[lolinder]

> The odds are slim but it’s important to pursue your dreams even if it is a gamble. The cost of not doing so is higher than you might thing.

Can you elaborate on what the cost is? Because there are a lot of cases that I can see where reevaluating your dreams might be a much better bet than pursuing them. I don't think it's a given that your dreams have any inherent value to them, nor that achieving them would make you happy.

I know someone who can't imagine pursuing a different career than being an Astronomy professor. He's still an undergrad at a middle-tier university and is consistently a C-grade student with a particular weakness in math, which is a major problem for what is essentially a Physics degree. Even if he succeeds at getting into a decent graduate school and getting a PhD (not a guarantee given how hard his undergrad has been for him), he'll be competing for a very small number of professorships that are available in Astronomy, and he'll be up against people who did much better in their undergrad and got into much better grad schools. And if he does beat all the odds and manage to land this professorship, will he just end up hating his career as much as he's hated school up until this point?

Is it still important for him to pursue his dream? Or is it time for him to cut his losses and find something else that interests him and is within reach?

[blululu]

The cost of not making at attempt is regret which can be expensive. The objections to “follow your dream” that people have mentioned are real. The basic “follow your dreams” advice should be tempered with realism and a sense of when to shift gears and call it. Don’t destroy yourself over something. But also, making an earnest attempt to accomplish goals is important. Setting and achieving goals is a key part of living a happy and fulfilling life and it is important to at least try.

From the sound of it, your friend has put in an honest effort and it is just not working out. I have nothing but respect for the effort, but tapping out is probably the best choice. That’s a hard lesson but one that you need to learn at some point in life.