College Thread

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Starting this thread for anyone discussing college or giving advice on it. Pretty much me needing advice and sharing my journey through the college search process and probably Code, Clone, and Fisch(?) jumping in to help and share knowledge. All are welcome, I just don't expect anyone else since no one looks in the bar :lol:
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Welp after visiting a bunch of schools over the past week, hearing many presentations, having one on one meetings, and doing my own research it's safe to say I've come to 3 conclusions:
1. There's not nearly as much money in communications as there is in business, so I'm no longer exploring the option of majoring in something in communications, partly because of what I learned and partly because my parents think its a bad idea now and I got the talk about the real world and how I need a goodmajor to make money so it looks like ill be going into business administration, or maybe marketing and management
2. Ill apply to 4 or 5 schools but if I'm being honest and realistic with myself there's only two options: U of I Champaign-Urbana or DePaul
3. I'm completely overwhelmed
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Quick recap just to make this clear: before my "college tour" my top 4 schools were UIUC, DePaul, Bradley, and IU-Bloomington in no particular order. My plan was to learn about communications and business programs, but I'm really more interested in communications. We then proceeded to visit Bradley, Dayton(that came out of nowhere unscheduled, we showed up thanks to lack of other things to do before other scheduled visits, and we were able to go to an info session and tour and I was impressed), IU, U of I(not on an organized event), and UW-Madison. I am no longer considering IU or UW. But am now planning to apply to 3 of the originals(Bradley, DePaul, UIUC) and possibly Dayton pending more research.
 

clonetrooper264

Retired Bandwagon Mod
Staff member
Donator
Joined:
Apr 11, 2009
Posts:
23,316
Liked Posts:
7,393
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Cubs
  1. Chicago Bulls
  2. Golden State Warriors
  1. Chicago Bears
  1. Chicago Blackhawks
You can still get a decent job with communications it just depends on how much school you're willing to go through and what exactly you want to do with it. From what I recall, you wanted to get into some sort of sports job. Most of the communications majors that I know (at UIUC) usually continued onto UIUC's HR program (aka grad school) which is pretty good. They went on to get some pretty good job offers for that.

If you're looking at business now, UIUC is definitely a top notch business school (you know I gotta rep my school, but bias aside this is a fact), and you'll probably be able to do whatever you like with a business degree from here. At UIUC, marketing and management fall under business administration...not sure how it is for other schools. From what I've seen from my friend who is a marketing major, marketing isn't that hard of a major coursework wise relatively. Business isn't really a "blow off" major as some would say, but it's far easier than engineering or even majors like chemistry and biology imo. For what it's worth, business majors do have to take a couple intro communications classes as part of their general business requirement. Also if you hated macro/accounting, you will hate your first two years of school because of the econ requirement for business majors. If not, then you're probably ok.

It's probably true that strictly looking at undergrad degrees communications makes less than business. Grad school might be a different story. At the end of the day though, money isn't everything. Do what you like and you'll enjoy your life far more than if you made all the money in the world doing something you hate. It seems that either way you'll be able to squeeze your way into sports if you want to, so ultimately the choice is yours...and it's very possible that communications and business will both be necessary to do whatever it is you want to do. Communications + business minor or business major + communications minor will probably be the route I'd recommend taking for that end, regardless of where you go.

Sorry for the heavy UIUC bias, but it's all I know. xD Real talk though, it's an awesome school with awesome people and while I probably won't be around if you chose to come (since I should be graduated by then and whatnot) there's a lot of people I could get you in contact with (if you like talking to lots of Asians...lol) to get you acquainted with campus and classes and all that jazz.

Spiel over...for now.
 

CODE_BLUE56

Ded
Donator
CCS Hall of Fame '20
Joined:
Apr 18, 2010
Posts:
19,727
Liked Posts:
4,700
Location:
Texas
Yea, the visits and all the other stuff help you get a perspective on what you can expect and what they expect of you. Business admin is probably a good route to go and better for jobs. I know people doing that here at A&M. I suppose you're thinking about grad school and an MBA. Business tends to be a pretty wide open type of major because administration and business management can apply to a good amount of companies and fields. Business grads seem to be a dime a dozen though. I think the quality of your education and experience(internships,etc.) can really give you an edge. Take my thoughts/advice with a big grain of salt though because,well, I'm hardly older than you are. And I don't speak from experience.

UIUC and DePaul are both quality schools. Both are in-state so the cost wont be too bad, especially if you get scholarships and what not. Don't think you have to be rushed into a decision. It took me a while to decide. Consider everything you can think of before deciding.

Don't worry about being overwhelmed. Just take baby steps with everything. My mom helped me out with everything. She adopted a good idea she heard from some other college mom: make a binder. Seriously. Put in SAT scores, major curriculum, college application passwords,etc. Really can make things easier. Once your done with college apps, you are basically just cruising to the finish line imo. At least that's how it felt for me.
 

CODE_BLUE56

Ded
Donator
CCS Hall of Fame '20
Joined:
Apr 18, 2010
Posts:
19,727
Liked Posts:
4,700
Location:
Texas
I'm a little overwhelmed as well, although it's not too bad.

I got band auditions coming up and I haven't really practiced(but I have at least practiced the stuff once and know what is going to be on the auditions...i'm not too worried)

I am supposed to start writing an abstract for my dad's lab tomorrow or so(for those that dont know what this is: it's a short(~200 words) intro for a research paper. I've done some reading to get me started. Just difficult to write stuff on a semi-doctoral level when you don't have experience. Obviously i'm going to get a little help.

I leave a week from today(or technically yesterday, so I actually have even less). Haven't really packed, but I'm sure that's what the few days before next Saturday will be devoted to. Also have to do a few other "housekeeping" things before I go.

I have to finish a book before school starts, which is the 19th I think. I'm on page 71, so I'm ok here. I am just not an enthusiastic reader. My attention span is horrid, so I can read well for short spurts.

I got a notification yesterday that because of my AP chem score(5) I can qualify to not only get out of the first semester of chem, but also the second. I just have to take a test. The test is the first day of school at 6 PM. I asked on facebook how the test was and people said it was easy and that I should look at the final for the class as review. It's not hard, I just need a refresher on some of the concepts because i'm not sure if i would pass if i went into the test cold. I'm taking this seriously because that's another 4 hours of credit. That would give me 21 hours going into college and open up my freshman year even more.

I can give you guys updates periodically on this thread.
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
You can still get a decent job with communications it just depends on how much school you're willing to go through and what exactly you want to do with it. From what I recall, you wanted to get into some sort of sports job. Most of the communications majors that I know (at UIUC) usually continued onto UIUC's HR program (aka grad school) which is pretty good. They went on to get some pretty good job offers for that.

If you're looking at business now, UIUC is definitely a top notch business school (you know I gotta rep my school, but bias aside this is a fact), and you'll probably be able to do whatever you like with a business degree from here. At UIUC, marketing and management fall under business administration...not sure how it is for other schools. From what I've seen from my friend who is a marketing major, marketing isn't that hard of a major coursework wise relatively. Business isn't really a "blow off" major as some would say, but it's far easier than engineering or even majors like chemistry and biology imo. For what it's worth, business majors do have to take a couple intro communications classes as part of their general business requirement. Also if you hated macro/accounting, you will hate your first two years of school because of the econ requirement for business majors. If not, then you're probably ok.

It's probably true that strictly looking at undergrad degrees communications makes less than business. Grad school might be a different story. At the end of the day though, money isn't everything. Do what you like and you'll enjoy your life far more than if you made all the money in the world doing something you hate. It seems that either way you'll be able to squeeze your way into sports if you want to, so ultimately the choice is yours...and it's very possible that communications and business will both be necessary to do whatever it is you want to do. Communications + business minor or business major + communications minor will probably be the route I'd recommend taking for that end, regardless of where you go.

Sorry for the heavy UIUC bias, but it's all I know. xD Real talk though, it's an awesome school with awesome people and while I probably won't be around if you chose to come (since I should be graduated by then and whatnot) there's a lot of people I could get you in contact with (if you like talking to lots of Asians...lol) to get you acquainted with campus and classes and all that jazz.

Spiel over...for now.
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?
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Yea, the visits and all the other stuff help you get a perspective on what you can expect and what they expect of you. Business admin is probably a good route to go and better for jobs. I know people doing that here at A&M. I suppose you're thinking about grad school and an MBA. Business tends to be a pretty wide open type of major because administration and business management can apply to a good amount of companies and fields. Business grads seem to be a dime a dozen though. I think the quality of your education and experience(internships,etc.) can really give you an edge. Take my thoughts/advice with a big grain of salt though because,well, I'm hardly older than you are. And I don't speak from experience.

UIUC and DePaul are both quality schools. Both are in-state so the cost wont be too bad, especially if you get scholarships and what not. Don't think you have to be rushed into a decision. It took me a while to decide. Consider everything you can think of before deciding.

Don't worry about being overwhelmed. Just take baby steps with everything. My mom helped me out with everything. She adopted a good idea she heard from some other college mom: make a binder. Seriously. Put in SAT scores, major curriculum, college application passwords,etc. Really can make things easier. Once your done with college apps, you are basically just cruising to the finish line imo. At least that's how it felt for me.
Exactly, I want to leave myself a lot of job options, be marketable to lots of companies.i will, I respect your opinion though and you've been through the whole process just recently so your up to date on the process, with my parents the process was way different when they started school so I can't really ask them that much.

With schools(this is relevant for depaul) with limited housing, You apply right away for housing once you're admitted correct? Or can you not apply for housing until you accept to go to that specific university?


I might just take that idea, thanks :hi5: what do you mean by major curriculum though? Hopefully same for me.
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
I'm a little overwhelmed as well, although it's not too bad.

I got band auditions coming up and I haven't really practiced(but I have at least practiced the stuff once and know what is going to be on the auditions...i'm not too worried)

I am supposed to start writing an abstract for my dad's lab tomorrow or so(for those that dont know what this is: it's a short(~200 words) intro for a research paper. I've done some reading to get me started. Just difficult to write stuff on a semi-doctoral level when you don't have experience. Obviously i'm going to get a little help.

I leave a week from today(or technically yesterday, so I actually have even less). Haven't really packed, but I'm sure that's what the few days before next Saturday will be devoted to. Also have to do a few other "housekeeping" things before I go.

I have to finish a book before school starts, which is the 19th I think. I'm on page 71, so I'm ok here. I am just not an enthusiastic reader. My attention span is horrid, so I can read well for short spurts.

I got a notification yesterday that because of my AP chem score(5) I can qualify to not only get out of the first semester of chem, but also the second. I just have to take a test. The test is the first day of school at 6 PM. I asked on facebook how the test was and people said it was easy and that I should look at the final for the class as review. It's not hard, I just need a refresher on some of the concepts because i'm not sure if i would pass if i went into the test cold. I'm taking this seriously because that's another 4 hours of credit. That would give me 21 hours going into college and open up my freshman year even more.

I can give you guys updates periodically on this thread.
Do you know your roommate? 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?

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

Keep updates coming :buttrock:
 

Crystallas

Three if by air
Staff member
Donator
Joined:
Jun 25, 2010
Posts:
19,890
Liked Posts:
9,618
Location:
Next to the beef gristle mill
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Bulls
Like Code said, business majors are a dime-a-dozen now. Much worse than it has been over the past 20 years. But there is a dirty little secret. Business Law. If you knock out the core overlap for both, you'll be able to transition from administration to human resourcing, and paralegal to fit the landscape better.
 

CODE_BLUE56

Ded
Donator
CCS Hall of Fame '20
Joined:
Apr 18, 2010
Posts:
19,727
Liked Posts:
4,700
Location:
Texas
Exactly, I want to leave myself a lot of job options, be marketable to lots of companies.i will, I respect your opinion though and you've been through the whole process just recently so your up to date on the process, with my parents the process was way different when they started school so I can't really ask them that much.
Your parents will probably have as good advice if not much better than mine. That depends on your parents of course. My dad is faculty so his advice is really good, most of the time.

With schools(this is relevant for depaul) with limited housing, You apply right away for housing once you're admitted correct? Or can you not apply for housing until you accept to go to that specific university?
Admitted=accepting to go. If you're asking if you can apply for housing before you accept the university's admissions offer, I'd go with no, but i'm not sure. To me it doesn't really make sense. I think more housing applications open later in the spring after most people have decided to get around this issue. As soon as you decide, you should probably check out the housing stuff.

I might just take that idea, thanks :hi5: what do you mean by major curriculum though? Hopefully same for me.
Yea the binder is great. I'm bringing it to Tech. What I mean by the major curriculum is,like, four year plans and checklists for your degree. I think that's a must, because you need to not only know what kind of classes you'll be taking to get that degree, but also how to schedule those classes for your convenience.
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Like Code said, business majors are a dime-a-dozen now. Much worse than it has been over the past 20 years. But there is a dirty little secret. Business Law. If you knock out the core overlap for both, you'll be able to transition from administration to human resourcing, and paralegal to fit the landscape better.

Human resources is actually something I've had interest in, how would I go about doing this specifically? Get a bachelors in administration then go to law school? How long would that take? And what would salary look like at the end?
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Your parents will probably have as good advice if not much better than mine. That depends on your parents of course. My dad is faculty so his advice is really good, most of the time.
My parents don't know much about admissions
Admitted=accepting to go. If you're asking if you can apply for housing before you accept the university's admissions offer, I'd go with no, but i'm not sure. To me it doesn't really make sense. I think more housing applications open later in the spring after most people have decided to get around this issue. As soon as you decide, you should probably check out the housing stuff.
Damn at depaul they said as soon as you accept to go there you can apply for housing (which is VERY limited) so I would have to make my choice a little quicker to be sure to get a dorm. I don't think it makes sense either np but that's what they said :dunno:

Yea the binder is great. I'm bringing it to Tech. What I mean by the major curriculum is,like, four year plans and checklists for your degree. I think that's a must, because you need to not only know what kind of classes you'll be taking to get that degree, but also how to schedule those classes for your convenience.
oh wow, you have at planned out already? Your on top of your game there buddy
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Before I forget to ask this I need to post a question. I know business schools look at your math act score especially. I got a 30 ACT with only a 26 math sub score. Will a 26 cut it or should I retake the ACT and shoot for a higher math subscore?
 

Crystallas

Three if by air
Staff member
Donator
Joined:
Jun 25, 2010
Posts:
19,890
Liked Posts:
9,618
Location:
Next to the beef gristle mill
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Bulls
Human resources is actually something I've had interest in, how would I go about doing this specifically? Get a bachelors in administration then go to law school? How long would that take? And what would salary look like at the end?

I just want to point out, there is a difference between working in human resources, and being a human resources manager, with a human resources degree(IMO, one of the worst degrees to have now).

But my point is, you can cover the overlaping cores for multiple degrees, and make a better decision down the line. The key with any business major, is landing that internship, and seeing what openings are attractive to you(while you're degree is in progress).

And thirdly. I'm a HS drop-out. I have no degree. I worked my way up the ladder. My perspective is based on skill-need type of projection analysis for all of my clients and customers. I personally would rather train staff in-house when possible. However, when someone has business law backgrounds, nearly all of my clients can find somewhere to plug them into different structures.
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
I just want to point out, there is a difference between working in human resources, and being a human resources manager, with a human resources degree(IMO, one of the worst degrees to have now).

But my point is, you can cover the overlaping cores for multiple degrees, and make a better decision down the line. The key with any business major, is landing that internship, and seeing what openings are attractive to you(while you're degree is in progress).

And thirdly. I'm a HS drop-out. I have no degree. I worked my way up the ladder. My perspective is based on skill-need type of projection analysis for all of my clients and customers. I personally would rather train staff in-house when possible. However, when someone has business law backgrounds, nearly all of my clients can find somewhere to plug them into different structures.
So what your saying is if I get a degree in business administration, but also take core classes of law school, that's a business law background? Or is there more to it? I apologize if I'm asking an obvious question, it's 3 p:15 am so I'm not exactly 100% right now :lol:

I highly respect your opinion, your the man iof the house :D and that sounds like a food thing to have then
 

CODE_BLUE56

Ded
Donator
CCS Hall of Fame '20
Joined:
Apr 18, 2010
Posts:
19,727
Liked Posts:
4,700
Location:
Texas
My parents don't know much about admissions
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.

Damn at depaul they said as soon as you accept to go there you can apply for housing (which is VERY limited) so I would have to make my choice a little quicker to be sure to get a dorm. I don't think it makes sense either np but that's what they said :dunno:
Well, when I meant by "it doesn't really make sense", I meant being able to apply for housing before you even notified the university you accepted their admissions offer. My fault for not being clear.

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.

oh wow, you have at planned out already? Your on top of your game there buddy
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.
 

CODE_BLUE56

Ded
Donator
CCS Hall of Fame '20
Joined:
Apr 18, 2010
Posts:
19,727
Liked Posts:
4,700
Location:
Texas
Before I forget to ask this I need to post a question. I know business schools look at your math act score especially. I got a 30 ACT with only a 26 math sub score. Will a 26 cut it or should I retake the ACT and shoot for a higher math subscore?

Depends on the business school. If that's your first time, I'd go for it again. You can probably boost that math score up a few ticks.
 

inactiveuser1

The Legend
Donator
Joined:
Sep 11, 2011
Posts:
8,250
Liked Posts:
2,804
Depends on the business school. If that's your first time, I'd go for it again. You can probably boost that math score up a few ticks.

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

Crystallas

Three if by air
Staff member
Donator
Joined:
Jun 25, 2010
Posts:
19,890
Liked Posts:
9,618
Location:
Next to the beef gristle mill
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Bulls
So what your saying is if I get a degree in business administration, but also take core classes of law school, that's a business law background? Or is there more to it? I apologize if I'm asking an obvious question, it's 3 p:15 am so I'm not exactly 100% right now :lol:

I highly respect your opinion, your the man iof the house :D and that sounds like a food thing to have then

There is more to it. The fields already overlap somewhat, and depending on the flexibility of your school, certain Business Law classes should count outside of just business law. I don't know exactly, as the school has the requirements determined(maybe someone can explain it better than me). Courses like Bankruptcy Law could actually play a role in what I said(about having some "background"), depending on how well you did in the course, and how reputable the course is. Sometimes your ethics requirements can be supplemented with "Ethics in Law", ect.

Just something to look out for when you hit that fork in the road bro. You're going into a very competitive field that is swamped with value-added services right now, and many "systematic leaders" that couldn't motivate an attack dog to sick'em. Keep options on the table to make any necessary adjustments as you grow and change your mind on life, options that appeal to you.
 

Top