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Universities/Institutions
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| werdnaforever | Date: Tuesday, 07.01.2014, 22:00 | Message # 1 |
 World Builder
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Pirate
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| A thread about colleges/universities.
Do you (or did you) attend a university or institution? What's your major/minor? What are you taking? Where are you thinking about going? How do you resist using SpaceEngine when you're doing HW? Also, you can post advice or info about college/the application process... or anything else on this subject.
As for me, I'm going to Drexel for Mechanical Engineering; as of this posting I'm taking statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, CAD, and chemistry.
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| Salvo | Date: Tuesday, 07.01.2014, 22:59 | Message # 2 |
 Star Engineer
Group: Local Moderators
Italy
Messages: 1400
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| I'm on fourth year of "high school" (not sure if it's the right word, it works in a strange way in italy!), and I still don't know if going to university or not, then, I don't even know about what...
I mean, one of my greatest passions are computer science and astronomy, and I'm actually going on a computer science school, so I should take engineering at Padua, but I'm still not sure... I don't know anything, I hope to find some help, someone that could give me some advices 
Universities are quite good in Italy, but I could even move somewhere if I will find a nice University 
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770 GPU: ASUS Radeon R9 270 RAM: 8 GBs
(still don't know why everyone is doing this...)
Edited by Salvo - Tuesday, 07.01.2014, 23:00 |
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Tuesday, 07.01.2014, 23:31 | Message # 3 |
 Galaxy Architect
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| Quote Salvo (  ) I still don't know if going to university or not, then, I don't even know about what...
You really should go if you can. If you don't know what you want to do I would recommend just getting all the basic prerequisites out of the way.
Intel Core i7-5820K 4.2GHz 6-Core Processor
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC 6GB
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| Antza2 | Date: Tuesday, 07.01.2014, 23:38 | Message # 4 |
 World Builder
Group: Global Moderators
Finland
Messages: 1049
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| I just started in the University of Eastern Finland and i'm focusing in computer science.
Go to antza2.deviantart.com for cool photos!
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| midtskogen | Date: Wednesday, 08.01.2014, 11:48 | Message # 5 |
 Star Engineer
Group: Users
Norway
Messages: 1674
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| I started in university in 1992. Finished a bachelor (candidatus magisterii) in informatics in 1996, went on with a master's degree (candidatus scientiarum) in theoretical computer science, doing work on an automated theorem prover with Ole-Johan Dahl as my supervisor, graduating in 1999. Then I went on with classical studies (Latin) for some years, but I have hardly made it through further than halfway to a new bachelor, and I don't expect to finish.
I've needed longer time than supposed for all my studies, but in 1992-93 I also did my military service, more than 1000 km away from university most of the time, and during the 20 years since 1994 I've been working full time for 16 of them, part time for 3.
Definitely go to university, but it's probably a good idea economically also to get out from there in time, either just after finishing a master or a phd.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Wednesday, 08.01.2014, 12:01 |
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| werdnaforever | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 02:46 | Message # 6 |
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World Builder
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| Having a creative hobby makes all the difference when choosing a college. You have to look for a way you can apply the skills you have learned from your hobby towards a career you find desirable. It all sounds cliche but its the truth. Trust me. I had a specific idea of what I wanted to do, and choosing a college was easy. I know not everyone has something in mind, but if you are creating things, you will likely find a more interesting job. It's better than just choosing something arbitrarily. Set goals and follow them.
I know not everyone considers themselves creative, and when I start talking to people about this sort of thing, the fact that most adolescents don't have a clear idea of what they want to do with their lives is usually the first thing that comes up. But if you are doing something creative, be open minded about how you can turn that into a career.
Edited by werdnaforever - Thursday, 09.01.2014, 02:47 |
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| Watsisname | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 04:20 | Message # 7 |
 Galaxy Architect
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United States
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| I think that's excellent advice.  I would also give a tip, especially for those new or about to enter college, which is to try to get to know your professors. I'm not talking 'teachers pet' kind of thing, but just make sure they know who you are. Don't be that guy that always sits in the back of the lecture hall or only comes to class for examinations. For one thing they will be more likely to help you if you should have any difficulties, (and go to their office hours if you need to), and it can be amazing how much good insight they can give you on college and post-college life, job seeking, etc.
As for me, I'm currently pursuing a degree in astronomy, with focus on planetary and atmospheric sciences. I hope to get into research, though I can't quite decide yet if I want to be more on the theoretical or observational side of things.
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| midtskogen | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 08:23 | Message # 8 |
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Star Engineer
Group: Users
Norway
Messages: 1674
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| A word of caution when letting strong interests guide education path, though. One should also make a reality check of the employment opportunities in case the three people in the country actually needing that education are nowhere near retirement (another warning sign would be if those three are all full time involved in teaching the art). Now, since we're here all nerds naturally interested in hard science which a increasingly technological world has a demand for, that's no issue. Over here I think there is an increasing trend among youths the view that education and employers exist for the sole purpose of realising their personal ambitions. So if their dream job doesn't fall from the sky into their lap, they develop all kinds of psychological problems from the prospect of having to do work conflicting with their self-realisation. This is happening here, in a country that officially has an unemployment rate of 3%, yet 30% of the population in employable age are not working.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Thursday, 09.01.2014, 08:27 |
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| werdnaforever | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 14:41 | Message # 9 |
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World Builder
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) Now, since we're here all nerds naturally interested in hard science which a increasingly technological world has a demand for, that's no issue.
Personally, I was actually more interested in art then science for a long time...
Quote midtskogen ( ) One should also make a reality check of the employment opportunities
I knew I wasn't going to have much of a career as an artist...
Quote werdnaforever ( ) You have to look for a way you can apply the skills you have learned from your hobby towards a career you find desirable
...in my case I did some 3D modeling for graphic design, and through this I got involved with CAD, and then I realized I wanted to be an engineer so I could design things that were real. So now I plan to do CAD in the aerospace industry.
Quote Watsisname ( ) As for me, I'm currently pursuing a degree in astronomy, with focus on planetary and atmospheric sciences. I hope to get into research, though I can't quite decide yet if I want to be more on the theoretical or observational side of things.
What makes SpaceEngine so great is the theoretical, IMHO
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| RockoRocks | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 15:39 | Message # 10 |
 World Builder
Group: Users
Belgium
Messages: 674
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| I'm still in secondary school
I will be inactive on this forum for the time being. Might come back eventually
AMD AR-3305M APU w/ Radeon HD 1.90 GHz 6,00 GB RAM
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| midtskogen | Date: Thursday, 09.01.2014, 22:20 | Message # 11 |
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Star Engineer
Group: Users
Norway
Messages: 1674
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| Quote werdnaforever ( ) I knew I wasn't going to have much of a career as an artist
That's fine if you're fairly sure of a career in something else.
When I selected the subject for my thesis I deliberately chose something I would very unlikely need in a career, because I figured that it was the only opportunity I would get to do something like that. It was a pretty narrow field, we were only two students in that research group, even in some of the courses, plus a phd student. With a 50-50 student-professor division we couldn't complain about the supervision.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Thursday, 09.01.2014, 22:34 |
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| Willocrisp | Date: Friday, 21.11.2014, 07:26 | Message # 12 |
 Space Tourist
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Pirate
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| Sorry if something similar was already created, but I used the search-bar and found no results.
Anyways, are any of you currently attending, have attended, or plan on attending a post-secondary institution? If so, what do you plan on taking/What have you taken? What will you major in/What was your major? Any minors?
I am currently in my first year of University and I am currently obtaining my Bachelor of Science with a major in Physics and a minor in Astronomy. I will then go for my Masters and PhD afterwards
What about you guys?
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| Watsisname | Date: Friday, 21.11.2014, 09:10 | Message # 13 |
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Galaxy Architect
Group: Global Moderators
United States
Messages: 2613
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| ^Merged your post here. No sweat about not finding it on the search.
Also good luck to you with university and pursuing a degree physics and astronomy! I'm doing the same, focusing either on planetary sciences, or possibly cosmology and field equations. Not sure exactly what I want to do after uni, but something involving research astrophysics in these areas at least.
What are you thinking of doing after?
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| Willocrisp | Date: Monday, 24.11.2014, 00:30 | Message # 14 |
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Space Tourist
Group: Users
Pirate
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| Quote Watsisname ( ) ^Merged your post here. No sweat about not finding it on the search.
Also good luck to you with university and pursuing a degree physics and astronomy! I'm doing the same, focusing either on planetary sciences, or possibly cosmology and field equations. Not sure exactly what I want to do after uni, but something involving research astrophysics in these areas at least.
What are you thinking of doing after?
Oops, sorry about that! It's a pretty general topic, so I was confused when I couldn't find one already created.
Anyways, those are amazing areas to consider! For the longest time, I was focused on planetary science. The thrill of finding, observing, and researching possible exoplanets excited me. However, recently I've became obsessed with things like black holes, relativity, and dimensions, so I'm thinking of theoretical physics. I'm working on a theory (I know it sounds crazy) about a three dimensional rule. It's about how everything can only have three dimensions, including time. I don't want to dive into details, because it would be hard to explain without hand-written diagrams, but just imagine the first dimension of time the same as the first dimension of space. Then so on and so on, with a climax being at the third dimension.
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