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A Guide for Adults Going to College

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Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#221

Post by CalRobert »

zrobotics wrote: post #176
knicholes wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you and your wife take German from the same professor at the same time? Was he broadcasting his lesson, were you and your wife in the same location as the teacher, was the teacher able to duplicate himself, or is "at the same time" more of a "during the same semester" and not literally at the exact same time?

>>But I did it at SMC at night for basically free (I think $140 or so), and she paid a couple grand for the privilege at UCLA So the same professor taught at both the community college and the university. Which would make it essentially the same course.

Me, night school. Her, daytime.

The German teacher was teaching at two community colleges and UCLA at the same time (week-level precision) yet struggled to pay rent.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#222

Post by CalRobert »

repiret wrote: post #181
CalRobert wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you!!! I spent way too long getting a useless degree in physics at Cal Poly SLO. They wouldn't let you switch majors (because every 17 year old knows what they want to do with their life) but it turns out changing schools is tough when your grades show you've hated your major the last 2 years. The best thing I EVER did was sign up for classes at Santa Monica College after getting my Bachelor's. They're fantasti…

It’s not impossible to switch majors at CP SLO. My wife was a physics major at CalPoly SLO until she got tired of being the only girl in all her classes and switched to biochem.

Sorry to hear that. It was a big issue when I was there (mid 2000's). Not particularly friendly folks either. I hung out with music majors as much as I could

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#223

Post by CalRobert »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #186
CalRobert wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you!!! I spent way too long getting a useless degree in physics at Cal Poly SLO. They wouldn't let you switch majors (because every 17 year old knows what they want to do with their life) but it turns out changing schools is tough when your grades show you've hated your major the last 2 years. The best thing I EVER did was sign up for classes at Santa Monica College after getting my Bachelor's. They're fantasti…

Thank you for this post! I just moved to Santa Monica from the NYC metro area and I've been looking for a place to take classes.

At least around 2010, SMC was fantastic!

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#224

Post by madiathomas »

I dropped out in 2004 to start a job as a Programmer. I was broke and needed some cash. I was left with 4 subjects to complete Computer Systems Engineering qualification. Which is 60% IT and 40% Electrical Engineering. I decided to enroll for an IT qualification in 2015 at the age of 33. Best decision I have ever taken.

I graduated last year September at the age of 36 and I am no longer considered an IT dropout or self-taught Programmer. Reason I decided to go back to school was because I was always considered a self-taught Programmer, even though I was taught programming in a formal qualification which I didn't finish. The fact that I finished all programming related modules and was only left with 3-4 Electrical Engineering related modules, didn't help.

Studying when you are older is easier because you are doing it with a purpose. Plus when you are older, you spend more time at home and party less. Freeing more time for studying. The course I did, was heavy in programming, mobile app development and web design. Something I have been doing for over 10 years before I decided to go back to studying.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#225

Post by jeena »

171243 wrote: post #202
jeena wrote: post #104

Because of how the German school system is build (Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium) and me migrating to Germany at 11 years of age without the knowledge of the German language, I had to do it differently and attend something like Gymnasium as an adult after my first vocational training (to become a heating engineer) and because of life happening and me once again migrating to another country (Sweden) without the kn…

Yeah but what you gained from that experience is beyond measure. I assume you're bi or tri-lingual now?

Four-lungual, I needed to learn English too.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#226

Post by alexgmcm »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #99

"It's never too late" Well I would agree, but since the UK adopted the US model of university funding, it's too late, and has been for some time. I'd love to career change into something different. £27k of tuition fees and three years not earning makes it a £150k+ proposition. No matter how bored I've become with tech after 30 years that's a big ask. Open University charges the same fees now or that would have been a…

Yeah - access to education needs to improve.

Especially as technology means a lot of lectures could be given online with just needing to sit exams, do labs (for certain subjects) etc.

Honestly Corbyn's idea of the National Education Service (i.e. access to education from cradle to grave) would easily win my vote if it wasn't for his Brexit support...

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#227

Post by juiyout »

telchar wrote: post #100
lordnacho wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that it’s a 4-year slog is one of the factors that make university degree holders earn premium in the labor marketplace Aren't you on holiday for a lot of those 4 years? I went to uni for 4 years, and it was 3 terms of 8 weeks each, per year. In other words, 96 weeks. Throw in the occasional rest week and it should really fit in two years.

What part of the world is that? In the US it's typical to have 2 16-18 week semesters per year, usually with a job or internship for 10-12 weeks in the summer.

Univ. of Washington had 3 quarters per year. Don’t know about now.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#228

Post by wink »

I don't get this. Sure, it's been a while since I started university (fall 2003) but is stuff really spoonfed to starter students? I'm not saying you have to deliberately make everything hard - but we got a little bit of introduction in the first week and then were sent off to cope on our own. You had the other students, older semesters and whatever else resource to solve your problem.

I don't think I'd want it any other way these days (oh wow, 15 years later) or feel that anything except the first week was tailored to people fresh from school. Sure - people taking courses around their work schedule is a problem, but it's a totally different problem. Either you know it's supposed to be a fulltime course, or it's not.

Also, maybe I'm a little biased for having majored in Computer Science, so mostly everything was digital or online even back then. But smartphones would make coordination with other people so much easier than email and texts... Or maybe American (live-in / campus) colleges are really that different from German universities that I simply cannot imagine the problems this book would show :P

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#230

Post by Red_Pill_Phil »

sjg007 wrote: post #30
porphyrogene wrote: post #26

It is never too late for education. It is always too early for crippling debt that exceeds your proven earning potential. None of this advice touches on the lost principle of not putting one's future on layaway. Student load debt forgiveness is a death sentence for American politicians yet there are millions of us waiting for a miracle.

It will happen if you vote blue. The first wave of it was 10 year of payments and then debt forgiveness.

What about those of us who didn't go because we knew we wouldnt be able to pay it off?

Do I get a credit of some sort and how large should that credit be?

I have debts too friend.

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