Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

I know schools offer counseling for this, as well, but I prefer to get "real world" advice. I know 2+2ers have done just about every job known to man, so this seems like an OK place to start.

Condensed story: I dropped out of school in the tenth grade. I will turn thirty years old on September 1st of this year. I didn't even get my GED until last year. Since I've gotten my GED, I've thought more and more about going back to school and I am hoping to get suggestions and advice from the 2+2 community on possible degrees to work toward and, maybe more importantly, degrees to avoid.

Ideally, I would just pick and choose classes that interest me and take them at my leisure but more realistically, if I go back to school, I should probably pursue a degree. The problem is, I can't think of a degree that really interests me!

My entire life, my inner compass has just swung wildly. I'm no closer to knowing what I want to be when I grow up than I was fifteen years ago. I'm just looking for general advice like, "I took an ___ degree and it's useless," or, "Hmm, you're interested in ____, maybe you should look into _____."

My interests:
I don't necessarily intend to jump into the workforce but I would like a degree that makes the option available to me. I don't want to end up with toilet paper in a frame.

I am very interested in spending a year or so overseas teaching English as a Second Language but I do not wish to make a career of it. ESL recruiters generally require any three- or four-year degree, so I don't have to major in English (or Japanese or Korean for that matter).

I am good at math (generally 99th percentile on all those stupid tests in junior high and high school) but I don't particularly like it.

I am talented with computers. I taught myself C++ at about the age of twelve and since the first computer given to me as a gift, I've never owned one from a store, I always build them myself from components I buy, trade or salvage. I am well versed in C++ (way rusty, but I have the fundamentals, still), PERL and BlitzMax (a newish BASIC-style language). I have no problem picking up new programming languages. I can set up and administer networks, troubleshoot just about anything and am generally the geek everyone calls for help. The thing is, the college catalog requirements for a CS degree sound boring.

I love acting and singing and have a fair talent for both but I have grave doubts about the usefulness of theater degrees.

I am interested in languages and did well (particularly in French) in high school but I'm not sure which language-oriented degree(s) might be worth the effort.

I am deeply fascinated by science in general. I don't care for biology (excepting marine biology) but chemistry, astronomy, physics and similar fields interest me. I subscribe to (and read) Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Discover. Again, the question is what jobs are available for a 33+-year-old graduate in those fields?

Engineering interests me, specifically electrical engineering and structural engineering. I considered architecture, but I can't draw so much as a circle. Seriously, I'm the worst. Can one learn the necessary artistic skills to go with architecture or am I just screwed on that one?

I write well (insert joke about this post here) but I am clueless as to what degrees one would pursue in the field of "writing". I don't want to be a journalist.

I'm not hugely interested in medical fields but I've also been considering pharmacy school after undergraduate work. I have a friend who is pursuing (chasing, really) that degree and I've learned a lot about it from him. I understand the pay is good but that'd be pretty much the only reason for me to work in that field.


Thanks,
SpaceAce

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

What have you been doing since you were 20?

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

tl;dr

cliffs notes?

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

[ QUOTE ]
tl;dr

cliffs notes?

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

I don't know you so I am going from the assumption your at least a moderately successful poker player. At your age, with a full 4 years of school in front of you, and an entry level job waiting at the end of it, I would focus on starting some type of small business rather than going back to school. Save some money, do some market research, and take a stab at working for yourself.

If I thought you would finish the pharmacy degree I would say go for it, but you seem rather unmotivated, I doubt you'd finish it, and it's essentially a high payed cashiers job. No offense to any pharmacists. Study the market and try to find a niche in internet marketing. You may end up with a few small home based businesses that will net you far more than an entry level job that cost you 50k in college loans to get. Also your computer skills can help you on the technical side as you grow. This is not an anti-college rant, just at 30 with no credits I think you would be wasting your time.

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

It sounds as though you are talented but somewhat of a dilettante. I therefore suggest law: it requires some facility with thinking and writing but it doesn't really build on itself the way engineering disciplines do. And there are a wide variety of jobs available to someone with a law degree, even at 36 or however old you'd be after you got through with both your undergraduate and law degrees.

It'll seem like a long haul at your age, though.

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

[ QUOTE ]
What have you been doing since you were 20?

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

[ QUOTE ]
tl;dr

cliffs notes?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for bringing even more SomethingAwful crap to 2+2.

If you're not interested enough to read it, why reply?

SpaceAce

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

[ QUOTE ]
At your age, with a full 4 years of school in front of you, and an entry level job waiting at the end of it, I would focus on starting some type of small business rather than going back to school.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not actually looking to start a new career, necessarily. I want to go back to school because I like learning. I just figure that if I go to school, I may as well pursue a degree with potential in case I decide to use it to seek employment.

I am not particularly motivated by the pharmacy degree as an intellectual pusrsuit, but I like the idea of a decent-paying job that allows me to play poker when I want instead of because rent is due.

SpaceAce

Re: Help a decrepit old fart dropout choose a new path in life
 

[ QUOTE ]
What have you been doing since you were 20?

[/ QUOTE ]

I spent most of that time in the internet adult industry. I have since become sick of that entire sector of business and humanity. For the last two years(ish), I've mostly played poker.

SpaceAce