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Thinking of Taking a Year off University

lman_15

lman_15

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Jul 5, 2010
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I'm in a BA Comprehensive Psychology program at a pretty good University. My marks 1st year were horrible C- average, 2nd year didn't get a single mark worse than an A-, last year majority of my marks were A's & A-'s with the except of a B+ and a C+. Anyways I want to get into a good school to do a Master's in social work. I just recently quit a serious opiate addiction that I had been struggling with for two years (doing 2-3 80's a day, or 4-5 60mg morphine pills a day). Anyways since I quit opiates, schools been tremendously harder, stress and anxiety are building up to a point where I feel as though I'm going insane and will have a mental lapse and go crazy. My motivation and enthusiasm for the material has gone away as well. I wanted to take a gap year between high school and university but my parents didn't approve. Anyways I'm at a pivotal point in my university career especially if I want to do my Masters in Social Work (which I do). I just feel like right now I need time for myself to grow as a person, develop, and just live for once instead of doing school. I might sound like I'm being a bitch about it, but straight up I feel like I need some me time, to just figure out who I am as a person, who the clean me really is, and with the amount of school work I have everyday it can be incredibly hard. Anyways I just wanted some input to see what other people think, feel free to give me your opinion and any positive's or negative's to the situation.

Oh yea and my ideal break from school would consist of me deferring this year and going back to school the following year. The year I would hypothetically have off would be me working full time for a portion of it, (which let me say working 40 hours a week is a lot less work than I'm currently putting in at school), saving some money up and going traveling. I think a break from the stress and chaos would be nice, since I started university I have gone to school for 8 months of the year and worked full time for the other 4 months and I know that's how real life is, but straight up I feel like I'm young I'm only 21 turning 22 this year, I need to get out and live while I can still get away from everything without having a family and shit that I'm responsible for
 
I'm sure everyone does say this, but I know for a fact I am going to go back to school, I know what my calling in life is and what I have to do, to be able to accomplish that.. So regardless if I take a year off or not I know I'm getting my degree and then going for my Masters. But, honestly at this point I'm even debating going to rehab, like I just feel like the amount of damage I've done physically, mentally and emotionally can only be cured in an inpatient setting where I can stay for 3-6 months and figure my shit out, cuz I honestly just feel fucked
 
How many credit hours do you need to graduate with your BA?

The reason I ask is to get an assessment of how hard you will need to work when you return to school.

In my own personal experience, I dropped out of undergrad my senior year and it was followed by 8 years of working shit jobs where each new job was shittier and paid less than the previous one. This downward spiral ended when I became a full-time dishwasher. I put my foot down and said fuck it, I'm finishing my BA and getting at least an MA.

HOWEVER, when I dropped out I had no plans of going back to school. I think your case is much different from mine. You are struggling with demons that need to be addressed for your own mental and physical health. You have also made the declaration that you indeed do plan on finishing up, and that counts for a lot.

I say use your best judgment and get the help that you need in order to come back and finish strongly. The world needs more MSW's and I think that is a great goal to have in itself. Keep your sites focused on the future and whatever you do, try your best not to revisit the substances that have caused you this stress. If you feel that inpatient rehab is the best way to get your shit together and remain clean and sane, by all means do it.

In addition to what I just said, during your year off from school, try and see if you will have the time and energy to do some volunteer work in your area of interest. Volunteering will get you much needed experience working with vulnerable populations and depending on what you want to do with your MSW, it really looks great on a resume and grad school application. If you live in the city where you want to do social work, the industry is typically quite small and people will remember your name and face....even if you are just a lowly volunteer. After you get your degree and spend another year working towards your license, you should be able to return to some of these places and apply for jobs. I know it sounds cliche, but in social work, getting a job can greatly depend on who you know in the industry and their opinion of you.

Best of luck and do keep us posted.
 
Yea I'm currently on methadone, nd I only got on the program cuz I ran out of money and couldn't support myself anymore, I've been hooked on one thing or another since I was 14 or 15 years old and I feel like I have all these underlying problems, stressors and other things which I have ignored for majority of my life and that I need to sort out. Some people might think that I'm trying to avoid doing my work or avoid the inevitable struggle of getting all my homework done, but straight up I've suffered from addiction for time and now I'm at the point where I just don't feel like myself, don't feel like I have anything to look forward to and just feel like I need 3-6 months at a rehab get detoxed from methadone and get some professional help from a social worker. I'm sick of fighting this uphill battle and being on methadone at 21 years old is not the way I see my life. My parents are pretty well off and I'm almost 100% sure if I said I need help and tell them what's up they would be supportive and pay for it, (they sent me to a rehab facility when I was 16 years old for a cocaine problem I ended up just living on the streets for 3 months instead of going to rehab but regardless when they found out I had a problem they tried to help you know, so I'm assuming they would this time as well. Before I ask them to send me I just want to make sure that it is 100% the right choice and only option that will work, cuz I don't wanna be like oh I've been doing dope for 2 years behind your back and have this problem and then it turns out I could have sorted it out on my own. As for school I need 20 credits and have 10 so far, so I am half way done my degree, but basically have all my mandatory credits I only have 6 mandatory classes left so 3 out of the 10 credits are mandatory and related to my degree the other 7 credits (14 classes) are all electives, and my overall average is between a B & a B+, the most recent 14 courses I've taken I have: 1 A+, 6 A's, 4 A-'s, & 2 B+'s and 1 C+
 
I'm a little confused by your math. At the two universities I attended, 1 class normally = 3 credits. So if you take four classes in a semester, that will give you 12 credits, which is full-time. There are exceptions for classes with labs and stuff like that.

Anyways, like I said, it sounds to me like a year off might do you some good. As long as you are always moving forward I think you will be just fine.
 
I'm from Canada and going to a Canadian university the set up we have is typically 2 semesters a year (fall & winter). Full time students take 4-6 classes a semester and part time students take 3 or less classes per semester. each class is equivalent to 0.5 credits. So most degrees are 20 credits in length so if you take 5 courses a semester, two semesters a year that's 5 credits so after 4 years a person would have 20 credits and a degree. I hope that makes sense and clears this up for you. But yea I'm thinking of taking a year off and just going to rehab for 3-6 months then get a job and work for 6-9 months till the following years fall semester starts. I just don't know if going to rehab is the best choice like I know I have no self control I've been hooked on opiates for 2 years tried suboxone didn't work, tried cold turkey, tapering, methadone etc but regardless of what I do I never get clean and can never stop using for long periods Oof time and I just wanna be normal again. The only thing that's holding me back is talking to my parents and bringing it up with them but I know I want to be clean and that I'm ready to be clean. I just am worried about telling my parents that I want them to pay for rehab cuz I'll feel bad for letting them down
 
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