College ITP

[Mr._Blinky]

So, having just graduated after four years of the hell-that-is-highschool, I am finally getting to go to college this next year. This thread is for those of you who, like me, will be taking this next step in your lives this coming year. Oh, and I suppose for those of you who are in college already too.:smalltongue:

I will be attending Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and I plan on majoring in creative writing with a possible double in...like five different things.:smallyuk: Any other Knox freshmen in the hizouse?

[Dragonrider]

The time loop really is infinite, isn't it? :smalltongue:

I will be attending Whitman College come this fall. *is excited* :smallbiggrin:

[RTGoodman]

I, uh, graduated from college LAST Spring. BUT, I'm heading back to my alma mater, East Carolina, for grad school in the Fall, so I guess that's kinda starting anew, right? I'll be (hopefully) getting my Master's in European History, focusing on the Middle Ages and (more specifically) medieval northern Europe.

[Nameless]

I'm in my last week of the first year of college. :smallbiggrin:

[KataraAltinaII]

I'm going back up to college in September.

graduated hell--err... high school last year in May 2008.

[Decoy Lockbox]

So, having just graduated after four years of the hell-that-is-highschool, I am finally getting to go to college this next year. This thread is for those of you who, like me, will be taking this next step in your lives this coming year. Oh, and I suppose for those of you who are in college already too.:smalltongue:

I will be attending Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and I plan on majoring in creative writing with a possible double in...like five different things.:smallyuk: Any other Knox freshmen in the hizouse?

You know how people always say that highschool is the best time of your life? Bullpucky! I've got another year to go in college (I'm on a, shall we say, unnoficial five year plan), but its honestly the best thing ever, providing you arent also having to work a job to pay your way through while taking classes. If you have a college fund and possibly some spendin' cash from a job, strap yourself in and set coordinates for awesome.

Even if you do have to work to put yourself through, the increased freedom that comes from living away from home will likely make the whole thing worth it.

Quick warning: when you eventually get spit out of college after 3/4/5/however many years, you will in fact have to get a job and support yourself. Some fields of study are, dare I say, more employable than others. Now, its perfectly possible to get a great job with, say, a philosophy degree, but its a lot easier to get a good one with a tech/science degree. This is also somewhat of a national issue, as the other industrialized countries of the world have started putting out more science/tech majors than the U.S. recently, which could cause some problems in the future.

To illustrate, here is a brief survey of some of my post-grad friends, with me included at the end.
FORMAT: Name / Major / Job / Pay|Benefits

Justin / computer science / Database guy / high|good

John S. / History / clerk at used bookstore / low | none that I know of

John R. / Philosophy|Russian / gurney pusher at hospitol / crap|none

John E. / computer science / software designer / high|good

Ken / Econ / Unemployed / None|None

Katie / History / clerical work / okay | okay

Zach / History / grad school / none|none

Bob / Biology / clerk at Wholefoods / crap|none

Me / computer science / summer navy intern / good | none


So as you can see, those of us who chose to pursue IT careers are doing significantly better than those who didn't. Is this fair? Absolutely not. John. R has two bachelors degrees AND is in the national honors society, yet he is stuck doing minimum wage grunt work.

So what I'm trying to say is not "always major in IT", but "major in whatever you want to do, but have a realistic post-college job plan"

But you don't need to worry about that for a year or two. Try to meet lots of new people freshman year, go to some parties, etc. Don't slack off too much on your studies, either!

[RTGoodman]

John S. / History / clerk at used bookstore / low | none that I know of

Katie / History / clerical work / okay | okay

Zach / History / grad school / none|none

So as you can see, those of us who chose to pursue IT careers are doing significantly better than those who didn't. Is this fair? Absolutely not. John. R has two bachelors degrees AND is in the national honors society, yet he is stuck doing minimum wage grunt work.

So what I'm trying to say is not "always major in IT", but "major in whatever you want to do, but have a realistic post-college job plan"

Heh, yeah, that's pretty true. Hence the Facebook group "I Picked a Major I Like, and One Day I Will Probably Be Living In a Box."

I graduated with honors with a BA in History and minor in Medieval & Renaissance Studies, was the Outstanding Senior for the History Dept, was a member of several honors societies, and when I graduated... I was jobless for 6 months. And that was only a part-time substitute teaching job. I've yet to find any sort of real full-time job.

But, I'm heading back into the safe, protective arms of Academia in August, so I'll be MUCH better off... :smallwink:

[Dragonrider]

I'm planning on majoring in history because I don't like any of the areas that are supposed to get you a good job, and I don't see the point of spending three years miserable so I can get a job in a field I don't want to work in. :smalltongue:

But I love history. So... *shrugs*

[valadil]

Graduated in '05. Now I feel old.

[Helanna]

Well . . . not this year, but next year I'll be off to college. I figured I'd join the conversation because it's definitely time for me to start thinking a lot about college. And I have been taking college courses (pre-requisites and whatnot) through my local community college.

I'm really hoping to get into RIT's game design course. That would be truly amazing. I've been to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) several times and have been in contact with them, and I've been told that I'll likely make it in. I"ve made sure that all the college courses I am taking will be accepted at RIT (it would suck to be told that it 'didn't count', after all.)

However, I've been told not to go for the "early acceptance" programs, because after you've been 'secured' they can gyp you out of a lot of money. Does anyone else have any information on this?

So . . . good luck to everybody who's actually going into/already are in college!

[Decoy Lockbox]

Well . . . not this year, but next year I'll be off to college. I figured I'd join the conversation because it's definitely time for me to start thinking a lot about college. And I have been taking college courses (pre-requisites and whatnot) through my local community college.

I'm really hoping to get into RIT's game design course. That would be truly amazing. I've been to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) several times and have been in contact with them, and I've been told that I'll likely make it in. I"ve made sure that all the college courses I am taking will be accepted at RIT (it would suck to be told that it 'didn't count', after all.)

However, I've been told not to go for the "early acceptance" programs, because after you've been 'secured' they can gyp you out of a lot of money. Does anyone else have any information on this?

So . . . good luck to everybody who's actually going into/already are in college!

I was considering going to RIT, it looked like a rather nice campus. I havn't heard anythinig about early asseptance shenanigans, but it might vary from school to school.

So are you going to focus on game design (plots, levels, characters, etc) or on game programming?

[13_CBS]

Interesting thing...the last "College in the Playground" thread I saw was by Bloody Red Commie, who ALSO got into Knox.

hmm...:smallconfused:

[Dallas-Dakota]

DD is now officially a college student!:*smallbiggrin::smallamused:

Before his brother, who is three years older. ^^
*if DD graduates

[Morty]

I'll enlist into a college in October, having just graduated high school. I don't know which college exactly - I have one college I want to go to, and one back-up college in case I don't get accepted into the first one.

[Cristo Meyers]

I will be attending Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and I plan on majoring in creative writing with a possible double in...like five different things.:smallyuk: Any other Knox freshmen in the hizouse?

Close. Graduated from Western Illinois University, down in Macomb.

[Lolzords]

I'm starting college in september. Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, England. Doing Drama, Media Studies and English Language.

[Eldan]

Is the job situation really so bad for graduates over there? As far as I know, unemployment is less than 20% even for those master degrees with the lowest chances (the humanities, generally, and for some reason psychology especially).

Oh, and I'm starting my master in ecology/evolutionary biology this september. As for the university, the official translation of the name was something along hte lines of Swiss Federal institute of technology.

[Faulty]

Philosophy/Sociology double major at McGill, here.

[Neko Toast]

Finished my first year in May. I'm technically undecided now, but plan to go into Psychology, and maybe double-major with Philosophy. Seems like a good combo.

[SDF]

I've got two years at Boise State University left. I'm double majoring in Biochemistry/Molecular and Cellular Biology. I'm taking an ecology class this summer.

Going to try and get a Ph.D(Genetics or Epidemiology)/MD after.

[rogueboy]

I'm just finishing up my 3rd year of Chemistry undergraduate work at Western Washington University, and am psyched because I'm going to be continuing my research this summer (yay paid work!). Also, I'm really close to publishing a paper, which is awesome as an undergrad.


I've got two years at Boise State University left. I'm double majoring in Biochemistry/Molecular and Cellular Biology. I'm taking an ecology class this summer.

Aren't those 2 basically the same thing? At least at WWU, those are the Biochem degrees... the BS Biochem is through the Chem department and Cell Molec is through the Bio department... though I suppose it may well be different. I just remember being told I couldn't do a Chem/Biochem double major because there was too much overlap in the classes required :smallbiggrin:

[SDF]

Ones a biochemistry and the other is a biology degree, and almost all the upper division classes are different at my uni. There is of course a lot of overlap between the two fields of study, but as it is with Science!

[dish]

I think we're having our annual British/American English confusion about the meaning of the word 'college (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College)' here.


I'm starting college in september. Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, England. Doing Drama, Media Studies and English Language.

Zen, you're using the word in one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#Further_education) of the specific British ways to mean 'college of further education' or 'sixth-form college' - as in a place to study between the ages of 16 and 18, and equivalent to the final two years of American High School.

Everyone else in the thread is using the term in the American way (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#United_States) to refer to education post-18 (what the Brits call 'university').


DD is now officially a college student!:*smallbiggrin::smallamused:

Before his brother, who is three years older. ^^
*if DD graduates

Major congratumalations! I remember you were depressed about your first choice college - did it turn out ok in the end, or did you get in at your second choice?

[Mr._Blinky]

Interesting thing...the last "College in the Playground" thread I saw was by Bloody Red Commie, who ALSO got into Knox.

hmm...:smallconfused:

I'm not really that surprised. Knox is primarily known for having one of the best creative writing programs in the country, which is what I'm going for. There are quite a number of writers ITP, so I guess it's kind of to be expected that I'm not the only one attending.

[Headless_Ninja]

Depending on my grades, I'm hopefully going to Edinburgh to study Medical Science (with an eventual specialisation in neuroscience). (Or possibly Birmingham to study Medical Science).

Of course, I have to do decently in my exams, which is easier said than done...