I'd never been able to use mods before A19 cause I didn't have a good enough computer to even play it vanilla. Well, right around the time A19 released I got a new laptop. After dying on my vanilla file since I play permadeath I decided to try out something new and tried Darkness Falls. I haven't been able to put that mod down since. It fixes the one major issue I've always had with the game, lack of proper endgame goals.
Sidenote but related, I kinda thought of trying to get into modding since I want to be a game dev and it I thought it might be good practice. Turns out I've been too busy either playing 7D2D or focusing on getting into college lol. That and it's very daunting with literally no coding experience ATM.
College does take precedence, but in your free time you could check out the Khan Academy or something to learn some fundamentals. It doesn't really take much to crate your first little modlet and be proud of it. Good luck with your college apps.
Edit: I can't type.