Well, It seems the graduation thread isn't good enough for me anymore
I move in tomorrow at Virginia Wesleyan College and I am pretty psyched. Not only did I get a sweet deal on a room (read: HUGE) but somehow scored a free leather recliner to put in it
That is awesome.. I have a friend at Wesleyan he .. no wait he should have graduated this year ><
EDIT:
@ SK -- Welll Normally I would have been a Junior this year. But, because I did horribly my first year and then did not acutally attend this year, I still have less then 30 cred xD making me a freshman.. 6 yr+ plan ftw
6 isn't so bad. I did mine in 8, but I got two degrees and a minor out of it.
A friend of mine did hers in ... well ... she just graduated, and her first semester was in 1995 or so, so I guess 12 years. My cousin started in 1992, failed out once, got kicked out for drugs once, got married, got divorced, changed majors 4 times, and gave up and moved away in 2002, two semesters away from completing her degree.
So yeah, 6 year plan? That's fine, just stick to it.
i'm currently doing my master's at memorial university of newfoundland. i've also been accepted into a pretty good med school in the caribbean, but it costs an arm and a leg for tuition and travel, so i'm not sure if i'll be going yet...
I'm starting my 9th semester, and I only really needed one more class to get my Engineering degree. With any luck, I'll get a completely mismatching minor (English). All my classmates who already graduated laugh when I tell them.
If anyone is starting college and reading this thread:
1. Do your homework. Even if you're smart, you can get away with it for a while, but the exams can and will kick your ass. Professors and TAs write tests that you can't handle without having a firm grasp on the material. (except introductory/elective Poli Sci courses, if you go to the class, you can pull an essay right out of your ass)
2. If you're a big drinker, find a designated driver. If you're not really into it, BE the designated driver. Trips to Walmart and McDonalds at 2am as they're sobering up will make every one of your friends love you for life.
3. Don't just streamline into one major. Take full advantage of the facilities. Pick an unrelated minor, take random classes that sound interesting if you've got the space. Especially try to get into classes that are rarely offered, or a special topics course.
I dunno 8 years for an undergrad seems to long for me. I'm trying to get to grad school as fast as possible.
Eh, I was also part-time for 5 of it, while working to pay tuition and living expenses, and it was two degrees in completely different curricula. Granted, failing my compilers class twice in a row didn't help much either
But yeah, the fun part is, when I interviewed for the job (that I'm starting next week assuming the clearance all finishes like it should), we talked about my 4 years of experience sysadminning, and my two years on the helpdesk before that, and they didn't so much as bring up school once. Shame too, I've got tons of stories about it.
Anyway, you're right that you should get out quickly, as a general rule. For me, I managed to be a good exception, because I had a good job that paid the bills entirely, left me with a little spending money, looks great on a resume and really put a good sharp edge on my technical skills, opening a lot of doors into the real world. If I were flipping burgers or stocking shelves or some shit like that, it would have been a definite loss.
My roommate went to school full-time, didn't have a job, pulled an impressive 3.9 gpa in a grueling double-major in aerospace engineering and computer science, and graduated in 6 years with a six-figure college debt burden, and is now making about 10k/yr less than me due to being entry-level, where I got hired for a "mid-level" position. He's got a higher grade security clearance than I do though.
Last edited by complich8; Thu, 08-23-2007 at 12:26 AM.
Oh well part time is different, but you're in one of those "practical" fields, while I'm a philosophy major. Easy for me to get to grad school pretty quickly, where I plan to live as long as I can without any responsibilities.
Go into college knowing that it doesn't really matter how well you do as long as you get the 4 year degree. Companies could care less what your GPA was or how long it took. Getting the degree shows commitment and dedication, and companies want to hire committed and dedicated people. In a lot of traditional companies, you hit a ceiling pretty fast if you don't have a degree. Most management positions at these companies require a degree, regardless of competence or skills.
When I was in college, we'd learn material for 3 months, take the mid-term, then forget everything and move on to the second 3 months of material, then the final, then forget everything in time for the next semester. This used to concern me back then, leaving me to wonder how I would apply anything I "learned" in these courses to my future job. The trick is, pretty much nothing you learn in college will apply in your future job, so don't worry too much about it, just learn the material long enough to pass the course.
“For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?”
Animaniax did you just have another Bday? you were acutally 42 :O I thought that was a Hitchikers reference XD
No, I'm just overseas so I'm closer to the international dateline, so I'm ahead of most of you time and date wise.
Reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide? I hadn't thought of it, but it is a pretty cool coincidence.
“For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?”
You will not pass Human Resources screening at most companies if you have less than a 3.0 GPA. If you don't have an "in" some other way to get a recommendation that you deserve an interview, you'll have hard time.Originally Posted by Animeniax
Having additional skills like a minor in Business, a foreign language, or something else not common (not math for Engineering, english for Education, etc.) can counter the low GPA sometimes.
/personal experience
That only really applies to your first job. As you get further from college, HR and recruiters and such care much less about your GPA and much more about your work experience.
In fact, the same can be said of entry-level employees. My roommate did a double-major in computer science and aerospace engineering (in 6 years), maintained an impressive 3.9/4.0 in aerospace and a 3.8/4.0 in computer science, but he didn't do any internships or co-ops or anything like that. He couldn't find an aero job to save his life -- nobody hires an aerospace engineer who hasn't at least had two or three relevant internships or a couple co-op sessions. He's working as a software engineer for lockheed, for about 10 grand a year less than my 2.6/4.0 and my 6 years of relevant part-time experience got me.
Another former roommate of mine graduated in 4 years, with no relevant experience but a 3.7 in computer science, and it took him a full year to find a job. The pay for that job isn't as good as either me or my aero-cs roommate's, even after a his being in it for more than two years and having been promoted once.
Other people I know have had similar situations. If you're in a technical major and want to do it as a career, either having a relevant job or doing relevant internships gets your foot in the door a lot better than never working but holding a 4.0.
I just wanted to completely agree with Ryllharu about taking different classes. College is a great time to find out what you love, and learn things you've never had an opportunity to learn before. I completed my degree in 5 years, with a major in Engineering Physics and a minor in Linguistics. I found that often engineers get trapped into a certain way of thinking, and having different courses helped give a little more perspective. Likewise the training I received in tackling problems logically from my engineering classes definitely gave me an advantage in linguistics. Don't be afraid to try different things. I know too many people who are completing Masters degrees, finding that they've pigeonholed themselves into one specific area and are discovering that it's not the area they want a job in.
As for me, after my year of working, I'm starting my Masters in Linguistics very soon. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I might go back and do an Engineering masters later, but at the moment the thought of it makes me feel a bit ill. I can't wait to register for my linguistics courses and start classes! Between now and then though I still have to move to BC, which hopefully is uneventful.... (And all irc jokes aside, I'm not ragequitting Ontario because of Assassin :P )
I don't know about this whole taking more than 4 years just to get a bachelor's. In the colleges around here (Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College) you have to finish your degree in 4 years or less, you're not allowed to stay at the school beyond that time period.
Well I know at MD, you are encouraged greatly to graduate in 4 years. They set benchmarks every year for what you have to take.. Then they will put locks on your registration so you have to see an adviser, but there are ways around it once you meet them.
Darn college... I wanna go take a few courses but it's too expensive. Grrr.
~The imprint is always there... Nothing is ever really forgotten...~
~Seduce my mind, and you can have my body
Find my soul, and I'll be yours forever...~~Signature made by Deadfire~
School is pretty much free for me. I'll be graduating with profit.
Suckers.
I just drove down to UMD today with my dad to get my official transcript then to UMBC to hand it to them.. so now I have orientation on monday cause they for some reason let me in
Same, I have a few loans but they're all small amounts.
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