Home› Life Skills

My disappointing college experiences

[Deleted User][Deleted User]
in Life Skills

I had to take mandatory remedial math courses for my first tenure (2008 and 2009) since I didn’t pass the math part of the accuplacer as well as a mandatory English class despite how I made good grades in the subject in school. I passed the English course but flunked the math course so I had to take it again. I did a psychology course during the summer of ‘08 along with the math course and my struggles with math made me struggle with the psychology course. I was also crestfallen to see a guy with a shirt his girlfriend gave him with an anime bunny girl and had the words “I 

icon_heartgif

 Hentai” on it. My mother always attacked me for wanting to be an individual and said women didn’t like “perverted men” but this guy was the opposite of me and was succeeding while I was struggling. I flunked the math course again. During the last part of that year, I took a design art course along with the math again. Because of my work schedule, I could only do two courses at a time. I didn’t do well in the art design course and flunked the math course yet again. 


After that, I just solely focused on the math course until I could pass it and never worry about it again. But I got burned out when I finally did. I was also depressed because I didn’t get a girlfriend like so many told me I would and my first attempts at dating sites were exasperating. I didn’t want to go for a winter semester course and dropped out. 


A year later, I tried doing both a history course and sociology course but I had to drop the former because I showed up at the wrong times for it and missed a lot of information so I stuck with the sociology course. I thought I was doing well in it and the professor was familiar with autism but my grade was subpar. I didn’t go back until 2014 and took a music appreciation course. Somehow during my original tenure, I also had some personal guitar lessons that weren’t a course per se but I still got some credits. I passed the music appreciation course but I was still disappointed I wasn’t making strides in socialization. In 2015, I had a digital art and an online health course paid for me but I dropped both due to missing some assignments and I got depressed again. 


In 2017, I took a history course and I passed it but I was still upset I didn’t make new friends or get a girlfriend. This was also when I tried to get a club started in hopes of meeting fellow readers and maybe do some creative writing but the requirement for getting a club was unrealistic. I tried to do a summer course for Composition but I dropped on the first day because we had to do a day one assignment and I unintentionally fell asleep during the first presentation due to the professor shutting off the room lights and the film projector light made me sleepy. The fact it was a night class and I had just gotten off work didn’t help. 


I tried the Composition course again near the end of 2019. I passed it but I was the “old man” of the students in the course since most were getting out of high school. 

Last year, I did both the online health course I initially dropped and a Biology course. I passed both but the former was disappointing since no one wanted to be my friend even in the online chatroom and the Biology course made me suffer a mental breakdown.


Some frequently asked questions:


Could you get a tutor? - I inquired about tutoring services but they were only available when I had to go to work and they refused to change their hours. 


Did you get any disability services? - I did but they weren’t helpful. They just made me sit in an empty room to do tests but wouldn’t let me use a calculator for math ones despite needing one for my math difficulties.


Did anyone try to befriend you? - Two people did but I was too self-conscious about my struggles to keep contact with them. One of the two also had hostile vibes about him. 


What major did you want? - I didn’t have one in mind. I was told to just get an Associate’s Degree and I would have to take multiple unrelated courses instead of branching out and figuring out who I wanted to be. 


Why couldn’t you form a club? - The college had a list of clubs and I thought they were always open but I found out they aren’t open unless there is interest and I was told to ask people if they wanted to start up one of the clubs. This was unrealistic because of my anxiety issues and most people on the campus were looking into their cellphones not wanting to socialize physically. 

Comments

  • Mona_PerethMona_Pereth Citizen
    Markness said:

    Why couldn’t you form a club? - The college had a list of clubs and I thought they were always open but I found out they aren’t open unless there is interest and I was told to ask people if they wanted to start up one of the clubs. This was unrealistic because of my anxiety issues and most people on the campus were looking into their cellphones not wanting to socialize physically. 


    Obviously, you couldn't have just approached random people.  Did you consider the option of getting permission to set up a table with a sign somewhere on campus?  That way, interested people would be approaching you rather than vice versa.

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Mona_Pereth said:
    Markness said:

    Why couldn’t you form a club? - The college had a list of clubs and I thought they were always open but I found out they aren’t open unless there is interest and I was told to ask people if they wanted to start up one of the clubs. This was unrealistic because of my anxiety issues and most people on the campus were looking into their cellphones not wanting to socialize physically. 


    Obviously, you couldn't have just approached random people.  Did you consider the option of getting permission to set up a table with a sign somewhere on campus?  That way, interested people would be approaching you rather than vice versa.

    That never crossed my mind. The person in charge of the clubs only gave me one option and she also seemed dismissive of my presence. Oddly, she formed three clubs a month or so later on. One was for the NAACP, the other LULAC, and the last one was for Baptist Christians. I don’t get the last one since Baptists are the majority here and they already have countless churches so why would they need a club? 
  • Mona_PerethMona_Pereth Citizen
    edited March 2021
    Markness said:
    Mona_Pereth said:
    Markness said:

    Why couldn’t you form a club? - The college had a list of clubs and I thought they were always open but I found out they aren’t open unless there is interest and I was told to ask people if they wanted to start up one of the clubs. This was unrealistic because of my anxiety issues and most people on the campus were looking into their cellphones not wanting to socialize physically. 


    Obviously, you couldn't have just approached random people.  Did you consider the option of getting permission to set up a table with a sign somewhere on campus?  That way, interested people would be approaching you rather than vice versa.

    That never crossed my mind. The person in charge of the clubs only gave me one option and she also seemed dismissive of my presence. Oddly, she formed three clubs a month or so later on. One was for the NAACP, the other LULAC, and the last one was for Baptist Christians. I don’t get the last one since Baptists are the majority here and they already have countless churches so why would they need a club? 

    What kind of club did you want to form?

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Mona_Pereth said:
    Markness said:
    Mona_Pereth said:
    Markness said:

    Why couldn’t you form a club? - The college had a list of clubs and I thought they were always open but I found out they aren’t open unless there is interest and I was told to ask people if they wanted to start up one of the clubs. This was unrealistic because of my anxiety issues and most people on the campus were looking into their cellphones not wanting to socialize physically. 


    Obviously, you couldn't have just approached random people.  Did you consider the option of getting permission to set up a table with a sign somewhere on campus?  That way, interested people would be approaching you rather than vice versa.

    That never crossed my mind. The person in charge of the clubs only gave me one option and she also seemed dismissive of my presence. Oddly, she formed three clubs a month or so later on. One was for the NAACP, the other LULAC, and the last one was for Baptist Christians. I don’t get the last one since Baptists are the majority here and they already have countless churches so why would they need a club? 

    What kind of club did you want to form?

    Out of all the clubs I saw on the college’s list, the only one I saw that I could’ve been a part of would’ve been the English club. I thought I would meet fellow readers and maybe do creative writing. The college is also supposed to have a creative writing course but it’s never available when I enquire about it. 

    I didn’t think I could start up a club not on the college’s list. Maybe I could’ve but not through the method the shifty coordinator told me to do so. I tend to think she didn’t like me and wanted me to get lost. 
  • Mona_PerethMona_Pereth Citizen
    edited March 2021
    Markness said:
    Mona_Pereth said:

    What kind of club did you want to form?

    Out of all the clubs I saw on the college’s list, the only one I saw that I could’ve been a part of would’ve been the English club. I thought I would meet fellow readers and maybe do creative writing.

    Did you try asking the English department for advice and possible help with setting up this club?

    At the very least,  it seems to me that the English department would probably have allowed you to put up signs on bulletin boards in the vicinity of their office, and maybe leave a pile of leaflets on a table in their office.  Various professors might also have allowed you to visit their classes to make a brief announcement.


  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Mona_Pereth said:
    Markness said:
    Mona_Pereth said:

    What kind of club did you want to form?

    Out of all the clubs I saw on the college’s list, the only one I saw that I could’ve been a part of would’ve been the English club. I thought I would meet fellow readers and maybe do creative writing.

    Did you try asking the English department for advice and possible help with setting up this club?

    At the very least,  it seems to me that the English department would probably have allowed you to put up signs on bulletin boards in the vicinity of their office, and maybe leave a pile of leaflets on a table in their office.  Various professors might also have allowed you to visit their classes to make a brief announcement.


    I didn’t. I felt discouraged when I was shrugged off. I don’t know if that same person still works there or not but she should’ve been more helpful. 

    I was once offered to join the LGBT-Straight alliance club called True Colors but my mother opposed me joining it. She thought it would make others gossip and maybe I would be “preyed” on. 
  • BonanzaJayBonanzaJay Citizen
    Join True Colours.

    Get a rude t-shirt.

    Start a riot, wait, I mean book club.

    An English tutor might be able to put you in touch with another student who is interested in starting a club for readers and writers. That way you don't have to do it all yourself.

    Life's a bitch and making friends is hard, you might as well be yourself while you do it. (You don't need to impress your Mum, she's already your friend)
Sign In or Register to comment.