What advice would you give a middle schooler who plans to go to college?
Figure out what things you are interested in. Spend high school trying out those different things. Then towards the end of high school look for colleges that are good at the things you are the most interested in.
What advice would you give a middle schooler who plans to go to college?
Listen to no one except yourself and go to a place you like to study what you like.
Going to college isn't necessarily the right move. Everyone seems to think they have to go to it like you have to go to high school after middle school. This is not the case. A lot of the most successful people there are didn't go to college, or dropped out. If you go, you might have a better chance of getting certain kinds of jobs, but you also get a huge pile of debt (if you aren't rich). Before you try to decide which college, decide between college and not college.
What advice would you give a middle schooler who plans to go to college?
Listen to no one except yourself and go to a place you like to study what you like.
Going to college isn't necessarily the right move. Everyone seems to think they have to go to it like you have to go to high school after middle school. This is not the case. A lot of the most successful people there are didn't go to college, or dropped out. If you go, you might have a better chance of getting certain kinds of jobs, but you also get a huge pile of debt (if you aren't rich). Before you try to decide which college, decide between college and not college.
I never implied that it was the right move. Tick asked for a recommendation for a middle schooler who wants to go to college. Maybe he or she has already made that decision; I don't know. I am just giving the advice I give to all people who ask me for advice about college choices.
What advice would you give a middle schooler who plans to go to college?
Listen to no one except yourself and go to a place you like to study what you like.
So if I should listen to no one, should I still listen to you? You are someone. It's a hell of a catch that catch 22.
Being a pedant isn't an attractive quality, hombre.
I went to Georgia Tech, and Andrew already mentioned he was a CS student there. (I wasn't CS, but a related major and took many of the same courses).
I can tell you for sure, your job prospects are very favorable if you go there for CS. Of course you will have to take a few stupid meaningless courses, every college has those. But overall I felt I really got a lot out of my main courses. They really focus on teaching you proper programming and diverse applications of it. I'm just a web developer, not a software engineer or whatnot, so my path diverted from hardcore programming. However in my career I've seen a lot of wannabe coders from other schools do/say really stupid things regarding proper coding that even I knew better from my courses. I feel really lucky and special for my GT edumacation ^_^
Although, if you choose this path, you must not be afraid of physics and calculus, for you will have to take many horrible pain inducing courses of these before you can get to the good stuff.
As far as money, apparently GT has one of the lowest out of state rates out there. (I was a spoiled in-stater.) Also you may be able to get the HOPE scholarship after you live in GA for awhile, not sure how that works. But I've heard out of state people saying they've done it by applying for GA residency after their first year, or something like that. Also there are a ton of great work study jobs on campus.
One other thing to keep in mind is that going to a school with a good rep in CS, even if it's not the cheapest, helps you get your foot in the door in a lot of places where it might be trickier if you came from a less known school. Connections are everything, and a lot of these big name schools have connections with folks in the industry either via alumni or research partnerships that you can't get at the smaller name schools.
I directly credit the connections I got from my college to getting me my first 2 jobs after I graduated. The next two since then were more on my own individual merit although the fact that my college was well known didn't hurt either.
They need to up the money in athleics for all the lawsuits they'll get from all of these well funded football players who got concussions as more and more research is done
While at the same time increasing their athletic program budget by $2 million.
This is what really gets me. Not every school needs to have a CS program, I get that. But increasing funding for your athletic program at the same time? Hey Florida, you guys realize this is a school, right?
This is what really gets me. Not every school needs to have a CS program, I get that. But increasing funding for your athletic program at the same time? Hey Florida, you guys realize this is a school, right?
Of course they do. Know what they also realize? Sports get universities LOTS of money. That $2 million dollar investment will get greater returns.
This is what really gets me. Not every school needs to have a CS program, I get that. But increasing funding for your athletic program at the same time? Hey Florida, you guys realize this is a school, right?
Of course they do. Know what they also realize? Sports get universities LOTS of money. That $2 million dollar investment will get greater returns.
WTF, cutting the CS program? Why would they pick that one to cut, one of the best majors to get in right now with the bad economy?? If you're going to cut a program, at least cut a stupid one like turf-management, or whatever their equivalent major is ... gees.
Well I guess your college decision got slightly easier -_-
I get that they could save a lot of money by consolidating the bureaucracy of two schools. I don't get how they can cut the entire graduate program budget and expect the newly joined departments to share the wealth. That's just not going to go over well, at-all. As for the athletic department comments, that's really a red herring and I don't care particularly much so long as every dollar they are spending is getting paid back by the program... but I'm not in-love with the whole athletics and college joined at the hip for their mutual benefit thing. A University should primarily serve the purpose of education. In my mind these athletic programs are not that different from schools that are joined with some specific local companies. Which is also totally fine with me... so long as education remains the primary goal. And in Florida's case, havn't they been scrutized repeatedly for violating various NCAA recruitment rules? Or am I confusing different Universities? It's been a while since I've given a shit.
I get that they could save a lot of money by consolidating the bureaucracy of two schools. I don't get how they can cut the entire graduate program budget and expect the newly joined departments to share the wealth. That's just not going to go over well, at-all. As for the athletic department comments, that's really a red herring and I don't care particularly much so long as every dollar they are spending is getting paid back by the program... but I'm not in-love with the whole athletics and college joined at the hip for their mutual benefit thing. A University should primarily serve the purpose of education. In my mind these athletic programs are not that different from schools that are joined with some specific local companies. Which is also totally fine with me... so long as education remains the primary goal. And in Florida's case, havn't they been scrutized repeatedly for violating various NCAA recruitment rules? Or am I confusing different Universities? It's been a while since I've given a shit.
Florida is an SEC school. They all pretty much violate NCAA recruitment, minimum GPA, and whatnot rules. Some just manage to be better at getting away with it than others.
Florida is an SEC school. They all pretty much violate NCAA recruitment, minimum GPA, and whatnot rules. Some just manage to be better at getting away with it than others.
I would say violating ethical obligations repeatedly by multiple individuals is a pretty big warning sign that education is no-longer the primary goal.
This is what really gets me. Not every school needs to have a CS program, I get that. But increasing funding for your athletic program at the same time? Hey Florida, you guys realize this is a school, right?
Of course they do. Know what they also realize? Sports get universities LOTS of money. That $2 million dollar investment will get greater returns.
Not actually true. At many colleges in the US, the amount of money spent on coaching, maintenance, and advertising for athletic programs is simply never made up by revenues. The problem is that in most cases the alumni and student body would riot if their precious sports were taken away.
Maybe we should just let the NFL and NBA fully pay for these athletic programs with no university money going to them. Hell, all these programs are basically just a minor league system for these two leagues. At least the NHL and MLB are honest about it and have proper minor league systems for their young players.
You guys do understand that athletic department budgets are completely separate from the academic budgets, right? Additionally, a large portion of alumni donations are specifically made to the sports teams so super rich CEOs can brag to their friends about how their school kicked their friend's schools asses.
You guys do understand that athletic department budgets are completely separate from the academic budgets, right? Additionally, a large portion of alumni donations are specifically made to the sports teams so super rich CEOs can brag to their friends about how their school kicked their friend's schools asses.
That would depend on the school. Some schools have the budgets come from the same pool.
Personally, I like how the super rich CEOs and their ilk from my school donate money to do things like build a new chemistry building (we desperately needed one at the time -- and this super rich guy in particular wasn't even a chemistry major -- he was a classics major) than to the athletic department.
Not actually true. At many colleges in the US, the amount of money spent on coaching, maintenance, and advertising for athletic programs is simply never made up by revenues. The problem is that in most cases the alumni and student body would riot if their precious sports were taken away.
Sure, the money will be wasted if the college sucks and doesn't get a lot of pull to their games. I don't follow a lot of college sports, but I know UF doesn't have a problem getting people to their games. They generally have good enough teams to warrant that much of an increase.
You guys do understand that athletic department budgets are completely separate from the academic budgets, right? Additionally, a large portion of alumni donations are specifically made to the sports teams so super rich CEOs can brag to their friends about how their school kicked their friend's schools asses.
That would depend on the school. Some schools have the budgets come from the same pool.
I would agree with Andrew on most public schools. Private schools tend to have to share the money between departments more. I know for a fact that my school (Gonzaga) probably wouldn't be around today if the basketball program hadn't kept the rest of the school afloat in the late 90's, early 2000's.
I go to a Big Ten school. Here's how I feel about the spending on the program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
I had to take an online organic chemistry course (despite my school's supposed renown for the sciences and engineering) due to the fact that the school didn't want to pay for room space or live lectures. Instead, we got a series of useless online lectures from iTunes, a series of useless Skype "discussion sections," and a series of useless live review sessions for exams in which the TAs wouldn't answer questions, merely ask them and sit there, waiting for answers. In one particular session, one TA repeatedly belched while spilling burrito down his shirt; in another, a TA would not admit she was wrong when I called her out and several other students backed me up. I never once saw my professor in person, due to budgetary cuts and furloughs; everything was handled by thoroughly unprofessional PhD students or candidates with no passion for teaching or understanding of pedagogy. They were obviously just stipend slaves there to get their tuition and checks; they clearly didn't care about our grades or questions. The average score for the entire class on exams (and this is accurate, I swear it) was 32% at minimum, and around 55% at maximum. Distributions were awful; only students in special honors or merit sections who received live teaching scored any better, and only just barely.
Meanwhile, the president of our school is paid $1million annually, plus expenses. Ron Zook, the football coach, is paid about $1.5million annually for coaching a team that sucks dick (and everyone on campus knows it). I hesitate to think what our basketball coach is paid, considering that that team is both our best, and our best known. That's not to mention the fact that everyone on campus has met at least one simpleton who is barely pulling a 2.0 in a Communications major and was let in solely for his athletic talent, in spite of supposedly stringent state rules. Additionally, unfathomable sums are spent scouting and endlessly "improving" our sport facilities. Don't get me wrong, it's nice having a fitness center with a tiny indoor water park, and another that is the size of a megastadium and is a veritable palace to human musculature, but our academics our suffering just to provide bigger and better facilities to cater to these fucking idiots who managed to get into this school by virtue of a "skill" that will disappear in their middle age and provides no positive benefit to humanity save to shovel more bread and circuses into the ever-hungry, glistening maws of the unwashed masses.
No, thanks. The NCAA is a fucking parasite, and I'm sick of watching an institution of learning (that most venerable of pursuits) that I love suffer because we need to train people to handle a fucking leather ball better. Were there to be justice, the funding of teams at UIUC would be slashed 100-fold tomorrow, our coaches paid the same as high-school gym teachers, and our lecture halls filled with knowledge hungry scientists instead of remaining empty while simpering nimrods gobble away at our funds.
Holy fuck it's been over a decade since I first had a wank.
...only a decade?
You've become stupid. Do not skip comprehension when reading single sentences, mmkay?
But, since you have gotten the stupid in regards to that comment, I shall explain so your stupid will be cured, in this case. The statement applies for the rest of my life. In a thousand years it would still be over a decade since my first wank. You agree that it would look silly not to use 'decade' in the joke, right? Because that's what people were talking about, decades.
So RIT students, where are the best dorms available to freshman?
They're all the same, unless you apply for special interest housing (computer science house, engineering house, photo house, etc.), which I don't recommend for various reasons (and I think my fellow RIT/FRCFers will agree). If it helps, I did the substance free dorm, which was pretty chill.
So RIT students, where are the best dorms available to freshman?
They're all the same, unless you apply for special interest housing (computer science house, engineering house, photo house, etc.), which I don't recommend for various reasons (and I think my fellow RIT/FRCFers will agree). If it helps, I did the substance free dorm, which was pretty chill.
Substance free, I agree. That's what I did. I would like to point out that my dorm was the one the FRC always hung out in because Rym's dorm was naught but an all-male vomitorium. The infamous Fish B.
I go to a Big Ten school. Here's how I feel about the spending on the program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [anecdote about a class]
This sucks, not much else to say about that.
Ron Zook, the football coach, is paid about $1.5million annually for coaching a team that sucks dick (and everyone on campus knows it).
Uh, Ron Zook was fired last fall. The Illini went 6-6, playing in the Big Ten. Not great, but not disastrous either. Tim Beckman is the new coach, making $9 million over the next 5 years.
I hesitate to think what our basketball coach is paid, considering that that team is both our best, and our best known.
John Groce was recently hired for $1.4 million per year after Bruce Weber was fired at the end of last season.
That's not to mention the fact that everyone on campus has met at least one simpleton who is barely pulling a 2.0 in a Communications major and was let in solely for his athletic talent, in spite of supposedly stringent state rules
There are also engineering 4.0's who you would never suspect are athletes but for the "XXL UIUC ATHLETIC DEPT" sweatshirts. Conversely, I bet you also know some mouth-breathing 2.0 astrology majors who aren't athletes.
There are rules about admitting athletes, and there are penalties if they are not followed. You may like them to be higher, but they do exist.
our academics our [sic] suffering just to provide bigger and better facilities to cater to these fucking idiots who managed to get into this school by virtue of a "skill" that will disappear in their middle age and provides no positive benefit to humanity save to shovel more bread and circuses into the ever-hungry, glistening maws of the unwashed masses.
Athletic departments usually have their own budget. If the coaches (training staff, scouts, whatever) were paid less, the academic arm of the university likely wouldn't get that money anyway. Independent of that is the possibility that the football and basketball teams bring in money to the university. I'm not familiar with Illinois' financial situation, but I would bet they are both in the black.
No, thanks. The NCAA is a fucking parasite, [ sort of angry rant]
For such a parasite they sure distribute a lot of money to schools [pdf]. To save you the loading time, they give out about 95% of their income, most of which comes from the broadcast rights for March Madness. I'm not saying it's perfect, but the NCAA is pretty good overall. So maybe ease up a little on the athletics hate.
EDIT: According to this, the Illinois football and basketball programs made 14 and 9 million dollars last year, respectively.
Comments
I went to Georgia Tech, and Andrew already mentioned he was a CS student there. (I wasn't CS, but a related major and took many of the same courses).
I can tell you for sure, your job prospects are very favorable if you go there for CS. Of course you will have to take a few stupid meaningless courses, every college has those. But overall I felt I really got a lot out of my main courses. They really focus on teaching you proper programming and diverse applications of it. I'm just a web developer, not a software engineer or whatnot, so my path diverted from hardcore programming. However in my career I've seen a lot of wannabe coders from other schools do/say really stupid things regarding proper coding that even I knew better from my courses. I feel really lucky and special for my GT edumacation ^_^
Although, if you choose this path, you must not be afraid of physics and calculus, for you will have to take many horrible pain inducing courses of these before you can get to the good stuff.
As far as money, apparently GT has one of the lowest out of state rates out there. (I was a spoiled in-stater.) Also you may be able to get the HOPE scholarship after you live in GA for awhile, not sure how that works. But I've heard out of state people saying they've done it by applying for GA residency after their first year, or something like that. Also there are a ton of great work study jobs on campus.
I directly credit the connections I got from my college to getting me my first 2 jobs after I graduated. The next two since then were more on my own individual merit although the fact that my college was well known didn't hurt either.
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/04/22/2326206/university-of-florida-eliminates-computer-science-department
Well I guess your college decision got slightly easier -_-
Personally, I like how the super rich CEOs and their ilk from my school donate money to do things like build a new chemistry building (we desperately needed one at the time -- and this super rich guy in particular wasn't even a chemistry major -- he was a classics major) than to the athletic department.
I would agree with Andrew on most public schools. Private schools tend to have to share the money between departments more. I know for a fact that my school (Gonzaga) probably wouldn't be around today if the basketball program hadn't kept the rest of the school afloat in the late 90's, early 2000's.
I had to take an online organic chemistry course (despite my school's supposed renown for the sciences and engineering) due to the fact that the school didn't want to pay for room space or live lectures. Instead, we got a series of useless online lectures from iTunes, a series of useless Skype "discussion sections," and a series of useless live review sessions for exams in which the TAs wouldn't answer questions, merely ask them and sit there, waiting for answers. In one particular session, one TA repeatedly belched while spilling burrito down his shirt; in another, a TA would not admit she was wrong when I called her out and several other students backed me up. I never once saw my professor in person, due to budgetary cuts and furloughs; everything was handled by thoroughly unprofessional PhD students or candidates with no passion for teaching or understanding of pedagogy. They were obviously just stipend slaves there to get their tuition and checks; they clearly didn't care about our grades or questions. The average score for the entire class on exams (and this is accurate, I swear it) was 32% at minimum, and around 55% at maximum. Distributions were awful; only students in special honors or merit sections who received live teaching scored any better, and only just barely.
Meanwhile, the president of our school is paid $1million annually, plus expenses. Ron Zook, the football coach, is paid about $1.5million annually for coaching a team that sucks dick (and everyone on campus knows it). I hesitate to think what our basketball coach is paid, considering that that team is both our best, and our best known. That's not to mention the fact that everyone on campus has met at least one simpleton who is barely pulling a 2.0 in a Communications major and was let in solely for his athletic talent, in spite of supposedly stringent state rules. Additionally, unfathomable sums are spent scouting and endlessly "improving" our sport facilities. Don't get me wrong, it's nice having a fitness center with a tiny indoor water park, and another that is the size of a megastadium and is a veritable palace to human musculature, but our academics our suffering just to provide bigger and better facilities to cater to these fucking idiots who managed to get into this school by virtue of a "skill" that will disappear in their middle age and provides no positive benefit to humanity save to shovel more bread and circuses into the ever-hungry, glistening maws of the unwashed masses.
No, thanks. The NCAA is a fucking parasite, and I'm sick of watching an institution of learning (that most venerable of pursuits) that I love suffer because we need to train people to handle a fucking leather ball better. Were there to be justice, the funding of teams at UIUC would be slashed 100-fold tomorrow, our coaches paid the same as high-school gym teachers, and our lecture halls filled with knowledge hungry scientists instead of remaining empty while simpering nimrods gobble away at our funds.
But, since you have gotten the stupid in regards to that comment, I shall explain so your stupid will be cured, in this case. The statement applies for the rest of my life. In a thousand years it would still be over a decade since my first wank. You agree that it would look silly not to use 'decade' in the joke, right? Because that's what people were talking about, decades.
There are rules about admitting athletes, and there are penalties if they are not followed. You may like them to be higher, but they do exist. Athletic departments usually have their own budget. If the coaches (training staff, scouts, whatever) were paid less, the academic arm of the university likely wouldn't get that money anyway. Independent of that is the possibility that the football and basketball teams bring in money to the university. I'm not familiar with Illinois' financial situation, but I would bet they are both in the black. For such a parasite they sure distribute a lot of money to schools [pdf]. To save you the loading time, they give out about 95% of their income, most of which comes from the broadcast rights for March Madness. I'm not saying it's perfect, but the NCAA is pretty good overall. So maybe ease up a little on the athletics hate.
EDIT: According to this, the Illinois football and basketball programs made 14 and 9 million dollars last year, respectively.