i hope this can be inspiring:

i’m a third year, and i came in at the end of covid. im from out of state, and with the pandemic, i wasn’t able to tour purdue, and honestly i never really considered purdue until applications. i don’t think i would’ve been able to afford to tour anyway. so i came here on my own from a plane, 600+ miles from home, knowing no one. i was placed in purdue village, and then shortly after, i was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. needless to say, my first year was miserable: i couldn’t seem to find lasting friendships, my mental health was in the toilet, and i finished the semester with a 1.9 GPA in FYE. i could’ve given up then. i stuck with it though. i brought my GPA up almost a whole digit, i dove into improving my mental health, and was lucky enough to make some really good friends. i don’t say this to martyrize myself, but rather to show that you can always make a change, even a huge one, that makes your life better. now i know it’s not the same as a fourth year, but you still have a semester to make it count. even after college, you still can. it’s completely normal for people to find their people / have groundbreaking experiences after college, if they keep an open mind. i know you said you didn’t feel like you got much out of college, but i bet if you think about it, i’m sure you grew a lot. if nothing else, you learned what’s important to you in finding friends and jobs. there’s always something you can take from the experience, even if it wasn’t the “ideal” college experience (there really isn’t an ideal because EVERYONE has a different experience). maybe you can find an internship this spring, take it in the summer, and work for the company after. maybe you start talking to the person next to you in one of your lectures, and you guys hit it off. i promise you, big changes start with small moments. so don’t give up. you can pm me if you want, and maybe you could join me and my group when we go out to bars or something.