Okay here is my dilemia… I just turned 20 last month.
As of today, I have a Highschool regents deploma and 4 college credits. yummy.
Two reasons I took 2 years off and did not attend college is…
I race snowmobiles all winter and am out of state most of the winter, which means MUCHO missed classes which is a no-no.
I didn’t really enjoy high school, I never applied myself, and I knew if I jumped right into college that I would just blow it off, so I saved myself the $ and time.
Now I am at a cross roads. I figure that I am pretty Danm good at racing snowmobiles, seeing as how I get paid and am racing for the Polaris factory. I can make umteanth amounts more racing during the winter than I can working full time at any low class job right now.
I cannot get into any decent schools because my highschool grades were so poor (I’m talking mid 70’s)
So ECC is my route for the next 2 years. But, I cannot sign up for fall classes as I would miss weeks of school. And the spring semester, conflicts my snocross season as well, granted I won’t miss as much school but I would still miss maybe a weeks worth or more.
I am looking at distance learning (online classes) and it is appealing to me. This way, I can do my work while I’m away at the races.
So my choices are as follows:
Sign up for part time distance learning classes…take all my nessicary classes…math/english ect… and still continue my race career.
Sign up for fall classes…take chance of failing said classes due to many absences and continue to race full time.
Quit racing all together, one of the only things I am good at, and love doing, and pursue school, 2 years behind my peers. - worst desicion I think
Fuck school, put all my effort into racing and do it for 10 years, hopfully make enough to retiere on by investing smart.
Also, I have NO idea what I want to go to school for…
xray tech… didnt read the whole post but when i saw need school help and saw xray tech listed, take it. thats what im going to school for, tried to get it in the military but its too competitive. they make great money, and the job is relatively simple, the schooling for it though is pretty tough
follow your dreams and don’t settle. if you’re a hard worker which you probably are, stick with what you’re good at and take it to the top…if you go to school, make sure you don’t let your career slip up, or school slip up, as a result.
Stick with racing until it’s not profitable - there’s no rush in going to school now if you didn’t already. Just don’t paint yourself into a corner / get into debt and end up owing the “company store” re: that racing.
As far as degrees. Unless you’re going to somewhere big/respected, skip the business/marketing - that will only carry weight depending on where it’s from - you’d be better off taking an unpaid internship with a marketing firm if that’s what you REALLY want to do.
I do however think it would be wise to take some continuing ed stuff and work TOWARD an eventual degree, at the very least getting the “Basics” out of the way - JUST BE CAREFUL because credits expire, don’t always transfer, are time dependent re: relevancy etc so base that decision based on where you want to be working/studying/etc in say 5 years.
The racing career will almost certainly not last the rest of your life, and at the rate you blow money from your posts you’ll never in a million years be able to retire on what you’re make racing.
That being said, if you love it and can make a living right now off it, I certainly wouldn’t give it up. You do however need to make plans in case you get hurt and your racing career is suddenly over. Take summer classes, take online classes, and put a large chunk of money away so you have a safety net to fall back on in case you find yourself looking for a job with nothing but a few college credits and a high school diploma.
Also realize that if you enter the real world with a career job when you’re 30+ you have a serious disadvantage of time to get your salary up before you retire. I’m 30 right now and I know I wouldn’t be able to put away the money I’ll need to retire comfortably if I was an entry level guy making entry level money.
Try: Medaille college, the Amherst location has Bachelor & Master Excell programs.
:St. Bonaventure (I think they use the Huburt College campus) for their Excell programs
i would say for right now because racing is your passion…stick to it, but dont let your mind forget about school. Work with the online thing and deff look into Summer classes next year! good luck!
It is quite obvious that you are passionate about snowmobile racing (and I think that is freakin awesome by the way). Have you thought about staying involved with the sport, but possibly in another way? Is there a position that interests you within the Polaris organization? I am sure that you could discuss your options with a few people who you come in contact with on a regular basis. Maybe they can point you in the same direction that they took. Your experience on the track could mean that you would have the upper hand on the compitition.
Wow. Snowmobile racing must be a lot more lucrative than I can fathom for this decision to even exist. Not saying it’s not lucrative, just I must not have a clue. I mean, if you can even think about retiring at 30 on a snowmobile racing career you must be making close to 7 figures per winter, and have a good stock broker.
I don’t think any of us can really give good insight to this without knowing how much one makes racing snowmobiles. To one person, $20k/year might be considered making a living. To someone else, $60k/year with full benefits might be “making a living.”
But you’ll drop 5-6k on a car you want just as a toy and plan to get rid of in a year or less? Money spent on education > any money you’ll ever put into a car.
I’m officially done posting in any of your “I need advice” threads.
spring and summer classes FTW…we would all love to race for a living…u are doign it but it wont last forever…do some spring and summer classes and ur set
good luck!