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Well I attended a college planning night tonight...

Zeeky Boogy Doog

Zeeky Boogy Doog

Platinum Member
well, I'm deciding on what i want to be, and I've pretty much got it narrowed down to doing something with computers, such as going through cisco or something, then working for the military for 20 years, or starting a business building/repairing computers ect... or being an engineer, which if i could i would go to one of the military academys, another college if not in the military, which would you suggest? I love computers, and i think i would enjoy it, but i would probably like being an engineer too, so i'm not sure...

so far my hs grades are a 4.0 + (i've got a 5.0 from ap bio and that put me up over a 4 i think, i had a 3.91 before i got the 5) and the pracice act i had a 26 on, but i was sick of doing it so i just skimmed over the reading and science parts and missed like 10 questions on each of those, probably at least 7-8 on each of those i could have gotten right if i would have actually payed attencion, i took the pSAT but haven't gotten the results back yet. I'm in trig/pre calc right now for math, and still have next year, i should be in calc right now, but my elementry school wouldn't send us up for pre algebra in 6th grade... :| I was planning on taking CISCO and PC servicing and trouble shooting I this year and II next year (senior year), but i moved and i wasn't able to because i got here past the registration date...

I just can't decide, which would you suggest? what are the growth rates and earning potentials on careers in those areas (assuming i don't go into the military)? what about the computer careers, i hear they get quite monotonous (sp?) and stressful, is it even worth going into? anything else to say to convince me one way or another?

The military is attractive to me because, besides being able to serve my country, after 20 years they keep paying me, and i'll get excelent pay in normal jobs... please don't try to convince me in or out of the military, thats not the purpose of the thread, its the computer/engineering field issue i can't decide...
 
depends. Do you like to get down and dirty on the computer? actually doing hands on stuff? if so, the certifications and whatnot might be good for you.

If you are more into design, theory, and enjoy math and physics, then engineering is better for you.

if it's deciding on pay, engineering will make more.

also, think about your life 20 years down the road. If you think you can handle hanling customers, and really dont mind, and have a good temper, the cisco and opening up a shop is good too.

If you prefer to sit on your butt, and think w/ paper, pencil and computer, engineering.
 
the tough thing that is typical with cisco in particular is staying on top of the field. If you decide to do the military option, it will set you back several years in your cisco knowledge, and may have to feel like you are starting over. Cisco is huge though, and would be fairly stable, and pays well, but not amazing. Egineering, it depends on the kind. If you can hack EE, then you will be doing pretty well. The military is great training for egineering, and EE, so keep that in mind as to what they use the most and what would be most helfpul. I would pull up your ACT scores though....see if you can take it again...if you can get a 29 or above, with that GPA, you will be almost picking what college you want to go to...above 30, and you are looking at a lot of scholarships.
 
Just a warning: Usually the people who say that they like doing stuff with computers that enroll in engineering programs are the ones that drop out. Liking computers doesn't mean you'll like engineering.
 
You'll end up switching fields a few times.

The ability to use technology is quickly becoming a prerequisite for living. So you'll always have that no matter what you do.
 
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Just a warning: Usually the people who say that they like doing stuff with computers that enroll in engineering programs are the ones that drop out. Liking computers doesn't mean you'll like engineering.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I droped out of Computer Engineering in my sophmore year. Best decision of my life.
 
Well, I sure know I wouldn't want to enter the military...

Have you also considered Computer Science? I would imagine you'd have better job security with a CE or CS degree than getting a certificate from Cisco.

However liking computers definately does not translate into liking computer science or computer engineering.
 
if you want to make money start a business reparing computers, you can even do that while you are a college student.

Just make up some nice flyers that say like "$40s to get your computer a tune up! will get rid of spyware/adware and popups!" or to set up wireless networks

Then they will want new ram and etc etc. one of my good friends did exactly this and is making TONS of money, about $20-40 an hour and more work than he can handle.

We do live in a rich area though so... depending on where you live
 
Originally posted by: waldo
the tough thing that is typical with cisco in particular is staying on top of the field. If you decide to do the military option, it will set you back several years in your cisco knowledge, and may have to feel like you are starting over. Cisco is huge though, and would be fairly stable, and pays well, but not amazing. Egineering, it depends on the kind. If you can hack EE, then you will be doing pretty well. The military is great training for egineering, and EE, so keep that in mind as to what they use the most and what would be most helfpul. I would pull up your ACT scores though....see if you can take it again...if you can get a 29 or above, with that GPA, you will be almost picking what college you want to go to...above 30, and you are looking at a lot of scholarships.
Click to expand...

yeah, it was a practice ACT, so it didn't actually count for anything, the school just graded it and gave us back the results two weeks later, i think they kept a copy of the results too, but im not even sure if they did that... i'll be taking the real test this spring sometime, the real SAT too, i'm hoping for at least a 30, i think i can get higher though on the act, and at least a 1450 on the sat, preferably higher agian, but i always seem to do bad on the english portion... also hoping that the pSAT will get me a few scholarships, assuming i do well on it anyway, it seemed pretty easy for the most part though... as for the computer business in college desteffy mentioned, that sounds like a good idea, i'll definetly think about that one, once i get there anyway...

I'm going to take cisco I next year and see how it is, and so i can get my pe credits waivered, i'm starting to lean towards engineering though, still not sure what exactly, but theres still time to figgure out all the little details... now i just have to get into better shape for the military... 🙁 i wish i wasn't so lazy...

thanks for all the responses, it's been very helpful!
 
Don't decide what you want to do until you've been in college for a term or so. Once you break away from the harness that is high school, your goals and dreams seem to change. Dabble a bit in the major you are leaning towards, but don't declare one right away. It can make it easier when you decide you want to switch, and there is no penalty for declaring it later even if you know what you want.

Whatever you are leaning towards in computers/IT though, start learning it on your own in your spare time and over the summer and you'll do much better.
 
make sure you enjoy math and physics very much before deciding to enter engineering.

Even those who enjoyed these two subjects very much in HS start to get tired of this stuff at the higher level college stuff, me included.

at a good engineering program, typically only a 1/4 to 1/5 of freshmen engineers actually graduate with a degree in engineering in 4 years.

be willing to not party as much as other college majors.

make sure your grasp of logical relationships is pretty strong before entering CS/CE. If you haven't taken AP computer science in high school, get a book yourself and teach yourself basic concepts like binary searches, bubble sorts, binary trees, arrays, etc...

 
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