Head Start/Running Start

I've had friends ask me if running start was for them. I've been in running start for the past year and a half and have formulated an opinion. Honestly if you're ready for running start as a junior/senior it depends on what is important to you in life. you see, college isn't hard, it sure as hell isn't easy sometimes but there are a lot of factors that make it seem harder than it actually is.

You need to be able to choose between the future or the past.
You need to be able to choose between Friends or Academics.
You need to be able to grow up quickly
You need to be able to adapt quickly.

I enjoy Running start, it has given me an up on my academic career that i am truly grateful for. if i hadn't done running start i may have not been able to pay for college and to get my AA, and would have to settle for flipping burgers at McDonalds for the rest of my life.

However, in doing so i lost all my friends, all the ones dear and near to me. i once had a handful of friends, now i have none. the thing that brings me down in college is this feeling of isolation. i get up in the morning, take the bus to CBC, go to my classes in which i have no friends, take the bus back, study and do homework eat, shower, sleep. and that's it. college forces you into a routine that if not followed things get out of wack and your grades suffer. sometimes it gets to the point where i lay in bed and cry and wonder what happened to my life.

i never see or talk to my friends anymore. when i do its like i have nothing in common with them. they complain about their boyfriends and girlfriends, and the drama with this person or that, their schoolwork and such, all which seems unbearably petty compared to what its like going to college. I don't know their friends or the new people at school, i cant relate to the teachers they talk about or anything, the feeling of isolation only grows stronger.

Often i wonder if it was the right thing to do, you see, running start wasn't for me. i didn't want to do it in the first place. the thing is, i'm a cruel and spiteful creature and i only took the test to get into college to one-up a friend. an ex boyfriend to be exact, one who wanted me to come to college with him which i didnt want to do. when i discovered he had failed (after we had broken up) i took the test to prove i was right and i was smarter, but in doing so i opened up a new life.

i guess i asked for the isolation, sometimes its unbearable, but when you think about it, college isn't hard, you have a lot of homework, but only a few hours of class, four hours a week, and you are two years ahead of everyone and get a jump start in college and in your life, i will be the first of my friends to get an actual job in a career field, i mean, its perfectly okay to suffer through four years of being completely alone and unrelateable because once i'm in my job field i can make friends who share something with me. but then again.

so to answer the question if running start is right for you answer this;

what is more important to you. happiness, or success?

good luck, kristin fort.