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Any college graduate aspies here?

F

ftfipps

Well-Known Member
I plan on going back to school in August. I made the deans list at community college so I think I will do fine. It's working and following orders from someone that I suck at. My teachers in college looked at my papers and said, "...You wrote this?" haha. ;p What freaking major should I choose? I am terrible at math and I'll get to that one day. I am an insanely gifted writer if that helps. I was great at biology in school. I am a good at arguing politics. I love british literature.

How was your college experience? How has college enriched your life?
 
I enjoyed college a lot more than high school. My diagnosis allowed me to be in an extra time room for my exams and I got monthly talks with my student counsellor for the first months.

I still meet up with my old project group every one in a while, and my degree got me a very nice job for the time being.
 
Assuming that college (USA) = university (UK), being at university was better than being at high school, once I'd moved away ftom the noisier hall of residents, I was still very socially naive and emotionally immature, had depression and suspected eating disorder and nearly quit, but by my final year I had managed to make a couple of friends.
 
Sounds like you are a very creative person.
Following what you like helps a lot in education,
but at the same time thinking of something that will
be of use in getting a job/career is important too.
I took arts and science.
Loved arts but it was more of an advocation than
a vocation so the sciences won out and I took studies
in the medical field which were also of interest.

As far as the social part of college, it was really no better for me. I lived close to a major University so I didn't have to live on campus. The studies were much more satisfying than high school. But, I remained not into the social scenes.
 
I chose a campus university and I also had zero social skills and was out of my depth. I did a degree in philosophy no that's not a useful one...o_O but I liked it. I coped in my own way reading a lot etc. Managed to get myself a friend or two and a relationship by the second year. Then year 3 spent part of most weeks off campus in London with the partner. Subsequently I took a one year teaching top up that's been useful. And in my 40s I trained as a counsellor did a Masters and some additional trainings. I have always been in work of some kind. I hope you enjoy it, and choose a course that interests you, ideally with some relevance to future work of some kind, maybe? :)
 
SameStars said:
I enjoyed college a lot more than high school. My diagnosis allowed me to be in an extra time room for my exams and I got monthly talks with my student counsellor for the first months.

I still meet up with my old project group every one in a while, and my degree got me a very nice job for the time being.
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Our skills as aspies should HELP us in a lot of ways as well as cause us challenges that I kind of enjoy. Growing up, I never had issues with social skills. Everybody at school loved me. I had significant others, I played 3 sports, I was in several bands(at the same time in some cases). I was in plays, musicals and all county chorus and sang in the choir at my church! I never had problems with social skills until I had to take orders from people in the workforce. Then my creative mind had to adapt to repetitive tasks. What job did you go into if you don't mind me asking?
 
SusanLR said:
Sounds like you are a very creative person.
Following what you like helps a lot in education,
but at the same time thinking of something that will
be of use in getting a job/career is important too.
I took arts and science.
Loved arts but it was more of an advocation than
a vocation so the sciences won out and I took studies
in the medical field which were also of interest.

As far as the social part of college, it was really no better for me. I lived close to a major University so I didn't have to live on campus. The studies were much more satisfying than high school. But, I remained not into the social scenes.
Click to expand...

I am an insanely creative person. The two things that I would consider would be some sort of teacher or a specialized nurse like a cardiac nurse that makes 60k a year. I don't mind social events if I have a reason to be talking to people. Not just awkwardly stammering at someone I don't know, which really isn't that bad, either.
 
I'm in the UK, we don't necessarily "Graduate" from College over here, well we do from University but only the very best of the best end up there.

Although to be fair I did finish College with 2 NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) certificates in Retail at levels 1 and 2, a basic food hygiene certificate, and 2 RSAs in typing.
 
I have an associate degree in liberal arts and a bachelors degree in totalitarian systems and constitutional law. Writing skills count. ;) With a minor in geography. Not particularly practical relative to difficult job markets. One math class as a freshman and that was that...never had math again until I went to work in finance. :eek:

Though that said, ever head of "Government/Broadcast Journalism" or "communications" majors ? Something to consider in putting your writing skills to work.
 
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Rich Allen said:
I'm in the UK, we don't necessarily "Graduate" from College over here, well we do from University but only the very best of the best end up there.

Although to be fair I did finish College with 2 NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) certificates in Retail at levels 1 and 2, a basic food hygiene certificate, and 2 RSAs in typing.
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Rich, I remember you saying you were planning on going back to school. Is college free in the ol' UK like it is in other parts of Europe?
 
Judge said:
I have an associate degree in liberal arts and a bachelors degree in totalitarian systems and constitutional law. Writing skills count. ;) With a minor in geography. Not particularly practical relative to difficult job markets.

Though that said, ever head of "Government/Broadcast Journalism" or "communications" majors ? Something to consider in putting your writing skills to work.
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All that sound rad to me. Constitutional law in particular. Law is an oversaturated market I heard. My passion is writing reviews of things. I'll have to look into Journalism.
 
ftfipps said:
All that sound rad to me. Constitutional law in particular. Law is an oversaturated market I heard. My passion is writing reviews of things. I'll have to look into Journalism.
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True...if you're planning to become a lawyer you might as well be an artist instead. Though in my case I never gave much thought to it. Only later I thought about paralegal work, but decided to pass on that.

Originally I wanted to work for the government, but the government well...they wanted me for something I wasn't quite interested in. Wound up in insurance instead. Later to go onto web design. Go figure. But that's life...no guarantees about what work you end up with.
 
ftfipps said:
I plan on going back to school in August. I made the deans list at community college so I think I will do fine. It's working and following orders from someone that I suck at. My teachers in college looked at my papers and said, "...You wrote this?" haha. ;p What freaking major should I choose? I am terrible at math and I'll get to that one day. I am an insanely gifted writer if that helps. I was great at biology in school. I am a good at arguing politics. I love british literature.

How was your college experience? How has college enriched your life?
Click to expand...

Consider a career where you can be your own boss if you do well with everything except following orders from someone.
 
Oh and also a word to the wise- pick a large University that has many , many possible majors. When I got to grad school, I discovered majors I had never even heard of like environmental studies.
 
Judge said:
True...if you're planning to become a lawyer you might as well be an artist instead. Though in my case I never gave much thought to it. Only later I thought about paralegal work, but decided to pass on that.

Originally I wanted to work for the government, but the government well...they wanted me for something I wasn't quite interested in. Wound up in insurance instead. Later to go onto web design. Go figure. But that's life...no guarantees about what work you end up with.
Click to expand...

Dr. Michio Kaku said paralegals will be obsolete in 30 years! I just hope I can get through college. It has been a few years since I was in school.
 
For me, college was easier than high school. For starters, I was treated like an adult in a fresh venue, got away from the school and town where I was bullied since kindergarten. And it was easier because it was more specialized in the things I was already good at. The obvious choice for me since I was a kid was to be an engineer. So I went, worked extra hard, did 1.5x the full time class load, got my associates degree, and got out. Unfortunately back then they didn't offer anything beyond an associates degree in this area, like they do now. And we could barely afford the place I went as it is. But I'm not going back now, I've learned more from 20+ years on the job.
 
tlc said:
For me, college was easier than high school. For starters, I was treated like an adult in a fresh venue, got away from the school and town where I was bullied since kindergarten. And it was easier because it was more specialized in the things I was already good at. The obvious choice for me since I was a kid was to be an engineer. So I went, worked extra hard, did 1.5x the full time class load, got my associates degree, and got out. Unfortunately back then they didn't offer anything beyond an associates degree in this area, like they do now. And we could barely afford the place I went as it is. But I'm not going back now, I've learned more from 20+ years on the job.
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Good lord, you were bullied since kindergarten? I can't imagine that. I get more **** from people now than I ever did growing up. I completely understand about getting away from the town you grew up in. It is so great that you always wanted to be an engineer. I always wanted to be a musician, where you have a 1 in 50 million chance of making any money at.
 
ftfipps said:
Good lord, you were bullied since kindergarten? I can't imagine that. I get more **** from people now than I ever did growing up. I completely understand about getting away from the town you grew up in. It is so great that you always wanted to be an engineer. I always wanted to be a musician, where you have a 1 in 50 million chance of making any money at.
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For me it was worse in school. Typical town of 400 people, everything depended on your last name. Was born with a defect that made me very small so that didn't help. I'm normal size now, so these days I only feel bullied by authority figures. Anybody else I'm just unable to associate well.

I have a lot of generations of musicians in my family and I wanted to be one too. Been playing bass for over 25 years. Too much pressure to get paid to play (not that I ever would have anyway), so I either play for free or play at home.
 
did a masters in applied economic sciences with a minor in international economic and diplomatic relations, did a masterclass in corporate finance years later, really interesting but still socially awkward :)

loved the learning, hated the exam stress, while socially uncomfortable the whole time
 
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