Seeking Guidance: Underdeveloped 23-Year-Old Double Major in College
I am a 23-year-old Junior/Senior (CC transfer) double majoring in Business Admin and Economics, graduating September 2027. I feel severely underdeveloped compared to my peers. While they have internships and campus involvement, I have neither. My GPA recently dropped from 3.68 to 3.37 over the last two quarters, and I struggle with a sense of purpose and belonging in the world. These failures work in tandem with my poor sociability of being either too “animated/open” or “antisocial/closed” towards everyone I’m not intimately familiar with, likely a product of having Autism/ADHD. I just feel like a living ghost in society with no real future or capacity to even function in the broader world, let alone thrive. I wasted much of my time in college coasting along rather than focusing on my long-term success. Now it feels like I’m too late to salvage any good post-graduation outcomes.
I feel my older age, 6-year degree path, poor GPA, social skills, and a lack of involvement put me at a permanent disadvantage. Even I were to start now and make all the right changes, my peers will keep growing, and it seems I’ll thus never be able to catch up. There also just isn’t really enough in my life I feel that justifies any of my failures thus far. I worry that recruiters will always prefer "on-track" candidates and that my September graduation date will disqualify me from many Winter/Summer 2027 internships. I did volunteer for my local VITA for 36 hours, which is something for whatever that’s worth, but it likely isn't nearly enough to uplift my experience sufficiently to compete for internships I may not even be eligible for. I’m stuck in a cycle of daily anxiety, overthinking, inaction, and just a general feeling of insecurity seeing the probable results of my failures racing towards me, attending classes where most of my peers seem much more put-together. I may even consider unenrolling at this point, given how bleak this path I am presented with is.
I desire guidance on what I can do to salvage this situation, if I can. Be honest regarding my current position. Is college worth it at this point, or am I falling victim to the sunk-cost fallacy? How do I reorient myself and mentality for long-term success? What professional opportunities exist for me at the moment, if any? What actionable steps can I take right now to build myself from the ground up, mentally and professionally?
Regardless, I appreciate any time taken for guidance!