Your typical fanboy with some dreams | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Your typical fanboy with some dreams

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
It seems to me that the only thing you can do is to buckle down on your studies, and ride these three years out. In three years you will be an adult and can leave and live your own life. I know it must seem like an absolute eternity right now, but I promise you it isn't. If you spend these three years laying your foundations, saving your money, getting good grades in school, learning basic life skills, putting together a plan, then at eighteen, you will be able to free yourself. And then the world will lie before you, ready for you to discover. :ghug:

I know you want to start now, but skating can and will be there for you all of your life. Adult skating is growing, and you will always be welcome. Stay strong, and life will get better, I promise.
 

ribbit

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
I really do need to look into for myself what tests I need to take and how I can go about taking them (the ones you recommended). As well as what different school options I have. It's hard for me mentally to go in and do this because I don't know "what I want to be when I grow up" as far as jobs go, and so I don't know what schools I would end up needing. This kind of overwhelms me and ends up getting me worrying about not knowing what I want to be rather than looking up the information. I need to move past this though, perhaps looking up more general information like you suggested rather than trying to know which specific school I want will help me. I will address the writing class later, but as for volunteer work, I could try to see what my parents will let me do. I'm uncertain whether or not they will let me, or if I will find something I'm interested in. Thank you for prompting me to think about this more and look more into my schooling, because I need to be as prepared as I can be.

Skylar, don't worry about not knowing what you want to do when you grow up. (And think of it as what you want to do, not what you want to be--you don't have to identify yourself wholly with your job, and you may well change careers once or more!) At 15, very few of us know with certainty what we want to do, and most of us have no idea how many interesting careers are out there. I have a colleague who's a labor economist, and he's always pointing out that half the careers that will exist in 20 years' time don't exist yet. So don't think about going to school for a specific job. Go to school to make yourself a flexible employee and an informed adult. Aim for a liberal-arts education: this means an education that requires you to major in something specific while also taking a broad spectrum of courses across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many small colleges require such an education, and most public universities offer it (usually through a unit called something like the "College of Arts and Sciences"). Generally, you take a broad range of introductory courses as a freshman, while you try new things and discover new subjects and figure out what you might like to focus on. You don't usually have to declare a major until partway through your sophomore year, so you have plenty of time to explore. You can get a job with any major, as long as you start working with the college's career center early and line up part-time and summer jobs and internships to get relevant work experience. You can often even do an internship for college credit. And then you'll have the breadth of knowledge, the critical-thinking skills, and the mental flexibility to change careers as the working world changes around you. Start looking into the admissions requirements of such places. Again, the main campus of your state university system (which will be cheaper than a private college or another state's public system) is a good place to begin.

(There are a few subjects that tend to be taught in separate units with their own admissions processes: engineering and nursing, for example. You'll get a sense of which programs these are as you start looking at schools.)

There's a common perception that schools want to admit perfectly well-rounded students with a long list of extracurricular activities and a clear sense of exactly what they want to do in life. In fact, many schools are looking for a well-rounded class full of students who are each strong in one or two areas and who bring their individual strengths to the campus community. Open minds and intellectual curiosity are more valuable than a rigid sense of "I want to do x and only x." Your test scores and grades should be as high as you can get them in every subject, but it isn't at all the end of the world if you are stronger in literature than in math, for example, or in history than in science. Beyond that, it's better to have a few activities that you are invested in and spend a fair bit of time on (such as your writing) than to try to dabble in a great many different things.

Good luck to you! And remember that it really does get better. As Karne says below, there is a world of open-minded people who will love you for who you are; you just need to hang in there until you can get to them.
 

treesprite

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Since the discussion is focusing a lot on school, keep in mind that there are colleges with ice skating rinks, and some even have entire skating programs. If you can find good reason to chose one of those schools, you could skate while at school.
 

Ylyzybyth

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Good luck to you young man! There is a world of people out there that will accept you for you, and a world of possibilities you will soon discover. If you must wait a few years to skate, that is ok. Skating as an adult is great fun! In the meantime you can study what you can about edges and moves. I've learned a lot from reading this forum. You can also work on balance, stretching & flexibilty, build up your core strength, and even study music in the meantime. Then when you are free you will be ready! I hope you stay in touch with this forum, everyone is rooting for you!
 
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