College-Goers And Graduates: Advise Me
Dec. 10th, 2009 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
exhilarationI really do need to start planning this stuff now - cause I won't be back from China until July, and the fall semester starts in August. That's cutting it pretty close.
Considering: buying a new laptop (mine caught fire... remember?) I do have a computer. But my plan is kind of to use the school day, you know, when I'm not in class, to do the work for those classes. I'm going to have to do a lot of writing. I want to be able to work on my school stuff at school - I'm going to need to be able to use my computer at home and on the campus. Right? All students need laptops these days, right? It's kind of a requirement, a necessity? Cause other wise I'd have to wait till I got home to do my work, or hand-write stuff (ummm... I can barely read my writing...) and then type it later, or use the computer labs on campus, which wouldn't necessarily be available all the time... So I do need a lap top. Right?
Considering: living on the campus. I know, I know, I'm too old. Except not really. They have housing for upperclass students, transfer students, grad students, etc. I'm not that much older than a traditional graduate student, or even a transfer student. I lived on campus, um, once, for one semester, and I didn't like it. But that was in one room, not in like, upperclass apartment housing. Philadelphia is too expensive for me to live by myself. I don't even like living by myself. But I have no friends to move in with - I could just let the school throw me some room mates and live in school housing. Of course, I'm scared shitless about living with randomly assigned girls, but, I mean... I did this once already. It can't be that bad - right?
Considering: minoring in Chinese. I wonder how useful that would actually be? I need to be a full time student (for health insurance and for housing and to make the best use of the rest of my scholarship money) but I've already taken all my core required classes (and had I waited another year or two to do this, I would have had to start re-taking them, so... good thing I'm going back now...) and the classes I need are sequential. So it would take two years to finish, part time, and two years to finish full time as well. I just... have to add an extra class each semester. Might as well minor in something - and four more Chinese classes gives me a minor in Chinese.
Considering: does anyone actually know what they want to do with their education when they're only sixteen, and actually stick to it? Is that even possible, to know with such certainty what you want to do with your life that you take all the right classes in high school, go to the right college, start in the right program, right away, and in four years, have a job/are on your way to grad school? Does anyone even DO that?
Considering: buying a new laptop (mine caught fire... remember?) I do have a computer. But my plan is kind of to use the school day, you know, when I'm not in class, to do the work for those classes. I'm going to have to do a lot of writing. I want to be able to work on my school stuff at school - I'm going to need to be able to use my computer at home and on the campus. Right? All students need laptops these days, right? It's kind of a requirement, a necessity? Cause other wise I'd have to wait till I got home to do my work, or hand-write stuff (ummm... I can barely read my writing...) and then type it later, or use the computer labs on campus, which wouldn't necessarily be available all the time... So I do need a lap top. Right?
Considering: living on the campus. I know, I know, I'm too old. Except not really. They have housing for upperclass students, transfer students, grad students, etc. I'm not that much older than a traditional graduate student, or even a transfer student. I lived on campus, um, once, for one semester, and I didn't like it. But that was in one room, not in like, upperclass apartment housing. Philadelphia is too expensive for me to live by myself. I don't even like living by myself. But I have no friends to move in with - I could just let the school throw me some room mates and live in school housing. Of course, I'm scared shitless about living with randomly assigned girls, but, I mean... I did this once already. It can't be that bad - right?
Considering: minoring in Chinese. I wonder how useful that would actually be? I need to be a full time student (for health insurance and for housing and to make the best use of the rest of my scholarship money) but I've already taken all my core required classes (and had I waited another year or two to do this, I would have had to start re-taking them, so... good thing I'm going back now...) and the classes I need are sequential. So it would take two years to finish, part time, and two years to finish full time as well. I just... have to add an extra class each semester. Might as well minor in something - and four more Chinese classes gives me a minor in Chinese.
Considering: does anyone actually know what they want to do with their education when they're only sixteen, and actually stick to it? Is that even possible, to know with such certainty what you want to do with your life that you take all the right classes in high school, go to the right college, start in the right program, right away, and in four years, have a job/are on your way to grad school? Does anyone even DO that?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-11 04:06 am (UTC)Minor in Chinese? Depends on where you are going to live/what you plan to do. Over here (west coast) there are alot of East Asian immigrants as well as alot of business with Chinese companies so yeah might help. Hindi or Vietnamese would also help if you took a poll of the populations who live on my block. But then again, in my line of work I'm more likely to get sent to Europe, so I've pretty much settled on whatever languages I know, they won't be the right ones.
I'm lazy and don't like cooking so I lived on campus for three years so I could be on a meal plan. I was on a guys only floor and we never had issues getting along, but the floors that were co-ed or just the gals always seemed to have people pissed of and yelling at each other.
I only visited the "non-traditional" student housing at my school once, but it was definitely not the "get drunk and party" kind of place. Half the people there even had young kids, which bugs me more than the party atmosphere, but is probably more conductive to studying. Wouldn't have a clue about availability and/or accessibility at your school, but I know here the non-trad housing always had a waiting list. Maybe they can bump you to the front.
Yeah, laptop. I graduated in '06 and ~25% of people visibly carried laptops. I never had one, figured it'd be to big of a distraction when doing homework in the library and stuff. But in the engineering school we had huge computer labs because we needed $pecial software that no student could afford. So it wasn't a problem getting access and using either a network drive or a thumb drive I always had the files I needed. According to my alumni newsletter though they are requiring all students to have laptops now. Check to see if yours require one and if it has minimum specs.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-11 04:30 am (UTC)...oddly enough, so do I.
I know here the non-trad housing always had a waiting list. Maybe they can bump you to the front.
...they can. I feel like it might be silly not to take advantage of this. Then again... it might be silly to put myself in a situation where I might be possibly tempted to do away with my room mates... on account of the drama that tends to pop up when girls live together...
25% of people visibly carried laptops.
Yep, my last year of school was in '05 and they weren't too common on campus then. I had one but I didn't bring it to school with me. The school doesn't require students to own a laptop but it is "recommended." I just reallyreally want to replace my old one - I will, eventually. I'm not sure if I really want to drag it around campus with me. You're right, it might just be a big distraction, especially with everything being wireless - why do my schoolwork if I can just be online instead?
:P