francescadubois
09-27-2008, 10:32 AM
I went straight through and graduated in 4 years. It was definitely the right thing for me to do. I didn't start stripping until I was 25, and that was to pay off student loans. I had hardly any awareness of stripping in college (it was a long time ago) and it wouldn't have been the right thing for me to do for the person I was then anyway.
If you don't know for sure what you want to go to school for, there's no reason to force yourself into it right away. HOWEVER, I could recommend dancing, traveling, living ONLY if you are going to be very serious about learning about money, and have good financial discipline. If not, that dancing/travelling/living lifestyle is going to be very painful to give up the longer you get used to it.
I don't think it can be an easy "Strip now, you're young, college can wait" answer. Everyone is different and truthfully I see a lot of strippers who made that exact choice years ago and are really hurting now. If you have a strong love/hate stripping wave, be careful too. It all comes down to the reality of your own discipline. Taking 1-2 classes a semester and dancing could be a good idea, it would give you more structure, and you can always travel on breaks. I know some say you don't need college, just build your own business, etc., but I would only recommend that if you have a true entrepreneurial spirit and can be focused and disciplined.
I think this is VERY good advice.
I went straight from HS to college, danced while in college, graduated a year early from undergrad, went straight into grad school, studied abroad while in grad school, and finished my Master's by 24. I now own my own business at 25. It started off slow, but I'm pretty happy with the way things are going, esp because I can rough it now and don't have any mouths to feed while it's still taking off.
If you don't know for sure what you want to go to school for, there's no reason to force yourself into it right away. HOWEVER, I could recommend dancing, traveling, living ONLY if you are going to be very serious about learning about money, and have good financial discipline. If not, that dancing/travelling/living lifestyle is going to be very painful to give up the longer you get used to it.
I don't think it can be an easy "Strip now, you're young, college can wait" answer. Everyone is different and truthfully I see a lot of strippers who made that exact choice years ago and are really hurting now. If you have a strong love/hate stripping wave, be careful too. It all comes down to the reality of your own discipline. Taking 1-2 classes a semester and dancing could be a good idea, it would give you more structure, and you can always travel on breaks. I know some say you don't need college, just build your own business, etc., but I would only recommend that if you have a true entrepreneurial spirit and can be focused and disciplined.
I think this is VERY good advice.
I went straight from HS to college, danced while in college, graduated a year early from undergrad, went straight into grad school, studied abroad while in grad school, and finished my Master's by 24. I now own my own business at 25. It started off slow, but I'm pretty happy with the way things are going, esp because I can rough it now and don't have any mouths to feed while it's still taking off.