How was your college experience?

[Ns1]

@OP:

are you in college now or are you planning for next year?

 

[SKORPI0]

Life changing. It's not always a guarantee for a good career, experience is. :awe:

I've met a lot of people with different educational backgrounds, both geniuses in their own right and some people utter morons when making decisions. College is there for you to learn and acquire knowledge, your strengths and weakness. Test yourself and know your limits, but don't let it stop you from pushing the barrier.

Gained a lot of lifelong friends and sharing what they knew or didn't know. Professors can be courteous and sometimes demeaning, live to learn with that. Don't be the know it all and try to always correct them, politely show them another solution/approach to solving a problem. That's what college is for, to make you think and stimulate your mind, not be a fool just going through the process.

And don't forget to enjoy it though. Before you know, it you're done with it. You might end up wiser to appreciate that the time you spent be worth the effort. Learn from your mistakes, it will happen even after your get that piece of paper people call a "diploma".

Oh, college is dime a dozen these days. Get a Masters degree as soon as you graduate. It will give you an "advantage" in the search for a good career. Good Luck. :hmm:

 

[T_Yamamoto]

@OP:

are you in college now or are you planning for next year?

I'm a junior (in hs), trying to learn and maybe figure out what my major (thought I had to down, polisci, but I guess not), so I can start considering schools (I live in NC)

Current choices for schools in no particular order:
Wake Forest (aka Work Forest)
NCSU (Engineering=extra hard to get into)
UNC-Chapel Hill (great school, but not for engineering)

moving on to out of state (less likely, but whatever)

Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech

my grades arent top notch (due to my high school, although the name itself carries a weight to it).

havent taken SAT or ACT yet, going to take after the new year

 

[ichy]

>.<
The fabrication process of CPUs and chips.

My dream dream job would be help designing a motherboard or case (i know, lame)

Huh? What in the world does designing cases have to do with chip design? One would be Mech E, the other EE.

 

[Ns1]

text

k, I can only speak to the SoCal asian fraternities but....


there will be hazing. And hazing does not mean doing homework for the actives.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Huh? What in the world does designing cases have to do with chip design? One would be Mech E, the other EE.

I have no idea. I'll most likely do some sort of engineering.

k, I can only speak to the SoCal asian fraternities but....


there will be hazing. And hazing dose not mean doing homework for the actives.

:awe::awe::awe:
And you think I don't know that?
The asian frats in NC aren't as crazy as socal asian frats. Less asians here in NC, also, no ktown or chinatown.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Huh? What in the world does designing cases have to do with chip design? One would be Mech E, the other EE.

C'mon man, stop riding his ass on these details. Part of the point of college is figuring all this out and what he actually wants to do. He knows, generally, he wants to work with "computer hardware".

 

[Ns1]

:awe::awe::awe:
And you think I don't know that?
The asian frats in NC aren't as crazy as socal asian frats. Less asians here in NC, also, no ktown or chinatown.

I sure as fuck didn't when I joined.

I thought hazing was old school bullshit wrapped in hollywood lore. I WAS WRONG.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

C'mon man, stop riding his ass on these details. Part of the point of college is figuring all this out and what he actually wants to do. He knows, generally, he wants to work with "computer hardware".

I'm fine with it, I have time to think it over and stuff, but I just need general help narrowing it down right now.

For my IB Extended Essay, I am writing (or soon be writing) about the nuclear accident at fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant , that reminds me, I have to start translating those newspaper clippings grandma sent me

 

[halik]

>.<
The fabrication process of CPUs and chips.

My dream dream job would be help designing a motherboard or case (i know, lame)

Err like a computer case? Those two things could've be farther apart...

 

[halik]

I'm a junior (in hs), trying to learn and maybe figure out what my major (thought I had to down, polisci, but I guess not), so I can start considering schools (I live in NC)

Current choices for schools in no particular order:
Wake Forest (aka Work Forest)
NCSU (Engineering=extra hard to get into)
UNC-Chapel Hill (great school, but not for engineering)

moving on to out of state (less likely, but whatever)

Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech

my grades arent top notch (due to my high school, although the name itself carries a weight to it).

havent taken SAT or ACT yet, going to take after the new year

Duke? For undergrad you might as well go to the best schools you can; they will all teach the same stuff for the most part.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I sure as fuck didn't when I joined.

I thought hazing was old school bullshit wrapped in hollywood lore. I WAS WRONG.

I am expecting the worst right now:hmm:

Err like a computer case? Those two things could've be farther apart...

I know. :/

Umm Duke?

Their engineering and everything else is superb, but I would need a 4.0 gpa (unweighted of course) and an SAT score of 2200+ to get in. No way I can.

 

[Meghan54]

Been through the mill twice in my life. First was for my RN, second was for a degree in journalism. Enjoyed both experiences greatly, but I was probably more the exception than the rule.

With my first degree, I was 26 when I started, after 7 years in the Army. Felt no need to immediately have to have a group of friends by joining a frat. I had better uses for my money, and meeting people and developing friendships wasn't hard at all, even with not joining a frat.

But it was work, what with clinical every day in addition to other classes and a part time job in the evenings. But the time flew by and had loads of fun.......being one of two guys in a class full of girls and women can have its advantages.


The second degree came at age 38. Shorter time spent in J-school, mainly because of my previous degree. Had most of the undergrad core done so just concentrated on my major. Again, had lots of fun despite one of the oldest students in my degree program. Ended up being a lot easier at time than my nursing degree, but at times harder. It takes a bit of work to write well and effectively.

And honestly, those frat boys were even sillier the second time around. Lots of drunks that had no time for studying, much less doing proper research for papers. Guess I should thank them for that, though, as those idiots paid for my school that time around. I ended up being quite in demand for supplying research papers, so much so that in the end I had a waiting list. Good times, those were.



BTW...with the schools you listed, I'd reconsider immediately joining a frat. If you were considering an Ivy League school (Harvard, Yale, U. of Pennsylvania--my mother's school, Columbia, Princeton, etc.), sure, join a frat immediately---that's where the power connections lie. In engineering schools, not so much, unless you're hitting up MIT.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

lol, we had zero of those in our fraternity.

we were the "study hard play hard" type, with more emphasis on "play hard".

lambda phi epsilon baby

haze til you die!

 

[cheezy321]

Greek Life is great
Join a frat.
Do not get a GF in college. Wasted a couple years of my college life.
Get a good degree
Get an internship in your latter years.
Profit?

 

[Fenixgoon]

wish i had been more social. definitely missed out on a lot of opportunities due to my lack of social skills (or rather, inability to read certain cues)

that being said, i'm at least financially successful. 25, master's degree in engineering, barely any debt, making damn good money.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

lambda phi epsilon baby
haze til you die!

Its funny, they have a no hazing policy (not like anyone gives a shit about that)

BTW...with the schools you listed, I'd reconsider immediately joining a frat. If you were considering an Ivy League school (Harvard, Yale, U. of Pennsylvania--my mother's school, Columbia, Princeton, etc.), sure, join a frat immediately---that's where the power connections lie. In engineering schools, not so much, unless you're hitting up MIT.

Duh, isn't this the most obvious thing to do? Friends=connections=helps later in life

 

[Kreon]

The only couple of things that weren't on your list that I suggest:

Big School vs Small School: My compromise was a small school in the city, with a big school righ next door. This could easily be extrapolated to small program/department at big school (which is what my gf did).

Also, get involved with professional organizations as soon as you can. Best career move I made, as well as meeting a ton of people of all ages in my career field. And especially attend social gatherings of the kind, preferably with alcohol. Its amazing how we engineers open up with a little booze. Just don't get hammered in front of potential employers (unless they're more hammered).

 

[Dumac]

Got me a good paying job, and that is all that I wanted.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Greek Life is great
Join a frat.
Do not get a GF in college. Wasted a couple years of my college life.
Get a good degree
Get an internship in your latter years.
Profit?

Friendships over relationships, I know.
Good degree, got it

wish i had been more social. definitely missed out on a lot of opportunities due to my lack of social skills (or rather, inability to read certain cues)

that being said, i'm at least financially successful. 25, master's degree in engineering, barely any debt, making damn good money.

Thankfully my parents plan on paying for college

 

[T_Yamamoto]

The only couple of things that weren't on your list that I suggest:

Big School vs Small School: My compromise was a small school in the city, with a big school righ next door. This could easily be extrapolated to small program/department at big school (which is what my gf did).

Also, get involved with professional organizations as soon as you can. Best career move I made, as well as meeting a ton of people of all ages in my career field. And especially attend social gatherings of the kind, preferably with alcohol. Its amazing how we engineers open up with a little booze. Just don't get hammered in front of potential employers (unless they're more hammered).

Quoted from OP "Positives and negatives of small school vs large school"
There is a school in Asheville, NC called UNC-Asheville. Has one of the smallest teacher to student ratio (1:14 or something) Also, this school is an UNDERGRAD ONLY school, meaning only undergrads only, no grad students teaching, etc which is nice VS a big name school (UNC-Chapel Hill) with a big population and a hefty teacher to student ratio

Got me a good paying job, and that is all that I wanted.

Thats all I want too

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Quoted from OP "Positives and negatives of small school vs large school"
There is a school in Asheville, NC called UNC-Asheville. Has one of the smallest teacher to student ratio (1:14 or something) Also, this school is an UNDERGRAD ONLY school, meaning only undergrads only, no grad students teaching, etc which is nice VS a big name school (UNC-Chapel Hill) with a big population and a hefty teacher to student ratio

Thats all I want too

i would always take the big university over the smaller "teaching" school.

 

[Dirigible]

i would always take the big university over the smaller "teaching" school.

I took classes at both a large university that does a lot of research and a smaller school more focused on teaching, with my Bachelor's being awarded from the latter. So much easier to learn at the smaller school it wasn't even funny.

Got a graduate degree from the large university later, and that was a much different experience than undergraduate at the same university.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

i would always take the big university over the smaller "teaching" school.

I took classes at both a large university that does a lot of research and a smaller school more focused on teaching, with my Bachelor's being awarded from the latter. So much easier to learn at the smaller school it wasn't even funny.

Got a graduate degree from the large university later, and that was a much different experience than undergraduate at the same university.

There's both positives and negatives for them.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I took classes at both a large university that does a lot of research and a smaller school more focused on teaching, with my Bachelor's being awarded from the latter. So much easier to learn at the smaller school it wasn't even funny.

Got a graduate degree from the large university later, and that was a much different experience than undergraduate at the same university.

i never bought into the idea that small classes = better education. in my opinion, a large lecture by a good prof is preferable to a smaller, less formal class. also when i was in college i took a lot of graduate science courses starting in my junior year and that wouldnt have been possible at a college that didnt have graduate programs. its also useful to have grad student teaching assistants.