The School/Uni Thread

[damnromulans]

History major, history was reportedly one of the most difficult majors at my particular school, senior thesis was a mandatory full year project. The finished product was 55 pages and I think I used somewhere around 40-50 books/articles plus some films as sources. It didn't consume my entire year by any means but I imagine it would have been a little difficult (but not impossible) to undertake 2 projects like that at the same time.

As for breaking it down into how much time it took up...not much. Maybe 6-8 hours a week, a little more if deadlines were near. Never had to pull an all-nighter or missed a Saturday night. If you manage your time decently it shouldn't feel like crunch time, ever.

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

That's the sort of thing I like to hear. I have pretty much no frame of reference beyond Wikipedia and a couple of friends who have gone through the process, so I keep getting stuck under the impression that the project takes up the vast majority of your free time. I suppose I'm just anxious about starting school and getting things figured out ahead of time. Thanks for the help.

 

[unknown]

I didn't have a senior project

it all depends on the professor really. I've had two professors, one in undergrad and one in grad school assign huge projects (60+ pages), and had us turn in installments throughout the semester, so that made it easier

 

[Einherjar86]

Bumping this because I'm curious about experiences with undergrad senior projects. I'm considering double majoring in philosophy and math because I want to have top notch logical faculties for graduate studies; but I don't know how ambitious doing something like that actually is. I know mathematics is a demanding major and I've only just started exploring the pure side of it, so I'm thinking that writing a thesis in both that and philosophy might be a bit too much.

I don't know, anyone care to share how much of their life was taken up by one such project? I'm sure there are plenty of variables I skipped over, but I did so because I figured that they would be mentioned anyway.

I wrote an undergraduate thesis for my major. I actually took an extra semester in order to finish it, but that's primarily because I procrastinated a bunch in coming up with a topic. Once I knew what I was doing, research wasn't that bad. Composition can take a while. I went through three or four drafts, each one featuring pretty significant differences in how I approached my topic.

I usually spent about three or four days each week at the library working on it, and often for three to four hours at a time.

 

[Draehl]

I'm glad I got a business degree. Can't get a job, but at least business majors didn't require a thesis or such. I had trouble writing 7 page papers... 50 would be the death of me. All we had was a class you take your last semester called "Strategic Management" that takes everything from all the disciplines within the business school into one class where you fit it all together with a bunch of mini group projects and case studies from business situations in the past that we discussed in class. Not bad at all.

 

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

'd at "Can't get a job." sorry!

 

[Draehl]

'd at "Can't get a job." sorry!

Finance is pretty trash right now. Anything even remotely related to it, any type of analytical or financial services type position, wants at least 3 years experience in the industry. I've been told several times after interviewing for the few positions I'm qualified for that they hired people with more experience anyway. They say ~40%t of the country is underemployed right now. That figure alone is why so many recent grads are completely unemployed... people with 5-10 years experience are taking the entry level jobs since there's nothing else.

It's shit like Burger King or Walmart or bust. I, and my parents who are tired of me living here agree, that getting that type of job is pretty ridiculous after obtaining a respectably difficult and technical business degree from a regional school that received praise for it's business program.

2.5 years of looking for either an internship or job. A little over one year out of college. Something's gotta give!

 

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

How the eff do you get 3 years of experience if you can't?

 

[damnromulans]

That's the sort of thing I like to hear. I have pretty much no frame of reference beyond Wikipedia and a couple of friends who have gone through the process, so I keep getting stuck under the impression that the project takes up the vast majority of your free time. I suppose I'm just anxious about starting school and getting things figured out ahead of time. Thanks for the help.

It all depends on what kind of worker you are. If you're super detail oriented and a huge perfectionist you'll spend more time on a project than if you are a quick once-or-twice-over writer. I'm fast and sloppy (and lazy). When I took the SATs, I finished each section with about 5 minutes to spare and instead of checking my answers I doodled all over the margins.

@Draele A shitty job is better than no job. I hate people with entitlement issues so much. The B.A. is the next HS diploma. You are not going to get a great job with amazing pay and benefits as a fresh grad - you have to start at the bottom and suck your way up. I'm not saying it's easy - I'll be crying when I have to take a $15,000/year pay cut when I go back to America - but don't you think you're going about this the wrong way and being too picky?

 

[Draehl]

but don't you think you're going about this the wrong way and being too picky?

Being picky is not trying for shitty part time teller type jobs at a bank. I've applied dozens and interviewed for several of those now. Or not applying for a job only ~25 miles away that in Atlanta traffic will take 1.5 hours one way. I interviewed for that the week before last (Fuckers said they would get back in touch last week. Nothing yet.)

I'm not expecting to go right into a financial analyst job making 40k a year (which was easily the norm pre 2008) or anything of the such. I've applied for plenty of ~25k a year positions doing shit I really didn't have in mind. All I'm saying is "not Walmart" and other similar jobs that aren't likely to do much good on a resume to break back into the financial world once the economy turns around.

Edit: And I do have something of a job. I do lawncare/landscaping work on a few yards in the area. A couple hundred a week at most, but it helps with the bills. =D

 

[damnromulans]

Good luck with the economy turning around. That's shitty. Maybe it's not you and there are just too many people for the job market in ATL.

I still think you could be working a shitty job and job hunting at the same time, but that's your choice

 

[Draehl]

Good luck with the economy turning around.

If republicans take congress in November I could see it picking back up pretty quickly, if only to be able to block any uncertain legislation on Obama's agenda. Nobody will expand much with potential Obamabombs of legislation that might further hinder recovery or growth potential.

That's shitty. Maybe it's not you and there are just too many people for the job market in ATL.

I could move to Texas and get a job pretty easily from what I've read. They're hiring pretty hard out there as the economy as a whole is doing rather well in comparison to the rest of the country...

 

[damnromulans]

It's not Obama's fault you don't have a job. I wouldn't put too much stock in that, it's not like Republicans and Democrats are all that different innit

I've thought about TX too. New York is SO expensive these days - $10 for a pack of cigarettes, all restaurant menus have to list the calories in each item, tax raise on junk food, etc. Though I shouldn't be smoking, eating out constantly or eating junk food, it's pretty sickening how much NYC sucks out of the rest of the state

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

It all depends on what kind of worker you are. If you're super detail oriented and a huge perfectionist you'll spend more time on a project than if you are a quick once-or-twice-over writer. I'm fast and sloppy (and lazy). When I took the SATs, I finished each section with about 5 minutes to spare and instead of checking my answers I doodled all over the margins.

Certainly. I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to big projects and stuff that I actually care about; but I really enjoy research and things like that so I don't see it being a huge issue.

Thanks again for everyone that responded.

 

[Draehl]

It's not Obama's fault you don't have a job. I wouldn't put too much stock in that, it's not like Republicans and Democrats are all that different innit

Never said it was his fault or that Republicans are the messiah. But as far as corporate and investor confidence is concerned being able to put the nix on new Obama legislation that is potentially business unfriendly can do wonders for confidence. So, so very much of the economy is based on perceptions.

Imagine if all at once everyone in the country both individual and corporation alike began acting like everything was just fine. Start spending, start hiring, start loaning, start investing. Within a few months that would be the reality. Things wouldn't go back to the economic bubble state they were in a few years ago, but they'd get a hell of a lot better than they are now.

I'm starting to rant so it's time to go to bed.

 

[Zephyrus]

I'm in the middle of writing an Honors thesis right now. I actually began it over a year ago as a poetic translation of 900 lines of Latin (a whole book of the Aeneid), and since I've finished that, I've spent all summer doing research on the topic (the transition from pagan to Christian Hell) and it's only in the last few days that I've actually been writing the "thesis" portion of the project. It's all coming together quite well. I'm defending it in December.

 

[Mountains_of_Mars]

Yeah, I just moved into Southern Illinois University. I got moved in at around 8 this morning, took a nap, plugged in my fridge, and now im lurking UM. I love college.

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

Statement. Stament. stasdfddf?@????. If you really want a job you can get one. Call me ignorant, but you can join the army or study your ass off? Why do you think after WWII and Vietnam did so well and it's not just because of the industry that was needed to support each.

 

[Episteme]

And Draele's situation is one reason I will never ever do a business degree. Fuck that. It doesn't even interest me one bit, at least engineering has something that keeps me interested.

I need to look for a summer job at an engineering firm, 500 hours worth need to be completed so that I can graduate. I've applied for Chevron, Woodside amongst other companies. Hoping I get something.

 

[waif]

Moving in tomorrow. Oh boy.