College Thread

[inactiveuser1]

Good thing you have a lot of resources then(here, university sites, friends,GOOGLE,etc.). They may not know how the admissions process works exactly and they may be learning some of the stuff as you are but that doesn't mean they can't help you(obviously). And I'm sure they'll help you with the finances and other stuff. At least for me they helped a lot.

yeah I don't really fit in with the kids my age at school so a lot of my friends are older, it's good that they are able to help me, them and here have been my main resources. I do use school websites but some are hard to navigate for me, especially U of Is. It pisses me off a little haha.

That's interesting IRT housing at Depaul. Maybe you should try to find out how fast housing has filled up in past years(if you can). I would still take my time with the decision though.

im guessing probably by January/February they fill up but I will look into that, if I email the department of housing you think they could give a solid answer?

Weeeeelllll I don't exactly have a four year plan yet. I have an idea of what I'm going to be taking this year(as I should, because orientation is the week after next), but beyond that not really. But having the possible plans and routes laid out really helped me.

Oh lol my bad, that's still good though and a smart idea

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

Do you know your roommate?

Yea, I was lazy and didn't do the whole "looking for a roommate" thing on fb and ended up not getting my dorm of choice. My roomie is from India LOL. Nah but he seems pretty cool. He went to an international school so he knows english very well...probably as good as he knows Hindi. We've messaged a bit.

Lol good luck with band and the book, don't slack to much longer that way you can enjoy the last few days with family and friends. What book?

Good point. Tomorrow i'm probably going to devote the day towards getting that stuff worked out. The book is called Living with Complexity by Donald Norman(big-time tech designer who's worked with Apple). It's actually pretty good and not hard to read at all.

You're working for your dad already huh, what kind of research?

Biomedical. Basically we're analyzing rat tissue to understand the effects of exercise as well as the lack of it on muscles. It goes a little beyond that, but that probably sums it up in one sentence. I've been working in there since January.

Keep updates coming :buttrock:

Will do.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

That was my second time, went up a point from the first, and like U of I business school

Up to you then I guess. You can probably look at admissions statistics to see what scores they are looking for. I'm sure they gave you some info when you visited. I know they'll give you some standardized test stats for admitted students(usually) in a department if you take a specific tour with that department and/or major. A 30 is really good though.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

yeah I don't really fit in with the kids my age at school so a lot of my friends are older, it's good that they are able to help me, them and here have been my main resources. I do use school websites but some are hard to navigate for me, especially U of Is. It pisses me off a little haha.

Yea, resources are important. Gotta have your info.

im guessing probably by January/February they fill up but I will look into that, if I email the department of housing you think they could give a solid answer?

Damn, that's early lol. I'd shoot them an email.

Oh lol my bad, that's still good though and a smart idea

Yea, every student should probably do something of the sort. They dont need to have a 4 year plan or anything with that much foresight but they need to look at a list of curriculum for their degree and decide what they need to take for the upcoming semester and/or year ahead of time. Otherwise you'll end up with some problems.

 

[nwfisch]

This thread should be called:

A guide to get your post thanked by DePaulfan21.

I say go where your heart is, if its in business law, go for it, communications, go for it. I think this is the mistake I made.

 

[Rustysurf83]

I got an MBA...I strongly advise against it. I also advise against straight up business major undergrad. Specialize in something, ideally accounting or finance. OB and project management could be ok as well depending on how soft vs. quantitative you want to go. I will tell you that I know 3 communications majors that graduated about 5-7 years ago and still haven't broken the $30k/yr mark.

 

[NCChiFan]

I wish I could give you advice on picking a school, but the decision my kid made to go to UNCC was pretty straight forward and he didn't look at any other schools. He is going business at this point with an emphasis. I, as a college grad with 2 degrees <and with a Mrs. NCChiFan who also just finished a B.S. degree (she's been an AS degree RN for 30 years) who just went through the process>, really like what Rustysurf83 said above. I went Accounting because the general BS Business degree was way vague, my other BS degree is business with a Long Term Health Care Administration emphasis, which allowed me to sit and pass a Nursing Home Administrators exam ( a job I did for 2 years). Listen to Rustysurf83, but you don't have to make your decision right away, you can take a year or even 2 getting generals out of the way while figuring out what interests you.

 

[inactiveuser1]

This thread should be called:

A guide to get your post thanked by DePaulfan21.

I say go where your heart is, if its in business law, go for it, communications, go for it. I think this is the mistake I made.

:lol:'they're helpful posts so I thank them

What do you mean you made that mistake?

I got an MBA...I strongly advise against it. I also advise against straight up business major undergrad. Specialize in something, ideally accounting or finance. OB and project management could be ok as well depending on how soft vs. quantitative you want to go. I will tell you that I know 3 communications majors that graduated about 5-7 years ago and still haven't broken the $30k/yr mark.

thats exactly the thing I don't want to happen to me,communications interests me, but not enough to work for 30k a year...

Good advice, what do you think of Business Administration or management?

I wish I could give you advice on picking a school, but the decision my kid made to go to UNCC was pretty straight forward and he didn't look at any other schools. He is going business at this point with an emphasis. I, as a college grad with 2 degrees <and with a Mrs. NCChiFan who also just finished a B.S. degree (she's been an AS degree RN for 30 years) who just went through the process>, really like what Rustysurf83 said above. I went Accounting because the general BS Business degree was way vague, my other BS degree is business with a Long Term Health Care Administration emphasis, which allowed me to sit and pass a Nursing Home Administrators exam ( a job I did for 2 years). Listen to Rustysurf83, but you don't have to make your decision right away, you can take a year or even 2 getting generals out of the way while figuring out what interests you.

thanks soul brotha :hi5: ill ask you what I asked him, what do you think of business administration or management/marketing?

 

[Rustysurf83]

An MBA is a jack of all trades, master of none degree that is largely useless without prior work experience. That is why it kills me to see an increasing amount of B schools pushing students straight to MBA's right after their undergrad. I honestly learned very little from the actual coursework during my MBA. The most valuable things I got out of it were the networking opportunities with classmates/local professionals and the ability to take ridiculous amounts of data/information and quickly analyze and pull the relevant pieces. That is great since I have an established career, but a lot of kids in the class ended up taking jobs they could have gotten with an undergrad degree. Maybe it will be valuable once they gain a few years experience, but I have no doubt that getting an MAcc is the better choice.

Personally I am not a fan of the BA or Management major for undergrad. Anyone with a degree in a business discipline such as accounting, finance, marketing, etc will be just as qualified (probably more qualified) for positions while having a tangible and focused skillset.

 

[Omeletpants]

Unless you are going to a really good college like Harvard, Yale. Stanford, MIT, Vanderbilt, Northwestern then none of the others matter. They are just holding pens for 4 years. UI and Northern are the same. DePaul and Loyola are the same.

Pick a university with a very strong and active Alumni base. The world is changing fast and it's no longer enough to be a hard worker. It's all about connections. So, if you go to Harvard or Northwestern you will always have help getting a job. University of Il buys you nothing.

The new business mantra is networking. Wouldnt hurt you to get a Linked In account and build a network. Ask questions, join groups, get active with those groups

Take a freaking public speaking course. Join Toastmaster. Great public speakers make signifantly more than slabs afraid to talk to groups

 

[NCChiFan]

A general business degree, unless you're going into the family business would mean very little, which is why I'm guessing a lot of folks are going straight to the MBA. Take it with an emphasis like Econ or Marketing or... Accounting isn't grand unless you have the perverse desire to be a CPA or get real lucky (Classmate of mine with a BS in Accounting hires and fires CPA's and MBA's all the time, but he worked his way up from staff accounting to Regional Controller for a large for profit hospital chain). I also agree that a program with an active, doing well Alumni association is huge, or located in a hub, like say, Georgetown law is located in the hub of law making in America, or UNCC is located in a banking hub in America etc... It can point you in a direction. Econ guys go out of their way to take economics form Dr. Swanson at University of Arizona. That sorta thing.

Again, my kid has connections in the world he is moving towards as his uncle is an Attorney that specializes in working with firms in the area of business he's looking at. He will help NCChiFan, Jr with internships, contacts, etc... Sometimes in life it is who you know. Good luck.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I am still hoping to squeeze into sports, but I'd much rather have a higher salary to be able to have a more stable life. I don't mind the UIUC bias haha so you graduate in the class of 2014? I'd hope to go to grad school, but idk if I would be up for it right away. Is it common, or at least doable, for people to get the bachelors, work for a few years then go back to grad school? I wouldn't say my family doesn't have the money to send me to school, but I don't know if I want to put the burden of extra years of school on my parents (I have a younger brother who will be looking at colleges soon). Because the cost is to high I had to rule out Bloomington and UW, but fwiw I didn't really like UWs campus and Indiana didnt stick out to me academically so I probably wasn't going there anyway. I have to see how I like accounting and Macro, I take those this year haha. Do you have any friends in the business school? Do you know the class size of their classes and if its taught by profs or TAs?

Yeah I'm class of 2014. It's definitely doable to get your bachelors then work before going to grad school. I know a few people who have done that. I know a lot of business majors actually. Quite a lot. The way most classes work at Uiuc is that the lectures are taught by professors and discussions are taught by the tas. Lectures for business classes are usually twice a week with one or two discussions per week. Varies by class but that's usually how it goes.

I'd say more but I'm on my phone and responses are rather cumbersome to type out. Idk how much I'll respond over the next week either, but I'm sure you'll be getting perfectly good advice regardless.

 

[zack54attack]

I'm graduating this year.

 

[inactiveuser1]

I'm graduating this year.

Degree in...?

 

[nwfisch]

Degree in...?

#swaggggggggggggggggggggggggg

 

[Capt. Serious]

Degree in...?

Knowing how to get da ladiez.

 

[FrenchieBully]

Unless you are going to a really good college like Harvard, Yale. Stanford, MIT, Vanderbilt, Northwestern then none of the others matter. They are just holding pens for 4 years. UI and Northern are the same. DePaul and Loyola are the same.

Pick a university with a very strong and active Alumni base. The world is changing fast and it's no longer enough to be a hard worker. It's all about connections. So, if you go to Harvard or Northwestern you will always have help getting a job. University of Il buys you nothing.

The new business mantra is networking. Wouldnt hurt you to get a Linked In account and build a network. Ask questions, join groups, get active with those groups

Take a freaking public speaking course. Join Toastmaster. Great public speakers make signifantly more than slabs afraid to talk to groups

This is the best advice on this thread. It also applies to pre-law and law degrees.

 

[Argath]

As someone who recently just graduated from college I can honestly tell you that your degree, especially undergrad degree, doesn't mean jack diddly squat. Like someone else said its all about networking. Not to sound too much of a Debbie downer either but networking just based on school isn't going to get you far either unless you go to an extremely small school (no more than 1,500 students).

People might laugh or joke about it, but I highly recommend you look into Greek life. Greek life will give you everything you could ever need to get a job immediately after school. Leadership experience, time management, stress management, community service, communication skills, delegation skills, programming experience, networking (I could go on forever) these are the types of experience that jobs are looking for right now. It really doesn't matter which fraternity you join either. Your chapter will most likely have decades of alumni and each class will have been friends with a different fraternity on campus which ultimately links you to every fraternity in the networking world. I had several job offers a couple months before I even graduated and the one I accepted was from an alumnus of a different fraternity on campus but he was best buddies with one my fraternity's alum and they vouched for me no questions asked. For the record I'm currently doing Project Management work for a govt IT contracting company and my degree was Social Science. I never took one IT class in my life.

Don't let stereotypes hold you back. Its not all about partying. There isn't a single on campus organization that can offer a student what Greek Life can.

Edit: my other job offers were from every walk of life you could imagine. From $80,000 a year selling insurance in Minnesota, to a $45,000 job doing project management for Microsoft (one of my alum works for Microsoft but I didnt want to move to Seattle), to the job I currently have and even a job doing construction management in southwest VA. Like I said, its all about networking and your degree really doesn't tie you into one career field so pick something that you can excel in.

Not to mention when you join a selective group like a fraternity or something equivalent, you meet some pretty cool people who will do anything for you. My fraternity has 2 alumni working for ESPN right now (one is skip bayless who's an alum of my fraternity from a different school) the other is Jorge Alfaro (actually from my school) who has personally invited me up to Connecticut to take a tour of ESPN studios and go hang out with the people up there.

 

[FrenchieBully]

Ron Paul is my brother.

 

[brett05]

I just want to say..

ILL