College and jobs

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Hammy please give me a link to this kaplan, and the guidance office said the PSAT was liek it only going off the information i know

[H0ly-H@nd-Gr3nade]

College Board has a lot of stuff, too.

[Qicmee]

College - I liked a lot of the comments you already got. These just some more...

My nephews (farm boys) both went to Chicago's Northwestern. It's a very good college. It a very expensive college. And they both met their wives there. Just to be indirect about it, I'll say that a lot of rich people attend Northwestern.

Many colleges, with reputations of great accomplishments, do not have good undergraduate programs. This is an area you'll want to ask about. For example, how many courses are taught by foreign graduate students instead of by professors... Nonetheless, a degree from a prestigious university opens doors that would otherwise be closed. You're smart so this might not make sense, but credentials often trump capabilities.

ACT vs. SAT - Depends on the specific college/university that you plan to attend. Different regions of USA have tended to use one or the other.

If you take college courses during high school, verify that those course credits will directly contribute toward your degree at the university where you intend to enroll. Often they won't. Or they will be accepted as general credits, but they won't qualify for the specific coursework that you intended.

Advanced placement courses in high school are good. They help keep the best students from getting totally bored. I know two ways to use them. You can translate them into advanced placement in college; your first college courses become more challenging than what other freshmen experience. Or, you can use your learning to test out of college courses. Colleges don't usually mention this option, and I'd recommend taking transferable college courses instead (if possible).

What to major in? Take a look at the median salaries being earned in the areas where you're already interested. If there's a shortage today (causing higher salaries), there "might" still be great opportunities when you graduate. Also, it might help to consider the type of industry or business you want to work in (where do most chemical engineers work, what types of work do most civil engineers do). Study what you like, but after you're done studying, you need a job you can enjoy. By the way, many of the first two years of engineering courses overlap between majors; this makes it easy to switch between similar majors.

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Qicmee I realize that many of the first 2 years is similar. Also I know credentials often triumph capabilities, graduates from Cornell engineering makes on average 1.4 times the base starting salary as other graduates. From MIT its 1.7 times. Cornell will not accept my college credits from my school i would first have to go to another school and complete one or two years there in order to transpheer the credits. Like your nephews I myself am a farm boy, growing up in a public school with 110 people in my graduating class. But I had also skipped the 7th grade and am only missing one english credit from being able to graduate after my sophmore year. I tend to be what you may call an over achiever. For example on my english exam today for a critical lens I wrote a 4 page essay.
I like how in contrast to how everyone else looks you looked a lot more at the money end of it. Expensive college. where current wages are at ect. But I already know I have the capability to make it into these expensive colleges im more trying to look at how do you choose a field to work in.

[Qicmee]

Expounding a bit, the salary is secondary to doing work you enjoy. But if the personal rewards are similar, it's nice to make more money for your efforts.

How to choose a career field? A well-defined answer probably won't be relevant. This question is ultimately resolved by many small, personal decisions. Ultimately, that's what will define your job. This list isn't comprehensive - just enough to suggest my meaning:
* What do you enjoy? I didn't enjoy chemistry in high school, so chemical engineering dropped off my list. I found I had no love for electronics design, so electrical engineering dropped off my list. Nearly all decisions are based on insufficient information; the best ones just use a fair assessment of whatever facts are available.
* What fields will be hiring in 6 years? There will always be jobs for the best guys, but the salaries are higher and the long term growth opportunities are better where there's expansion. I'd want to gauge demand based on annual median salary growth (indirect, but correlates well on average). Of course, job demographics continually shift, especially for work that can be exported.
* What are jobs are common within the career field? It's wonderful that chemical engineers make everything from pure gold to gasoline, but what do most of them do (not the last 1%)? How many civil engineers are designing skyscrapers vs. planning the project details for a highway construction project vs. helping erect an offshore rig?
* Where do you want to live? All of the major US manufacturing regions have similar jobs available, but the proportions are different. It's nice to live where companies need to compete for their most essential engineers (electrical, software, etc.).

Ultimately, everything I say here will matter less than a wisp of fog on a sunny day. The unknown variables are too large. Your entire career might be defined early in your career by solving a long term problem that nobody else wanted to handle. But I agree it's worthwhile to aim at the type of work you would enjoy, with good opportunities for advancement.

This is just some by-the-way meandering thoughts -
Eventually your choices will include considering time for family vs. time for work. No matter which career field you choose, you will be promoted. After several years on the job, you will have been promoted to high grades, you'll have lots of technical skills & perspective, you will have lead several department project teams, and the company will offer you a management position (responsible for people in addition to yourself). Several years after that, you might have the choice of managing managers as a department head. Alternatively, many companies allow their engineers to follow a purely technical career path. Or maybe you'll get a company paid MBA. And maybe you'll start your own company and run it the way it "should be".

[Tuqui-tuqui]

This is what I recommend everyone do:


START with a local/community college. Get your two years there studying the basics that are part of a larger university's curriculum. This will allow you more time picking what you want to study (by taking several optional courses) and under whose umbrella you want to study it under. Also, it will save you a lot of $$$$$ as well.

Good luck.

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Turqui thats somewhat what I have in mind expecialy if I dont get any good scholarships right off the bat.
Lets face it a diploma is the most expensive piece of paper I will ever buy.

Qicmee I know most chemical engineers do my uncle work at a factory making drugs(legal), while my mom mainly does work on schools and other buildings nothing huge largest job she did was a casino that cost some 12mil to make, with about a 9% profit for her company. I also know I dont have to decide right away but my jounior and senior years of high school are going to almost be purely electives and I'm just trying to plan ahead.

Also I would like to say right now thanks for all the information so far guys I have eben doing a lot of reaserch trying to decide what to do and there is just to much out there.

[Hammy]

Home-Kaplan Inc.

[linemanstud]

i am going into my 3rd year of college, and i can tell you this, the majority of students who begin their college experience with one declared major will likely not graduate with a degree in that major. I have 2 fraternity brothers who have changed their major 3 times already, a couple who were undecided until halfway through their junior year, and one that didn't pick until the beginning of his senior year. that being said, i got lucky and chose a field of study that i liked right off the bat (history), so i wouldn't know about changing majors from personal experience. my best advice for you would be to go into college with a major in mind (which it sounds like you do), but start off undeclared. that way you can try out a few classes from that major and see how they fit you. if you dont like those classes, you could always try out classes from a different major. with interests in math and science, i would suggest keeping the idea of teaching on the back burner as well. i know most schools here in Illinois have a sever shortage of teachers in both of those fields and would gladly scoop you up if you chose that route. bottom line would be to keep your options open. keep that in mind when you are choosing a school as well. unless you plan on doing work with NASA or being some kind of a biochemical engineer for the government or an oil company or something, you don't really need to put yourself through the rigors of MIT. make sure that you visit a few schools to see if their campus and facilities fit you well. i know that a college visit decided my college for me in the end. now after you take in ALL of that, take in this last little piece of advice: don't worry about college for almost another year. until those deadlines are breathing down your neck, you dont need to lose sleep over your choices. enjoy highschool while you are there. hope some of this little rant helps.

[Pumpkin_Jack]

i am going into my 3rd year of college, and i can tell you this, the majority of students who begin their college experience with one declared major will likely not graduate with a degree in that major. I have 2 fraternity brothers who have changed their major 3 times already, a couple who were undecided until halfway through their junior year, and one that didn't pick until the beginning of his senior year. that being said, i got lucky and chose a field of study that i liked right off the bat (history), so i wouldn't know about changing majors from personal experience. my best advice for you would be to go into college with a major in mind (which it sounds like you do), but start off undeclared. that way you can try out a few classes from that major and see how they fit you. if you dont like those classes, you could always try out classes from a different major. with interests in math and science, i would suggest keeping the idea of teaching on the back burner as well. i know most schools here in Illinois have a sever shortage of teachers in both of those fields and would gladly scoop you up if you chose that route. bottom line would be to keep your options open. keep that in mind when you are choosing a school as well. unless you plan on doing work with NASA or being some kind of a biochemical engineer for the government or an oil company or something, you don't really need to put yourself through the rigors of MIT. make sure that you visit a few schools to see if their campus and facilities fit you well. i know that a college visit decided my college for me in the end. now after you take in ALL of that, take in this last little piece of advice: don't worry about college for almost another year. until those deadlines are breathing down your neck, you dont need to lose sleep over your choices. enjoy highschool while you are there. hope some of this little rant helps.

I've already got scholarships(pending) on my grades and extracurriculars, I talked to Cornells wrestling coach(going to another camp there this summer), and he says if i can place (top3) in states by my senior year, then i could get scholarship for wrestling. Point is Im realisticaly already being pushed to think about it. Also the only reason I like MIT is because of its reputation, the campus is nice although I dont like where it is. Also main reason teaching realy aint on my list is im from NY, easily close to the highest teacher salaries/benefits in the country, also hard as poo to get a job in NYS, due to teachers working until they hit mandatory retirement(70 for most).