Oh no

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I enrolled in a course in mass communications. I did it under my parent's advice, "because I write well." But my social skills are poor and this course has a lot of public speaking, and the people there all form cliques and play class politics. I always wanted to enroll in an arts course and be an artist when I grow up but now I don't know if i can without the proper credentials. I don't think I like journalism very much and I absolutely hate advertising.

I am going to fail and drop out but my parents do not care. The think this course is right for me.

Please help I feel scared and trapped and I feel like commiting suicide

Do not give up. You can survive and make it. I believe in you! Do not kill yourself or else I will do the same!

RadioHead, often, our parents think they know what's best for us, but the truth is, they're only right maybe 50% of the time. If you can not convince them to switch courses, then just try to stick it out, and hopefully they'll see that this is not the right field for you. This is just one class, not rest of your life, suicide isn't an answer.

That is true.

I'm not sure if I can stick out in this environment for 3 years

What have you said to your parents about this? Why are they still convinced you should stay?

Deleted

Radiohead,

How frustrating. But suicide isn't the answer either.

Does your school have a career center you could use? If you so, perhaps you can ask for career testing to see what fields you would do well in. With that in hand, it might be easier to convince your parents that the road you are on just isn't working. If not, do you have a councilor or neighbor or someone who can convince your parents to see your side of this?

Hang in there.

BeeBee

i ran into a similar problem in high school with chemistry. i ended up just going into every class and putting my head down on the table because i knew i couldn't do it and i didn't want to.

eventually, i worked up the nerve to talk to the teacher - he understood completely, and talked to the principal for me, who allowed me to withdraw with no penalties and without getting my mom involved.

parents are very helpful, but sometimes you have to make your own decisions. you know if it's not right for you, and if it's making you feel suicidal, it's not right for you.

Don't do that. Hang in there. Get help if needed.

Try talking to the teacher. There may be alternatives to the public speaking, or he/she may be able to get some group work in place where people can get to know you. Otherwise, your choices are either to deal or drop it. I have dealt with a similar environment in my drama class for three years, and I had to tell myself everyday that it was helping me understand what others' gestures meant. Right now, I have three friends in that class and I know it's good for me. If it weren't for the fact I know it's good for me, I would have dropped it.

Just sit back and ask yourself "In what ways will this help me? Are the benefits actually worth it?" Make a list, if the answer's no, drop it.

I agree with much of what has been said in this thread. I did a degree in Business and Management. I didn't know I had AS. There was one person I got on well with out of around 600 in the department, I struggled to stay interested in the course, all that kept me going was the goal of a decently paid job at the end of it. Needless to say as I don't understand office politics and dislike being told what to do by idiots, my career was stressful and very shortlived. I say, if you don't think it would work for you after graduation, change your course before wasting any more time and mental stress.

Dunc

edited for typos

Hang in there! It gets better once you are able to just focus on your major. I say, go with what you want. I wish I would have majored in Art History, or History, or Anthropology, but I majored in Government, b/c I thought I would become a lawyer. I quit after my first year of law school, b/c being a lawyer clearly is not something I should be doing.

Office/department politics are the worst. I have no energy for that kind of stuff and it is hard to keep track of who you are not supposed to be chummy with and what professors are going to make your life hell...

My advice is to remain detached from the politics, focus on your studies, when you pick a path, and if people try to pull you into gossip, just say, "I have no opinion on that person, b/c they have never done anything to me." I started using that catch phrase when I was in 8th grade and it really kept me away from a lot of the more harmful gossip. I didn't have to hear it and it wasn't about me. When I was about to graduate from University, several of my fellow students and professors commented on how they knew they could trust me to listen to them and not repeat what was said, b/c I never gossiped.

Good luck, your parents really want what they think is best, but don't get caught up in their beliefs. If you want to be an artist do it, just be aware that artists can be viscious and gossipy just like in any other department. Study something that you would love to develop a life-long attachment to.

That is my advice anyway,

Tallgirl.

If it makes you feel any better, credentials are nearly irrelevant for becoming an artist. In the professional world, the first and sometimes only thing people look at is your portfolio. Nobody cares what courses you've taken and few care if or where you went to college. So if you can work on your art skills and develop them outside of class, it'll probably serve you better than taking an arts course anyway.

is there any way you can change your course? i cannot imagine what it's like to have been bullied into doing the mass communication thing, cos that's what it sounds like (apologies if that's wrong). what an awful position to be in - my heart goes out to you. keep breathing for the time being, until you have enough of a space to be able to think again.

and keep checking in here - after all, there's never any shortage of advice, and there are plenty of people rooting for you.

mx

I got pushed into university by my mum and went along with it because I didn't know what else to do and it was 'family tradition' 'expected of me' and all the rest of that crap. 3 years later, I snapped, had a severe depressive episode, dropped out and am only slowly recovering. Unfortunately, if you do drop out, they'll probably demand that you start working or find another course when having some time to figure things out would be far more productive.