Colleges and Majors

[yodaears]

Senior in Mechanical Eng.
University of Alabama in Birmingham
Next semester is my last semester and i have learned a few things:

1.) When getting an eng. degree your social life is inversely proportional to your grades, so if you want to party and drink a lot ... look else-where.
2.) Very few women (only 1 in my graduating class)
3.) You have to deal with people who are extremely smart, but lack in social skills.
4.) And there will always be that 1 slacker who has cheated his way through a tough degree field... avoid him.

Get a technical degree if you want to better your chances getting in the Navy.

Rass

Dude...no.

I went to Cal Poly Pomona, majored in Aerospace Engineering and minored in Math. Loved every minute of it. And yes...I partied and drank a lot, no I was not one of those "slackers who cheated his way through a tough field." Have fun dude and good luck.

 

[jtmedli]

Hey everybody, don't really have a specific question, but just wanted to ask people to share where they attended college, what major you chose and if you would do either of them again. I'm a highschool senior looking at schools such as Virginia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, and James Madison but my options are wide open, So post where you went, what you majored in, and if you enjoyed your decision.

Clemson guy here....majored in Electrical Engineering. Engineering is a rough major and Electrical is probably the worst of them. Clemson is a great school and lots of 'green space' and Lake Hartwell is literally right next to the school. That said, I now have a degree that not to many people have, but I agree with the previous post that says Engineering will eat a lot of time so make sure you really want it if that's what your considering. Good Luck with your choice.

FWIW...One of my high school friends went to VT for her Phd after she went to Clemson and she seemed to like the Clemson area better.

 

[bptaylor10]

I'm a UMD grad. I have nothing but great things to say about Maryland. It really does offer something for everyone.

UMD, while having a ton of students (I think enrollment was about 35,000 during my time there), is really as big as you make it. You can have a small cluster of friends or you can be the big man on campus, it's just really up to you.

The only negative thing about Maryland is the housing. There is too little on campus for the youngsters and not enough quality (or inexpensive!) housing off campus. I guess it's all about finding that diamond in the rough and sticking with it for a couple of years.

Anyways, good luck with your college search and GO TERPS

 

[sbudnik1]

Boston College, History.
Honestly BC is a damn good experience. Top notch faculty and academics coupled with a student body that likes to have fun. Also while currently our sports teams are actively rebuilding, You'll enjoy national championship caliber Ice Hockey, a strong basketball team, and ACC football.

 

[scoolbubba]

VT, Poli Sci.
Great school, great campus, middle of bumfuck SW Virginia but not a long trip on 81 from anything, points north or south. Corps of Cadets sucked. Great fall and spring weather, good luck dealing with winter. Regardless of the bad press, it's a safe area. Weird shit just seems to happen of late. Top notch engineering/sciences, as well as a great business school in Pamplin business college. Poli Sci was no slouch either. Smallish downtown, but plenty to do especially if you're into the outdoors. Only 2 hours from snowshoe ski resort for some of the best skiing in the mid-atlantic.

To address the Clemson issues, I'm guessing anyone's going to enjoy wherever they went for undergrad more than the place where they slept while they were completing a Doctorate. Plus, our team's colors are less ridiculous than purple and orange.

 

[anghockey]

The University of Chicago, History.

In my prospective student days I visited 19 schools. UChicago was the ONLY school where I could be as nerdy (intellectually curious) as I am and STILL have fun, and not be pigeonholed into the "weird" group. Because EVERYONE was that nerdy. Sometimes we had fun in the traditional ways--I went to my fair share of frat parties, and we have a pub on campus (for when you're of age of course). And there's lots of unique fun--the world's largest scavenger hunt takes place at UChicago (Item #34 from last year: "Warcraft 3, Super Mario Brothers 2, and Pong. LARP one and write a steamy fanc crossover for the other two.")

Pros:
-Top notch education--no "easy" classes (except maybe for Drama 101)
-access to professors. You will have Nobel Laureates teaching you as a first year.
-City of Chicago
-Everyone is scary smart

Cons:
-You will work your butt off, and you will definitely work harder than ALL your friends at other colleges.
-Winter in Chicago is truly miserable.
-Doesn't have the name recognition of its peer institutions (The Ivies, Duke, Stanford), at least, among the general population. 90% of my bar-hopping life has consisted of walking away from conversations with attractive members of the opposite sex because they think that I went to a state school. However, everyone that matters (employers, grad schools), knows about UChicago's reputation as a top tier academic institution.

I miss it so much.

Also, the Marines recruit very heavily from UChicago for their OCC commissioning program, and the Navy actually recruits for BDCP on UChicago's campus. I've never heard of anyone applying to a commissioning program and NOT getting accepted.

 

[BACONATOR]

The University of Chicago

IIRC, UChicago was rated by Playboy mag as having the #1 ugliest girls in a survey.

 

[GFTC]

I went to Western Michigan University and majored in General Studies. Moral of the story, the Navy doesn't care what your degree is in. Just pick something that you enjoy and excel at it. Get involved with a group or sport if you can to make your self more well rounded. Don't forget to have fun. FYI, WMU lets students into all sporting events for free.

 

[anghockey]

IIRC, UChicago was rated by Playboy mag as having the #1 ugliest girls in a survey.

They had clearly never been to Reed!

I'll admit, U of C is not a place of beautiful people. On alumni weekend there were all these alums from the 90s who told us that back then UChicago was where fun came to die and everyone was ugly. Not so the case in the four years I was there. Sure, it won't be like going to a state school where every girl/guy is smoking hot, but there are certainly enough good looking people to go around. The freshman classes get better looking and less socially awkward every yeah, and there's also the entire city of Chicago. Definitely a trade-off I was willing to make for a great education and the chance to wear my nerdiness on my sleeve =)

 

[C420sailor]

Villanova, Mechanical Engineering turned Business Management (I had a 1.8 in ME), oh hell yes. I had an epic time there---I'm still trying to come up with a scheme to go back. Some of the hottest tail I've ever seen.

 

[desertoasis]

Texas A&M, Political Science - History Minor, and HELL YES I would.

Pros:
-Northgate is an INSANE place to go drink/meet girls/drink/drink/drink. It's within staggering distance of almost all the dorms on campus. Home football game weekends are off the chain. I worked at a bar for almost 2 years, and it was nuts.
-Texas girls are friggin gorgeous. 'Nuff said.
- It's one of the biggest campuses in the nation with more student organizations that you will know what to do with. You would be hard pressed to be bored there.
-Football (really, at any of the Big XII schools) is incredible. You'll be in the white-hot center of the college football universe, and every weekend is a religious ritual. Also, the basketball team is becoming something of a national player as well.

Cons:
-If you want to go military, 95% of the time you gotta join the Corps. Fun and rewarding while you're in it, but the minute you get out, it becomes completely and totally worthless to anything you do in the future, including the military. There is zero carryover from the Corps to the real military, but they won't tell you that...ever.
- If you're a liberal or anything less than a fanatically-right-wing conservative, be prepared to enter the reddest of the red colleges. I came from the northwest, and it was a HUGE culture shock.
- College Station police officers are the spawn of Satan.
- While it's a comfortable day drive away from Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio, there isnt really much to do in College Station itself apart from getting drunk.

 

[jtmedli]

To address the Clemson issues, I'm guessing anyone's going to enjoy wherever they went for undergrad more than the place where they slept while they were completing a Doctorate. Plus, our team's colors are less ridiculous than purple and orange.

I dont think they're ridiculous...besides Clemson fans bleed purple and orange!!!

 

[AllAmerican75]

I'm a senior at the Virginia Military Institute and studying Mechanical Engineering. It's a great, small school with top notch academics, just don't expect to be partying and getting wasted every night. Also, the alumni network can't be beat.

 

[DanMa1156]

I'm a senior at the Virginia Military Institute and studying Mechanical Engineering. It's a great, small school with top notch academics, just don't expect to be partying and getting wasted every night. Also, the alumni network can't be beat.

I'll counter that one... :icon_wink

Anyway, I'm a senior ("Firstie") at the Naval Academy and I am studying Economics. At times I love it, at times, I hate it. I'm starting to realize that it was a good fit for me because I think I might've been too distracted at other colleges chasing women. I've made some awesome friends and I can honestly say some of my classmates I am genuinely proud and honored to know. I've had some experiences that other 19-23 year olds will never have because I came here. This place certainly isn't for everyone, but it certainly is for some. Good luck.

As far as Economics goes? I love the major. That's one downside to the Academy though; I wish I would've had more opportunities to have taken Economics electives. Instead many of your "electives" will be Physics, Chem, EE, Thermodynamics, "Boats," "Weapons," Control Systems, and other sci/engineering type classes.

 

[AllAmerican75]

I'll counter that one... :icon_wink

True, but I've noticed that most military schools have a really well-connected, well spread out alumni network. I know that at least for VMI, there may not be many of us but we're everywhere.