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Basically what the title says. Do you plan on going to college? If not, why not? How are finances affecting you if you choose to attend? Also, advice on getting scholarships would be lovely, because I need to make sure I can get one.

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Already there. I came back after a semester off and I took a full load of classes. I actually just got out of one....and it looks like things will be busy for me for a few months.

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I'm starting on the 29th. Scared out of my pants, I wanna go back to high school already D: I'm not ready to grow up yet Dx

I fear the study time and tests the most, especially math. But hopefully I'll be smart this year and actually get a tutor. Looking forward to the ceramics class, though. My High school teacher was able to get me into an advanced course, even though I only took the basic course in high school as a senior. ^^ /ego

 

Edit: These first two years I'm going to a community college, since I dun wanna go away from home just yet, and I want to save as much money as possible. Then I plan to transfer to a CSU (California State Uni) called Cal Poly SLO to major in Animal Science. Then, hopefully, off to UC Davis for Vet school! <3

Edited by Shiny Hazard Sign

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Wait....Shiny, are you going to Moorpark?

 

Anyway, I'm a weird little nerdy high school student that does both college and high school at the same time, so I already know what I'm getting myself into. I've spent a year in the high school/college circuit and I've managed to uphold a 4.0 GPA, so it's not as bad as you think. People tend to complain about the work load and difficulty of the studies at Community Colleges, but it's actually not that hard. As long as you put some effort into what you're doing and actually pay attention in class it isn't that hard. You have to do the work, though. It's not like high school where you can slack off and copy your friend's notes.

 

Anyway, I've already started my college applications since I'm a senior in high school. It's going to be difficult for me because my major (Nuclear Engineering) is frickini' hard to find colleges for. I'm very limited in my choices, but most of the institutions that I'm looking at are manageable for my tastes. My ideal university would be Idaho State University, and I have no doubts that I'll get in. It's just going to be expensive to go there, especially since I have a twin that has to go to college at the same time as me and my older sister starts Medical School next year, too. My parents are dying for me to get scholarships, but I haven't been able to find any and I can't get in on a sports scholarship anymore because I quit tennis after my freshman year of high school (those girls on my team were devils, I tell you). My only hope is a scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers or a merit scholarship from whatever college I'm going to go to. This next year is going to be very interesting...

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Wait....Shiny, are you going to Moorpark?

 

Anyway, I'm a weird little nerdy high school student that does both college and high school at the same time, so I already know what I'm getting myself into. I've spent a year in the high school/college circuit and I've managed to uphold a 4.0 GPA, so it's not as bad as you think. People tend to complain about the work load and difficulty of the studies at Community Colleges, but it's actually not that hard. As long as you put some effort into what you're doing and actually pay attention in class it isn't that hard. You have to do the work, though. It's not like high school where you can slack off and copy your friend's notes.

 

Anyway, I've already started my college applications since I'm a senior in high school. It's going to be difficult for me because my major (Nuclear Engineering) is frickini' hard to find colleges for. I'm very limited in my choices, but most of the institutions that I'm looking at are manageable for my tastes. My ideal university would be Idaho State University, and I have no doubts that I'll get in. It's just going to be expensive to go there, especially since I have a twin that has to go to college at the same time as me and my older sister starts Medical School next year, too. My parents are dying for me to get scholarships, but I haven't been able to find any and I can't get in on a sports scholarship anymore because I quit tennis after my freshman year of high school (those girls on my team were devils, I tell you). My only hope is a scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers or a merit scholarship from whatever college I'm going to go to. This next year is going to be very interesting...

Erm, noo, I've never heard of it. x3 West Valley college, for now.

Did you do the Middle College program? What you described sounds really similar.

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College is pretty cool. Material costs are not. Highly recommend buying books second-hand off of Amazon and other sites, unless you enjoy eating grilled cheese made with a clothes iron. *

 

*(actually not that bad)

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Well, I will be going to university at one point. Though I have no idea what to take. Heck, I don't even know which country I want to go to! (Not Norway, and Canada/USA are highly debateable.)

 

Luckily I have my 3 years of high school left, so I'll have some time to think about it. smile.gif

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Erm, noo, I've never heard of it. x3 West Valley college, for now.

Did you do the Middle College program? What you described sounds really similar.

Yep! Middle college program here! It's a mix of academic achievers, overly creative kids, and potheads, but we're pretty tight knit since we're such a small school (there's only sixty or so kids in my grade).

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Enjoyed it, but can't help but feel I wasted it.

 

Firstly, wrong degree. I went and did something I was good at, but since I'v finished I've realised what I really want to do is something entirely different - and I don't have the £50,000 I'd need to go back and do it again (That's £27,000 on tuition fees, and £23,000 for three years' living costs).

 

Secondly, because I'm poor and common as mud, I had to spend all four years in Uni working - so that's during term-time as well as holidays. I'd be at work three nights a week during term, and full-time in the holidays, so I didn't quite do the whole social scene - and I still ended up in £20,000 of debt after 4yrs, which isn't all to bad I suppose.

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Moved in Saturday, classes start Wednesday. I'm only taking 16 hours though because I couldn't get into a 1 hour class and I'm waitlisted for chem lab which is also one hour. I'm psyched for it, the textbooks for bio and chem are the same as we had in high school, and from what I've heard from my upperclassmen a lot of classes are easier at college. Krebs cycle and glycolysis? KNOW IT IN AND OUT, ALL THE STEPS says high school bio teacher. Oh, it's kind of long and complicated so I don't expect you to know the steps says college bio teacher. No more phosphofructokinase is always a good thing.

 

Also, I have only one class on Wednesday. What is this what is this beautiful thing.

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I graduated from the University of Kansas in 2006 with a degree in Classical Antiquity and Art History. I wish I'd gone on to grad school, but the longer I'm away the harder it is to make the contacts I need to go back.

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I'm at University at the moment and about to go into my last year. I've been consistently getting Firsts and 2:1s, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm studying English Literature with Creative Writing, as I hope to get published someday and I adore the work. Despite this, I'm actually looking to get a job in a morgue. biggrin.gif It's simply my thing.

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Just finished summer classes, which was my third semester. Fall will be my fourth. Playing a bit of catch up right now since when I started I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and only took a couple classes at a time. Now that I have a direction I'm trying to get there as quickly as possible. Going for my associate's in criminal justice at the local community college, then transferring to a four-year college for my bachelor's and from there eventually I hope to wind up in the computer forensics field.

 

Being out of high school for a few years before going to college gave me a bit of perspective in that you really do need a degree if you want to do pretty much anything. The bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma and the absolute minimum you'll need to get by unless you plan on going into a trade or have some other arrangement.

 

I do wish I had gone earlier, if only because it will be difficult to do an internship when I still have to work full time and attend classes.

 

As far as financing goes, I didn't apply for any scholarships but I did qualify for grants. Anything my aid doesn't pay for goes into a loan, which I don't have to pay back until after I'm done with schooling. The exception is of course books but my aid covers most of the cost for those via book vouchers.

 

Academic-wise, I haven't found it to be very difficult. Of course I'm still doing the basic classes which, aside from my information security class, have taught me very little that I don't already know. The main thing is just doing the work and turning it in on time, really.

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I'm starting my third year in two weeks. I'm a chemistry major. It's been interesting, to say the least. I haven't had as much fun as I'd hoped to, but the important thing is to do well so that you have a better shot at getting the job you want and not have to settle.

 

As far as tests and studying goes, I find that you fall into a routine. You find what works and who you can ask for help. But definitely put effort into whatever you do, don't take a class too lightly, and don't sacrifice one for the other. I made that mistake this year.

 

If anyone has questions, feel free to pm me, I'm glad to offer any advice that I can.

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One more year... I'm actually looking forward to it a lot. Not just the whole living on campus, making new friends, independence, and new city aspects (though those are pretty great too), but also just being able to take classes and learn about what I'm actually going to do in life. I can't motivate myself in high school classes anymore, especially since I'm teaching myself other things at home instead of studying as much as I should rolleyes.gif

Edited by AAurion

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One more year... I'm actually looking forward to it a lot. Not just the whole living on campus, making new friends, independence, and new city aspects (though those are pretty great too), but also just being able to take classes and learn about what I'm actually going to do in life. I can't motivate myself in high school classes anymore, especially since I'm teaching myself other things at home instead of studying as much as I should rolleyes.gif

This basically expresses how I feel about school.

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I'm starting soon (29th as well, actually).

I imagine it'll be easy and fun, although very time consuming.

Personally I don't care about getting a degree (with what I have planned to do, it would be pretty much useless) but I'm very, very interested in acquiring the knowledge.

I'm going to community college for starters. It's cheaper and then I can figure out what I want to learn later on as I go.

Also, it keeps living expenses way down.

 

I'm super excited about all the books they have around in the library and such. I'm totally going to spend a lot of my time there.

<3

 

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I'm starting my fourth year but I'm no where close to graduating.

 

I did two years of being an art major before I realized (though partially for medical reasons) that it wasn't something I wanted to do as a career.

 

I've been a biochemistry major for a year now and I love it (this would be my second year of biochemistry).

 

I'm hoping to use it as a basis for getting into medical school so I can later become a doctor.

 

 

Classes can be pretty difficult, I'm not going to lie. There's a lot of studying and work involved. If you're not committed to learning or not able to ask for help when you need it you can have a really hard time.

 

 

Financing of course, is another stress. I'm currently close to $30,000 in loans owed and I still have around two more years before I can get into grad school or medical school.

With the way the US government is going, I may only be able to take out loans that I have to pay while I'm still in school, and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to be able to handle that as I cannot currently work.

Text books are another stress. With the ridiculous prices I was lucky enough to get any of them this year. I spent around $500 for three books, two of which were rentals (and I do not get a money return when the books are returned).

 

I really just try not to think of the money aspect. Other than text books and supplies, I'm hoping I can just worry about loans when I'm out of school. Although it's not fun to think about that at the end of my schooling I'm going to be more than $100,000 in debt, I think it's totally worth it to be able to have the chance at a career that I will actually enjoy doing.

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I've been through. Kinda feel like Kestra in a way; I thoroughly enjoyed getting my degree and I'm good at that, but it turned out to be not such a good idea, although I was able to turn it into something more useful to me (or would have been able to, life not throwing me into uncharted territory as it has).

 

This is what I've found in my experience:

 

Junior college is extraordinarily inexpensive compared to university tuition and therefore won't turn you into even more of a debt-slave when you get out of college, so it is a good idea to pick up some of your general ed at a local JC. Last I checked, it was something like a couple hundred for a few units semester class in California. Do it, do it, doooo eeeet.

 

Assuming SATs are still used...get a good score. If not, check into it anyhow, your college might offer scholarships for good GPA + SAT score. Take it while you still remember math equations if your subject isn't math related.

 

Don't over-do it. I will absolutely not believe you if you say you can take 26 semester units of classes and stay sane. 12 units is considered full-time for a reason!

 

Also? Big big one: Consider carefully if you actually need to go to college or not. In most cases it won't do what lots of people say it will, and it's a lot of money to spend on something that may be of no benefit to you.

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I have been lucky I did a degree I enjoyed and did well in (2:1) and have managed to get a job straight after. My degree was Pharmacy so 4 years.

 

My advice is borrow books from the library before buying if you never borrow it, it isn't worth your money. likewise you do not need to spend £50 a night getting drunk you can save a lot of money not doing that and still have fun! I enjoyed uni, made some great friends and met my boyfriend there biggrin.gif

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Also?  Big big one:  Consider carefully if you actually need to go to college or not.  In most cases it won't do what lots of people say it will, and it's a lot of money to spend on something that may be of no benefit to you.

This.

For some reason a lot of people seem to be under the impression that going to college automatically guarantees you a much higher paying job.

Maybe it will, but likely it won't. It depends on what you study, how available the jobs are, and if someone will actually hire you.

 

And there's the debt.

That's one of my goals when going to school is to complete it without going into debt, at all.

It may mean I have to skip a semester to work and save up, but it'll be worth it.

Edited by Pink

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I'm moving in on the 26th and starting classes as a college freshman on the 29th. I'm nervous, but so excited! I'm majoring in Biology. I managed to buy half of my books used, so I ended up having to pay only around $500 for all of my books. Woot!

 

I'm seconding what Princess Artemis said. Get a good SAT score! That's one of the first things colleges look at, and all of the colleges I looked at had minimums scores if they were going to accept you. But don't freak out if you get a bad score- there are other options, including re-taking the test.

 

If you aren't happy with your SAT score and/or are better in the math/science field than English and writing, take the ACT! Seriously, take it. I received a good (but not great) score on the SAT, which was smack in the middle of the range that that my college wanted. I'm better in the math and science department, so I took the ACT and scored way above the level required, which my college loved- I got accepted!

 

Another thing you should do if you want to look good is to join clubs/organizations and do community service. On the common application there's a whole section where you put community service and the clubs you are involved in; it's very important! Join a drama club, a library club, a cultural club, just make sure to join in!

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Junior college is extraordinarily inexpensive compared to university tuition and therefore won't turn you into even more of a debt-slave when you get out of college, so it is a good idea to pick up some of your general ed at a local JC. Last I checked, it was something like a couple hundred for a few units semester class in California. Do it, do it, doooo eeeet.

 

Yup. 500 something for fourteen units =) I'm going to a Californian JC.

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