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When I went back to grad school to for my masters in engineering, I had already gone through 2 professional careers, bought a house, bought 2 cars, etc. In the school I went to, they had this place called the "safe space" where students could go to hang out, study, have deep philosophical discussions, etc. Here's the thing, there was one rule to this place, and that was no words could be said to offend anyone.
I started hanging out there to grade papers (I was a TA) and do homework. Here's what I observed while I was sitting there.
(1) Many people major in studies that have little prospect of a future career. Can anyone say starbucks?
(2) These kids never bought as much as a car in their lives and they think their opinion actually mattered at all.
(3) The general belief is everyone is entitled to their opinion and that all opinions are equal.
(4) The real world is boring! School rocks!
My point is I don't know your background but may I take a guess that you're probably young and have not that much real life experience? I'm not that old. I'm 30. I've had many discussions with younger people. Almost all younger people seem to believe that they know everything and their opinion actually counts for something. My answer to them has always been go buy a car, a house, and take care of someone first before they can come back to me and tell me their opinion is just as valid as mine.
I'm 30, too, and for your information, I've already purchased a home and car. Don't be so narrow minded.
I worked through high school, I worked through college, often times with two different jobs.
Just working leaves me with more free time than I had in college.
The one thing I miss is the schedule, at the time I worked swing shifts and weekends. Now I sit in traffic with all the other mopes going to and from work. If I could work swing shift I would do it I a heart beat or a modified 4/10 schedule.
Hmmm. In total I've found life after college to be vastly superior. College for me was very little money, hard degree (engineering), and near untold levels of personal tumult. Looking back I did okay but didn't get out of it nearly what I could have. I have friends some 20 years later that have huge yearning for their college days and it blows my mind, but then again, they all had easy degrees and money a few were to enter the family business so their jobs and wealth were already charted.
OTOH I will say 20s kinda suck for most - particularly the ups and downs of just starting out and that nobody who also isn't in their 20s is annoyed by you .
I didn't get the prototypical college experience and I have had my regrets over that. I commuted to school, didn't really get involved on campus, didn't make many friends, etc.
When I look back, it felt a lot like just going to a job for a paycheck. Overall it was a neutral experience for me.
Now I am working in a position with an opportunity to make a career for myself. There are struggles of course, but the upside seems better than the upside of having a piece of paper called a college degree. I am glad I obtained the degree though.
I had a similar college experience, commuter, only friends-in-class , no one that I really kept in touch with for very long once I graduated (although moving across the country likely contributed to that). I worked between 20-40 hrs a week and was a full time student, so I didn't have time to do much besides work, class, hw, and spending time with my bf and occasionally my friends. I have a LOT more free time now, I work full time, study a bit for certifications, but I don't think I would ever go back to school again. I don't think I could play the college game anymore...you know what I mean? It all felt like a game, every teacher having different requirements and having to jump through all these hoops to get the right letter on your transcript. It was like a job except you were paying THEM. LOL
It's all different for everyone. Looking back college was probably the best time of my young adult life. I had good friends and worked part time during the school year and full time during summers. The working part hasn't been fun overall and it rarely is unless you get a job straight out of the box that you really like. It took me several years to find a decent-paying job and that struggle sort of soured me to some degree. Some of the jobs were near minimum wage and it took time to find out what I wanted to do (getting that first "real job"). I have choices I can make to change my situation (career change), but the college years were among my favorites.
I would suggest finding new challenges where you are involved with diverse people. Golf, tennis, chess, etc. as well as joining civic clubs are some ways that working adults can augment their working life boredom.
Something else I forgot to mention: I think that another reason why I enjoyed college so much better than the real world is because I am not a morning person at all. In college, I was mostly on my own schedule, but the real world forces you to act as a morning person. It's hard to enjoy anything in life when Mon-Fri I'm fighting my body's natural rhythm, and all I can think of is catching up on sleep over the weekend. In college, even if I had an early morning class, it would be 2 or 3 days a week, and I could sleep late the rest of the week. In the rare case that I had an early morning class 5 days a week, it would only be for 13 weeks, with a lot of holidays and breaks in between. It seems that very few people can relate to me.
Those types of jobs usually require a PhD. I did apply to the PhD program when I was at MIT, and I was rejected, so those jobs were never an option for me (and probably not for the OP either).
My friend worked as a research assistant with an undergrad.. Didn't pay great, but then he got his next degree while at that job.
With good work experience, consulting can be an option. May be difficult, but possible.
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