Education advice

[ConfusedKitty]

I don't think I'm cut out to be a designer. I don't think so at all. I can't even get past the things that have nothing to do with designing, like math class. I'm going into week 5 out of 6 weeks of that class, and my grade is 38.60. I just can't seem to focus, or something. I've been participating, and trying to learn but when I do tests, I fail. When I do my lecture assignments, I fail because I don't use the type of terminology or answer the way the teachers want me to. The last class I had that actually had something to do with design (color is what it was, color theory) I failed like no other. I tried and tried and I couldn't understand ANY of it.

 

I think, after all this time and all these years of wanting it and needing it, I have finally failed to the point that I can't be any more of a failure and need to let it go. So, at this point, I don't know what to do. Yea I like computers but I'm going to fail that too because it's too complex, and I'll freak out.

 

Where do you go to find out what the hell you're supposed to do with your life?

[nutbrownhare]

Hang on in there a bit longer - when you say you don't understand colour theory, and stuff, I'm assuming that this is all new to you, and it's a way of thinking you haven't come accross before.

 

Way back, I started a course in Graphic Design and I couldn't for the life of me fathom what the tutor meant by using the 'white space'. Then one day I looked at a printed page and the 'white spaces' were pulsing back at me, and I've never looked at images in quite the same way since. No problems at all in grasping what was going on.

 

The reason I'm saying quite specifically to hang on in there - is because you are at week 5. It takes 6 weeks to get into a new way of thinking (this is also why many therapy groups insist that you stay for 6 weeks, by the way). You haven't quite got there yet. And Week 5 is the worst, because you've been trying and getting nowhere - long enough for you to get really ****** off!

 

Don't give up. Keep at it for a few weeks longer before you decide it really isn't for you. BUT DO KEEP AT IT!

 

Hope this helps, and wishing you all the very very best!

[Anonymous122]

First of all, i'm curious what college you're going to that offers 6 week classes.

 

6 week classes aren't enough to actually learn all of the material, and most colleges that offer 6 week classes are notorious for being bad colleges with low-rate professors. It may not be your fault if that's the case.

 

Sometimes a major isn't for someone. Are you studying? How many credits are your courses? The recommended studying time at my college is 3 hours, per week, per credit. Meaning that, if you're taking a full time, 12 hour semester you should be studying 36 hours per week outside of the classroom. Are you properly applying yourself? If not, that may be your issue.

[CaptainPlanet]

Find a job you like doing and do that for a while. Don't worry about what it is just find something you enjoy.

[redhearts]

Depends what kind of designer? To be a designer you need a couple years of schooling at the very least. There are trade schools, at least in America, where you don't need to do general education.

[ConfusedKitty]

Well, the college I'm going to is the Art Institutes. I mean, that's supposedly the best of the best, or so I thought. But I don't feel as if I'm getting it. Maybe college isn't right for me? ...No that can't be. The drive to finish school and get a degree is there, but for the life of me it's like nothing I do is working. Maybe I'm not applying myself, as you said, Anonymous122. But even when I am, like that one class that I tried, Color Theory, nothing came out right.

 

I remember one assignment, where I had to make a design. My design I thought was awesome. It had everything the assignment asked for, I had put a lot of time and effort into it, and I was very happy. Come to find out, my teacher hated it, the other students came up with much better ideas than mine, and I got so frustrated I wanted to just drop the class right there. That's one reason why I think design isn't made for me, what's the point of being a designer when I can't even come up with halfway decent looking designs in college?

 

To be honest, I don't really want to be a designer, I want to be a cartoonist. But I still have to take some design classes. I feel as though I can't even get past those stupid design classes to get to the classes I want to take, and it's just like high school all over again.

 

I feel that as of this point, I can't be either a designer, nor a cartoonist, nor anything. I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what to do with myself now, and I have to get out of my current job before I strangle myself.

[Kumatora]

Find a job you like doing and do that for a while. Don't worry about what it is just find something you enjoy.

With the job economy as it is now, that alone is not the BEST tactic. I suggest researching schools: Success rate of students graduating, internship programs offered, and what jobs graduates are able to gain after college.

 

Art is a TOUGH business right now. My friends graduated with art degrees and are still unable to find dependable jobs after 2 years of graduating college. I am not saying that to scare anybody, but the job economy is one factor that shouldn't be ignored when entering a university. Otherwise you are wasting time and money you can barely pay back. I am also in this same situation so I know how it is.

 

Find a job that you like AND has a good job market. Find something dependable. College is the time to find out more about yourself and what you enjoy doing as long as it is dependable and can bring a stable income.

[Jetta]

Well your college probably has an advising dept. Go and talk to them. I recently took the Strong Interest Inventory. It was helpful to a point. I was surprised by some of the responses and do think you may be surprised as well, so see if you can take it at your school.

 

I think changing programs might be best for you. You won't fail at everything. Design is a talent, you either got it or you don't. But it works that way in a lot of fields. You'll find your niche. Don't quit school, go to the advisors and get the help and support you need.

 

Jetta

[ConfusedKitty]

I don't know, I still feel as though right now is just not the time for me to be trying to be an artist. Like I'm going to go through all of this only to find out that because the market is so bad, employers can be even more picky about who they choose, and I wouldn't even get close to being picked for a position. I know this goes for just about any field these days but with art it just feels like it's worse. Or it seems to be.

 

There is a part of me, back when I started looking for schools that told me to go into the field of Networking or IT. Because those fields are plentiful and the pay is great. You get to think a lot and there's so much you can do with it. Since I didn't have a specific goal in mind, I could just find something interesting and go at it.

 

But the other part of me says, I have been wanting to be a cartoonist/animator since I was a child, and it's the only thing I have ever wanted so if I'm going to pay some place $40 grand I might as well try to get myself in that industry. I didn't realize at the time that in order to work for a place like Disney or Pixar or something similar, that I'd have to practically be top notch. I didn't also realize that there would be a recession and I would be suffering in it. Chalk it up to ignorance and being naive.

 

At this point I don't feel like I have made any good decisions, and I think trying to be some sort of artist is a bad one that I just keep holding on to. I know none of you can really tell me what to do but there's just some point where I'd like to make a right decision, at least once in my life.