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I’ve been thinking about leaving college for some time now, to pursue my own endeavours in the 3d art related medium and unfortunatly I don’t have much time to do that around college and work.
I suppose it would be a shame to leave IADT now, at the start of my 3rd year, BUT on the plus side, it means I could get a full time menial job and learn what I want to learn in my own time. I want to learn Maya and Zbrush and advance my knowlege in 3dstudio max, and if I didn’t have college getting in the way of that, I could learn it alot faster and at my own pace.
On the con side, of course, I would be leaving when I’m so close to the end of my degree and leaving now would mean leaving empty handed. As far as digital work goes, there is only a small handful of work I have completed in the college, and in terms of leaving with a portfolio it’s not very impressive.
I suppose my question is: do I stay on to finish my degree?
Or do I leave college now, and learn what I need to learn in my own time?
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Hi Constance,
To be honest, at this stage I’d stay in college. You’re over the halfway mark and you’ve undoubtably made a sizeable investment in college through rent/transport fees, registration fees, and 2 years of your life. And unfortunately, there are still plenty of places that see a degree as a base necessity when advertising positions. Completing the degree will stand to you as when an employer sees a degree, it shows that you can complete something you set your mind to.
When I was in 3rd year, I gave thought to quitting too, but mainly because I didn’t know if I COULD complete my course, i was falling that far behind. But thinking about the fact I’d have wasted 2.5yrs of my life with nothing to show for it gave me the kick I needed.
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No offense Red, but that’s kinda the Sunk Cost fallacy. The time and money has already been spent in college, the decision is now is to choose to spend the remaining time in college and get the qualification, or spend the time developing other skills instead.
It’s a tricky decision (ie. make the final decision yourself, don’t just take our word for it). The "safe" decision is to stay in college, because the qualification would look good on your CV as well as showing you can stick with something; at the same time if you genuinely feel that the skills you need to build up are not being addressed, then that is a problem.
Aside from just working on your skills in your free time, (which I’m sure you’re already doing), a compromise is to see if you can delay completing the course by a year or two, and spend the time instead developing your skills and seeing if that’s the right course for you (such as whether it will get you a job).
Honestly, I do know that some people regret not having a full college education and end up going back to college when they are older; so try to think about what you really want to get out of your life and education.
In the end though, it’s up to you.
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I agree with the other responders. Get your qualification in the bag, its a challenging world and qualifications will help in the long run.
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I would go talk to the course co-ordinator/chair or whatever they are called in IADT.
talk about your thoughts on the need for particular skills and portfolio work and see what can be done.
Aphra.[/quote:0021babffc]
+1. Stay in college, finish the course and meanwhile make the course head aware of your concerns, gather evidence to back up your point of view. What course are you studying that is not addressing the 3D art aspect of your interests? Could you possibly transfer to a course that better suits the direction you want to go in?
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Yeah I had a chat with my course co-ordinator. He brought up a very good point and it was : If I left college now and developed a shit hot portfolio, I would be up against 3 kinds of people.
Those with a great portfolio and no qualification.
Those with an alright portfolio and a qualification.
And those with both a great portfolio and a qualification.
Hre asked me which one I would rather be and I assume the answer is pretty obvious. Thanks so much for the advice guys, it really helped me put it in perspective.
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Personally I would just stay and complete my college degree. You can always find extra time to advance yourself in the other pursuits.
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What are you doing in college?
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