The fear of university

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The ultimate goal for those going to my public school was to pass A levels and go on to university . For me that expectation was riddled with anxiety and fear . The thought of the increased independence that would come with it , and coping with the social expectations of going to uni , scared me . I was not equipped to cope with life as an university student .

I guess even then I was acutely aware of my poor practical and social functioning .

That sucks.

I wish you could have went to University.

You still can, by the way.

I started university when I was 36.

I agree with KraftieKortie, it's never too late to start college and earn a degree. Have you ever considered online college classes? I don't know what might be available where you are, but I've done several as well as on campus classes without living there (my school is so small, they don't even have dorms) and commuted back and forth. You can always start with one in a subject you are interested in and see what you think. Good luck!

All the information is in books and on line. The expensive piece of paper says that you can at least contrive to answer questions on a topic, but mainly that you can swim in a sea of BS, similar to the business world. However, they are being sold to so many people now, and at such high prices, that they are not a very good investment.

And i thought , i was cynic , but painfully find myself agreeing with this post.
Awe maybe not so painfully .. having your brain clogged with indoctrinated ideas can be questionable but am sure that could be sorted by most people seeking to engage in university level of educations. Just my humble opinion.

I had a very similar apprehension of how it would be if I'd gone to university, so I didn't go. I might have gone if they'd offered me a place in my home town on a relatively easy course, but the idea of massive academic expectations in a new town miles away from my girlfriend, my friends, and all the things I was used to, just seemed way too risky and uncomfortable.

I don't know if the situation is different in the UK than in the US, and I wouldn't want to advise anybody to go or not to go to university, but in my own case I've never felt any great regret about ducking out. I got myself a job that was (arguably) below my maximum academic potential but it got the money coming in and it was enough for me to get a mortgage on a reasonably nice house (my wife at the time was on a similar economic level so we were a double-income couple). Of course that was a long time ago and maybe it was easier to make ends meet in those days. But to this day I've never felt badly short of money, in spite of abandoning my first career and going back to the same kind of work after a break of a couple of years.

I was good at my job(s), which were in universities, though I wasn't an "academic" as they call the higher-up ones in the UK, I was "technical staff." I enjoyed a lot of the work, it was good and nerdy and I got to use clever equipment. Frankly I didn't envy the academics, especially in my later years in the workplace, they seemed to have to work too hard and there seemed to be an expectation on them to "do whatever it took," which to me smacked of working too hard. I was happier with reasonably fixed working hours, I didn't like the idea of giving up my free time in the hope of the bosses condescending to reward me at some point if they felt like it. I worked quite hard myself when I got immersed in the science of it, but there is a limit, and I've never really defined myself by my employment. My jobs were pretty safe from redundancy and getting the sack. So I felt I was in a lower-stress environment - I'm not saying I never got stressed out, far from it, but compared to an academic post I think I had it pretty easy in terms of pressure.

One wife suggested I tried to get a degree by working on it in my spare time. But I didn't take her advice. Again, I just didn't want to bust a gut to "better myself," I didn't want to sacrifice the spare time in which I could mess about with my special interests where I was my own boss. The subject would have been biochemistry, and although it interests me, the thought of fathoming and understanding the whole subject just seems too hard. I hated my last few years at school, and performed progressively worse than previously, for much the same reason. Don't get me started on the notion of taking on student loans.

Those were the primary fears way back then . Running alongside that was quite a high degree of social anxiety. In more recent times ,well in the last 20 years or so, there has been the realisation that the term 'learning difficulty' could be applied to me .

Truth is my practical i.e daily living skills have never been that good . There's a lot more involved than just having the academic ability in going to university .

This is one of the best articles I've come across that I can identify with .

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog ... ght-person

It's been questioned as to how I manage to function with the low non-verbal intelligence I have . On my own without support- not well at all .

Going to University online eliminates many of these problems.

You can usually “go” on your own schedule, even though you still have to complete assignments according to a set schedule. You don’t have to interact in person with other students or the instructor.

As a result of this Pandemic, I believe there will be a proliferation of online University courses and degree programs.

Went to college at the normal college age. Was able to ease into it by first going to the county community two year college (all commuting school, no housing for residents), and then going to the state University, and could commute from home for a while before got to live away from home with roommates near the campus in the last years. Went okay.

Plenty of bachelor degree holders unemployed and underemployed

Some high school graduates $$$$$

All things equal it is better to go to college than not go

All things are not equal

College is overrated

me too

think am not qualified to socially/ healthwise to deal with university , might look into online someday,

You don’t have to be a social butterfly to succeed in higher education.