Dropping Out of School

Going to a 4 year college and getting a degree had been the plan for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t even really a plan – it was kind of just what you did after high school. I never thought twice about doing anything different. When I was a senior, it really felt like going to a 4 year school was the only option after graduating and the only path to success. I have since realized that is so not the case. A lot of people associate a “college drop out” to someone who is lazy and unsuccessful. To be completely honest, I probably had the same mindset in high school because I never really considered the reasons why someone may choose to leave school. Taking a different path after graduating doesn’t make you less than anyone, it just means that there was an option that made more sense for you and your goals at that time.

I graduated from Portsmouth in 2013, and I can remember the excitement as myself and my classmates toured and applied to colleges while we worked to figure out what’s next. I ended up applying to two schools. The University of Rhode Island, which is where I found myself come September, and Endicott College which I turned down due to the higher tuition. The plan was to major in Marketing. I didn’t see a point in a Photography degree so my next choice was to go for something business related.

High school graduation 2013

During my senior year of high school in 2012/2013 is the time that Sara Cooney Photography (sort of) began. I definitely wouldn’t have called it a business at this point, but I had created my page on Facebook and started doing senior pictures for some of my friends. The 9 classmates I had photographed in the summer of 2012 turned into 20 seniors the following summer after I graduated. Word was starting to spread and I even got an inquiry for a family session. I really loved what I was doing. At the same time, I was packing up and getting ready to move into URI for my freshman year of college. I never really felt excited about going and I started to question whether this was the right next step for me, but I kept telling myself that this is what everyone does after high school.

I had to throw this in here – My first ad for senior pictures. This is so crazy to look back on!

Summer ended and move in day came around. I was pretty miserable the first two days but I eventually settled in as best as I could once classes started up. One thing I was really looking forward to in college was finally learning about the things that I actually wanted to learn about. As I mentioned I was a Marketing major and I was so ready to take in things that I could apply to my business. Unfortunately that was not the case and I found myself sitting in class learning about how to make X=Y. It felt like high school all over again and it was so frustrating. I guess I didn’t realize that you spend your freshman and sophomore year taking general education classes and I hated the thought of spending all of this time and money to learn about things that I would never use again. I didn’t care about any of my classes and I wasn’t enjoying the experience. I definitely wasn’t happy. I became so stubborn and did what I needed to do just to get by. I knew exactly what I wanted, my dream was to own a photography business.  I was at a point where anything that wasn’t moving me forward in this felt like a waste of my time, which I know isn’t completely true but that was the mindset I had.

First day at URI

A 2013 dorm room selfie with my iPod touch. Can you tell I have like zero pictures to share here?

I dropped out in December after finishing my first semester. Since then, I have been working hard to build my business from barely existing to where it is now. At first I hated telling people that I wasn’t going back to school and I always felt like I needed to explain myself because like I said, I knew what people thought when they heard college drop out. Now I am proud of it. Taking that risk was the best decision I have made for myself and my business. I have never once had a client ask to see my degree. I have learned everything I know through research online (for free) and by going out and practicing. I have put myself in the position to save up money rather than working to pay off school debt. If I had school debt to pay off, I wouldn’t be able to have my studio right now. Don’t get me wrong, there is always a downside. You have to be extremely self motivated because you have nobody telling you what to do and nobody to hold you accountable. All of those questions that come to my mind make for a pretty scary potential downside, but it’s worth it to me.

My biggest piece of advice for high school seniors is to really consider all of your options. For a lot of jobs out there, you need a degree. But if you’re someone like me who wants to start a small business, think about what makes the most sense for you. It didn’t make sense for me to put $100,000 into school for a degree that I didn’t need, to then find my business in the same place it was 4 years later. It made sense for me to invest a little money directly into my business, gain experience, market myself, work with clients, and grow. Know that a 4 year school isn’t the only answer and never feel less than if you choose to go a different way.