Giving up on uni. [ huge rant]

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In September of this 'school year' I started my Cultural Anthropology course at university.
Within 2 months I started getting the feeling that this was not for me.
However, because I found a bunch of subjects quite interesting (mostly the introduction to Cultural Anthropology itself and the 'methods of research' class we got) I just plugged on even though it's been with great difficulty.

I can't finish assignments on time, so hardly ever make the deadline. I've failed all my tests so far..
I have trouble picking up readers and such from the university's copyshop... it takes me weeks, sometimes months before I can get the courage to do so, even though they are needed to stay on track with the classes.


On top of that, I found out there's this mandatory assignment we have to do that's causing me a lot of worry.
We have to interview people at a fast food restaurant. Just the thought of having to find the fast food place is making my stomach turn.
I don't do well going to new places at all.
Not to mention approaching all those people.

All this failing and scrambling around has made my self-esteem go down the drain.
My motivation to succeed is gone as well.

This semester I've been skipping so much classes that I'm behind with all of my coursework.

And I just want to give up.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a talk with my student adviser, who's going to be disappointed in me as well as I was supposed to contact her months ago about getting special help for my Asperger's syndrome*. And perhaps if i had gone there earlier, I wouldn't be writing this post.
But anyway, it's too late to fix this mess I'm in so the only thing I can think of right now is quitting and find something that I can actually do.


I'm completely lost right now though.
I have no idea what my capacities are or what course I could successfully finish.

I am starting to realize I'm not the adventurer I always thought myself to be.
I'm not the kind of person who enjoys interviewing people and who likes to go out on the streets to hold surveys or to phone people and ask them questions. So I suppose something that focuses less on social relations etc. would be better for me... but what?

I also found that I like a mix of practice and theory, whereas at uni, about 80% of the classes are theoretical.
I need to do things to be able to understand them ( e.g. when I did the pastry course I'd learn about baking cookies and then I'd bake them, or in high school, we'd get some theory about math explained and then we'd do the corresponding math exercises etc.).

If I quit now, I have at least 5-7 months to work on a plan B
Though my parents are not going to agree with me quitting. They keep telling me I'm giving up too fast and whatnot due to my history ( it took me 2 years longer to finish highschool ( though I don't see what that has to do with giving up) + I only finished 1 year of a pastry course as the level of teaching was too low for me and the bakery internship was too stressful for me).

But I really don't know what to do:\


[/rant]

* I didn't get diagnosed until October 2009.

I have had this problem too.The major I chose for my degree faded my initial enthusiasm after a few months.Then it was more like dragging myself too much.I could not give in neither can I give up.more like hanging a sword over my head by a thread.
for you,I think its not that late to change your courses.if it does not interest you then there is no benefit in sticking to it.If u have some other course/major you like to move to then you should do that.There is nothing more painful than doing things that one don't enjoy.
as per little experience that's what I think.

Have you thought about maybe doing college online? Then you don't have to worry about the people and you could probably even get your textbooks through Amazon.

It may not be too late. Sometime you just need to quit, reform, and start again. Sometimes things in life become such a mess that it is better to just discard the mess and start over. Trying to correct something that is already messed up beyond repair can be a waste of time, and may make things worse.

I don't think you should give up. Talk to the counselor/adviser for classes and explain how things are going bad, take responsibility, and ask if there is a way to either change classes or just do a "roll back". Think of a server or computer, it got corrupted so you roll it back to an earlier point. You may lose some data, but you can start fresh and avoid the same mistakes

You can always go back to school and try a different major if this one doesn't work for you. Maybe you should take some time off and just keep that in the back of your mind. That is what I did. =)

Thanks everyone..

I don't think I'm cut out for Cultural Anthropology and especially not at this level ( university), I think I'd fare much better if I'd take it down a notch.
Perhaps I'll be studying 'below my level', but at least I'll know I'll be able to make it without too much stress.
Though I will be discussing all this again with a student counselor next week, I think. And I'll also do a test to see what my capacities are and what interests I could combine with what course etc.

I'm not really into the 'taking classes' online thing... and I don't think many schools here provide such an option anyway.
Even though my social skills suck, I don't hate being around people ( obviously there are exceptions like when it gets too crowded, but overall I don't seem to mind)
And besides that, even though it's stressful every now and then, going to school is one of the few times I'll go outside voluntarily...
otherwise I'll end up cooped up in my room 24/7, which is not an ideal situation, in my opinion.


Anyway.
I discussed some stuff with my mum.
I was thinking that perhaps a course like Computer Science'd be better ( the more technical side of Computer Science).
There's a lot of theory, but you would need to apply the theory if you'd want to learn anything.
So there's a nice bit of practice as well.

The only thing that'd be holding me down is the 'Math' part of CS.
In high school I got very little math ( the basics of graphs/matrices/those ( 2x-x / x^2-2x+1) type sums... but I got
mostly statistics and probability), so I'd really have to work hard at learning calculus, algorithms and whatnot.
But I have 7 months to do that and to figure out if I could pull off CS or whether I should pick something else... so if I'd put in around 1200 hours of studying math, I might make it and if not, by that time I hope I'll have figured myself out.

Really for comp sci you don't need to be a math wiz. It helps, but is not 100% needed.

All the best to you no matter what you do!

Don't give up on learning. Could you maybe talk to your professor about why this assignment is difficult for you? Maybe he/she can help you or make an exception.

If there's something that truly interests you though, I know you'll be able to do it in a way that accomodates your needs. Look into career options within your major and see if there's something that suits you that you can maybe tailor your program to, with different courses and advising and whatnot.

If it turns out that the program is not right for you, there's no harm in switching! I'm sure there's something out there that will spark your interest. Best of luck!

I bet a bunch of people will lambast me for this, but I say drop out of college. It's not going to get any easier (or better). Also, with your major, it's a waste of time and money, because you're not going to find a job with it (unless you get a PhD probably). Not to mention that I guarantee you would be able to learn it better and quicker on your own. It doesn't sound like college is for you at all.

Try joining a trade union if you can. You'll start out making about $18/hr, which will only go up as you learn more. As retail clerks start losing their jobs, you'll keep yours. People aren't going to stop needing plumbers, after all.

I agree with the post above --- for implying that cultural anthropology may not have much economic value to carry on if you aren't interested in the course.

However, it'll be nice if you find an area of interest and work hard on it. Although money is a main concern... I believe if you're not that social, why bother to do things that you may not like if you're not interested --- I see that you're quite interested in computing or humanities. Yeah, you can change and it would take a much longer time, but never give up on learning on your passions yeah.