(Dec. 09, 2014  2:46 AM)Tri Wrote: I love anything psycology, sociology, and business related. I recently took my PSAT in October I do believe and I scored high enough to take all the AP courses. Since I scored high, I am offered the sociology course my school provides and I can't wait to take it next year as a Junior.

Ever since my scores were released, I have been getting letters from colleges NEARLY daily. It's great they are all colleges/universities that have great fields in what I like to do. If all else fails though with what I am planning right now, I still have my musical fantasy of making it big. I like to write lyrics and play the drums, and that really makes me consider music production.

(Dec. 09, 2014  1:28 AM)sarabscientist Wrote: SO, I've been debating for the longest time whether or not to go away for university and live in residence. I think part of me wants to tell myself to stay at home, not only does this save me about 80 thousand but it also restricts my choices down to a few "local" university and makes everything a little less hectic. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to look into it all. And then the other part wants to truly live "the university experience".

Queen's Life Sciences is renowned, so is the Western BioMed. But they're prestigious schools with crazy admission requirements. And then we have McMaster Sciences, which, even with a 95% average, you're barely scraping the finish line.

Yeah but all those big dreams aside, I'll most likely be going to UOIT (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) because I'll be home, relatively close to Toronto (for volunteer and co-op options) and as a big bonus, they're a new school - so its less stressful to get into and I'll have first hand experience with the latest technology.

(Dec. 09, 2014  7:11 AM)Wizard Wrote: My career choice is a little different. I didn't want to go into a traditional office type job, but rather I wanted to get out of America and just do something crazy.

I have a friend who is from Osaka and one day during my senior year of high school he jokingly told me that I should just get on a plane and move to Japan. The thing is, I took his joke a little too seriously. Moving to Japan was my goal back in middle school but once I hit high school I dismissed it as just being a pipe dream since I can't speak Japanese. Also, I was a bit of a weeaboo back then.

Once I learned the requirements for teaching English in Japan I was set, there was no turning back. I began to do a lot of research and I even applied for a study abroad program. Sadly I can't afford to study in Japan so I decided to choose a major that I would at least enjoy. Currently I'm in my first year of college here in America studying photography at a local two-year college. I'm just focusing on photography related classes rather than general-education stuff because after my second year I'm planning to transfer to a small art school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After I obtain my bachelors degree in photography I will be moving to Japan to begin my new life.

And just think, it's all because of a joke.

(Dec. 09, 2014  10:58 AM)~Stoney~ Wrote: Sounds like a great plan, but you have to consider that the working conditions in Japan are very different. You have to work minimum 10-12 hours a day, sometimes until 11pm, and you have only about 10 days for holiday each year. As a man, you usually don't have time for family life, even if you're married and have children. Also, not being successful is not an option in Japan. It's very hard to live and work there. Nevertheless, if you're ready to work really, really hard, go for it and enjoy the probably most beautiful country in the world.

(Dec. 09, 2014  5:30 AM)Priscient Wrote: Hey, since we happen to be located around the same area, I know all of these schools and I can give some more perspective. (Or at least from my point of view.)

An extremely large portion of my year is interested in anything to do with science programs. (I would go as far as to say that seemingly at least 50% wants to become any type of doctor/nurse/pharmacist, or engineer.) Those who aren't in sciences are in business, leaving a very small portion of those who are not interested in either fields. So as you probably already know, It's seemingly very competitive.

I think the university life/college life experience is actually very valuable, While the costs may be high, you can often lower these by sharing an apartment near the university with a couple of friends. Of course as you already know, we have a TON of scholarships and loan programs available to us. OSAP is great. In my opinion, even with your 75% in math, you can still make it to western and/or Queens, as long as you buckle down for the rest of your courses. Any reason why you're not interested in UofT?

I hear a lot of good things about UOIT, and with our job market becoming more focused on technology by the day, I'm sure it would be a worthy investment.

While I'm in the same position as you, and I don't really have the right to say much, I would say to chase your dreams. Money comes to those who enjoy their career and what they do, as work is never work anymore.

(And yeah, Mcmaster is kinda insane.)

(Dec. 09, 2014  10:58 AM)~Stoney~ Wrote: Sounds like a great plan, but you have to consider that the working conditions in Japan are very different. You have to work minimum 10-12 hours a day, sometimes until 11pm, and you have only about 10 days for holiday each year. As a man, you usually don't have time for family life, even if you're married and have children. Also, not being successful is not an option in Japan. It's very hard to live and work there. Nevertheless, if you're ready to work really, really hard, go for it and enjoy the probably most beautiful country in the world.

(Dec. 09, 2014  11:14 AM)FlyingWaffle Wrote: I already practise abut 11-12 hours a day, and I wouldn't be working in the traditional sense unless I became a teacher. I would probably be travelling a lot, until later in my life. If I did work outside of music, it would be programming, which means I could work for any company, or even as a free lancer. I feel like with what I am going with, I would have more options. If not though, I'm fine with hard work, I actually prefer it to not having much to do.

(Dec. 10, 2014  3:04 AM)X_C00L_R4NCH_X Wrote: I am in the process of applying for colleges and scholarships. I have 2 sent off so far (senior year, eek) to Purdue University and Calvin College. I'm also applying to University of Michigan and IPFW. Calvin is my first choice, then IPFW (both small schools, which is a good thing in my book, and I can get a full-ride scholarship to IPFW based on my SAT scores, and basically half my family has gone to Calvin, which is a private Christian college) then Michigan, then Purdue. I don't particularly like the larger size of Purdue and UM, and don't feel like I would be comfortable there. My high school is all one building with approximately 2500 students; going up to IPFW or Calvin is less of a leap in size, with about 6500 students each, if I remember right. The other two are far larger. Campus size is another issue; I want to be able to walk from class to class (or ride a bike) without having to take 25 minutes out of my schedule and/or cross a lot of traffic.

Regardless of where I'm going, I will be majoring in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science. I've taken a ton of AP and dual-credit courses which basically knock out half the classes in my first two semesters, and leaves room for the extra classes for the minor while still keeping to a 4-year schedule or so without packing my schedule too much. I really enjoy robotics, programming, and game design, so CS / EE is definitely in my career path.