The School/Uni Thread

[Einherjar86]

School is for LOSERS

But... what if it makes me happy?

 

[Manbient]

false dichotomy

 

[Chanakya]

Yeah money is a terrible thing. It blows my mind how much it costs to go to school.

Drexel is rated #88 of U.S. universities and #96-98 in the world. You could do a LOT worse. I'd base your decision on whether you want to live in England or the USA to be honest. In this day and age a degree is a degree.

I'd pretty much base my decision on that as well, though it seems to make more sense to go to a top 10 college in England [3 year course] which ends up relatively inexpensive, but I'm guessing England might be weird and uptight. It truly sucks that I'd have to base my decisions purely on finances.

Any other fine arts or graphic design majors up in this shizz?

I don't really have too good a knowledge about the American system with regards to majors/minors, it's very alien to me and I haven't paid much attention towards that. Though I'd love to do a bit Math/Sociology/Psychology/History if possible.

Loans and financial aid ftmfw.

I don't know how good that works with an international student.

 

[damnromulans]

England's uni system doesn't seem weird and uptight at all though obviously I can only speak from my experience visiting a friend who attended University of Edinburgh (and that's Scotland - but almost all the students were English).

The American system works approximately this way:

You choose a major, which is the subject you'll have the most coursework in, and depending on your school and subject of concentration, you may have to produce a thesis/design/experiment in order to graduate. I chose History almost at random and wrote 55 pages about the Hitler Youth for my thesis.

Not everyone has minors, but if you have enough credits/classes in another subject that isn't your major, you can get credit as a minor/correlate in that subject. I took Japanese for three years and that was enough course credit to get a minor.

You can have more than one major usually, and more than one minor. It's pretty rare for someone to do a Triple major, but some folks do - my mother did in the 1960s just to piss off the authorities by being a female math major.

 

[Chanakya]

England's uni system doesn't seem weird and uptight at all though obviously I can only speak from my experience visiting a friend who attended University of Edinburgh (and that's Scotland - but almost all the students were English).

I actually meant the people Obviously in being uptight Indian society trumps most places, but the UK system of education is akin to what happens here. So there's that familiarity bonus, added to the fact that I love Football [expecting a barrage from you Yanks].

Well, apart from the obvious increase in the course load, what's the intrinsic difference between an additional major or leaving that course as a minor? Plus, I know how a GPA works, but what are the various determinants? Only tests?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Major = the thing you plan on getting the degree in.

GPA is your total grade average based on submitted grades for every class in a semester (or, if you're talking about cumulative GPA, over your entire college career)

 

[damnromulans]

I actually meant the people Obviously in being uptight Indian society trumps most places, but the UK system of education is akin to what happens here. So there's that familiarity bonus, added to the fact that I love Football [expecting a barrage from you Yanks].

Well, apart from the obvious increase in the course load, what's the intrinsic difference between an additional major or leaving that course as a minor? Plus, I know how a GPA works, but what are the various determinants? Only tests?

In American universities depending on class size GPA is determined by class attendance, possibly participation, test scores and papers. It's not like East Asia where ONE TEST DETERMINES ALL.

Nothing wrong with Fussball/football/futbol! As for the people, I generally prefer Americans to British people, they are friendlier as a whole if you're new (but obviously not everyone fits this pattern).

 

[damnromulans]

P.S. The difference between an additional major and a minor is usually a couple classes' difference plus whatever final project is needed for the major. In my own case if I took another year of Japanese and wrote a composition, I could have been a double major.

 

[Chanakya]

It's not like East Asia where ONE TEST DETERMINES ALL.

This is by far the most fucked up phenomenon in all of education. It's quite ridiculous how farcical the education system is in my country.

 

[Manbient]

I just spent the last 8 or so hours at uni writing matlab code. fml

 

[rms]

Got 2 classes, using the 5gs the Army gives ya for school. Got an eastern asia history class(~1500) should be awesome.

 

[Chanakya]

I'm figuring I'll get a rough estimate here considering most of our lifestyles won't be drastically different.

I need a rough estimate with regards to how much I'll need for living expenses, annually, if I were to live in a big city like Philly, keeping in mind that I won't be using a car and as a student. And I'd like to know how much I would end up spending even if I were to live frugally [just to calculate finances]. Thanks in advance, ASAP if possible.

 

[unknown]

are you getting financial aid or school loans or anything?

 

[Chanakya]

Yeah, I'm getting quite a decent scholarship. I can appeal for this to be raised by a reasonable amount, provided that I reason my way through. Hence it'll be essential for me to evaluate my total expenditure and work something out with my dad, which won't be unreasonably high. Also, I'm trying to figure what can be done about student loans as I'm an international student.

 

[Death Aflame]

After graduating from uni with an Honours BA in Comm Studies and Film Studies with distinction (A- overall average) back in June, I moved back in with my mom and brother and found work at a contact centre doing online chat for near minimum wage. Terrible job, completely mindless but it is quite easy and the people are nice.

I plan on returning to school in the Fall to take a quick one-year post grad in Publishing and hopefully get a start in that industry within the near future.

My friends who also graduated are pretty much all in the same boat regarding employment, some are quite disgruntled about the fact that they couldn't find any 'real jobs' that start at $30 000/year.

 

[sevag00]

Yesterday, i started my second year in uni, though i'm taking the same classes that i took last semester, because this university doesn't understand that people like me have serious health issues, and cannot always attend class, and i told to my instructors to reschedule my exams, but they refused.

Anyway, here's my spring semester
Physics for Engineers
Calculus III
English: Communication Skills
Introduction to Programming

 

[Episteme]

What are you studying Sevag?

This semester I'll be doing:

Mass Transfer Operations
Engineering Sustainable Development
Process Synthesis & Design I
Transport Phenomena

I'll be starting next week on the 1st of March, but I won't be at uni because it's my birthday and I'm skipping to go to Soundwave, a music festival with Isis, Baroness, Clutch, Meshuggah, Anthrax and Faith No More amongst many other bands.

 

[sevag00]

I'm studying Mechanical Engineering. You said you were studying Chemical Engineering, Is this you're 2nd year?

 

[Episteme]

Going to be in my 3rd year. How are you finding Mech Eng? I was considering doing post grad in Mech Eng (don't even know if I'll be able to do it, I'll need to look into it).

 

[Chanakya]

Sorry for being persistent.

I'm figuring I'll get a rough estimate here considering most of our lifestyles won't be drastically different.

I need a rough estimate with regards to how much I'll need for living expenses, annually, if I were to live in a big city like Philly, keeping in mind that I won't be using a car and as a student. And I'd like to know how much I would end up spending even if I were to live frugally [just to calculate finances]. Thanks in advance, ASAP if possible.