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Ryusei

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:39 am    Post subject: College Courses Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I never really wanted to think about it, but I guess now is the right time for me to do so. I'm currently in my final year in high school and in just about a year, I'm planning to go to college to hopefully get a degree on something. Well, the problem is that I don't know what course to take up.

And so, I thought of making this topic about college courses. I figured that a little chat about this topic would help me with my decision making. Also, I think it would be nice to know what courses the Suikox community has taken up, currently taking or planning to take in the future and the community's thoughts, experiences and probably a little bit of information regarding that particular course. So yeah, what course did you take up (or currently taking or planning to take) in college?


Last edited by Ryusei on Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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Goldy

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I took a Bachelor of Science ( Honours ) Degree in Architectural Technology and i graduated in 2004. I have always had an interest in Architecture and i always wanted to do this course from a young age.

Needless to say the course was much more enjoyable and easier for me as i have a strong interest in it. No point in doing something that you have no interest in and you do not like it!

What can you see yourself doing Ryusei?

As for further study i am planning on taking up the Masters in Enviornmental Design of Buildings in the next year or so. Best thing about that set-up is i can continue my full-time job and study part-time.

EDIT: Check out this thread too.......oh and this one also.


Last edited by Goldy on Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:51 am; edited 2 times in total
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Ujitsuna

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Pick something you actually like instead of one you think you should be doing, you'll be much happier that way.
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Ryusei

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Goldy wrote:
What can you see yourself doing Ryusei?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm thinking of probably taking up an engineering course, but due to my limited knowledge about the different courses available out there, I can't make up my mind which course is best suited for me. I wouldn't want to shift courses once I go to college and waste money just because I haven't made up my mind earlier.
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Ujitsuna

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Are there people at your school you can talk to about the courses?
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HarmonianHiccup

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Hayashi Ujitsuna wrote:
Pick something you actually like instead of one you think you should be doing, you'll be much happier that way.

I agree with you, Uji-Sama, however I must point something out here--I chose something I wanted to do instead of something that I "should" do and now I have a degree with which I cannot make a living.
People say that when you have a degree you can command a higher salary and get a better job, and this is true. However, the degree must be in something that gives you worthwhile employment!
I got my degree in Archaeology. WHile I do not a regret a single minute I spent in school studying it (it is a great passion of mine) I am now in a nearly impossible position: my BA can't get me a real job in Archaeology and I am stuck working the kind of job any blonde bimbo with half a brain could do for practically pennies. Why? Because none of my skills are marketable to the people who want to pay thousands of dollars.
THe obvious solution to this is for me to go back to school and get my PhD, which I would LOVE to do, but I can't afford it. I can't save enough money to get into a program that I would want because I can't find a job that would pay me enough to build up that kind of cash and I also can't get a loan because being a professor doesn't pay NEARLY enough to pay off a large amount of student debt.

So, that rant said, here's my advice. Compromise. FInd something you like that will be useful. If you can find the right balance between something that is practical and something that you enjoy I think you'll be able to avoid unhappiness on both sides.

Did any of that make sense? O_o
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Ryusei

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Uji wrote:
Are there people at your school you can talk to about the courses?

Yes there are. In fact, our psychology class is all about career planning. I think this class is rather helpful for making my course decision, although classes are only once a week.

HarmonianHiccup wrote:
So, that rant said, here's my advice. Compromise. FInd something you like that will be useful. If you can find the right balance between something that is practical and something that you enjoy I think you'll be able to avoid unhappiness on both sides.

Thanks for the advice, HH. I'll take this advice into consideration. And yeah, that made perfect sense to me. Choosing a course which isn't the most practical and has few job opportunities is not really the best thing to do, specially now that money and job opportunities are hard to come by.
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Sailor Sexy

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well, at least you're looking into your options, which is good. I went to college to play football, and wound up getting a degree in business administration. That's basically joked about as being the degree you get when you don't know what the heck to get a degree in. In a way, it's kind of true. Mean, I have the degree and all, but my current job as an assistant engineer on a tugboat really has nothing to do with that at all. Plus I get a lot more vacation time and still get paid pretty much what I would working full time.

But really, it depends upon what your interests are. I would certainly say make sure you don't go into a field because it contains your hobby though. If your job entails stuff that you used to do for fun, then you're gonna find that your hobby isn't so much fun any more.
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Ujitsuna

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Sailor Sexy wrote:
But really, it depends upon what your interests are. I would certainly say make sure you don't go into a field because it contains your hobby though. If your job entails stuff that you used to do for fun, then you're gonna find that your hobby isn't so much fun any more.


Well, that depends if you like the hobby so much you want to do it full time or not. :P
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Ryusei

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Sailor Sexy wrote:
I would certainly say make sure you don't go into a field because it contains your hobby though. If your job entails stuff that you used to do for fun, then you're gonna find that your hobby isn't so much fun any more.

I'd say it still depends on the person though. There are some who get tired of the monotony of what they're doing, and there are others who prefer to have a monotonous system of doing things. I think it all boils down to how a person prefers to do his job.
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Dew Dust




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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Are there any community colleges around you? When I first started out, I had a lot of passions in the academics field and I couldn't decide for the life of me what to venture into exactly. I had the same fear of taking courses that might result in wasting money and time. They offered a major called 'liberal arts' where it is open to take a variety of courses for those who are uncertain. You can then do what Uji suggested and that is to venture into the courses that sounds like fun and something you enjoy. Because of this type of major, many students had the chance to venture around the many subject areas and job ideas till they felt or learned what fit them the most. The 'liberal arts' degree is actually tied into an Associates Degree and those classes are put forth toward your Bachelor's degree so you don't waste time and money. It is a good system for those who don't know what to do. You should check to see if any colleges near you offer this.

Also please keep not only in mind what HarmonianHiccup said because that is very true and practical, but also what I want to offer as advice. I ventured into Forensic Science and took loads of chemistry classes and what-not at John Jay. It wasn't until my internship and working at an actual crime lab did I really see what is done in my field. My college taught me the academics but didn't show me the actual hands-on stuff that the job does and it wasn't until actually being there in person and seeing what it does entail that made me realize the job wasn't for my personality or taste. Sadly this happens a lot to students. College is just books and education. It doesn't give you the real deal or real feel of the actual job. So keep that in mind and watch out for pursuing fantasies when reality can be totally different.
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Seraphblade

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Your first year of college with generally cover a wide variety of subjects. I'm a Biology Pre-med Major and I had to take English and History along with my Science courses. So, if you have second thoughts about your major during your first year, it shouldn't be anything to worry about.

As for your major, I guess you should think about what courses you enjoyed the most in highschool and pick something related to the field.
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Sage

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Don't pick something just because you may think it's "neat." That's what I did with physics and after three years, I got entirely sick of it. I stuck it out for a fourth year and finished the curriculum though. But now, I'm taking a fifth year of slacker courses so I can figure out what I want to do with my life since I don't want to touch any physics-related jobs with a ten-foot pole. So if you have any ideas in particular, spend a whole day studying just that and see how sick you get of it. Then you should get an idea if you can spend years studying it. You might get sick of everything, but pay attention to what you disliked the most and avoid that.

If you can narrow it down, then shop around during your first year. Take a class of different things and see what interests you. Then look at the practical aspects and make a compromise. No sense doing underwater basket weaving if there's no chance for employment. If you can't do that by the time you would enroll, then I suggest taking courses at a community college to get the basic requirements out of the way. Stuff like basic math, writing, public speaking, and such. That way, you can take another (and possibly cheaper) year to figure things out while still putting your money and time to good use, assuming the credits transfer.
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Ryusei

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Emma, I don't know about what this 'liberal arts' is, but it sounds pretty interesting. I'll try checking the colleges near me if they offer this system.

Dew Dust wrote:
My college taught me the academics but didn't show me the actual hands-on stuff that the job does and it wasn't until actually being there in person and seeing what it does entail that made me realize the job wasn't for my personality or taste. Sadly this happens a lot to students. College is just books and education. It doesn't give you the real deal or real feel of the actual job. So keep that in mind and watch out for pursuing fantasies when reality can be totally different.

I have no idea how college works, but I guess it just depends on the school a person went to. I know there are some colleges which give hands-on training to their students as part of the school's curriculum, and I guess there are some who do not based on what you said. I guess I'll just have to pick the right school for me and see how they do things there. Thank you for giving this advice, Emma. I'll be sure to keep this in mind.

Seraphblade wrote:
As for your major, I guess you should think about what courses you enjoyed the most in highschool and pick something related to the field.

Yeah, that's what I had in mind when I was thinking about taking an engineering course. Of all the subjects I had in high school, Math was the one I was most comfortable with, followed by Physics. I think that engineering entails a lot of Math, so I thought that it would suit me quite well. I'm still not too sure about it though. There are also some courses out there which might have some connection with Math and yet I haven't heard about them. I guess I might need to do a bit of research regarding the different courses concerning Math.

Sage wrote:
Don't pick something just because you may think it's "neat." That's what I did with physics and after three years, I got entirely sick of it.

Yeah, that's another thing that I fear. I'm the type who gets sick of something rather quickly, and I fear that this might be the case with the course I pick. I kinda like your suggestions there though. I'm gonna try doing those some time. Thanks Sage.
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Sage

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Engineering does involve math of course, but not nearly to the extent that physics does. From what I see from my friends' coursework, engineering is all about the mathematical results, not the process, while physics does a lot of deriving and formulating. Math is found in a wide variety of things though. Go to different university websites and look up what research some math professors are doing or have done. That should give you some idea of what you could end up doing with a math focus, if not study that subject specifically in college.

Some departments may offer an interdisciplinary option, where you work with advisors to make your own degree program focusing on two subjects. The physics department here does that. Although most who do that go with physics & mechanical engineering, some do that with physics & computer science/engineering or other fields.

Some colleges don't offer a liberal arts thing like that. Mine does what it calls "general/university studies." That is where a student has up to 60 credits (two years-ish) to take whatever they want before they declare a major. They get help focusing on what they want and narrowing down options. Of course, that can take a semester or two whole years and then you have that major's curriculum, so it can take longer than the traditional four years. So there's bound to be some option of that manner.
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