College

How long's a term, Kinkajou?

13-14 Weeks.

I missed the deadline to pay for my housing contract, and it's telling me that I can't reapply. I'm going to see an admissions counselor, though, and try to get it squared away. That'll likely be sometime after February 16, which, come to think about it, is only five days away.

13-14 Weeks.

About the same as the quarter system in use in some US colleges, then. Okay. I think I can sympathize.

And I have 18 units worth of work in each (max is 20).

15 is standard for the quarter system, but that's with eleven or twelve weeks of instruction.

They've actually decided to slow down our CS program, from 10 terms to 12. It won't be retroactive though.

I have no idea where I'm going for college. This stresses me out a little. I know I'm only a junior, but all my friends seem to know exactly where they're going and what their major is. I have no idea on either. I took the PSAT and ACT, and I get letters from shitloads of colleges going "Hey, spend your money here!", which apparently is good as my sister didn't get hardly any at all. Still, it's not like I know which colleges are good and which aren't, so it doesn't help me at all.

I suppose I could just go to JCCC or KU, but I feel like I should do more than that. I'll be a little disappointed in myself if I go to either. I want to travel and go somewhere, but this brings up the fact that I have absolutely no college fund and will need to get scholarships so I don't end up horribly in debt.

teal deer: I am navigating waters I know nothing about, and the way I choose to go will affect the rest of my life. Fuck.

Whatcha aiming for, exactly? You can never go wrong with Harvard. :P

Don't worry about major yet, I'm in college and I'm undeclared. I don't think most colleges make you declare until at least sophomore year. So unless you know that you absolutely have to become an engineer or something, I wouldn't worry. Most colleges are well-rounded.

edited 20th Apr '10 6:37:06 PM by melloncollie

Mellon: Eh... something respectable? A good college with reasonable tuition, I guess.

Bleh, similar situation to Kris. No clue what I want to do, parents not helping.

I'm going to the local state college. Pretty basic, but relatively cheap, and I can always transfer on the off-chance I find something interesting to major in.

?

Dunno if that would help you judge "respectability".

Also, there's always the option to transfer. I know some people who go to community college or whatever and then transfer out somewhere good that they couldn't get into previously.

... Berkeley is... #21??? *faints*

edited 20th Apr '10 6:43:19 PM by melloncollie

Many people who go to collage far away will be back the next year to transfer to somewhere in state. That's what happened to me, and I wish I'd started here so I could more easily transfer later. Now, if I do it again, I'm afraid it would seem superfluous or indecisive and reflect negatively on me.

Honestly, what college you go to doesn't actually matter that much in the long run, especially for undergrad.

People who were accepted to Harvard but went elsewhere did just as well in life as those who went to Harvard.

Though all I know about KU is that they have a really good basketball team.

William: A really good basketball team that lost in the second round. Fuckers.

KU's kind of a standard state university. Medium tuition, really crowded classes and campus, blahblahblah.

Also, thanks Mellon. I'll look through that.

edited 20th Apr '10 6:53:12 PM by KrisMahai

Most schools are pretty flexible, and many people change majors (and later, careers), often drastically. If you honestly have no idea what you would like to study, try to find a school that offers strong majors in different departments, so you have room to explore and switch around.

I want to pimp the schools I applied to

P 4 S: Go ahead, but I live in Kansas. Not going to anywhere too far away, probably.

Well, finding a college you'll like has a lot to do with what you want to get out of college, so three things to think about: what type of job do you want, what do you want to learn, and what are you good at.

There's no question about these being huge ass questions, but if you sit and figure out a lot of the "Hmm, I wouldn't like ____ because I hate doing ____, and I'd love doing _____, but not all the time-" you can at least get a general idea of some of the directions you're interested in. I've been trying to do this myself, and it usually helps if I grab a schedule of classes from the local community college and highlight all the classes I'd find interesting, or going to Onet and searching random jobs to look at all the skills that could be involved.

When you've got a decent idea of the things you'd like to do/learn about, then you try finding a college that has a good department for it. You should probably talk to a counselor about this sort of thing, but I don't have much other advice than that, since I found the school I want to go to through a presentation at my school. :/

When you've hopefully got an assortment of schools that are well known for the stuff you're going to college for, that's when you go to their websites to look at the other services they have, and try to compare and contrast them on price/services/student body/whatever. This is also when you should probably arrange to go to the campus and meet with someone who works there, so that you can ask them questions and stuff.

On scholarships, I don't know much, but you will have to complete the FAFSA most of the time. Most scholarships are ether for A), good grades, B), being poor, C), getting into a specific field, or D) having a specific thing about you that's specific to the scholarship, like being a woman, or black, or your parent being a veteran, or having ADD, or whatever. The money is free to use for just about anything, but there are strings attached, like having to enter a certain field for X amount of years after graduation, or having a B average, and if you don't hold those things up you'll have to give the money back.

edited 20th Apr '10 7:01:16 PM by Dec

Dec: My problem is, I don't know any of those things. I don't think I'll know until I actually take a class in those things or experience them somehow. Not really an option. D: It's kind of stressful, because everyone's like, "Well, what do you want to do?" I don't know!

I think you have some idea. Like do you have hobbies? Unless you're like me.

Hobbies... like what? I enjoy singing, but I'm not majoring in it. I also like dance, but ditto. I also like reading. Hobbies like that?

...I love history, but I don't want to be a teacher, and that's about the only thing you can do with it. Besides that, I don't know. :/

^^^Trust me, a lot of people are in the same boat. I still don't know what I want out of a career and I'm flip-flopping between two majors.

Pimpin': Grinnell is fantastic. I don't know how high you want to aim, though.

edited 20th Apr '10 7:06:40 PM by Penguin4Senate

Mmph.

I'm planning on being a history major and getting around that problem by going to grad school. So Yeah.

But I feel you. Still anxious about that one myself :X

Well, like I said before, and like Mellon said, going undeclared isn't a bad idea if you don't know what you want to do. I mean, you go to school, take classes in things you're at least a little interested in, and you figure out what you want to pursue. That's the idea, anyway.

The only problem with going undeclared is that it might make it difficult to get into a school, but if you colleges asking for you, they're probably likely to be pretty lenient.