wow, a quitter, can’t follow through, you guys are really really getting personal here. i’m not saying i am going to stop. i am going to stop if it won’t serve me in REI, which i don’t think it will.
i am not closing doors, i can always just go right back and get my degree if i want.
seriously tho, just laugh at me and think i’ll fail if you want to, but keep it to yourself. if i do i do, end of story and you were right; being negative and telling me i’m wrong or dumb isn’t going to change my mind. i’m not asking if you guys think it is a good idea (or looking for approval or support as somebody here claimed), most people think most of my ideas are dumb. on the other hand, i am doing much better than most people i know, so i do things my way and it works for me.
the way i see it, my pros of taking leave from my school:
PRO: save 8K in tuition
PRO: make at least 4K working that i wouldn’t have made if i took classes
PRO: keep my job, so i will have provable income of ~30K/year when i go looking for my first place in jan/feb '07
CON: no degree in hand to put on resumes
CON: negative connotations of being a dropout
CON: lost knowledge that otherwise would have been obtained by last two semesters
as far as those cons go, respectively: it doesn’t appear i will need a resume to prove anything in REI, negative connotations don’t bother me because i am criticized on many other things i do and other’s opinions of who i am do not bother me, and the lost knowledge is very minimal in terms of significance to my goals in life (and i will use that time for REI studies, so that actually makes that one a con).
i am really open to objections based upon how it would negatively affect me in REI. calling me a quitter without knowing who i am is pretty lame. if i make a decision that i believe is a better strategy, i am doing it because i honestly belive that, not because i am afraid of doing two more semesters at my school. so let’s leave that stuff out, and also whoever mentioned that i would have wasted those years i already spent, that is irrelevant, they are now a ‘sunken cost’. if, as of today, pursuing the degree further would hurt my REI goals, then it is a dumb move for me to do, no matter how many years were already vested. think of those as years vested in the wrong way, spending more years towards something i will not use is just wasting more too.
(if anyone really feels i’m making a horrible, horrible decision you can feel free to pm me, just post that you did in this thread, i dunno if it auto-alerts, and i will tell you a bit more about who i am and what i’m about. but let’s try to keep this STRICTLY in terms of how having the degree or not will affect me in REI, as REI is what i am pursuing, and i don’t really have interest in putting my goals in life aside for something that at best will be a crutch if i fail.)