What did you do after High-school?

Went to community college and played beach volleyball at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and banged every hot blond I could find. Meanwhile, I noticed 40 year olds were doing the same thing. So I need to get my shit together so that when I'm 40 I can come around full circle.

Live life to the fullest bro.

 

Went to Mo. Univ. -- majored in partying -- did well for 4 semesters -- decided to sit out --oops Viet Nam is going on --joined USAF --electronics schools --got married --later went back to school-- BS and MA-- now retired Network tech-- retired

 

Peaked, and immediately started my descent into being a square.

 

Went from high school to community college for 1.5 years (lower tuition costs), then transferred to University of Akron. Got my BS in Biomedical Engineering and now design, develop, and commercialize dental implants for a major dental company. 15 years in the business...

If you are planning for dentistry, do you plan on specializing in something such as OMS, Perio, Endo, etc?

As an aside, you may also look to do this in the service... I know a retired army commander who was in the service for some 20 years and got the education for free and served all over the world as an Oral Surgeon. Sounds pretty good to me...

 

I honestly have no idea what OMS, Perio, etc. is.

 

What I thought I wanted for a career after graduating high school was not what I thought I wanted after graduating college, was not what I ended up doing for a career. You will change so much in these next few years, just dont lock yourself down into any hard plans. Make mistakes and learn from them, keep an open mind, and just be curious is my advice.

 

College. Wish I wouldn’t have ever left lol. Graduated and got out in 4 university of north Texas

 

Saved money my senior year and took a year off after graduating and did some took a road trip for Ca to Tx, Co, SD, Oregon. Came back after a few months and worked a lot of different part time jobs. Went to the local community college for 2.5 years to get my general ed done and to see what i'm interested in. Always loved athletics and moving, so I went the educational route and became a PE teacher. And I love it!
I teach elementary PE and get to run around and act like a 7 year old all day. You get all the perks of being a teacher without all the paperwork. Basically I get to be the fun teacher!

 

I went into the Air Force two weeks out of high school...didnt have a clue I'd spend 20yrs...Looking back I think I would have liked to do other things but It was still a fun adventure.

 

If you have any interest in joining the military, do it. I wish I had in hindsight. I went to community college for a couple years, transferred to a school to pursue a degree in photography and ended up transferring to another school to finish the degree (BFA in photo/digital imaging). Was incredibly expensive and had it not been for the help I received financially, I'd be in a bottomless hole of debt for the rest of my life. I have friends that are and will be, it's depressing. I ended up with about $30k in loans I'm paying off monthly, got about half that left to go. Not bad considering what it could have been.

I was fortunate that I've been able to make it work for me career-wise, had a solid freelancing gig going for several years after graduation and now work full-time in house for a company (doing photo/imaging work). But I look back on my late teens/early 20's and wish I had chosen to go into the military straight out of school for a few years first. I feel like it would have set me up for more long term success than I'm looking at right now; about to turn 33 and looking at new career options that will be more supportive in the long run for me. I want to get the f*&@! out of California and my current career doesn't make that a very viable option.

 

Graduated high school at 15, screwed around for a year and then went to college for 2 semesters, took general ed and auto classes those 2 semesters and then moved 2k miles away, worked at a Ford dealer for a few months and then went back to college, graduated with an associates degree in Welding and Cutting technology.
Currently Co-owner/operator of an equipment business with my dad and a rural mail carrier, I would like to keep both current jobs and become a part time deputy at the local SO as well.

 

I graduated this year, becoming a pharmacy tech for now

 

I graduated HS in May of 89. Left for navy boot camp in August. I went into the Naval Nuclear Power program and became a nuclear electrician. My initial enlistment was six years due to the length of the school. I got out after six years and started off in semi conductor manufacturing. After a few years of that I became an operator at a commercial nuclear power plant. I am now a control center supervisor for a large utility. I joined the military because I didn't have the money for school. It was the best decision I could have made. I have had a variety of great jobs in different industries. All using the education and skills I received in the Navy. I never went back to college. I can't imagine being 22 years old with $150,000 in debt.

 

Did a year in community college. Most of my instructors were underemployed architects and engineers. The school dropped my course of study a year in, so I looked to the military. Got disqualified during MEPS due to being born blind in one eye (they would have let me slide if I agreed to take a Military Intelligence MOS, I was hardheaded and demanded infantry). I never went back to school, but bounced around a few different jobs ranging from screen printing to asset protection/site security to non-emergency transport. In the meantime, I volunteered with the fire department and planned to take that career path. I started working at a blood plasma center in 1996 then burned my lungs up pretty bad during the wildfires here in 1998, so that tossed my fire service plans down the tubes. I'm still working in the plasma industry, though I've had a few detours into non-profit blood banking, construction, and working for a sports bar, Harley-Davidson, and NASCAR along the way. I'm on a path to (hopefully) be a VP in the next 2-3 years and plan to retire from the company I'm with now.

I guess the bottom line is, if your dreams require college, go for it, but also know that with the right drive, dedication, and work ethic, you can make things happen without a piece of paper on the wall.

 

My only advice is this:

Set a list of goals.
Wake up everyday and ask yourself what you can do to achieve those goals.

Keep your eye on the prize while goofing off and enjoying life. Remember we work to live we don’t live to work. Just make sure you don’t waste year after year living the dream only to wake up one day and realize you have not achieved a single goal. As long as you keep focused you will be still able to be young and have fun.

I have had a ton of fun in life. I didn’t get as far on some goals during my younger days but at 45 I have achieved many of my bucket list items. While others are doing a mid life crisis and looking to do the things they missed I am deciding how to do it the second time through now that I can financially do it better. I went back to motorcycle road racing last year. I have nothing to prove anyone, I already held lap records and beat future super bike champions so now I am just out to play and laugh. I have been around the world working in the second and third world by the time I was 26. I have owned my own company. My wife or I can lose our job tomorrow and not worry about bills because we have never run up debt or become house or vehicle poor. One income and we can survive. I am in a trade in demand and can quit on Monday and if I am motivated I will have a job next Monday or else just take some time to myself.

Just keep those goals in the back of your head everyday. Be ready to change direction anytime your current path isn’t leading to your goals. If you do it right you will do it all and have a blast the whole way. It’s all about balance. Never allow your current job or whatever to dictate what your life will become, always make sure you are driving your destiny.

 

I went right into college from high school (Union College). My parents considered going to college non-negotiable (my father had been in the army, and it never came up as an option)... although when my sister started a couple of years after me, she dropped/failed out of a couple of schools. She was not ready. Make sure you're ready, because it's not cheap.

My wife worked at West Point for a few years, and I came to regret not even thinking about applying to one of the service academies. If you're realistically thinking of chemistry at one of those schools you listed, have you thought about the service academies?

When I showed up at college, I called myself a pre-med student (my dad was a doctor, and seemingly like you wanted to follow his path), and believed that right up until I took organic chemistry (the Great Pre-med Filter). I graduated with a biology degree, worked in Alaska for a while (counting fish on the commercial fishing boats, got kicked out of the Elbow Room for a bullshit reason... damn them), then came back east and got my masters in environmental engineering. Plans change and that's ok.

Here's some advice:
- When you get to college, go to the library every single day. Even if it's to read a magazine (at the time I was there... when I got Spy Magazine in the mail, I would pretty much sprint to the library to read it so I could say I did my library time for the day.. greatest day of the month... ha). This gets in the habit of setting aside some time to do your work.
- Go to every single class, even if blinded by a hangover. Do the math... figure out the tuition and how much each class costs, don't waste that.
- For the first couple of years, try to find a professor that you really respect and like and see if you can get in and do some research with him/her either as a senior or during the summer. It's really rewarding.
- I had a college friend who had the Navy pay for his dental school and he served for a few years afterwards. He was not ROTC or anything like that while an undergrad, this happened all right after graduating from college. Maybe something to think about?
- Unless chemistry is a passion, consider a minor in chemistry rather than majoring in it. You could always major in chemistry for the first year or two, and then talk to folks at your school that help guide students into applying for dental school to see if a science major is mandatory. A science major isn't necessary for getting into medical/dental school.

 

I graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 4 years with a double-major in Marketing and Management and a minor in Geology. I won't dive into the aforementioned "do's and don't's" listed above, but I will offer one piece of advice quick: unless you're getting a scholarship to a private school, go to a state school or one that's directly in, or below, your budget. So many of my friends are still in serious debt (most of us are 5 years out of school) and regret taking their guidance counselor's advice on the whole "go to the best school you can thing," when we've found that it really comes to *what* you do while in college, what opportunities/internships and so on you seek out, rather than just the name on the degree. Obviously there's more to it than this (and the "big name" schools can present more opportunities), but having a good work ethic, making the effort to meet people and taking advantage of opportunities is what matters most (in my opinion at least).

 

I wish I had worked building homes for a bit. It interests the hell out of me and I'd love to get some hands on experience. I've thought about finding a builder and asking to do a apprenticeship on my days off.

 

Straight to Air Force basic training.... Missed my high school graduation! Best decision I ever made.

 

Went to college, then commissioned in the Marine Corps. Best choice I have ever made.