Okay so... I am 18 years old. I got out of HS a year ago, and graduated with a 3.8 gpa. But I could not get any scholarships, because I did not do nearly as well my first three years of HS, and didn't have any awards or extra curricular activities. I took a year off of HS to try and get a job, and get in shape for the military. i am not horribly out of shape, but not military-shape, if that makes any sense. But I have completely blown this year. I spent a lot of time applying for jobs (from Mcdonalds to offices looking for secretaries), and was never even granted an interview. The rest of my time was spent reading and watching TV, and playing on the computer. I did not get into the shape I wanted to be in. My original plan was to speak to recruiters on September 1st. So now I am faced with the decision. 1) Spend the next two months trying to get in shape for the military, and hope for the best. 2) Join the Peace Corp, which would have me here for another year while waiting to leave, mooching off my family, as its unlikely I would get a job 3) Stay here and try to get a job, and save up for college without financial aid, and loans I would probably be paying off the rest of my life. HELP??|||Congratulations on getting your act together in high school and finishing with a 3.8 GPA. That's awesome. It's not too late to find a job for a few years. Go back to those places you went before and talk to people. Don't just fill out applications and leave. Meet with managers. Take names. Show you're serious. Online applications don't get jobs. Personal contact does. So try that again. The military is not not a bad choice. Get in shape and prepare for your talk with your recruiter. But definitely look for jobs now. Plenty of people worked through college -- financial aid is nice, but you can get it done yourself. Look at community colleges. They're excellent bargains. Peace Corps is not an option for you. Although the minimum age is 18, that was set back in 1961, when your average 18-year-old had been running the family farm for 12 years. Now, 90 percent of PCVs have their four-year-degrees -- at least. That's because Peace Corps isn't, as a lot of people want to believe, a bunch of young Americans digging ditches in third-world countries. It's not that AT ALL. What it is: skilled Americans teaching people -- mostly adults -- skills and technical training in third world countries. It's not manual labor - it's advising people on complex topics and teaching (or at least trying to teach) things like nutrition, information technology and life skills. There aren't many 18-year-olds who can do that, and that's why the average age of a PCV is 28. When I served a few years ago, we had a guy who was 20. He was by several years the youngest in our group, which was in the country with the second-highest number of volunteers. He'd graduated from high school at 16 or 17 and by 20 had not only finished college but studied abroad as well. He was definitely the exception. So that doesn't help you, I know, but it sounds like you;ve overcome some obstacles. Try to keep your focus, and get *out* (as opposed to relying on the Internet) and look for a job. Ask your parents if they know anyone who can help. Maybe they -- or you -- frequent places that hire. Don't be afraid to ask people if they know someone else who might be hiring. Make some calls. You can do it. Good luck.|||Join the military immediately. They will help with the self-discipline.|||Get in shape for the military|||if you can save up enough for college without financial aid or loans, you dont need college. invest that money smartly and in twenty years you can retire. skip the military. read up on how uncle sam wont spend the cash to properly armor humvees and such, preferring instead to let our soliders die. and how poorly veterans are treated when they return, by our government. if you planned a whole year to get in shape and slacked off, you probably wont have a rising star military career. so dont end up dead or disfigured for life for a small check each month.|||How have you been able to blow an entire year reading, watching TV and playing on the computer? Do you still live at home? Were your parents fine with this??? Go to your nearest community college and tell them you want to go to school in the fall, and ask what kinds of grants and scholarships you might qualify for. 3.8 is a decent GPA, there ought to be something available. Then, even if you can only swing taking one or two classes, do it. In the meantime, keep trying to find a job that you can schedule around your classes. Be willing to consider anything. You have wasted a year of your life. Hopefully you've gotten that out of your system. Don't waste any more time! Life is to be lived, not watched from the sidelines!|||I'm still paying my loans and I'm well into my 40's. I don't regret it. I still have a better life than if I didn't go to college. The peace corps is a valid option. I thought about the military and I would have done it but by the time I decided to join, they said I was too old to be an officer. If I had done it a bit differently, I could have joined as an officer and that would have been good. They wanted me to fly helicopters and I didn't want to do that. At your age, and with that GPA you are probably smart and if you join and do well on the tests, you will likely go to officers training school and that's a great gig.

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