[WMCoolmon]

Any advice to offer a weary traveler on his way to colleges?

At the moment, I've done not a whole lot of research - I've looked through a few in-state Colleges and actually said "no" to one, so my track record so far isn't very good. (Year-round 3-year technical school sounded like a recipe for disaster in my case.)

I know it's a bit, erg, odd to just sort of ask this out of the blue - but before I stopped frequenting around here people seemed to know a lot about the almighty 'uni' (seeing as a lot of said persons were IN said 'uni')

What's sounded most applicable has been going to a local college, which I have VERY good chances of admission, for a couple years - giving me time to figure out what to major in while burning some of the required classes that are general to most schools. But - I'd also like to move out, get out into the world - that sort of thing. Going out of state with such little research seems pretty risky though, but housing/apartment prices around here are pretty high. It's a little late to start earlier though... (Unless someone has a time machine)

[aldo_14]

Is this US 'college', then?  Because I don't understand the US system atall.

[Setekh]

Neither. Give me my beloved university. A primer on where you're at in the education system would be handy.

[Clave]

Drop out early and get a job!

[Styxx]

Originally posted by Clave
Drop out early and get a job!

Yeah, as "Sanitation Specialist".

[aldo_14]

God, no - that's worst thing you can do, get a job.  Stay on late, that's what i say.

[pyro-manic]

Originally posted by Styxx


Yeah, as "Sanitation Specialist".

Yeah, or a Relish Application Engineer.... :yes:

[Clave]

Or, you could join the Air Force and run through the higher level Tech training 13 month course (effectively accelerated promotion) and finish training by scooping 4 out of the 5 available commendations for outstanding achievement....

[aldo_14]

4 out of 5?  Pfff - you missed one.

[Clave]

Actually, I did want to stay at college, but I sucked at calculus, so only stayed a year.  I really wish I'd have jumped ship from Technical to Art, but that's ancient history, no going back now, but the good side is having money to burn having been in this job a while now....

[Corsair]

In the US, a university is an institute of higher education which has multiple schools. It will have a four-year college (which is what you go to after high school) and other schools (like law school, medical school, etc).
A college is just for people coming from high school. Colleges don't have grad schools. So...people are educated at universities, but they go to college after high school.

And that's the way the wonderful American system works. Using multiple words for things that they don't really describe. As usual.

[aldo_14]

So college is just another name for (a part of the) university in the US, then?

[Corsair]

Yeah, basically. It's where the undergraduate part of the student body is.

[aldo_14]

Ah....... never did understand that whole thing.

In the Uk, colleges are essentially a 'lower' tier than universities; they offer shorter length diplomas, etc - essentially can be used as a stepping stone to university or for a non-degree based qualification.

Basically the Uk goes something like;

7 years of primary school (I believe the Us kindergarten + grade school is equivalent); roughly ages 5-12

6 years of secondary school (can leave after 4th year, though; 3rd+4th years are spent earning 'standard grade' qualifications, 5th is 'Higher' and 6th is either higher or Advanced Higher; English names for these qualifications are different, though); roughly ages 12-18

Then, you can go to either University or College.  If you go to College, then you can proceed from there into uni (it's a common process to go to college first if you don't have the qualifications for admission to the uni course you want)

NB: Scottish BSc courses are 4 years long, where the last year is the 'honours' segment (which is graded on 3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st scale).  i think english courses are a year shorter; I presume the honours part is incorporated with their degree qualification or something.

NB2: Actually, i might go back and do a PhD myself.......

[Ford Prefect]

I'm starting to work on my applications and get recommendation letters from my teachers. It's so confusing it's driving me bonkers.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Setekh
Neither. Give me my beloved university.

We have universities here too.  Colleges are divided into two parts, there's colleges that fall under universities (for example, University of Texas has a college of medicine, college of business, a college of law, etc.) and then there's community colleges, where at most you can get an associates (2-year) degree in courses such as nursing, etc.  A lot of people (myself included) go to community colleges to get their "core" required classes out of the way (classes such as English, History, Government, Calculus, etc.) and then transfer to a university to get their bachelors (4 year) degree.

But yeah, we have Universities... Rice University, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Harvard, and all the rest of the ivy-league schools, and almost every major city has its own university too... University of Houston, University of Chicago, etc. etc. etc.

[vyper]

[q]NB2: Actually, i might go back and do a PhD myself.......[/q]

You already done Masters?

[kasperl]

aldo: That sounds like the Scottish system specifically. The UK still uses A and O levels, right?

As for uni's, I'm looking around myself, but then in Holland. What I look it is how enthousiastic the students are, and how the teachers present themselves. It's more the feeling of a uni I go to check out then the exact curriculum contents. And with feeling, I don't mean the kinds of beer they sell. I'm looking at wheter people are simply keeping seats warm, or try to do something constructive.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I'm in a rather nice position; next year I can venture off to do placement in Germany and study at the same time.

The result is that if I get a good degree when I finish my final year the year after I get a BSc Honours in Biomedical engineering and a BSc degree in static medical practices with a diploma to top it all off.
As a bonus I get to hang out in Germany and travel a bit.

Nice package.
[/color]

[vyper]

If I manage to survive this year I'm going to get the admins to change my nick to "vyper BSc(hons)"