The Anxious Freshman Going To Georgia Tech Thread

[qIat]

I hate Georgia Tech so much. I hate it for not being a better school. I hate being in Ohio so that I was too far away to go to any of the California schools. I hate it all.

I'm an incoming freshman to Georgia Tech. I will be a CompE major. I want to design processors, be they CPU, GPU, or DSP. However, I imagine the market for this is quite small. How many companies can there be developing this stuff? IBM, Intel, AMD, ALi, SiS, VIA, nVidia, ATI, TI, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and maybe 15 more. That's not a lot of companies, less than 30 in all. I just feel that head to head, if I had a graduate from Georgia Tech vs a graduate from CalTech, Berkeley, or Stanford, I would hire the California graduate.

I would work for my uncle's companies (he's on the IEEE board, used to work for IBM, now has 2 startups: Freedb and Dynago) if it weren't for the fact they are software companies (don't ask me how software + IEEE go together, I have no idea)

Of course, this is all assuming I don't go to graduate school, which is kind of silly, since a Ph.D is basically required for what I want to do.

In that case...I suppose Georgia Tech is a good stepping stone to MIT.

How many people are there that want to do this stuff? I imagine there aren't too many employables, but then again, the market doesn't seem that large either.

BTW, in the US News Undergraduate Engineering rankings, Stanford, Berkeley, and CalTech are #2-4, respectively.

Georgia Tech is #6.

 

[badluck]

I guess somebody has to say it.....you sound like a whiny brat.....I'm sure you'll survive.....

 

[qIat]

Originally posted by: badluck
I guess somebody has to say it.....you sound like a whiny brat.....I'm sure you'll survive.....

This would be my post-admission pre-class phase of self-doubt. Hopefully it'll pass after a few weeks of classes.

 

[tontod]

Georgia Tech is a pretty good school, just because its not the same level as MIT dosent mean you wont do well when you graduate from there. I graduated from there with a major in EE, it was pretty tough. There are plenty of companies that you can work for that design all kinds of chips/processors. You just mentioned the major ones, a lot more than 30 companies. By the time you graduate, the current slump in this sector will be long gone, and you wont have a problem finding a good job in that field.

edit: I also went to GT from far away. It was around 1000 miles from home (Connecticut).

 

[Mucman]

Who cares what the school is rated... It's about what you get out of school, not what people thought you got out of school

 

[qIat]

Originally posted by: tontod
Georgia Tech is a pretty good school, just because its not the same level as MIT dosent mean you wont do well when you graduate from there. I graduated from there with a major in EE, it was pretty tough. There are plenty of companies that you can work for that design all kinds of chips/processors. You just mentioned the major ones, a lot more than 30 companies. By the time you graduate, the current slump in this sector will be long gone, and you wont have a problem finding a good job in that field.

edit: I also went to GT from far away. It was around 1000 miles from home (Connecticut).

Well, that's promising. When did you graduate and what do you do now?

As for the 100+ companies that do semiconductor work, I don't want to design chips for printers or TiVo boxes, if you know what I mean.

 

[ElFenix]

you graduate near the top and you'll be doing better than someone at the bottom of caltech.

 

[CanOWorms]

Georgia Tech is a good university, especially their graduate school.

I don't go there, but from what I hear from friends, you'll be complaining about the lack of girls

 

[qIat]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Georgia Tech is a good university, especially their graduate school.

I don't go there, but from what I hear from friends, you'll be complaining about the lack of girls

Oh yeah. With ~9000 undergrads an a worse girl/guy ratio than MIT, it's not going to be good for the social life. But then again, if I wanted a party school, I would've gone to Ohio State for virtually free.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Georgia Tech is a good university, especially their graduate school.

I don't go there, but from what I hear from friends, you'll be complaining about the lack of girls

Only ones that complain would be the ones to socially challenged to be able to find georgia state University or Emory University.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

You're b1tching about how there is no job market for what you want when you picked the school? I'm confused here

 

[qIat]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
You're b1tching about how there is no job market for what you want when you picked the school? I'm confused here

I feel crappy that I live so far away from California, otherwise I would've gone to one of the Cali schools.

Although I'm sure I'll be able to go to Stanford or MIT for grad school.

 

[Spac3d]

Okay some of this is my fault. qIat pm'd me and asked why I was transferring from GA Tech and I gave him the rant.

I do wish the best of luck to you, qIat. Maybe you can make more of it than I did my freshmen year.

Spac3d

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Don't you think you should see what the education is like before you berate it?

An undergraduate degree doesn't really matter as much as experience in a tight job market, anyways.

 

[Codewiz]

Ga. Tech is considered a VERY good engineering school. If you do well at Ga. Tech, you can go to any grad school you want.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: qIat

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Georgia Tech is a good university, especially their graduate school.

I don't go there, but from what I hear from friends, you'll be complaining about the lack of girls

Oh yeah. With ~9000 undergrads an a worse girl/guy ratio than MIT, it's not going to be good for the social life. But then again, if I wanted a party school, I would've gone to Ohio State for virtually free.

MIT's girl:guy is pretty decent...near 1:1

 

[NeoV]

you forget to mention one very important thing...


The Cheetah is right across the highway from your school!!!!!!

 

[gotsmack]

if you're live in the dorms, why should it matter how far away the school is from your home?

 

[notfred]

Georgia Where?

<- lives in california.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

Hey alot more companies than that design processors and stuff. Just look at it this way almost all tv's have some kind of processor in them, cell phones, wireless phones, phones with electronic screens on them. Hey im just doing phones right now. There is also cars(processors in the cars) radios(the nice electronic ones) (like said earlier) printers scanners, scsi cards pda's, alarm systems, alarm clocks cd players, dvd players, mp3 players, recevers, amps, decoders, electronic thermometers. I mean I just pulled these out of looking around my room and thinking about other stuff we have in the house, surely there alot more than 30 companies making this stuff, and alot more stuff I forgot. Yeah im pretty sure all those top companies will hire people from top schools, thats the way it works. Maybe if you manage to be in the top 5% of your school you have a chance, but that doesnt mean there arent any other options for ya.

 

[UNCjigga]

I hate GT, but I LLOOOOOOVVVEEEE ATHENS!!!

GO BULLDOGS!

 

[schizoid]

You're sure? I know people with close to 1600 GREs and 4.00s who didn't get into Stanford and/or MIT. In fact, I know a guy who ended up coming to UC Davis (where I go to grad school) from Berkeley because he didn't get in there. He had a 4.0 and good GRE scores. One of the best students in my graduating class didn't end up getting into Stanford with a 4.0 and all sorts of Tau Beta Pi (honor society crap). You want to get into grad school at MIT or Stanford, there is only one word that matters:

Research.

You do research (good research) as an undergrad, and you keep your grades respectable you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't really matter what your grades are.

Ironically enough, after I finish my masters at UCD, I'm actually looking in to GA Tech for a Ph.D. GA Tech is a VERY good school.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: qIat
I hate Georgia Tech so much. I hate it for not being a better school. I hate being in Ohio so that I was too far away to go to any of the California schools. I hate it all.

I'm an incoming freshman to Georgia Tech. I will be a CompE major. I want to design processors, be they CPU, GPU, or DSP. However, I imagine the market for this is quite small. How many companies can there be developing this stuff? IBM, Intel, AMD, ALi, SiS, VIA, nVidia, ATI, TI, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and maybe 15 more. That's not a lot of companies, less than 30 in all. I just feel that head to head, if I had a graduate from Georgia Tech vs a graduate from CalTech, Berkeley, or Stanford, I would hire the California graduate.

I would work for my uncle's companies (he's on the IEEE board, used to work for IBM, now has 2 startups: Freedb and Dynago) if it weren't for the fact they are software companies (don't ask me how software + IEEE go together, I have no idea)

Of course, this is all assuming I don't go to graduate school, which is kind of silly, since a Ph.D is basically required for what I want to do.

In that case...I suppose Georgia Tech is a good stepping stone to MIT.

How many people are there that want to do this stuff? I imagine there aren't too many employables, but then again, the market doesn't seem that large either.

BTW, in the US News Undergraduate Engineering rankings, Stanford, Berkeley, and CalTech are #2-4, respectively.

Georgia Tech is #6.

College is entirely what you get from it. How do you know you're going to make it through CompE in the first place? Most of the executives that I see (the guys making $250K a year) were neither engineers nor MIT grads. MIT grads lack social skills. Four years of living with people who never leave flourescent lighting will do that to you.

Get over yourself.

 

[Mookow]

College is entirely what you get from it. How do you know you're going to make it through CompE in the first place? Most of the executives that I see (the guys making $250K a year) were neither engineers nor MIT grads. MIT grads lack social skills. Four years of living with people who never leave flourescent lighting will do that to you.

Get over yourself.

Word. Do you really want to be that nerd who still hasnt gotten laid by the time he is 40, still living with his parents, but, hey, his 401K looking nice?

Hey, if you really want to do chip design, go for it. But try to get a life while you're at GT. Find a kegger. Get laid. Go rappelling off a school parking garage. Quit trying to control your entire life. Give up a little control, go for it. DO SOMETHING. Successfully complete OPERATION: GROW SACK at some point.

 

[LittleNicky]

1600 on the GREs? Heh...that will get you nowhere...
Anyway, grad school were harsh this year for EE and CE
...Berkeley had like 3000 apps for 100 spots (3% acceptance
rate) from what I hear. Other top tier school are also
probably not that different either.