If you could do it all over again...(Life, not the car)

[mdprovee]

I agree, take the internship.

If I had to do it over I would have stayed in school. I have a A.S. degree which really means nothing now days. There will always be time to have fun later in life. Trust me, it is a whole different type of fun.

[Ummgawa]

Two Schools of thought, here. If you are smart young, then unless you hit your head, you will be smart when you are more mature (IE old). Sure, make good money when you are young, working for someone else. If I could have a do over, I would invest more of my time and efforts in commercial real estate. Strip malls and shopping malls. Hard to do alone, so get a group of Likeminded men together, form an LLC and go for it. Get the level headed one to be in charge. You can have a "Secure" job with a big company and depend on them to retire you. Or they will down size and eliminate you or get bought out and "rightsize" you whiich means they have someone younger than you do it cheaper.

A lot of retired people I have known are now dead. they lost their reason to live. Got to be in charge. Now nobody jumps when they give orders and they feel useless.

Do what you love, do it while you are young, when you get older your teeth and knees hurt.

Work to live. Don't live to work. See the world while you have no anchors.I heard a real smart guy say that youth is wasted on the young. Laugh real loud, Fart when you need to and drink lots of water.

WHEN IT COMES TO A WIFE, CHOOSE WISELY. IF YOU DISLIKE YOUR MOTHER IN LAW, YOUR WIFE WILL BECOME HER IN ABOUT TWENTY YEARS.

HERE IT IS IN A NUTSHELL,THERE ARE NO DO-OVERS.

[Richz68]

It is trully a double edged sword...... I firmly believe that MOST people aren't really ready for the world or to decided and become the person that they will be for the rest of their lives until approximately 26-30. Who knows as time goes by you begin to figure out that you aren't excited to be what you or your peers thought you should be.

I have several friends who rushed in the corporate world and all but one state that they would have taken a few years longer to decide on their life rather than rush into it. They also said that they regret not "living" while they were younger.

I think you should seriously take some time and travel outside your current world. Do some volunteer work for the less fortunate, look into the eyes of a child in need that you made smile from an act of kindness and you will soon discover what success is! Remember that when it is all said and done on each persons deathbed NOBODY.... I MEAN NOBODY wishes that they would have worked more while they were able.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you become a slacker and go get drunk, just take your mind outside what you feel is "the way" and discover what the world has to offer while you can.

[Payton King]

Work expierence couple with a good degree and strong grades will put you head and shoulders above the pack.

I am a Finance major myself. If I could give any advice is pick your concentration of studies that will provide you with the income you desire. There are few people in this world that their passion is the same as their career. Most have a career as a means to an end.

I know this is not you...but, don't get a degree in secondary education if you want to live in a million dollar house with all of the trappings that go with that life style. One way is to pick a tough and sought after education such as an attorney, doctor, etc that puts the odds in your favor as Frank stated. That is not to say you can't make a truck load of cash doing other things. I know of plenty of people with business that you would not take a second look at, slapping the ball out of the park.

Find a successful Mentor doing what you want to do and ask if you can work for him for free. The knowledge and expierence that you will gain for that person will benefit you like you cannot imagine. If you make yourself envaluable to him/her. You get to meet his friends and clients. Network, network, network. If you are doing a good job they will feel inclined pay you as well.

When it comes time to graduate, I have found that it is still as much as who you know as what you know when getting jobs, opportunites or promotions.