I am senior in high school who doesn't know what to do. I am struggling as my dad kind of wants me to take over his business which I wouldn't mind doing. However, I have to pay for college myself and get my MBA. Now, where i live, community college is free for full time students and I live next to a good school i can commute to that has cheap tuition. But graduate school is still expensive af. I don't really want to work a desk job so my only purpose to get my degree is to run the company. The problem is, is that my dad makes a lot of money but he buys everything on credit. So if hard times come, my dad is out of business and i'm fucked with student debt. Personally, I want to work a blue collar job. My top three are plumber, lineman, and electrician. These don't require a degree but you need to do a full time apprenticeship for 5 years to become one. This is where I am torn, should I follow my passion? or should I chase a lot more money and be able to work from home.

@johnjim424

What to do? I am an 18 year old high school senior quarterback who is unsure what to do in life. I am kind of sick of football despite good performance due to coaching instability and just the struggles it has put me through. This leaves me with two choices. These are to go to college or do an electrician apprenticeship. I love to work with my hands and i'm pretty good at it. My Uncle and Grandpa from my Mom's side are both in the midwest but are skilled electricians. My Dad (my parents are divorced as of 1 year ago), owns a business that manufactures and distributes industrial communications. I would not mind running this company (my dad makes about 600k salary a year) but he wants me to get a bachelors degree (I plan to double major Mechanical Engineering and Electrical) and possibly an MBA. However, he wants me to take out student loans, pay them off, then have me pay him back in full for my college. Considering I live in California, I can go to community college for free and live with my mom until I get my associates then transfer either to Florida when my dad moves his business there or I transfer to a UC/Cal State. Also, I could go straight to a 4 year. However, despite a 4.2 GPA and 1300 SAT, the best offer I have is 7,500k a year tuition at a school that's decently ranked but i'm not crazy about. That doesn't include room and board either. With all this considered, I would use the degree to run the business or get an engineering job if my Dad sold the business. But honestly, I would rather be an electrician than an engineer. My best idea was to do community college and an electrician apprenticeship. But, I asked a bunch of forms and they said that's not really possible. To summarize, i'm just a naive kid who wants to make their mark on the world and be happy. My goal is to put myself in the best position to do that.

I don't understand why forms would prevent you from following through on your plans. If the choices won't create grievous personal or financial consequences for you, you should be able to afford submitting your junior college application next year for 2025 and have a break from schooling in 2024 to do the electricians apprenticeship program first. After you complete the apprenticeship program, you have a reliable option for work after classes and during the summer and winter recess months as an electrician while having plenty of time to pursue the education that should grant you the qualifications and knowledge needed to act on the other options you mentioned.

What to do? I am an 18 year old high school senior quarterback who is unsure what to do in life. I am kind of sick of football despite good performance due to coaching instability and just the struggles it has put me through. This leaves me with two choices. These are to go to college or do an electrician apprenticeship. I love to work with my hands and i'm pretty good at it. My Uncle and Grandpa from my Mom's side are both in the midwest but are skilled electricians. My Dad (my parents are divorced as of 1 year ago), owns a business that manufactures and distributes industrial communications. I would not mind running this company (my dad makes about 600k salary a year) but he wants me to get a bachelors degree (I plan to double major Mechanical Engineering and Electrical) and possibly an MBA. However, he wants me to take out student loans, pay them off, then have me pay him back in full for my college. Considering I live in California, I can go to community college for free and live with my mom until I get my associates then transfer either to Florida when my dad moves his business there or I transfer to a UC/Cal State. Also, I could go straight to a 4 year. However, despite a 4.2 GPA and 1300 SAT, the best offer I have is 7,500k a year tuition at a school that's decently ranked but i'm not crazy about. That doesn't include room and board either. With all this considered, I would use the degree to run the business or get an engineering job if my Dad sold the business. But honestly, I would rather be an electrician than an engineer. My best idea was to do community college and an electrician apprenticeship. But, I asked a bunch of forms and they said that's not really possible. To summarize, i'm just a naive kid who wants to make their mark on the world and be happy. My goal is to put myself in the best position to do that.

@johnjim424

Perfect! I will check them out! By the way, what do you think of me going to college with my girlfriend and taking over my dad's business? I like that I can work anywhere in the world but my dad is so stressed out and that scares me. I also don't want to take on student debt despite my college probably being affordable due to merit scholarships. What do you think of doing this versus trades?

Honestly, depending on the region of the country you live, you may find demand for people with trade skills such that you could balance working part-time in a trade while attending college. During the summer breaks, you'd have a job that could increase in hours to full-time, generating for you sufficient income as to never need concern yourself with student loan or credit card debt. You'd also have access to a professional network that would make you able to help your girlfriend secure employment during the summer months, regardless of what she'd be studying in college.

The advantage to the trades is that depending on that trade, you can become market employable within weeks of completing the necessary certification and some employers will have so much demand for people that they may train new hires themselves. You can balance it with just about any other choice you make once you're certified and accomplish a year or more of experience specific to that trade.

As for your father being stressed out concerning you, maybe you should sit down with him and ask if he'd be willing to shed some light on that for you. It maybe the job itself or it maybe something specific he has to deal with through the job, be it related to clients, or something else entirely.

@johnjim424 Your life story is quite relatable.

With all the sea changes in communications, including those to come, is your Dad's business even viable for the next 30-40 years that you'd need it to be? That is, unless you would pump and dump it on a 3-5 year plan. I'm hearing that you don't feel any passion for that field.

Skilled trades

Yes and no. SO many of them have gotten minmaxed to death resulting in low pay ceilings due to a steady stream of newer and cheaper replacement workers. Choose carefully, and ultimately you want to be the owner or maybe higher up manager, not the floor/field level worker.

I also want to go to college with my girlfriend but her parents don't want her going to community college so that doesn't help at all.

Bro. Maybe she's a keeper, but in general, you don't make major life decisions around your High School girlfriend. Both of you will grow and change so much over the next couple of years. IF you make it and marry, that can be a strong plus and a shot at a low N count wife. But, both short and long term, odds are stacked hard against this. At 18,, I felt super-sure I was going to marry my first GF. It worked out super-well for both of us that this didn't happen!

@johnjim424

What Should I Know What To Do With My Life?

I am an 18 year old kid who's in his senior year. I have a 4.1 GPA and have done very well in academics. I have had a very unique high school experience being at 5 schools all because of family instability and football. Football is going great right now but I have no scholarship offers. I went to camps a couple months ago and did great and got in top groups. I got a lot of interest from d1 schools but no bites. Along the way, I felt that college football seems so shitty with all the high school level ass-kissing that I thought would end there. I am at a good point with football right now and have the talent to go d1 as a quarterback. However, I wanna do other things (getting buff, golf, Jiu Jitsu, working on my car, making money) with my life and I don't want to deal with shitty coaches (had them my whole life until my senior year which has been amazing). I have been looking at what to do and I see a few options. My dad is an industrial communications business owner and would like me and my sister to inherit the business. However, he wants us to both get degrees and he wants us to pay for all of our school. If I do that, i don't know if I should go to free community college half way or just go to a 4 year. I also want to go to college with my girlfriend but her parents don't want her going to community college so that doesn't help at all. Some other ideas I have are Air Force, Skilled Trades, and Law. All of these sound good to me. However I am so confused on what to do. i love working with my hands and would like to do a skilled trade. However, the pay range is giant. If i take over my dads business, I can make a lot of money and work anywhere in the world which are both huge deals to me. However, it's a super desk job and my dad has more health problems than anyone I know (he works out but he's just so stressed). Another con is i don't know the path for me to takeover my dads business. I also don't know what degree I should get. If you older gentleman could give me some advice on what to do i'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

What you should do with your life is something only you can determine for yourself. The best I can hope to do is provide you with suggestions of books to read, and objectives you focus on which might help you better determine for yourself what things you could, or should do with your life.

To that end, I suggest you consider getting your hands on either Aaron Clarey's "Worthless: The Indispensable Guide to Choosing the Right Major". or Aaron Clarey's other book The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty: For Black Men Who Demand Better. The books are dirt cheap compared to any textbook you'll be getting and will provide you with more value in return. I would suggest you review his blog to get a feel for his views on money, dating, relationships, education, and work to see if they're aligned with what you aspire for yourself. However, this comes with a few warnings in advance. The books are both around a decade old, so while they're likely available on libgen and other ebook sites for free download, portions of the information will be outdated. In particular, the suggestion of the military and the trades.

If you want to go into the trades, I suggest that you ask your father to purchase for you a general hand tool kit of your own either for your Christmas, or your birthday. Then look for training programs offered through your high school, nearby trade schools, or junior colleges in small engine repair as well as apply for part-time jobs in bicycle repair. Prioritize getting whatever actual experience in trade fields available to you from which you can decide for yourself if that is a path you want to take your life in professionally. For example, working for a bicycle, or e-bike rental company, will give you some basic insight into repair shop logistics and operations that can be applied to repair shops concerned with more complex vehicles.

If you have a desire to be in the military, I strongly advise that you avoid it entirely, especially if you're an ethnic European, or Christian male, unable to secure an officers commission. The military, much like the government and bureaucracy, of western countries are currently infested and overwhelmed with the mentally ill-morally ill. Their complete disconnection from reality will be more likely to kill you home-side, either due to compelling you to submit to biological experimentation like the Covid-19 'vaccine', death related to receiving ineffective training, or suffering the gross incompetence of halfwits being given tasks beyond their ken, than any hostile opposing force you would presently encounter overseas.

I'm sorry I could offer nothing more at this time and I pray you experience success in your journey.

@johnjim424

Lost Teenager

For background, I have recently turned 18 and I am a junior in high school. Also, my parents are getting divorced currently. Ok, so I have played football since I was 6. My dad had me specialize in it and become a quarterback. We've traveled all over the united states to train with the best coaches since i was a little kid. I never really enjoyed it until I turned 14. before 14, i loved legos or video games. I was never really good until around 12 where I made the local all star team for the national middle school all star league tournament. However, I served as the backup quarterback. I also played for the second best team in the state the following year. But i was behind now 2 highly touted recruits. I just stuck it out until high school assuming it would get better. It didn't at all. My freshman year my coach took all my good players on my freshman team and gave me nothing. We didn't win any of our five games. I did make varsity though which was pretty cool. The following year the schools qb graduated so I was competing with a kid who's mom was head of the booster club. I thought i had a shot but I was given less and lower quality reps since day 1. I couldn't take it after many meetings with my coach. I told him that I would be transferring. I transferred to a new school where I was the back up QB behind a senior who ended up getting injured, and I played the rest of the season. However, the coach at that school hated my guts and would call me an idiot and a loser in front of my whole team and say how stupid I was. I was so hurt so I decided to transfer again to a big-time school because I felt like that I had a talent and they said how bad they needed a quarterback. Turns out, they just wanted my money for tuition and the schools quarterback coach hustled me outside of school for overprice training lessons that were terrible and taught me everything wrong. I decided to transfer again. I met with the coach and he said how much he needed a quarterback. The school ended up paying for half my tuition and I decided to go. I throw better than the other kid but the Coach refuses to make me the starter. The other kid had to get hurt for me to play. I played so much better and all the parents were pissed i wasn't the starter. It didn't matter though. I ended up having to sit out 2 games for an injury i was playing through and our third string freshman QB who's mom works for the school and has donated over $1 million to the program got to play. He ended up performing terribly but every time I make a small mistake after I came back from my injury he would use the kid to try to manipulate me and throw me on the bench for the smallest things. He'd also insult me in front of my whole team during practices. I kissed his ass and always asked him what I can do better. He could never give me an answer. To fast forward. I have joined rugby and have been kicking ass. I also have an awesome GF from school that brings so much to my life. However optional football qb/wr training started back up, and dread it so much. I hate being there and my Coach is teaching us how to throw the ball the wrong way based on YouTube videos he found on the Internet. The joy has been really sucked out for me and unless I get a scholarship for D1 I don't think I want to continue this into community college. But the scares me as I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life. I'm not sure if I should get a blue-collar construction job, try to go get a job on wall street, earn his trust and run my dad's company, or keep this football thing going. I don't even know if I want to go to college or even go to college in America. I kind of have been thinking about going to college in Europe. I'm just so lost and so confused and I'm 18 now and I'm scared to grow up and I can't see the light at the end of tunnel. But I love (besides football) everything that's going on in my life right now. Please let me know if you have any advice for me.