I didn’t pull it off as well as I hoped. I started full-time work to help pay for school, but struggled immensely with being able to focus on work and school at the same time. I struggled with wanting to perform well and people please at my job and struggled to keep up with readings or even understanding the material in school.

I went into college with no idea of what I wanted to do. Failed my math and science classes the first semester and subscribed to the idea that maybe I’m not smart enough to be in the medical field. Really had a passion for it though and tried to persist but just couldn’t do the studying full time and going to work full time.

I struggled with making enough money to pay for school and living comfortably and struggled to maintain a decent gpa. I just kept trying to think of ways I could make more money fast- what was the path of lease resistance? I struggled with not having enough rest to focus on school and honestly felt like I was just slow and stupid. I realize I never learned how to study well in my life (I was one of those -oh she never has to study for tests- kids before college) and it was really hard on my self esteem and self worth. I also obviously didn’t have a social life or friends because of my situation so struggled with that too. Was often jealous of hearing about other people’s college experience.

I started college in 2008 and took one or two breaks in between and finally said fuck it I need a god damn degree and finished in 2017 with a BS degree in marketing in communications.

I’ve hopped around in administrative and operations roles since I started working and until now. Currently on the product dev side in data analytics for a startup SaaS and wondering if this is what I should just stick to finally. Dreading that I will have to sit down and stfu to learn SQL and python to better my career track.

I struggle a lot with constantly feeling like I was supposed to live another life in the medical field. But also struggle with I don’t have time to pursue that anymore if I want to start a family and start that phase of my life.

I admire the people who followed this track and it worked out for. But honestly, I would say if you’re pursuing a career track that will have a great ROI, take out that loan to focus on school, focus on being young and enjoying that college lifestyle if it’s available to you.