[quote]Petermus wrote:
I’m getting a 2 year degree at cc for free (they’re giving me money to live on lol) and if I maintain a 3.0 I get 33% of tuition at Umass. So ill get a B.A pretty cheap. I want to have a major in history but unsure what kind of money ill be making. My brother got a 2 year degree in webpage design and makes 55K plus bonuses at his job though. They hired him without any work experience etc. I also see tons of job listings for things like C.A.D jobs which only require a two year degree. So you could do something with a college degree.
You dont have to have one to succeed but only you choose wisely what you are going to do then you might get unlucky.[/quote]
Don’t believe the CAD jobs with only a two year degree. Unless you are just a detailer you WILL be competing against Engineers for design jobs. When I went to school CAD was where the money was and where they were steering everyone. Now there is a glut of designers and unemployed engineers are competing for the same jobs.
Skilled trades are fine and pay well when there is work. However, I know a shit load of plumbers, electricians and pipefitters out of work. I’ve been in manufacturing approaching 30 years, and when hard times hit skilled trades are always the first to feel it.
Go to community college, get your macro and decide what you want to do from there. Most skilled trades require schooling also so you won’t be wasting your time.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
Even if your career choice is one that requires a college degree, don’t go straight from highschool to college. Take a year or two and work a shitty job and pay some bills. Everyone I knew who went straight from highschool to college (including me) was still just a child and basically fucked around for most of their 4 years, that is, if they graduated. People who had a few years of living like an adult took college more seriously and made the most out of it. [/quote]
Your right that most kids are to young to go straight to University but community college goes a long ways towards curing this. It’s not the campus party atmosphere and you are intermingled with adults looking to further their education. Furthermore, a lot of the people there are paying for it themselves, which tends to make them take it more seriously. My kids will be going to CC or they will be paying for it themselves and they know it.
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
Uncle Gabby wrote:
Even if your career choice is one that requires a college degree, don’t go straight from highschool to college. Take a year or two and work a shitty job and pay some bills. Everyone I knew who went straight from highschool to college (including me) was still just a child and basically fucked around for most of their 4 years, that is, if they graduated. People who had a few years of living like an adult took college more seriously and made the most out of it.
Your right that most kids are to young to go straight to University but community college goes a long ways towards curing this. It’s not the campus party atmosphere and you are intermingled with adults looking to further their education. Furthermore, a lot of the people there are paying for it themselves, which tends to make them take it more seriously. My kids will be going to CC or they will be paying for it themselves and they know it.[/quote]
If I could do it over again I would have taken a year or two to get the general education classes out of the way at a community college then gotten my BS somewhere… I would have worked and put away enough money i wouldnt need loans too…
That said, I agree with Prof X about not taking time off completely from school, only one of the 30+ people I knew that did that went back… and he was only able to do it because his wife had her masters in finance and supported him and the family while he got his bs and masters in engineering…
if you want to learn / do CAD / design… get a job while doing the community college gen eds where you take what a designer gives you to make something (example being a pattern maker or a machinist)… that way, when you learn design later in life you know “WHY” things are done and you will use the CAD programs as a tool not the be all end all… The best designers I have ever worked with in the auto industry were the ones who were pattern makers for years and understood the basic concepts, and later in life became designers to make more money… They looked at cad as a simple way of checking if everything would work out, not as the sledgehammer in the tool box kids out of college make it out to be…
just a suggestion… I work a lot with the freshmen engineering professor here and at my last school so if you have any specific questions about undergraduate engineering or what not feel free to PM me…