I feel I am still more suited to problem-based learning than test-based cramming.

Not to belabor a point made elsewhere, but this sounds like you might be a good fit for some sort of coding work. If that doesn’t interest you, don’t bother. People who aren’t interested but who know there’s money there have ruined the field. But it’s worth exploring just in case you might actually enjoy it.

It has the possibility of setting your mind right though, in terms of deciding what you want and desire/will to stick to it. Only you can say if it’s right for you.

Honestly, don’t worry about that. It’s more worth it to go to school and do something you want, even if it takes longer, because you’ll save time and money in the long run.

Completely agree with this point. OP sounds like they need to figure out their issues first. I don’t think any commitment should be made to any longterm course or career yet. Probably best to take an entry level job in any area of interest with the current qualifications and go from there. Develop a focus, develop and interest, know what to aim for.

It’s really dependent on the field. I started a job as a temp and then proved that I was smart enough to do other things, so I got hired permanently, but it wasn’t in the field I was studying, just something I ended up enjoying. There are some jobs where that won’t cut it. Whatever your dream job is might be one of those, but I don’t really believe in dream jobs, so I was open to stuff that seemed kind of weird on the surface. I learned a lot about what mattered to me in a job doing that.

Where do you live? If the US, (but look into it if not) check out Western Governor’s University. The format might be exactly what you’re looking for.

They have one or two assignments per class and let you take those assignments as quickly as you want. So you could finish a course in 3 days if you want (which is exactly what I did several times). I got through my Bachelor’s in 1 year, and my Master’s in 1 month. Literally 1 month. And each degree had included industry certifications. I was able to do it so fast because I could hyper focus on the content, not have to sit in lectures all day, and take the test when I knew I could pass. It was perfect for me.

What nobody seems to say is that what the degree is in doesn’t matter that much and nobody cares where it’s from. It’s mostly a checkbox for hiring.

People are suggesting to take a year off. I disagree because you sound like me. Taking a year off meant I didn’t go back for 8 years. Took me almost a decade just to get a Bachelor’s.

If WGU is not an option for you, stick it out with one program and just get it done. It’ll suck much less now than later. And trust me when I say I know how hard it is now. Don’t worry about what the degree is in, don’t worry about how long it takes while you’re in it, just get it done now because you’ll regret not doing it if you wait too long.

I commented this in a different spot, but I’ll say it again.

What ever school you’re taking classes from should have a career consoler/advisor of some sort. Those people are there to help you, and some are better at it than others - if the first person doesn’t help much, try someone else. (They are also paid to keep in you in school no matter what, so if you do consider taking a break - maybe leave that part out)

(Typcall me took one quick last note and turned into an essay - sorry)

One last note, No matter what happens:

get a job to pay off student debt you may have.

I’m going to assume for a minute your in America’s crap “system” to extract as much money from young adults as possible.

Don’t get caught up in late fees, loan consolidation schemes, debt forbearance, “pay later” crap - pay at least the minimum every month.

Its okay to have a random job fresh out of collage for a while, being able to hold a job is a good resume builder and for references. The main thing is to keep a look out for new opportinies.

If you can pay extra, pay into the loans with highest cost - highest intrest loans first. Pay as much extra as you can, while still building a savings. ***

Once you start paying off individual loans, the monthly cost will drop - if needed paying off the lowest balance ones is good to get montly lower. But only for the sort term, the highest intrest loans will end up costing more in the future if you let the intrest build up.

I recommend keeping a 6 month buffer/oh shit money, incase you lose your job or your car implodes - have 6 month of funds to cover the essentials. I know its not easy, especially starting out, it might a take a few years to get there, but in my opinion, building up a financial pillow is going to be one of the best thing you can do for your adult self.

Personal story time, fresh out of collage I worked for 3 years out of collage doing maintance work for a facorty, I didn’t really enjoy it, but learned a lot. The pay was okay, enough to pay the loan minimums and get by. Once I had a comfortable financial buffer, I started looking for work in my field of interest. Applied to a few places and eventually got hired, pay was better but I still lived like I was getting the “okay” pay - all the extra got dumped into loans (and some into savings). A few years later, I was student debt free and refocued that spending into savings for a house.

***That advice is a genralization - do the math to figure out what works out the best.

Let’s say I have four 10-year loans, I don’t remember how often/if they were compounded, but I went with compounded monthly for intrest calculation - I also rounded to nearest hundred) (The calculations also don’t account for the principle going down over time with the minimum payments)

• $8000 at 5%
• $5000 at 5%
• $7000 at 4%
• $10,000 at 2%
• The $8000 loan at 5% intrest ends up costing an extra $5200 in intrest.
• The $5000 loan at 5%, ends up costing $3200 in intrest
• The $7000 loan at 4% is $3400 intrest.
• And the $10000 at 2% is $2100.

While temping to start with lowest $5k because its easy, you’ll just pay that in the 8k’s intrest. You might also want to pay the big $10k one to make less daunting, but waiting to pay that will actually save the most long term. (You’ll still have the mimniums to pay on each loan - always always pay the minimumns, set up auto pay if you can and let it do its thing)

When paying extra you want to pay whatever loan is going to cost the highest in intrest. (Recalculated every time you pay extra). In this case, start with 8k loan until the intrest in lower that $3400, which happens to be when the principle is down to 5k. At that point pay the $7 loan until intrest lower than $3200, which doesn’t take much with $6.5k dropping it $3200. From here, depending on how much you can put in, I’d just work on getting rid of them one at a time to get the monthly cost down (reducing how much you need to pay each month). When I started my monthly was $300+, by the time I finished it was $50

Keep going until everything is $0.

Here’s another option you may get: Let’s say I consolidate them all for a lower monthly bill at a 4% intrest rate and don’t pay a dime over the minimum for an extended 15 years. That sounds good right?

Indivually the total interest for 10 years was about $13,900. Total cost $43,000.

$30,000 at 4% over 15 years = $24,600. A 30k loan ends costing $54,600

A good compound deal (10 year loan, componded monthly) that is sub $13.9k is $30,000, would be a 3.5% intrest rate, making the total instrest $12,550.

However, I belive consolidating also takes away some of options for loan forgiveness, pausing, and other aid provided by the govnment loans vs. a private loan.

Always do the math, and read the fine print.

Also find a proper loan calculator to do the math better then I did with a basic intrest calculator…I’m sure if this was Reddit, someone would correct all my the math in the comments and call me a moron. That beging said, I am just bloke on the internetxwith too much free time sharing what worked for him, not a fincial expert who knows anything about your situation.

As for straddling many subjects - its an okay thing to do, however you will not find a job that fits everything you’re interested in.

Thats okay, you can have a job (for example) re-designing city roads based on issues with traffic flow (lots of graphs and statistics there), while also reading into other topics. There’s also things like wildlife mangment that keeps track of wildlife population, from keeping track of their illnesses, to keepinh a a balance between over+population and extinct.

Topics you enjoy may or may not cross over into your work, and thats okay.

People are considered lucky to have a job they enjoy for a reason - most of us have a shit job that pays the bill, while we spend our free time pursuing hobbies and interests.

My advise is to go get a paid internship doing something for a year, talk to a recruitment agency or some professional (be careful with a random self-advertised “career coach” that sounds fishy).

Read this part:

Sense you’re in enrolled in collage, or even a recent student of one, they should have a whole career department you can reach out tofor free. Even if your online, a phone converstation with someone can offer new perspective. They get paid to help you so their “alumni working in feild they went to school for” ratio goes up. Use the resources available to you.

I see. Well, you say you’re “not that serious” about wanting to be a biochemist, but is it still something you want ? Since you also said earlier that you couldn’t commit to something else three more years, to keep going in that track doesn’t seem like a bad option.

Otherwise, if you find a work project involving one or several of the subjects that interest you, that’d be the other good option.

I’m a student myself, and I’ve jumped a few times from a study to another, but now I’m committing to physics and I don’t intend to let go. But there’s also a few skills and fields of interest I like learning on the side… That’s not a contradiction, everyone is interested in different things and has a skill set that’s doesn’t depend only ln their work. I intend to be a good amateur artist and an informed layman on several subjects, but physics is what I want to study professionally.

Committing to something doesn’t mean you should give up on all the rest, just that you should set boundaries on what will be the thing you’ll be an professional in and the rest. Even if you go a different path, don’t think of the time you devoted to biochemistry as wasted time… It’ll have fed your culture and skill set. Maybe it’ll be useful to you, maybe not, but either way it’s not a negative thing. A choice is good if it is a choice you’ve made. And you’re not that late anyway, some have “wasted” more years than that.

Of course, I’m just a student myself, not a teacher or anything. Beside, I’m French and our university systems might be a bit different, so take it with a grain of salt.