Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you dropped out of school/college do you regret it

20 replies

thedaywewillremeber · 01/09/2020 16:02

I dropped out in my first year of sixth form and went to work. I know you can’t change the pass but I still regret it.

OP posts:
Northernsoullover · 01/09/2020 16:04

No I don't. Because I wouldn't have been able to do a degree now because I would have blown my funding on a crap subject degree.
I regret not being wise with my money when I was younger but I don't regret dropping out of my A levels.

Dogwalks2 · 01/09/2020 16:29

No I don’t regret it. Went on to have a fantastic well paid career with lots of perks. Would I have let my kids drop out NO WAY.

Hingeandbracket · 01/09/2020 16:31

Dropped out of University - no regrets. Not advocating it but I don't regret it.

aLilNonnyMouse · 01/09/2020 16:31

I dropped out during my first year of uni. I don't regret it. I went because people wanted me to go, not because it was the right thing for me.

WhoAmIWhoAreYou · 01/09/2020 16:33

My hubby left school at 16 & went straight to work. Doesnt regret it one bit. He self taught what he was interested in and now earns a very good salary aged 31.
Me on the other hand, I wish I paid more attention in school & at college. I am full of regret and told my now 16 year old niece to get her head down. Make use of education while its free otherwise she'll end like me, paying thousands (and thats even before going to Uni)

LongPauseNoReply · 01/09/2020 16:34

I never went to university. I was told that I wouldn't make anything of myself without a degree.

I set up my own business that has made me very wealthy. I don't regret not going to uni at all. I wouldn't have learned how to be an entrepreneur there, I learned by doing.

Wejustdontknow · 01/09/2020 16:45

I dropped out of college 4 weeks before my second year exams, was planning on going to uni then being a teacher, my mum begged me to just do the exams and see how I felt after a summer off but at 18 I thought I knew so much better. I got a job and did pay my way at home but spent all my money in the pub, got pregnant at 21 to a guy I was seeing casually who wanted nothing to do with a baby. I was a single parent until I met dp, 18 years later I am doing a open university degree which is going to take me another 2 1/2 years before doing a pgce to become a teacher. Totally regret dropping out all those years ago

FreshfieldsGal · 01/09/2020 16:47

Dropped out of uni in first year, studying Medicine. Regretted it since then every now and again. However, I went travelling in USA at 19 for a while then onto South America which was amazing.
Late DF was highly disappointed in me but he got over it. The money he had for my uni was invested for any grandchildren - so eventually my Dd could be privately educated, she's just about to go into her second year of uni now. I'd go nuts if she dropped out! She threatened to when she boarded for sixth form but stuck it out.

I think we've done well despite me dropping out of uni - I'm SAHM, mid 40s, house owned outright, comfortable lifestyle.

Life's too short for regretting the past - it can't be changed.

everybodysang · 01/09/2020 16:52

it's nice to see these positive messages!

I dropped out of school at 16. I worked for a year then did some college stuff which ended up in me working my way up to a degree, but not a very good one and not 'academic'. I hated school and couldn't cope in the system at all but I regret dropping out so much - I wish I'd been supported better at home and in school and I'd been able to go to university and do the degree I would have been capable of if I'd had the right support.
I do have a job I adore now - and it's a dream job for many so I know how lucky I am - and a really nice life but it was a long, hard road to get here and I feel I'm still paying for it emotionally and financially.
I'm doing a MA at the moment and I love it but I struggled terribly with my self esteem when I began because I always think I'm not cut out for academic things.

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 01/09/2020 16:53

Not really. It hasn't worked out too badly for me or DH (we both dropped out - twice each Blush To be honest, I don't think it was a big a disaster as my parents made it out to be. They made me lie to extended family about it for years, I still don't know if they know it happened.

I don't mind if my kids get a degree or not, as long as they're happy with what they end up doing.

Elledouble · 01/09/2020 17:00

I dropped out of university in the second year of a four year course. I do massively regret not finishing my studies, because I loved it, but I was much too ill with depression to actually achieve anything. I went to work and 14 years later I’m in a professional career and earning a decent wage. My life would have been very different but not necessarily better.

Redraptor · 01/09/2020 17:00

I dropped out before my final year at uni, I still got a diploma instead of a degree. I dropped out as ibwas struggling financially and needed to work more. I didnt feel i had any choice at the time but i regret it massively. I'm now starting college 10yrs later as I've been stuck in basic jobs

damnthatanxiety · 01/09/2020 18:07

Those of you who dropped out, what do you do now and how did you get into it without a degree?

shartsi · 01/09/2020 18:44

I dropped out of a PhD. I didn't fully understand the subject matter and it only dawned on me 2 months into the course what was required. Basically I needed to do my research in a conflict / disaster zone/ refugee camp in the world, for example Darfur, Haiti (at the time). I chickened out.

ConquestEmpireHungerPlague · 01/09/2020 19:46

I dropped out of school and, later, uni. I didn't know it at the time but I'm on the autistic spectrum and I just found it so hard understanding what was expected of me, and how to do it. It was sanity-saving to walk away from something that was going so badly for me, but I did wish for a long time that it hadn't had to be that way. I returned to studying with the OU eventually and would really recommend it.

SirGawain · 01/09/2020 20:24

“The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it."
-- Omar Khayyam

Original poster
thedaywewillremeber · 02/09/2020 20:43

SirGawain That’s a really good quote.

OP posts:
ILoveFood87 · 02/09/2020 20:48

No regrets here! By leaving school and getting a job (not even sure it was allowed tbh I had not even done my GCSEs) I was able to move out by 17 (only rented) and now in my 30s I earn more working an average of 4 hours a day than my partner does working full time.

LunaLoveFood · 02/09/2020 20:55

No I don't. Dropped out of college after 6 months then started an apprenticeship. Since then I've done a degree and now I'm doing a master's degree and have a fab job.

Best thing I did was to drop out as I was miserable at college.

Enchantmentz · 02/09/2020 21:03

I dropped out of high school with no grades my self worth was in the pits for good couple years after but I craved more. so I Worked and proved myself but still couldn't take up progressive opportunities I had been offered because of life.I then set up my own small business for a couple yrs, wanted more so packed it in for full time study and now at uni.

If I had completed school maybe all those things would have been achieved more easily/conventionally but now I don't regret it at all as now I am on the right path for me.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page