Kelsey seeking a College

[QuadJunkies]

She has been getting a few phones calls from some colleges today, I knew that the school has been sending out brochures the last couple weeks to students.
I ask her once in awhile what she wants to do with her life when High school is over and she always says shes doesnt know yet, BUT the calls I got today were for Web Design so she must be thinking more about things lately.


She is an artistic person, I was just wondering how the demand is in today world in this field??
The schools that called to day are all back East :huh
I dont know how Im going to handle my girl leaving home.:(

Pappy, whats Cody thinking about for a career?

[extremeblastr]

schools out this way seem to be very good with majors along those lines, out here web and graphic design jobs are pretty much all that is available anymore everybody else is laying off

[Sjorge450R]

With the arts major there is plenty to go into. Web design, graphic design, just to name a few.


Only real bad thing about these kind of majors is they are very cut throat. If you score a job with a a client, chances are they have other designers working on what they want as well, so you may put 50 hours into a design and then the client will inform you that he has found something else, 50 hours of work wasted.
My best friend is a graphic arts major over here on the east coast (not sure how many good art schools are over in the west) and what he is planning on doing is graduating with his degree and then pursuing a small business objective. He wants to do t-shirt design, logo design, anything along the lines that a graphic design shop would do. Is there a lot of money it? Sure, if you are willing to advertise, produce quality products, and a big thing around me is supporting youth organizations and high schools.

The jobs are there, just not in the traditional style that many would like (given a project, work on it, collaborate with your group, finalize).

[Balaz_73*00]

A close friend of mine got a degree in graphic design or something like that and could barely get a decent job. WHen he did get a job, the pay wasn't worth a crap and he quit to join the air force. Just something to keep in mind. I don't think the jobs pay well ... don't know why but that's just how it goes. Good luck to her and whatever she chooses.

[Quad18star]

The way things are around here ... web design was the career of choice 5 years ago or more .... but now the market is saturated with web designers and most are out of work.

10 years ago in highschool it was the big push for kids to get into the IT fields .... same as business degrees .... but there's so many of them that unless you're the top in your class , and even at that , you might have a chance.

But hey ... she'll find out if she likes it or not ... might be the hard way to do it ... but it's experience in the college life. I know guys that started in Engineering and graduated with Music degrees. LOL

[QuadJunkies]

hmmmm... some good info mentioned.
Whatever she decides to do I will do my best to fully support, but also guide her in a good direction too. College isnt cheap and is a huge investment on what we want to achieve . I remember when the computer world first took off and how web designers were making good money in this field, but like anything else out there,there is always someone else trying to achieve the same goal. Of course money isnt everything, hopefully she finds something that she loves also,but money sure doesnt hurt! :p

One thing that would be good for her going to a local college is that she can still live at home until she graduates and not have to stress about how she is going to pay bills , work a job and go to school. I would like her to fully focus on her education,then she can venture off and live in the REAL WORLD. :p

[Pappy]

QJ-Cody is looking at becoming a Wildlife Biologist. We have a meeting with someone at the school soon about what he needs to do as far as college and what he will need to do the next 2 years in HS. Pretty sure science will play a big role in it along with math in HS but not real sure about the college end of it. Locally, we have the National Training center for wildlife studies so I have a hunch he can do all he needs within 45 minutes from home.

by no means am i telling you what to do with your kids but about them leaving it must be hard to let them go after all of those years helping them along but people need to go out and do their own thing. My parents told me to go out and see the world. I was happy to hear that that they were proud of what they have done and they want to see me do my own thing. I look forward to seeing so many places and doing so many different things. Your only here once why not enjoy it.

[NacsMXer]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
hmmmm... some good info mentioned.
Whatever she decides to do I will do my best to fully support, but also guide her in a good direction too. College isnt cheap and is a huge investment on what we want to achieve . I remember when the computer world first took off and how web designers were making good money in this field, but like anything else out there,there is always someone else trying to achieve the same goal. Of course money isnt everything, hopefully she finds something that she loves also,but money sure doesnt hurt! :p

One thing that would be good for her going to a local college is that she can still live at home until she graduates and not have to stress about how she is going to pay bills , work a job and go to school. I would like her to fully focus on her education,then she can venture off and live in the REAL WORLD. :p

Going to a community college after HS is actually not a bad idea. I was all in a big hurry to go straight to college right after HS while a few of my friends temporarily went to community colleges at home. Pretty much my entire first year plus another semester of college was all prerequisite classes like basic math, history, english, etc. courses. These are courses that most all universities first make you complete as part of their "core curriculum" before you can actually start taking classes pertaining to your major. All undergrads must satisfy these requirements regardless of their major.

If Kelsey goes to a community college first, she could take these basic courses for a fraction of the cost of what it would be for the first year and a half of college tuition. The credits will transfer over when she goes to college and will then allow her to fully focus on her major.

Of course, I would check with the college she is planning on attending first, to make sure that she will be taking the required classes, and that the credits will transfer. AP classes in HS are a plus too if she is taking any.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by FlewByU352
by no means am i telling you what to do with your kids but about them leaving it must be hard to let them go after all of those years helping them along but people need to go out and do their own thing. My parents told me to go out and see the world. I was happy to hear that that they were proud of what they have done and they want to see me do my own thing. I look forward to seeing so many places and doing so many different things. Your only here once why not enjoy it.

Oh, Im quite aware of this, I used to be in those shoes at one time myself. My Husband and I done a little travel before we got married and would like to have been able to do a little more.

I would have loved to have had the opportunity to have my parents help me threw college and make life a little easier .
A local college financially is a good choice as well I think.Hopefully she will want to enroll right after she graduates, I cant count how many people I know procrastinated and never went back. lol
She has her entire life to seek the world, the way things are in this world she owes it to herself after 12 years of school to get a good education . I would love for her to see the world, that is something I wish I could have done when I was younger , I also wish I would not have put off going back to school and furthering my education . Unfortunatly, I was one of those kids who didnt know what direction they really wanted to go in life until I was alot older.:o lol

[brian76708]

im a freshman at Ferris state univ in MI what i recommend is looking into what degree she wants then finding a univ that has that program. For the first year go to a community college in which the credits will transfer to the univ for the program she is interested in then the next year go to the univ and continue the degree. Since a majority people change there degree there first year I HIGHLY recommend going to community college for a year since its a lot cheaper. This is what i would have done if i could do it over. Now I have basically a year of college wasted and already in debt.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by brian76708
im a freshman at Ferris state univ in MI what i recommend is looking into what degree she wants then finding a univ that has that program. For the first year go to a community college in which the credits will transfer to the univ for the program she is interested in then the next year go to the univ and continue the degree. Since a majority people change there degree there first year I HIGHLY recommend going to community college for a year since its a lot cheaper. This is what i would have done if i could do it over. Now I have basically a year of college wasted and already in debt.
Agreed!

This is the local University we have ,its about 30 minutes away. I still need to look into community colleges, I only know of one in Oregon(about a hour from us)
BSU (http://www.idbsu.edu/)

[brian76708]

i dont know the site for Idaho colleges but im sure there is a site like this http://www.michigantransfernetwork.org/

that tells you which classes will transfer

[Quad18star]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
Oh, Im quite aware of this, I used to be in those shoes at one time myself. My Husband and I done a little travel before we got married and would like to have been able to do a little more.

I would have loved to have had the opportunity to have my parents help me threw college and make life a little easier .
A local college financially is a good choice as well I think.Hopefully she will want to enroll right after she graduates, I cant count how many people I know procrastinated and never went back. lol
She has her entire life to seek the world, the way things are in this world she owes it to herself after 12 years of school to get a good education . I would love for her to see the world, that is something I wish I could have done when I was younger , I also wish I would not have put off going back to school and furthering my education . Unfortunatly, I was one of those kids who didnt know what direction they really wanted to go in life until I was alot older.:o lol

One thing I can tell you ... like I mentioned , many people THINK they know what they want to take in school , but when they start it they realize it's not for them. So don't be disappointed if she starts in something and switches. I'm 26 and still in college ... now working on my 2nd diploma.

[wilkin250r]

I remember the transition from high school to college very well.

Right now, a lot of people are pressuring Kelsey to pick a direction, to decide where she wants to go. To me, that's kinda silly. About 75% of all college students change their major, so I don't understand why people pressure high school students so hard to pick a direction. What's the difference between declaring a major and then changing it, or going in undecided and then choosing it? Either way, you're on the right path only AFTER you get that exposure to it.

Right now, people are also talking to Kelsey about "choosing a college". Again, that's silly. Unless she gets a huge scholarship, or Daddy Warbucks is willing to foot the entire bill, cost will probably be her biggest obstacle. It's not going to do any good to send her to the "best" school back east, only to have her drop out because she can't afford it. She'd be much better off finding a local college (or community college) that she can afford. Let's be honest, picking and choosing the best schools to attend are luxuries that us normal folks usually can't afford.

[QuadJunkies]

Whos pressuring? You mean the schools brouchures?? I think most of that is all a marketing tool more than anything. Im not pressuring her at all,heck.. shes only a FRESHMAN right now , I cant expect her to know her whole life already. LOL But it doesnt hurt to start thinking of a direction to start with and go from there.
Most parents want the best for there kids, saying that doesnt mean the best schools , or us as parents even "picking" what direction she wants to go in life....all we can do is try and give them the best advice a parent can and hope they take some of it to heart since we all have been down the path ourselves. she may or may not change her major, only time will tell that . I know a few of my freinds did and a few that didnt.
Actually, a scholarship is a possiblity .
Costs are unbelievable! :scary:

As for where the money is ... is there really even such a thing in today world? :ermm:

Honestly I have no idea what I want to do in life yet. I cant make that decision now I have to try some things and see what I like. I started with Architecture and Engineering, got away from some of the residential and commercial building design stuff and went to parts and learned CNC and all of that. Decided it was good to know what I do but I don’t want it as a career so I integrated business management into that owning a business that would produce parts. Recently said business is nice and all but I’m going for medical. Currently settled on pharmaceutical and sometime between all of that there was a time when I had plans for aviation and being a commercial airline pilot since Embry Riddle sent me some stuff and isn’t too far away. Point being things are always changing and different opporunities come up. You just have to try things and see what you like. If I could I would love to just get a degree in everything and be well rounded but thats not going to happen. School wise I think its best to go to community college for your associates and then transfer for your major. You save a lot of money for the same degree and then you have more time to decide on what you want to do. For me going to a university I have no clue either where to go. So many places I would like to live for something new. Do I go out of state, out of the country, on the other side of the world? Many schools have internships and they said they will find you a school and you just pay the regular tuition and they pay the difference for the internship. I want to know what its like in Japan with all of that technology. I wouldnt want to live there but they are so much further ahead the knowledge gained would be incredible.

[Quad18star]

Originally posted by FlewByU352
Honestly I have no idea what I want to do in life yet. \

That's the problem that the schools don't understand. They want you to pick your career at the age of 15 when you enter highschool ... I'm sorry but at the age of 15 , you really don't have a clue nor really care about what you want to do , other than care about what party is happening on the weekend and how you're going to pick up your next girlfriend.

Not sure how it works down in the States, but around here they want kids to start picking courses that are geared towards what they want to do. I say take as many different courses from all different aspects , that way you'll have a bit of knowledge in everything.

Tina ... I would suggest to Kelsey, that if her school offers any kind of co-op positions , tell her to take them. You may think you like a career from the outside, but when you get into the real world of an office , you quickly realize that it may not just be about sitting behind a desk and designing things ..... many meetings may be involved and many other tasks NOT related to what you thought the job is about are now your responsibility. It's better to get a feel for the job with a 4 month co-op position , rather than go to school and dish out the tuition then find out that " Hey .. this isn't for me".

I've taken Civil Engineering ... if I'd have REALLY known what it was like before hand , I wouldn't have taken it . I'm taking Mining Engineering , and it's more of my kind of thing. I'd much rather design a mine shaft and blast ore bodies a mile underground , than design bridges and test asphalt compaction. If I knew then what I know now ... I could have saved myself $10 000 in tuition.

If the school doesn't offer a co-op , ask her to go to local web design places and see if they would allow her to shadow someone for a week or so.

Schools have a tendency to "highlight" a career in whatever programs they offer. As an example , the college brochure that highlights the program I'm taking says nothing but the PERKS of the job and glorifies the Mining business and their mining engineering program . For someone that has never been into a mine , they may say " Hell that's an awesome job " .... but they fail to mention that you'll be working a mile under solid rock , in complete darkness ir sometimes hot or cold and very wet environment . They don't mention that you'll be breathing in diesel fumes for 12 hours a day or the fact that being a mile underground , you may never come back to surface if something happens and the ground decides to move.
I knew what I was getting into when I took the course ... but I've also seen guys take the cage down 3000 feet , get off and start freaking out because it's not exactly what they thought it was going to be and what the college brochures told them it was like. My program brings you underground during the first week of your first semester ... that way if it's not for you, well you can get out. Sucks if you go 3 years in a program then find out you're not really cut out for that type of work after you graduate.

Anyways, sorry for the long rant... just trying to help so that she's not 26 and still trying to figure out what she wants to do. I should have had about 5 years of work experience under my belt by now. LOL

Originally posted by Quad18star
Not sure how it works down in the States, but around here they want kids to start picking courses that are geared towards what they want to do. I say take as many different courses from all different aspects , that way you'll have a bit of knowledge in everything.

Anyways, sorry for the long rant... just trying to help so that she's not 26 and still trying to figure out what she wants to do. I should have had about 5 years of work experience under my belt by now. LOL

Thats how it is they have "clusters". Sometimes they wont let you take different ones they want you to stay in one area that you started in. When I finished Engineering & Architecture I already knew more about mechanics than most kids in the automotive class that could maybe change the oil or take off some lug nuts so I didnt take that I would just be wasting time going down to their level. Instead I went into electrical. Why not? Something you will always be using and could always come in handy. I've also done comercial art and I hated it. 26 years old.. I know people 50 years old and they still dont know haha

[MX MaNiAc 06]

It's spectacular that you guys are looking into what career and what school she would like to attend at such a young age. But, she's got plenty of time to decide.

I am in a two year program for PTA. But I took it for three years so i could get all that liberal arts garbage out of my way the first year and focus on the hard stuff the next two years. But, if I wasn't going to take a major at this school I could transfer to any state school I wanted. A 2.5 cumulative GPA is all it takes to transfer. So it also isn't a bad idea to go to a two year school for liberal arts the first year of college and maintain a C+ average. (hopefully better) and transfer to a state school for the next three years. It also gives them another year to figure out what major they want to take.

[Gray33]

Go to Univeristy of CINCI!!!!

Thats where I am going in 2010 for Criminal Justice

[QuadJunkies]

Kelsey and I spoke breifly on the phne call I got on the Web Design stuff and shes not sure who or why they called, but its not what she was actually inquiring on at all,so Im clueless why I even got the call... :confused:
Shes got time to figure it all out, I say for now just enjoy being a kid, before too long those days will be long gone and then the REAL fun comes...
Being an adult .:ermm:
LOL!

I think I just need to win the lottery and we can just play for a few years!! :p

[Ralph]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
Kelsey and I spoke breifly on the phne call I got on the Web Design stuff and shes not sure who or why they called, but its not what she was actually inquiring on at all,so Im clueless why I even got the call... :confused:
Shes got time to figure it all out, I say for now just enjoy being a kid, before too long those days will be long gone and then the REAL fun comes...
Being an adult .:ermm:
LOL!

I think I just need to win the lottery and we can just play for a few years!! :p

Haha, when i took the sat's and psat's, there was a little check box saying "it is not ok for third parties to contact me etc.

I think i was the only one that read it and checked it cause my friends were all getting calls non-stop from every little college 2-3 years before college.

Freshman year is way to early to know what you wanna do. I did have it figured out by jr/sr year though. I applied to only one university and was in the college of engineering from the start. Then 2 years later i had to pick between mechanical, aero, or civil.

------___--_--______-

Anyway, as far as local schools; I would strongly encourage living away from home on her own at a school she plans to do all four years at. Freshman year in the dorms is where most friends are made and after that it becomes alot harder to meet people. I made the mistake of living off campus starting 1st semester but i was lucky enough to already know people in the dorms. College is just as much lower education than it is higher. I feel people who commute don't get to experience as much of this.

The other thing is that you don't really start getting your money out of a University until you know it inside and out. I went to a satellite campus for two years and now i am at the main campus and i wish i had been here from the start. There is still so much available at this campus that i don't even know about.

Well, thats my 2 cents. As long as she is gonna go for something that there is a high demand for i would say the investment and period debt is worth it.

[54warrior]

I suggest, if it's not too late, to attend a Vo-Tech while in HS. At least then she will have a skill to fall back on. Then, even if that's not what she wants to do in life, she can still go to college for whatever her heart desires.

I'd say any field in which it's something we depend on... engineering, teaching, pharmacuetical, medicine, etc.

[Bradracer18]

Its a proven fact that most students change their major like up to 5 times in college career. So, I suggest choosing a good school, independent of major(accredited)! I would also suggest choosing a path, and a university....and then finding a comm college where transfer credits apply. This saves money, especially if she changes her major! Plus, it slowly introduces you to college(aka getting your own stuff done without parents there!).


but, for my sake.....look at ISU:) ---They do have a wonderful design program!

[derekhonda]

Originally posted by Ralph
Haha, when i took the sat's and psat's, there was a little check box saying "it is not ok for third parties to contact me etc.

I think i was the only one that read it and checked it cause my friends were all getting calls non-stop from every little college 2-3 years before college.

Freshman year is way to early to know what you wanna do. I did have it figured out by jr/sr year though. I applied to only one university and was in the college of engineering from the start. Then 2 years later i had to pick between mechanical, aero, or civil.

------___--_--______-

Anyway, as far as local schools; I would strongly encourage living away from home on her own at a school she plans to do all four years at. Freshman year in the dorms is where most friends are made and after that it becomes alot harder to meet people. I made the mistake of living off campus starting 1st semester but i was lucky enough to already know people in the dorms. College is just as much lower education than it is higher. I feel people who commute don't get to experience as much of this.

The other thing is that you don't really start getting your money out of a University until you know it inside and out. I went to a satellite campus for two years and now i am at the main campus and i wish i had been here from the start. There is still so much available at this campus that i don't even know about.

Well, thats my 2 cents. As long as she is gonna go for something that there is a high demand for i would say the investment and period debt is worth it.

Ding...Winner. My freshmen year was probably one of the best years of school, you meet tons of people, people you will rely on for studying and for fun times, and just completely learn your campus. Plus, there are tons of resources available while living in the dorms that you would not get driving 20 or 30 minutes away. Group meeting on a sunday afternoon are tough to work around when one of your group members doesn't live in the same town.

I went to college about 90 minutes away from my parents, it was perfect. No problem driving home for a weekend, and no trouble for the parents to come down if they wanted too. But....just far enough away where I knew they weren't gonna drop in and surprise me with a visit without calling.

Get that girl on a campus, but i would probably try and keep her in state. Do all states do in state/out of state tuition like indiana does?

[redrocker]

UCSB right on the beach
Great school :cool:

[310Rduner]

Hey Tina, long time no see! I would definitely recommend the community college route for the first year or two of college while she works on her general education credits. Aside from taking in the partying dorm lifestyle (but do you really want your 18yo daughter mixed in that anyways?) I don't see much sense in paying so much for simple general education credits. Another factor to consider is that many community colleges have transfer programs setup with local universities which make it fairly easy to get in. In my area many community colleges have arrangements with the UC schools, so you could get into somewhere like Berkeley if you work very hard, regardless of what your high school transcripts look like.

Looking at the financial issue you could be saving close to $40,000 if she goes to community college for two years versus public university, even more if she were to be going to a private university. Two years in community college will also give her more time to figure out what she really wants to study, so that when she does transfer to a university she will be more focused and ready to concentrate on her major. I just think with the way things are today you should think very hard about what you want to get out of college, if you go in unfocused you will wind up graduating with a degree that holds no real interest or value to the job you want to perform; with the amount of debt you will be incurring for college you really don't want to wind up with a wasted degree.