Where did you go to college?
ToeFunk
90 Posts
For those that went..Where did you go? What did you study? How were the teachers? How was the campus/city? What did you end up doing in life?I'm a junior in high school and apart from being curious about what others do, getting my ACT score today made me finally start thinking about school after high school. Oh and I'd like to study journalism btw. Let's hear it.
Comments
In terms of journalism, since that was my perspective when I came into college, it's tough to find a good school with an undergrad journalism program. Most of the good schools think it's too technical a field for undergrad. I highly recommend looking into linguistics and psychology, they are majors that would-be journalism students tend to gravitate towards and enjoy (our ling. department here at UCSC is really good too.)
From visiting friends at different schools, I can vouch for UCLA and University of Michigan as being the schools that a part of me wishes I'd went to (or..uh, got into). Having a school with D-1 sports teams is really fun.
Also, if money is an issue, especially in California, transferring from a community college is a great deal and I know plenty of people who have done it. Even public colleges aren't cheap and looking at $6000 in loans for next year is good motivation to make sure I get everything done and taken care of.
But really, best advice I can give is that especially in your 3rd and 4th years of school, the city you live in in just as important if not more so than the college you attend. I know I would go batshit crazy if I were out at a school like Oberlin, isolated from the rest of the world.
Hope that helps and if you are trying to visit any of the UC system schools I got you covered if you need to meet folks to see what things are really like.
My humble opinion, of course. Everyone's situation is different.
The main campus was awesome and a lot more challenging. There is a lot of $$$ pumped in to their resources so I had anything and everything at my finger tips. There was always something going on, the restaurants were fantastic, and there were lots of lots of women. Oh... the academics were alright, I guess. I was more worried about other things then the quality of the education.
I majored in journalism and aspired to write feature articles when I graduated. During my last two semesters I built web sites for fun and really enjoyed that much more than writing. I graduated during the dot com boom and had no trouble finding a job in web design / development. I stumbled and bullshitted my way through a lot but it allowed me to grow. After a year of real world moves, my father-in-law offered me a position with his startup to be in charge of web development and e-commerce. I've been working with him for the past 8 years and love it.
It was definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made to go to a state school. I borrowed my way the last 5 semesters and had my loans paid off in 5 years.
I saved a bunch of money by going to the junior college. I got all the breadth requirements out of the way and to be honest, they might have been easier at the JC than at Berkeley. The only thing I missed out on was living in the dorms. I don't think I missed much.
Berkeley is (or was when I went) a good school. I enjoyed most of my teachers and thought about 70% of them (or the GSIs) were competent. I had some amazing teachers and I had a few total boring duds. The campus is nice and the tuition is fairly cheap.
If you decide to go the junior college route it will end up saving you money and when you transfer you still get the degree from the real college you go to. it's not like they give you a half degree or put an asterisks on it. To be honest, the first two years are kind of a joke and unless you want to party and socialize with other first time out of the housers than you'd probably be better off at a JC. It really doesn't matter where you take Intro to Biology or something like that, especially if it's not your major.
The one thing I wish I could do though is go back in time and tell Tommy of 1997 (high school grad) to major in something boring that will make it easy to get a well paying job. It's nice to study something interesting, but unless you are dedicated to that specific craft or field and want to work in it no matter what the pay...just get a computer science degree or become a lawyer.
I graduate in a couple of weeks. You should definitely go to Michigan. I got in to Ann Arbor, but from out of state it is some serious coin. Michigan is one of the top universities in the world, and that degree is immensely more valuable than the tuition you'd pay in state.
Bachelor of Fine Arts
The connections u make in school are just as important as the info you gain.
Its not all about book smarts.
ALaska pays more than most other states and the job market for a young man is out of control. You can easily make 50K a year without a college education. easily. it's all because of this
with grades/scores like that, you can probably get some good scholarships/financial aid, if money is an issue. I was a good student in high school as well, and now attend UC Davis (obviously not as well known as UC Berkeley or UCLA) and have been since freshman year. I would have missed out on a lot by going to a JC, but that might also have prepared me better. Depends on you.
You are dangerously close to revealing your secret identity.
I love(d) Athens. Great college town. A little liberal oasis in the middle of Republican Georgia. Lotsa frat boys but they can be avoided. Atlanta is only an hour away if you need a city fix. Great journalism program.
I now own a record store after working for the Washington Post for ten years so my Georgia edumication has served me well.
Go Dawgs!
For journalism, look at Northwestern or West Virginia. Those are where it's at, WVU especially for sports broadcasting, but it also brings the journalism goodness as well.
Then I attended and graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena
I now design belts, shoes and hats for my Dads company.
I get to work at home doing something I enjoy with my Dad which is great, but I'm wanting to get into something that is a little more permanent (My dads gig is only part time with no room for growth) Otherwise it would be perfect.
Went straight in as a freshman...3 hours drive from my parents...lived on-campus my first year...LOVED IT...but didn't know what to major in...wound up with marketing...which in the end was a very lame choice...wish I could do that one over...but it did help me build a career in accounting (YAHOO!)...and sometimes journalism...which originally came out of me working at the campus radio station...also worked for the Rec Sports department...AGAIN, LOVED IT!
Lessons learned:
1. Get out on your own and do it!
2. Choose your major wisely.
3. Get involved with extra-curricular ish (even landscape a closet if need be)
Bonus lesson learned:
Date around.
college is good for dating bc when you find someone you like, they're most likely fairly smart/ambitious.
Fairly
relax
University of Oregon 90-95
Poli Sci with an English Minor
Had a great time in Eugene, from what I recall.
Went at a really bad time when they were cutting funding for the state run schools and enrollment doubled. I would regulary sign up for 6-5 classes a semester and end up with only 2 and then have to run around school the first week trying to add classes. Still, looking back it was a great deal because I believe my tuition or that first semester was only $500.
SF State is mostly a commuter college, and I think I only had about 5 classes that had over 30 students. I actually had the opportunity to meet and have some very good relationships with any teacher I wanted to, which is something that I think you'll miss at the bigger schools because most of those institutions and teachers are not there for undergradutes. They want to do research, write, etc. and have grad students do much of the hob nobbing with the students.
Anyway, wanted to be a History teacher so majored in History. One semester made me change my mind. Completely by accident I found out about the International Relations program, which is world politics, and fell in love immediately. My General Education classes were generally okay, but I formed a bad habit in High School of only really trying in classes that I liked. Thank God almost every single one of my classes for my major were very good to excellent.
Took me 5 years to get my B.A. and I liked the program so much I went straight into Graduate School, which was my favorite time in college. My class was filled with some really amazing minds and we all hung out together and had study groups, etc. Together we ended up writing a reader on research methods which might still be used there. We also went to conferences, wrote for journals, etc. Was an amazing time.
After two years and getting my Masters, I went straight to Mills College in Oakland to get my teacher credential finally. Mills had a one year program, most are two years, which was perfect because I wanted to start my career. Went back to the old me of only doing good in classes I tried and really wanted to start teaching.
After graduating I sweated out an entire summer of not being hired despite going to dozens of interviews, then got a job the day before school started at Oakland Technical High School, and not being told what exact classes I was going to teach until I got to work at 8 am. Have been there ever since.
I definitely like the program I'm in but the school as a whole is pretty wack. Only around 900 out of 2,500 students in campus housing (dorms, appartments, campus owned houses,) which really means about 700 kids actually on campus. I grabbed an apartment with a couple of my good friends from last year right quick. That helps a lot because then we can throw the parties that nobody else is. And Chicago is always a good time.
And don't have a girlfriend from high school or try to do any long distance relationship type shit. There's going to be way too many girls at UMich to fuck with any drama for the next four years.
i'm originally from southern california and lived there most of my life (l.a./ san diego), but due to difficulties with my father i decided to live with my mom the last two years of high school in st. louis, where she had recently moved to from san diego. i did very well in high school but during my senior year i was introduced to a philosopher of education: John Taylor Gatto. his writings revealed to me the origin of school, its purpose, and the purpose of teachers. i became so jaded that i just wanted to get the fuck out of school and move back to los angeles. so, i wasn't attentive to the SAT/ACT. after moving back to l.a. i decided after sometime off to go to Santa Monica College. after about two years in L.A. (music, party, drugs, girls, music, drugs, party) i transfered to University of North Texas (my mom had moved from st. louis to dallas) so i was approved for in-state residency and UNT has a great music composition program, that I originally came here for. After about a year of rigorous coursework, disciplinary bullshit and egotistical competitiveness i decided to switch my major to philosophy. it's worked out fairly well, UNT turns out to be the premier university for environmental philosophy/ethics (the first PhD program in the nation) which has never a primary philosophical interests, but has been enlightening regardless.
I'm ready to get out, i've got one more year, and then off to grad school! yuuueeeehhhhhoooo!
For what it's worth, I went to a small, historically Black university in Fayetteville, NC (aptly named Fayetteville State University [FSU]) after graduation from high school in 1987. I got into tons of other better and more noteworthy schools (UNC-Chapel Hill, Michigan, Duke, Maryland, etc.), but my parents wouldn't let me go (due to my immaturity) and I was pissed! I originally went in to FSU as a pre-med, pharmacy major, but realized I didn't want to go to school that long, so I switched majors. My 2nd major was business which I found really boring as an undergraduate. After performing marginally my first 2 years, I was forced to sit out a year by my folks. I went back in 1990 and switched my major to psychology and it was all gravy from there. Doing back-breaking work in that year I was off (loading trucks) changed my life and made me realize the value of education. I graduated with honors (c/o 1993) and headed off to the University of Akron for an MA-PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. They have a top-10 ranked program in I-O psychology so I was stoked to go there. I earned my MA in 1996 and PhD in 1999. I worked as an HR consultant while in my doctoral program, but I switched over to academe in 1999 where I've worked ever since.
Best of luck choosing a college to the first poster. College was a wonderful experience and I relish all of the experience I had there, good and bad. It's a great growth experience if you seize the opportunity.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
WA HOO
all my $$ goes to UVA, great school / town (wish i wasn't 60 miles southbound)
after my high school graduation i was told that if i lived under the rents roof i must follow their rules,
so,
i moved out, worked full time at a hospital
& went to St Louis Community College - Flo Valley,
working at the campus radio station & majoring in mass com
then i moved to the ozarks & spent a few years at Southwest MO State majoring in Poli Sci
while working at the Brown Derby booze store at night
then i moved to DC to stop reagen from a second term (that worked well)
& stumbled on a job at a local record label, spent about 15 years there
now i sell used records
glad i didn't pay too much for my edumacation
I got to do a study abraod in Rome and I met my wife. All in all not a bad deal. I have not really kept in touch with any of my roomates or friends though.
the only person i know from there is/was this dude s-handz. other than that, i had a few people i went to H.S. with graduate from there in the past couple of years.
as for me? i didn't go to college, i went enough while i was in HS (hahaha). would have liked to, but money didn't permit. so i chose another route and got a good job in HR. i've been trying to take some classes here and there but time doesn't really permit. i'm about to make a leap into big things here in the next year and a half as far as work goes. so hopefully i'll be able to afford to NOT finance that lexus i want.
i just graduated from temple last semester.