all of these weird noises like he was possibly trying to clear his throat or something. Oh, and whenever I saw him he would have food stuck and smeared in his beard. His presence was altogether pretty nauseating...yet I sort of miss him for some strange reason.
 
I AM one of these people.
It's called graduate school. :)

ebola
 
I'm on my way to being a perpetual student. well not as bad as people who've been at the same school for 20 years, but it's going to take me a total of like 6 or 7 years for my BA. due to laziness, a few semesters off and a max of 4 courses a semester.
 
I am taking 6 years to do a BA in digital design. It would normally require 5 years ( due to the rotating internships involved) but I changed my major. I kind of regret doing it now that I realize how long it's going to take me, but in the end I'm happier in this major and I'm with a better crowd of people and teachers. I don't wanna be a perpetual student though. This six year thing makes me feel bad enough.

I know the perpetual student type and its fucking sad. Who does fund them anyway. I mean i've WD'd a class or two cuz I was gonna fail... but it has to stop at some point, ya know?
 
Me, well sort of.

I did my B.A. straight out of highschool in 3 years, then my BSc, since I'm trying to get into med. I'm doing my last year of my BSc and then nursing (for the clinical experience) until I get into medicine. The BSc was a necessity considering how science intensive the MCAT is (I'll most likely be rewriting within a year...). But to be fair I work as a biochemist, so it's not like I'm spinning my wheels trying to avoid the real world. unfortunately I'll most likely be in school well into my thirties, but do what makes you happy.
 
^^^ Dood you do NOT need to do nursing, as long as you have some healthcare experience. If you want to be more frugal with your time and money, become a phelbotomist or nursing assistant (my job) or respiratory tech or some other lowly hospital job where you get patient interaction.

If you really want to do nursing for its own sake, don't let me stop you -- the nurses I work under at my hospital are the salt of the fucking earth, and I have utmost respect for what they've chosen to do. If patients (and doctors!) only knew how much nurses make the healthcare world go round...

But academically, you'd be surprised how little nursing has to do with medicine. It's coming at the same problems from two entirely different perspectives and levels of responsibility. At one time when I wasn't sure I'd get into med school, I was looking into nursing, and found that the prerequisites I'd taken for med only HALF overlapped with the ones nursing school was looking for.

That said, if you do end up getting a nursing degree and an MD or DO, you'll be an excellent leader in your workplace, because you'll understand exactly what the nurses who carry out your orders are up against, and how they're trained to think.

I feel very lucky to work in a hospital where there is relatively little antagonism or professional resentment between doctors and nurses, because in such a high stakes job field, there is much room for misunderstanding.

Sorry to get off topic.
 
Honestly I don't plan on finishing the nursing program. It's something to do while I plug away at med school admission. My GPA is a little on the low side. I wasn't in the right mindset when I did my B.A. At the time I was young and stupid and University was just the next step after highschool, even though I was paying for it myself I really didn't have my heart in it. If I had a stellar GPA I'd be done with school and be working full time until I was accepted.

As far as work goes I really enjoy my job. It's full time during the summer and basically how ever many hours I want during the year. We should be publishing a few papers within the year which I'm really looking forward to and I'm sure published work in a major Journal sits well with Ad comms.

If I could go back in time I'd have done things a little differently. Although here in Canada the applicant pool is strong since there are only a dozen or so medical schools and each lets in roughly 100 kids a year. I'm seriously considering going to the States or Aus/Europe depending on how things go in the next year or so. Though my best shot is still my provincial school since GPA is only weighted as 10%, MCAT is 40% and personal assessment is 50%.
 
^^^ Think long and hard before coming to the states. Our med schools have seen an enormous increase in applications that sees no sign of stopping. I was told that US MD schools are the only professional degree programs in the country where I'd be laughed out the door with my 3.1 GPA. I applied to 15, and was rejected by all, most very quickly. :(

Sorry to be a downer, but I've learned the hard way that US MD schools seem to be looking for people young and fresh out of a BS program where they got no lower than 3.6~3.7, and have done pretty much nothing else with their lives other than science. They are not looking for worldly people, since they don't mold to the military-like discipline as well.

We American applicants look with envy at Canadian medical schools, which are less stringent in their entry requirements, and make it very clear that they DON'T WANT US. They set aside such a small quota of seats for American applicants that any advantage gained by by lower score requirements is more than canceled out, which is the whole point. A nation's schools should primarily serve its own citizens first, after all.

One osteopathic school here finally took me, but I'm still worried about issues of professional respect among MD holders in the future, and about the portability of this degree to other countries, where it's not widely recognized.

Good luck, wizekrak. You're on one hell of a long path, but I think you'll do fine.
 
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