This thread is for talking about your college ventures. Also, just anything like your major, minor, if you're still in college, if you're out,and what not. Do you like college? Did you enjoy college? Do you remember any of college I'm not sure but I think you guys in Europe are on a different system then us...don't you call it UNI or something? If you're in, express what you want to do when you're out. Also, if you're not in college yet, feel free to express your fears and hopes and questions and such. Also, if you're not, express what you might want to major or minor in.
Alright, now for me. I currently live at home and drive to a local community college. My honest opinion about the community college...is that the place completely blows. But it's a very reasonably priced place, and in combination with living at home it's a very cheap way to get college credits. But I'm not sure I can waste two more years of my life here Next semester I'll be going to one of their campuses up north and it'll be an hour and a half to two hour drive every day. Unfortunately the ol' Ford F-150 doesn't do as good on gas as I would hope... Anyway, I'm double-majoring in Agricultural Education and Anthropology, with an interest on Biblical Archaeology. This community college doesn't offer any Anthropology classes, so I'm taking an online class from Western Illinois University spring semester, and I will move to WIU during the summer. I've got a room in an Ag. Fraternity lined up, and I'm ready for the real college experience. But after the summer's over I'll have to move back home and attend the community college again. After another year there, I'll finally transfer to WIU for good.
After getting out, my first priority is to join the Peacecorps. It would be a great experience for my Anthropology major, even if it doesn't have to do with the archaeology department. After that, I plan to either become a high school teacher and teach agriculture, or become an amateur archaeologist for a couple years while slowly taking some classes from the U of I towards receiving a master's degree.
Actually I figured between you, MasterM, and NastyMan that would enter the topic No offense of course
So yes, party stories are definitely encouraged as well.
Oh and cecil, in the process of writing this your avatar changed 4 times
I have almost done 7 years at University : Undergrad, Masters, and almost finished a doctorate - all in electrical engineering related fields.
Between Masters and my PhD I worked as a designer for a year and half. My uni life revolves around: Research, Going out/Lego, shower, sleep, repeat. Enjoy your time at uni/college dudes, real work is a lot less fun!
Originally Posted by Phredreeke Wow, 12 year old and president of the student body? Your parents must be really proud!
They were until they heard about him throwing a kegger...
Well I'm at a community college (It's not cheap college, it's expensive high school) so our Student Government pretty much sucks. The only real offices we have are club representatives. I'm the representative for the Ag. club.
@Hagar, now you said you worked between your Master's and your PHD, did that cause any issues with your thesis?
Just got out of college last July. I was so, so, so sick of the really tight programming assignment deadlines that I stopped making games because I wanted a break from programming. Let's put it this way. You're asked to submit an assignment in 2 weeks, send it a week early, get bonus marks. Send it a week late and it's still fine. Assignment is to hack code in C to implement virtual memory for an operating system. Actually harder than it sounds, spent 7 days a week on it, stayed up till the comp labs were closed, still failed the course.
Plus, there's the other two week assignments like "write a private/public key coding system in 2 weeks". Next two weeks, use those to program a network/client system similar to SSL from scratch. Or create a network simulator, that simulates 1 million individual packages going back and forth through a few servers, and the process of each packaged getting served/queued/dropped.
Best assignment was: You have a motor/generator combo (you get an input voltage that powers the motor, and the motor connects to a generator that outputs about the same voltage). Create a control system where you can control the output speed of the motor. The generator feeds back into the motor, plus you can add some voltage to control it from the computer. It has to be computer controlled (if you do basic electrical, you realize that this is hard to do in a short time span).
The speed itself is not straightforward, harder than simply measuring voltage. But whatever device you use to measure it can transmit signals to the computer, only through the sound card. If you blow up the sound card, you fail. The sound card's output then goes back to the signal (I nearly failed this one, because I didn't realize that sound card can only output a sinusoidal signal, not a steady analog signal)
The other catch: You have 3 hours to think of how you plan to do this before you have to explain it. You have 1 week to think about it and buy components, after which you have only 4 hours to assemble the whole device, write whatever code (you can bring code in your head), and run, test it.
yeah, I didn't get any rest in college. Actually looking forward to work. College was basically study, go to class, grab a quick meal, study, play a 10 min game, study, complain about study load to roommate. Can't sleep, assignment due at 5 AM (the lecturer set such a ridiculous time so that students wouldn't overload the server sending all the code at the same time then complain about the server lagging them 10 mins past deadline).
But I did learn things.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
I went to college and studied theatre. It took me 5 years to graduate with a 4-year degree. The good news is that I studied at an arts conservatory in southern UK for a semester.
* For those of you in the UK, you may have heard of the Dartington College of the Arts, in Devon, near Totnes.
I STRONGLY recommend studying abroad for anyone considering college/university. It may be your first/only chance to spend any considerable length of time in a foreign country, and it'll be relatively affordable if your school has an exchange program set up. I fondly remember that semester abroad as one of the most worthwhile experiences of that time in my life.
I also don't recommend marrying someone while you're in college. It was a big mistake on my part, although I learned a tremendous deal through the marriage experience/ordeal.
Yeah, I'd strongly recommend doing your studies abroad as well. My parents did it, and they almost make it a requirement for me. Maybe even do it in a country you'd like to work in - Japan, Germany, Australia, UK, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, USA, China, whatever interests you. If you're from a first world country, it'd often be fairly cheap too.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you're white (or chinese or black or whatever) that you'd fit in with a racial clique outside your country. People tend to form cliques anyway, just treat it like the internet and get to know everyone. You'd actually have to approach people, but early on nobody knows each other, so it'd be quite easy. You'll learn a lot more about your home country by viewing it from an outsider perspective as well.
Aim for the highest university you can get accepted to, but not one too high from your standards. You don't do yourself any favors by being the only smart one. You're paying for it and you actually do want to learn something
It's sort of like exercise. Do 20 pushups among those who can't do one and you'd find everything too easy and gain nothing. Do 20 pushups among those who do 100, and you might break your arms.
Don't worry TOO much about grades. I've got a friend, same degree, who rushed through college, took all the easy subjects and graduated a year ago. I took all the hardest subjects, had horrible grades early on, but rather ok ones later on after learning from the mistakes on earlier subjects. All the failing held me back a bit. Yet he's still jumping from job to job, willing to get lower pay for a chance at a higher job. I've been offered a rather good job compared to him, high starting pay, company car, not from grades, but from knowledge and contacts.
Oh, and do get to know your classmates. In the real world, contacts are the most important thing. If you don't have the skill, you'll either be able to find you a contact who you can pay for it, who'll teach you, or who'll discuss it with you. Anyone in your class is also in your field.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
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I'm not sure but I think you guys in Europe are on a different system then us...don't you call it UNI or something? If you're in, express what you want to do when you're out. Also, if you're not in college yet, feel free to express your fears and hopes and questions and such. Also, if you're not, express what you might want to major or minor in.
Next semester I'll be going to one of their campuses up north and it'll be an hour and a half to two hour drive every day. Unfortunately the ol' Ford F-150 doesn't do as good on gas as I would hope... Anyway, I'm double-majoring in Agricultural Education and Anthropology, with an interest on Biblical Archaeology. This community college doesn't offer any Anthropology classes, so I'm taking an online class from Western Illinois University spring semester, and I will move to WIU during the summer. I've got a room in an Ag. Fraternity lined up, and I'm ready for the real college experience. But after the summer's over I'll have to move back home and attend the community college again. After another year there, I'll finally transfer to WIU for good.
Edited by Otter
