i withdrew from a 3500 AUD course halfway in my first year of uni

Dude, shit happens. College is trash and you shouldn't feel bad for dropping out, even more so if it wasn't a for a subject you liked in the first place. Honestly, this doesn't matter much since college will most likely make you hate whatever you choose to study, but not liking it before starting can aggravate things, I suppose. The fact of the matter is nowadays it's so much harder to get a grip of your life after finishing high school (than what it was a few decades ago). But you'll get there. We'll get there. You're not alone in this.

Try doing it and regret it.
Regret not to do it.
The former will be happier.
And, you can not always predict the insaneness, human relationships, living environment and various events.
Therefore, if you try and fail, if you have "money" as the only impact of failure, you will probably be happier if you try not to care.

It is often said that the problem of scholarships, "I should return it!", But there is a problem with "the world where learning can not be learned without excessive debt."
It is important for humanity to quickly switch to a society that does not spend money.
"Faith" that "value" is in money will be an indication that people make people unhappy.

However, in reality, if you have enough money to enjoy "sufficient clothing, enough food, shelter from the wind" and "two hours of games and entertainment per day", you will be happy to switch gradually. .

When you get frustrated, you may keep worrying about your family for about a month.
Just re-setting your next goal and maybe you don't care about this one. That's good for the future.

Humanity can not predict the future perfectly.
Humanity can not do things perfectly.
That is natural and natural.👽

It's got nothing to do with anybody else, only you.
University doesn't give you a job. Only you can get yourself a job, so don't use higher education as a surety.
Yes, university is hard if you have no friends, and aren't used to being properly independent. I also did EXACTLY what you did.
If you don't have the confidence to do what you want to do, then you'll end up like me, a loser.

Also, don't listen to the opinions of losers.

Try not to worry, I went through a similar situation some years ago, and believe me, you'll look back and see it wasn't that much of a deal. Find something you like and that you wouldn't mind doing even if you're going through difficult situations that may come up, but also think objectively and do something that will provide you with enough money to satisfy your needs, look inside yourself and you'll find the answer, try not to worry much about other people's fears and expectations about you. You'll be just fine!

Once i was in a similar situation, but I quit right on time, before it even really begun, so not much money was wasted. There is no point doing something you are not happy with or absolutely hate.

Dude, same boat. I took a particular course, failed it 3 times. Depression was fun during those times as I didn't bother withdrawing. It threw my GPA in the dumpster. Eventually though, worked hard and got into a medical program. Unfortunately though, after the first semester. 8 out of 20 of us were removed. 5 by grades ( i was one of those 5) the other 3 left due to how crappy the teachers in the program treated us. Life is funky that way.
One day at a time dude. One day at a time.

I can't tell you what the right choice for your future is, but I can tell you that staying where you were would have been a very wrong option.

Imagine those two weeks repeating themselves over and over again, for forty years. Now imagine that the ticket away from it is to give up on that and just do something else, like you did, and that this ticket costs the price you paid. Is it sane to refuse to buy that ticket? I don't think so. In all likelihood, you'd end up giving up eventually. When? I don't know, but I'm sure that the damage would have been worse.

A few thousand dollars is nothing in the long run. It's a big deal when it's thrust upon you, but you dilute it over time and it stops mattering. Piling years upon years of feeling sorry for yourself and thinking that your life is hell? You can't dilute that, and it won't ever stop mattering.

And don't talk yourself into thinking that you'd earn well if you continued down that path. You might manage to do it, but you would become a mediocre professional at best, and you'd end up with a grunt-tier job. There is no professional success to people who hate what they do. The universe conspires against that possibility. If you look at it in the long run, you're probably better off financially dropping out now and reevaluating your options.

Seems alright to me. It's fine to drop out of uni if you have something you want to do. You weren't happy with studying CompSci so It's probably for the best to get an internship, go to TAFE or start an apprenticeship. Good luck!

Way I see it, there is no point in life if you are miserable. Seek out what brings you enjoyment and fulfillment, instead of what others tell you is best for you. There is a difference between being alive and just breathing.

I'm sorry that uni gave you such a bad image of computer science. (Speaking as someone with a BSc in math and CS and MSc in CS.) I know it's not for everyone, but it sounds like it wasn't the subject that turned you off.

Is there no way to increase that English score? It sounds rather stupid that you'd fail to get into what you wanted for one measly point that you lost simply because you were on a higher difficulty level. Surely there's a way for you to prove that your English is very good.

As for "doing what you like vs meeting the expectation of others", I don't think that's the issue here. It probably was internally for you with regards to how long you stuck with the CS studies, but as you said, that wasn't a real expectation, and I think that you did well to try it. I think that being open to alternatives is a good thing. Just because it turned out to be a bad university doesn't mean that the entire thing was a bad idea.

Anyway, I agree with your choice of leaving that degree. There's no point in forcing yourself to suffer. It wasn't clear to me from your post what you really want to do, so I can't offer advice on what I think you should do.

I have forced myself through four years of college just to drop out at the end of my last term, because I did not want to disappoint my parents (and also was under the impression that a degree is necessary to get a decently paid job).

Now I wish I had dropped out after the first year when I realized that the course was not meant for me but I did not want to let the year I had invested into it to go to waste so I persevered and wasted another three years on top of that one. So yeah, if I were you, I would not feel so bad about the experience, while costly, it could have been worse. Good luck going onwards!

Family pressure is sometimes hard to fight and you tell yourself they only want what's best for you and maybe it won't be that bad but it's your life. Even if you think your decision might be a mistake, it's your fuck-up to make.
The way some parents see things, their kids would still be crawling on all fours at age 20 because they can fall down if they try to walk. You fall down, you get back up again. That's how you learn.
So respect for making your own decision and you'll find a way forward again if you keep putting yourself first. Take your time, look at your options, research everything you can, you'll find options you didn't even know exist.

I've wasted 15 years of my life studying for something I didn't like, and working as a corporate robot when I hated it every damn day. I just got out of dodge one day and everyone around me was telling me I should stick with it because it was lucrative and "you don't live to work". Yeah, sure but when you work 13 hours a day in something you hate, it's taking a big hammer and chisel to your soul. I found my way and I'm not making as much money, by far, and I still work crazy hours but I can't wait to get to work, I learn every day and I am a happier person in general.

Trust yourself. Find your happy. The others will follow if they love you.

As an American - 3500 AUS to make a bad university mistake is, like...

I made the same mistake you did - went to the wrong program at the wrong school. I was set a year back. The price of my mistake? 33,000 American Dollars.

I recovered - made different mistakes - recovered from those - had more bad shit happen - recovered from those. You can do the same.

Invest in yourself (as in: therapy and making sure where you want to be as a person in how you behave/think about things/react to and handle shit) and invest in your personal safety net (as in: strengthen the bonds with the people around you, grow and foster beneficial hobbies) and it'll make weathering the inevitable bad shit and mistakes so much easier.

You'll find a path. It won't be immediate, and it won't be perfect, but you'll find it.

Do what you love and it will pay good in the end :)

I got two degrees for stuff I hate right now.

I completed them even though I thought a lot during the 4 years to drop out, because I knew that I would end up having really shit jobs if I didnt.

So now I got a way better job but I don't "use" my degree for my job.
Think "hard labour" instead of "comfy desk job" (I have the latter now).

It just proves that I was capable of completing a university degree at master level and that is why the company hired me.
Never touched the stuff I did at uni for over five years, but I would never have gotten into selections if I hadn't completed them.
Funded my own shit at university too, so was working student jobs after hours as well.

It's worth it now.

Edit; in the end it's your life, make as many mistakes as you want.
Capable of trying (a different course) again or are you going to sit in the couch and do nothing? :p
Be happy, but know that difficult stuff pays you back in the long run

I will tell you what I have come to realize after all these years.

To start with, I am in Australia as well, in my early thirties, and while I originally had an IT background with computers being my passion, I changed my field and went into nursing. It was never my choice but I did it to support someone else because they didn't think they could do it alone, so I did it with them knowing I would hate it.

Initially I hated it. First year was horrible. Second was just annoying. But towards the end of second year I came to a realisation.
We think that we don't have a lot of control over our decisions, and when we are forced to do these things reluctantly, like your and mine degrees, we resent it. You can never find happiness doing something you resent. Once I realized that and I let go of my annoyance towards nursing, I started my third year and I gave it my all and realized it had changed from something horrible that I resented to something I loved.

Today, I love my job. I love the complexity of it. It's not always about doing something you love, but rather learning to love what you need to do. It's a matter of viewpoint, and sometimes it needs a little bit of effort on your part to change your viewpoint. Unfortunately the only way to understand it is to experience it. In the end just learn from your experience. Life is all about learning from failures. It might seem like a big deal right now, but over time it will just be a life lesson. The AU$3.5k will get paid off eventually and it won't seem as big a mistake as it might seem right now. And less than one semester of wasted time isn't a huge loss. I know people who finish their 3-5 year degrees and then change their field without working a single day.

Many years ago I dropped out of a university degree that wasn't working out for me and at the time I worried a lot about my future, the time and money I'd wasted, whether I'd done the right thing and so on and so forth. Now I don't regret it at all. I absolutely did the right thing.

You have a long life ahead of you and there going to be all kinds of mistakes and unexpected problems - the main thing is not to waste it doing things that you hate. Never be afraid to make decisions and find ways to move forwards.

If the B.Arts is what you still want to do, I'm sure there are bridging courses or academic entry programs you could be doing to make up for your slightly short English result, or you could be based on a short list where they might take people who only just miss the entry requirements, to help fill the course if there's shortfalls. At a regional Uni up here in QLDin my home town, they have a program called STEPS (Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies). It's a 6-12month course that prepares you for uni. If you pass the course (which isn't that difficulty), you're guaranteed acceptance into the course of your choice (Extra subjects required for certain courses which required a more specialised skillset.)

every people in some part of life needs to choose what is more important to him make more money or do things, which just make you happy and doesnt do much profit, im not talking where u got both, its where you need to have your goal attached to.
so, my advice is go where you feel its yours, do what you like and money will come eventually ;)