College Decisions: Where are you going?

[Chomper The Sharptooth]

I'm only going into my junior year of high school now so I won't be in any college until 2012, but my sights are currently set on a Philosophy major (Go ginganinja!)

The school has a lacrosse team, a LARPing chapter nearby, a muggle quidditch team, a great philosophy department, and is only 2 1/2 hours from the filming site of the Maury show. Pretty much everything I need.

 

[MrIndigo]

Not according to CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/pf/college/highest_paying_college_majors/index.htm

Also I have never ever heard of Carnegie Mellon being the top earner. Your source?

I find it interesting that law is mentioned as a top earner in any of those articles, when it's among the most lucrative out here.

 

[Polis4rule]

I find it interesting that law is mentioned as a top earner in any of those articles, when it's among the most lucrative out here.

Not necessarily, especially in the US. And it can be somewhat hard to find a job as a lawyer, where if you get an engineering degree from a good engineering college, you're practically guaranteed to find a nice paying job.

 

[Firestorm]

I'm going to UBC for undergrad of business admin/commerce. It's pretty exciting since I live in Ontario currently and have never lived in another province! I hope to either stay in BC or move to the states, I haven't decided yet. It will be a hectic first semester but should be a lot of fun, can't wait!

Welcome to one of the most beautiful places in the world =)

 

[Eraddd]

Welcome to one of the most beautiful places in the world =)

And the place where the government likes to screw you up the bum. And gets boring to live after 13 years. But I digress.

SFU Chemistry wootz. Easy grades, 5 minute away from my house, and 0$ tuition.

 

[-FUCK-]

Can anybody offer advise on what my "back up" major should be? I'm getting into my freshmen year of college (it's a community college >_>) and my main goal is to become an animator for a studio like Dreamworks or Disney (lol ya rite) or hell, just work in the studio/filming industry. But I want a back up plan incase this fails and/or sucks so I was thinking maybe either nursing, accounting, or... well yeah that's where I blank.

Nursing would be the "good pay" and "guaranteed" job, but the job descipition seems unfitting to me (Wiping people's asses clean and things like that) but jeeze, the amount of teachers and important people I've heard say "get into nursing kids! It's great pay and there is HUGE demand for them!!" is making me feel like I should dig into that as I would have no worries landing a job in that field.

Then theres accounting which would seem much easier to deal with on the day to day basis and also looks like it pays good salary, but idk how tough landing a job like that would be. Every field seems to be going into the shitter these days. =/
Theres most likely other fields I'm not looking into that I should but I'm just lost. What the hell should I do.

 

[Firestorm]

If you're bored, go out there and do something to get unbored. We have mountains, beaches, and parks that people would die for. I don't feel any more screwed by the government than most other places in the country to be honest.

-FUCK-, make sure it's something you can somewhat enjoy or at least stand. There's nothing more demoralizing than going to a job you hate from 9 - 5 Monday to Friday. It will affect the rest of your life.

 

[-FUCK-]

-FUCK-, make sure it's something you can somewhat enjoy or at least stand. There's nothing more demoralizing than going to a job you hate from 9 - 5 Monday to Friday. It will affect the rest of your life.

I know, thats what I'm afraid of. My dad has helped remind me enough how much going to a job that you hate sucks, which is why I'm iffy on nursing.

 

[BlueCookies]

going to middle of nowhere Drake University to major in Actuarial Science

 

[Eraddd]

If you're bored, go out there and do something to get unbored. We have mountains, beaches, and parks that people would die for. I don't feel any more screwed by the government than most other places in the country to be honest.

I like mountains and parks as much as the next person does and I go camping and hiking and playing sports quite a bit, but quite frankly, I get sick of them after a while. I'm a city person, and Vancouver has a crappy night life and city life compared to the major cities like Chicago and LA.

 

[Firestorm]

I like mountains and parks as much as the next person does and I go camping and hiking and playing sports quite a bit, but quite frankly, I get sick of them after a while. I'm a city person, and Vancouver has a crappy night life and city life compared to the major cities like Chicago and LA.

Some (not all as it's partly true) of it might have to do with you not being 19 yet and living at home.

 

[Eraddd]

Some (not all as it's partly true) of it might have to do with you not being 19 yet and living at home.

Sorry, I meant the whole urban environment; the night life is definitely needed, and I'm a night person, but the lack of people in Vancouver and the lack of huge buildings. Downtown doesn't come close to anything Chicago, LA, or Seoul offers.

And fake IDs come handy all the time.

 

[MrIndigo]

Australia doesn't pay it's nurses squat. In fact, I'm not even sure it's a guaranteed job.

Still, I agree with Firestorm. You want to make absolutely certain that you'll enjoy it. If possible, maybe try and look for a career that's related to the main desired field, if you're sure you want to be an animator. Maybe graphic design or architecture or something like that, where you use similar skills.

 

[Rolf]

BYU in the next couple years, probably majoring in business of some sort. I've got the ACT scores and GPA to get in, I'm just not sure exactly what I want to go in to. I'll probably find out between general education freshman year and my two year mormon mission :)

 

[Ninja-persian]

Im still 15 but Im hoping to get in FGV, one of the best law schools in Brazil

 

[MrIndigo]

Well, the clerkship offers are just starting to come out. My friend Mark, the only other guy who did Physics Hons and Law, got a call from Mallesons Stephens Jacques today to tell him he got an interview. I've still yet to hear from them, but I'm not optimistic. They're the number 1 law firm in the country, Mark has better marks than me, legal work experience, and a bunch of extracurriculars and sport.

EDIT: Just got my rejection email from Mallesons. Disappointed but unsurprised.

I've applied to about 10 firms, and I think I might stand a chance for some of the mid-tier firms, but we'll see.

 

[Eraddd]

Well, the clerkship offers are just starting to come out. My friend Mark, the only other guy who did Physics Hons and Law, got a call from Mallesons Stephens Jacques today to tell him he got an interview. I've still yet to hear from them, but I'm not optimistic. They're the number 1 law firm in the country, Mark has better marks than me, legal work experience, and a bunch of extracurriculars and sport.

EDIT: Just got my rejection email from Mallesons. Disappointed but unsurprised.

I've applied to about 10 firms, and I think I might stand a chance for some of the mid-tier firms, but we'll see.

I could see you make it. You seem (keep in mind I get these perceptions off the not so reliable forum posts) like a very capable person. Word of encouragement.

 

[MrIndigo]

I'm not bad, but I'm competing with the best in the State, and each firm only takes 10-20 Clerks out of 700 or more applications.

 

[Berserker]

I've been reading about regenerative medicine and systems biology for sometime now, and was considering bioengineering as a major. However, though the major is pretty tough, I heard it was pretty damn useless in terms of getting hired for a job/getting research (with a bachelor's). Main problem: people usually just hire biology, chemistry, or mech/environment/chemical/electrical/computer engineers because bioeng is too broad, and they need specialization. I was planning on going full on PhD anyways, since the market for those things probably won't explode until a decade from now. However, is it a better idea to just go pure science (or math, or stat) or mech engineering for BS?

Was also considering going for an MD or PharmD for money and stability; I know some who got into a good phD for research, but I'm not quite sure those will be suitable for a phD program, especially the MD since it takes a lot more time. What's a good degree for a pharmacology phD anyways?

 

[chaos]

I don't think a math major would be appropriate (unless you like it more than your other options-then it is exactly what you need to do!) The kind of math you'll learn in a rigorous math major isn't really useful for engineering stuff. Just take some calculus classes, differential equations, and numerical analysis. That being said, all of those classes suck... the fun stuff (abstract algebra, combinatorics, computational theory...) you won't touch :(

Again, if you want a PhD, you don't need a "bioengineering" major. That is awfully specific. Study what you like (hopefully in the biology/chemistry/CS/engineering areas) and do RESEARCH in bioengineering. Your research experience in the area is much more important than your UG major or what classes you take.

 

[Berserker]

Thanks, that clears it up. Only problem I have is my paranoia, which consists of running out of money for grad school and being forced to take up a full time job, which I won't be able to get. But I suppose something like (theoretical) chemistry, which falls under a chem minor, would be fine.

 

[chaos]

Top programs will pay full tuition and give you a stipend for engineering/science/math/cs.

 

[General Tso]

No one's representing the Maize and Blue?

University of Michigan '14!

 

[MrIndigo]

I've been reading about regenerative medicine and systems biology for sometime now, and was considering bioengineering as a major. However, though the major is pretty tough, I heard it was pretty damn useless in terms of getting hired for a job/getting research (with a bachelor's). Main problem: people usually just hire biology, chemistry, or mech/environment/chemical/electrical/computer engineers because bioeng is too broad, and they need specialization. I was planning on going full on PhD anyways, since the market for those things probably won't explode until a decade from now. However, is it a better idea to just go pure science (or math, or stat) or mech engineering for BS?

Was also considering going for an MD or PharmD for money and stability; I know some who got into a good phD for research, but I'm not quite sure those will be suitable for a phD program, especially the MD since it takes a lot more time. What's a good degree for a pharmacology phD anyways?

Australia hires a fuckload of Biologists. And Biomed engineers, who generally deal with stuff like prosthetics and other such machines-for-the-body. One friend of mine is writing his thesis on a CAD-CAM process for making patient-personalised mouthguards to prevent sleep apnoeia, another one is working on computer code that can simulate the eye's ability to recognise patterns/shapes. I can't imagine the US is much different with their hiring.

I thought Bioeng is quite specialised; probably more so than aerospace (which takes bits from across the spectrum of Chemistry/Physics/Mathematics/Software).


It depends what you want to get into. Research based positions are almost exclusively PhD-requisite anyway, so if you're planning to go into research, I would go for a BSc. in biology, possibly with a minor in biophysics, mathematics or chemistry, depending on the specific area that you want to research.


EDIT: Also, I ave got my second rejection letter. Freehills, one of the other "Big Three" law firms in the country. Again, I'm unsurprised. Allens Arthur Robinson is the next one I'm expecting rejection from to round out the big three, and then it'll be the 3 or so middle-tier firms I applied for. I've got my fingers crossed for Gilbert+Tobin.

 

[Arch]

Going to SMU (Southern methodist University) for Computer Science with Game Development.

Super interested in those full on projects we'll get to do, and even more excited for that paid internship my Junior year. :3