Who is actually happy with their education/degree/job?

[Lucrezia Duchessa]

Also, how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

If you don't want to answer that, then how many times have you changed degrees and/or jobs?

As for me, I am currently a third-year in industrial engineering, and I'm always on the edge of falling into severe depression. And please don't try to convince me to switch out.

[Lucrezia Duchessa]

@Antigone I am also 20 but still far away from finishing my degree, and I had a friend who is majoring in English... I like your relaxed attitude concerning the future, I was just killing myself from October to the beginning of January thinking about paying off student loans x_x. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of a job do you think you'd be interested in once you graduate?

@Gethin What a cool degree! What got you interested in kinesiology, if I may ask? And what kind of a job do you think you'd be interested in after your Masters?

@Jessica (Queen Dopamine) My depression has to do with my studies and my lack of a social life. The former, I have been aware of since I started, whilst the latter I have also been aware of but really started to care (a lot more than usual about) quite recently, to the point that I spend my hours immersed in self-loathing because I started striving to be a reject in order to be "special" from a very early age (though in some grades, I still had a lot of friends). This "reject" persona stuck with me and continues to stick to the point that even though I desperately want to connect with people, I... can't.

School is especially awful now because I had to take the first semester of my third year off, and the way the courses for my degree works is that:

- in first year, you are a general engineer, so your classes have 500 students in them.
- in second year, you are a mechanical engineer, so your classes have 300 students in them.
- in third year, you start specializing in industrial engineering, so your classes have.................... 40 students in them.

These 40 students bonded and got to know each other very well last semester, when I wasn't there. So now everyone's like, Why are you here? Are you even an industrial engineer? Though most of them don't voice it.

I feel like a big coward because all I have to do is be friendly, but I have no idea what to say, and to be honest I'm not terribly in sync with the kind of jokes the people in class make.

What do you mean by "a minor in writing"? Is it like creative writing? Also, if you don't mind me asking, do you feel any disconnect from peers in your classes?

Thank you so much for your idea, I will try to do it this weekend.

@greyartist That sounds like the ideal job to me. When I got into engineering, someone close to me (who thinks extremely little of me) was privately telling someone else that I should go into something that will involve me sitting in a cubicle and I rebelled against that even though I knew in my heart that he was right. A similar incident happened when another person close to me confronted me about how I was going into my degree.

I wonder what I'm going to do now. But talking about these things (which I'm too afraid to do with my mum and sisters) is really helping me :). Thank you, all.

[greyartist]

I do textile design on a PC so I don't have to deal with people much, which I like. I can just zone out and work with headphones on. I am 48

[Queen Dopamine]

Would you say that your depression is related to your school work, or perhaps other factors you feel are out of control?

I will share with you that I am 25 and I am STILL in school for my first bachelor's degree. A lot has happened, haha. I am going for an English degree with a minor in writing. I wanted to change it several times, but over the course of my life, I realized writing is what I want to do. I'm a part-time writer now for freelance work, but I want to be a columnist/full-time staff contributor at a newspaper, magazine, or online publication. An English degree will help me do that, along with the writing experience.

If you're feeling burnt out, like you lack direction and motivation, and that your depression is related to your field, you can try something that I like to do: I get out a notebook and I write down things I'm legitimately good at and things I really like. I include non-tangible traits like being compassionate, as well as tangible ones, like writing. I include hobbies (video making) and interests (volunteering with children) until I just have a nice list of things I like doing/that I'm good at. Once I take stock of that, I evaluate if any of these things are simply side hobbies or interests (for instance, I like cognitive science/neuroscience, but I don't want a degree in it), and if any of them are legitimate careers. Writing is something I'm not only passionate about and good at, but it's something I want to do every day. It's something I now DO every day. I don't get paid a full-time wage yet, but I still do it every day and receive small compensation because I love it. 

School will burn you out quick. But if you're doing something you love in your spare time, especially if it relates to your field, it is much easier to trudge through it. 

[Gethin]

When I was finished high school I went to university for four years and received my BSc.. I worked for a year in my field of study (kinesiology), then started doing a Master's degree this past September

I enjoyed my BSc. and am enjoying my Master's so far. I have never questioned my field of education.

I am 23 years old. 

[Lucrezia Duchessa]

@Tinkerbell. I am truly happy for you... so do you have two degrees (retail and mental health)? How did you find going back to school (socially, personally), if you don't mind me asking?

[Tinkerbell]

I am now.  Before I used to work in retail and I found it so soul destroying, I had been in the job for years and I wasn't moving forward at all.  Now I work in mental health and as a part time model.  I love both jobs :-).  They are seriously two of the best things which could have happened to me in my life I am I grateful .