Have you ever been to uni, and if so how has it been for you? The lecturers at college seemed pretty confident they could get us on to the access course so I might be going next year. Did you enjoy it? Did you find it difficult? How was your social life etc.
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I didn’t like it. When I feel low confidence and fancy guys on the course it really turns up my avoidance personality and turns me into a mute.
I made a friend though. Idk how our relationship will continue she sometimes does drugs and that triggers me. Especially because it was with her when I did drugs and alcohol. and then got ill.
I have nostalgic memories though I guess because I was young and energetic.
I did find it difficult I struggled a lot with my focus and organisation. In the end I was eating 100g of dark chocolate every morning for breakfast to get me through the exam revision period.
Best of wishes with it it’s great because you are older and wiser now so you will be organised and focused, taking it seriously.
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College was an interesting experience for sure. It was the first time I really had to apply myself and study for classes.
Health was fine for most of uni-- managed to stave off the illness till the last year of school, which was when I started experiencing prodromal symptoms.
I think balance was the most important takeaway from those four years-- balancing studies with the social scene and taking care of oneself physically and mentally.
Overall, college was an alright experience and now I have a fancy piece of paper with my name on it, haha.
Wishing you the best on your uni endeavors, @anon98459728!
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If you do something you are genuinely interested in it can be amazingly rewarding. It’s such a joy to engage with the sharp minds of your professors and your fellow students, so be sure you get the most out of them. You’ll find that most students and almost all professors are passionate about the material and eager to discuss things with you, even outside of class. I especially enjoyed my masters degree, where things got a bit more advanced. Many times my fellow students and me would go for drinks after class and talk more on the topics we discussed during the lectures. In my experience, such discussions benefit greatly to your education, so make sure to reach out to your peers - although just having fun socializing with them should already be a good reason to do so. I myself wasted a few years as an undergraduate not being a very serious student, more into partying etc. Only a year before the first psychosis I switched lanes and became a dedicated student, which I remained during and after the folowing psychoses. For me academia was a very welcome distraction and a source of stability in my life with all the mental stuff going on. Clearly, it takes work and effort, and this is a lot more easy to put into it if you’re seriously interested in the material. At first this may be difficult for various reasons, but I found that the more I learned and engaged with the material, the easier it became to put the effort into it. I would find myself reading up on things in the evening not so much because I was falling behind or had a deadline to make, but just because I was passionate to learn more. Truly enriching experience.
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I studied engineering at university. I hated it and failed to get my degreee. So that’s a chip I’ve had on my shoulder ever since !
If you’re studying something you actually like it’s going to make all the difference.
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I hear a lot of people recommend that it be something that you are passionate about. It has a lot of aspects I am interested in but somethings that I don’t know much about too. Overall it seems like a pretty interesting subject to study.
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I did an access course and a university degree afterwards
I found it very hard.
However these days the colleges/unis put a lot of resource into supporting students which didn’t exist when I studied.
Having Schizophrenia pretty much gives you all the support you need, so theoretically it should be a breeze
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I finished a university degree in litteratur and (science of ) religion,
Those days the university was very freely structured, i could go to classes or just sit at home and write my homework / essays.
I wouldn’t be able to do the same now (denmark) it’s much more structured nowadays, but give it a go, if you feel like.
You never loose the knowledge you get even if you don’t get a degree.
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my university experience was a bit hit and miss. i didn’t get along with my roomate my freshman year. and i was not prepared to take it seriously at that point in my life and take the time to study. socially i had lots of friends and attended many parties. i only lasted 3 semesters before i dropped out. i got a job and continued to live in a college town until i was 22. with friends who were completing their degrees.
i went to a big state university with over 40,000 students. my favorite classes were the big lecture halls where you could hide in the class, and nobody would know if you skipped class. my favorite class was psychology 101, my freshman year, the professor was intelligent and funny and kept things interesting.
if i had to do it all again, i would’ve worked until i was 25 or 26 out of high school and then gone to university when i would have had the money to pay for tuition. or maybe go to a trade school.
all my friends graduated but i was not as responsible and drank a lot and smoked lots of weed, daily. so im not proud of my university experience.
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What were your grades like in high school? How has schizophrenia affected you?
I don’t want to discourage you from trying something new, but the reality is that very few schizophrenics can handle school. And with a college degree your life will get increasingly more difficult with a high paying job.
I would recommend trying for an associates degree in a community college first. You may want to consiee de r some part time work too.
Community college can be as demanding as the courses you take. I had mostly business coursework in community college. I’m 2 classes away from an A.A. But my current functioning is too f’d up to finish.
GL
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i found university life difficult…social anxiety screwed me round…i dropped out
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I did well in school. I was always in the top few students in my class. I don’t currently have any sz symptoms, but still find it hard socializing sometimes. University is something I have always wanted to do, it has always been a major goal of myne.
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I hated university. Some of the most miserable years of my life.
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I finished my physiotherapy degree last year.
Only teammates no real friends. I got good grades, they were better before my SZ though.
Anyways, my degree is useless because I can’t work at any job. I would do a PhD if it was free.
Its not so…
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It was a joke. I didn’t feel challenged at all. The most difficult course was second language. I don’t remember much Spanish. It seems everybody says the next education level is going to be tough. I haven’t experienced that. I’m gonna go for my PHd just to see how tough it is.
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I went to uni for close to 6 years. Im almost done 2 degrees, linguistics and psychology. I do need alot of my general education requirements tho. I used almost all my electives to explore just about every subject. I do plan on going back soon to finish one degree.
My social life was alright. I didnt make any friends because i didnt join much volunteer groups or study groups. I kinda missed out, being the only male studying linguistics for the years i was there was strange and harder to make friends because all my classmates were women. I did get invited to study groups with them tho, it was a small class of 7.
I think the main reason i missed out on making friends was because i dont have a facebook or social media to keep in touch with the people that i worked with. Ive had alot of girls ask about my facebook.
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I go to school full time. If you are symptom free I don’t see why you can’t handle it. I went to school fully psychotic and did pretty well up until I got incoherent. Then I got hospitalized and just went back to school. Have a backup plan for relapses and see what support you can get. I don’t really use the support services but I’m sure they help some people. I plan to do my masters when I am done, though I might try working first. It’s a game like everything else and people like us will have to play it a bit safer than the norm. I don’t drink or do drugs, and go to bed early every night I’m not on a date or with friends. I also work a part time volunteer job.
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I would have enjoyed it so much more if I had lived on campus. Commuting took all the fun and most of the social aspect out of it.
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I hated school, but loved going to university. I loved the atmosphere and in some classes, the challenge. It was so much fun to me. That’s when I finally learned to love learning at uni.
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I couldn’t focus on group work but I nailed most of the homework and exams. I nearly graduated but relapsed big time due to outside stress. I should also add that my friend was also in the program which made socializing easier.
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