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So this is going to be an actual blog. With lots of QQ
Basically I got fucked out of the business school and now I don't know what I'm going to do.
When I was younger my dream was to become a comedian, its all i wanted to do. I got better and better until I was sure that I was at a level where if I went to California and performed often enough I could pick up an agent and start working my way up, ez pz. My parents, however, insisted that I got to college and shit, so I had to do something that wouldn't get in the way of comedy.
So i picked business. I had a loose plan that I would manage myself, after hearing about so many people losing so much money like Dane Cook and that boxer guy (not this one BoxeR. It was a rough plan, but good enough for me.
I grew up in college station my whole life, so I wanted to get out, which is why I picked North Texas to go to (also because of a girl who turned out to be a backstabbing whore, but that's beside the point). The school was great, classes were easy, and I finished my freshman year with like a 3.83 (3.8 first semester, 4.0 second), but I missed my friends who were graduating from High School and would be attending A&M back in college station, so I decided to transfer back home
which is where the clusterfuck happened.
May's Business School is relatively esteemed, so you can't just transfer right in, even with an almost 4.0 and recommendations. So I transferred into General Studies, which has a "fast track to business". Basically you take the classes they tell you to and make decent grades and you get in. However it was a rough first semester because my mom was in the middle of a big PUBLIC trial for some bullshit (don't worry we won the case, some cops can be assholes) so I had to miss a lot of classes, and even when I didnt studying was stressful and I was distracted so I didnt do so hot, getting 3 C's in one semester. Fuck.
I thought I could make it up second semester, all I had to do was make enough A's to offset the C's. Problem is that the business school is hard as shit. I made 2 A's, 3 B's.
Fuck.
And the Texas Education system is fucked, so my GPA didn't transfer AT ALL. I had 9 A's I could've used from North Texas, but they're all gone. All of them. The late nights I spend studying, the energy drinks, the missed parties, all of it was for absolutely nothing.
So now I'm in general studies with 70ish hours with no direction.
Please help me. TL knows this shit.
I want to do computer science but I suck at the internet. Bad. the general joke is that i'm too innocent for the internet, as Mystlord found out when trying to teach me how to pirate a video game when I asked him what "mounting" meant. But I'm smart as hell so I figure even if I don't have a natural understanding of wtfx going on, that's what college is for, learning shit.
So I think I can start CS cold turkey and be okay, but I'm basically only picking it because it has the word "computer" in it. I read the TL Manpower thread and saw that under the title COMPUTERS is more specific applications, like video game design, which is something I'd be interested in. But I really don't know where to start with something like that, or what skills I would need to do it. I plan on PM'ing Ideas or -fj because they're names I recognize, but honestly I don't even know enough to begin asking questions.
So if anyone has an opinion on the subject or could help me, i'd greatly appreciate it because I really have no idea what's going on right now. I'm just mass gaming to drive the panic out of my head.
TL:DR couldn't get into business school, now I want to do something with Computers. Computer Science comes to mind, or video game design. Good Idea? Any tips?
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Computer Science has nothing to do with computers; at least how you view them now. It's basically a discrete mathematics degree.
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Well, i go video game design.. its pretty fun and all But you`ll probably just like me, end up with a class where 20 people play WoW and 10 plays pokémon and you are 1 of 3 that enjoys a good session of starcraft / cs.
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Yeah I tried computer science (I use computers full time at work and hobbies) and I absolutely hated it. Didn't even last the first year. Its 7 top tier math classes (Calc 1-3, Discrete math 1-3) and a bunch of other bullshit you wont ever actually use. If you want to work with computers I wouldnt recommend computer science. It is programming and every programmer I've ever known is bald for a reason.
If I were you I'd try at a Community College. There are plenty of colleges you can transfer to that will be more than happy to take you based on the fact you've passed like all your classes. In most cases it really doesnt matter where you got your degree as long as you have the peice of paper. Community Colleges are cheap, offer all the same classes you'll take in your first 2 years at a university, and when you transfer to a university you go in as a Junior and on your diploma it says nothing about your Community College history.
It cracks me up when people are like 'I GOT REJECTED/KICKED OUT MY LIFE IS OVER'... no, it really isnt. You can pick up classes again and start over at any time. yeah you wasted some time and some money, get over it and try again.
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Aw mannn. I'm just going into college this fall so I can't offer any help except sentimentality.
I hope that you will be well and good luck!
But a switch from business to computer science seems very... abrupt.
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I'm a math major thinking of switching to CS so hopefully I can pick up some good tips from here as well.
Oh and my brother is entering a game development program next year... supposedly you really need to have good contacts to enter this industry.
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On June 23 2010 02:44 HuskyTheHusky wrote: It cracks me up when people are like 'I GOT REJECTED/KICKED OUT MY LIFE IS OVER'... no, it really isnt. You can pick up classes again and start over at any time. yeah you wasted some time and some money, get over it and try again.
yeh it just sucks X_X but thats good tough love, I appreciate it
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Being a pan handler is also a good career move if you look pathetic enough to get enough sympathy.
Life is about mistakes and if you are young enough it is a valuable life lesson to learn and just move on from. Chosing a career is a hard part of life, especially if you cannot do the career you had your heart set on.
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On June 23 2010 02:39 Pawsom wrote: Computer Science has nothing to do with computers; at least how you view them now. It's basically a discrete mathematics degree.
agreed, but every computer programming job requires a computer science and/or electrical engineering degree.
I'm not clear on how your school works, but in my alma mater UC Berkeley, students in the first two years have to build up their grades and then "transfer" to the business school (Haas) in their junior year. It's similar to your school in that student with very high grades and achievements get in.
Of all my close friends, I only know one student that actually got in. All the others, ended up settling for Economics or a type of Social Science degree. Regardless of what they majored in, they are now pulling in 6k figures because they were able to find good entry level jobs and used their experience to find better ones.
Basically, college means shit compared to work experience. The CMO of my company has a fucking bachelors in painting (fine arts) and he's a millionaire. From your blog, it seems you really do care about the career you'll have. Just finish up your degree, whatever it it may be, and really focus on the career you'd want to have.
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Yup, same exact thing happened to me. So, now I'm an economics major, and it's pretty good. Just do something you would enjoy.
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If you want to work in IT try learning some basic technical skills like handling SQL and HTML and picking up a programming language or two. Of course in the world of computers there are innumerable realms to explore too, like mobile computing, web and graphics design, networking administration, and dozens else. I wouldn't say a degree in CS/Engineering/Math/what have you would be entirely useless (I did some HR work for an IT consultancy and the vast majority of qualified professionals also sported a related degree), but a lot of your competitiveness will come from skills you hone outside the classroom.
Most of all, if you're willing to work your ass off for something, don't give up on it. This country (I'm assuming you live in the USA as your TL info states) is one of the best places for tenacity and effort to thrive.
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On June 23 2010 02:51 broz0rs wrote:Show nested quote +On June 23 2010 02:39 Pawsom wrote: Computer Science has nothing to do with computers; at least how you view them now. It's basically a discrete mathematics degree. agreed, but every computer programming job requires a computer science and/or electrical engineering degree. I'm not clear on how your school works, but in my alma mater UC Berkeley, students in the first two years have to build up their grades and then "transfer" to the business school (Haas) in their junior year. It's similar to your school in that student with very high grades and achievements get in. Of all my close friends, I only know one student that actually got in. All the others, ended up settling for Economics or a type of Social Science degree. Regardless of what they majored in, they are now pulling in 6k figures because they were able to find good entry level jobs and used their experience to find better ones. Basically, college means shit compared to work experience. The CMO of my company has a fucking bachelors in painting (fine arts) and he's a millionaire. From your blog, it seems you really do care about the career you'll have. Just finish up your degree, whatever it it may be, and really focus on the career you'd want to have.
yeh its kinda the same except you can transfer in after your first year
so the students who took freshman level math, history, economics got to transfer in on those easy grades. whereas I lost all those easy grades and had to try and transfer in off of the 2nd year business classes I was taking
not saying I had the hardest time possible, but I had the hardest time possible
thx for the post though, that's encouraging
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On June 23 2010 02:39 Pawsom wrote: Computer Science has nothing to do with computers; at least how you view them now. It's basically a discrete mathematics degree.
This, kind of. I just finished my first semester towards a bachelor degree in CS. Shitloads of math with some programming, both low and highlevel languages (fuck you, VHDL), and the general feel is that while it gets better towards the later semesters; it's still all of this shit you just know you'll never use.
It's even worse if you get a masters, cause that generally means even MORE math and physics.
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On June 23 2010 02:56 EchOne wrote: but a lot of your competitiveness will come from skills you hone outside the classroom.
yea thats what scares me X_X
i dont know where to learn stuff other than Wiki.
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Computer science takes a very certain personality to excel at. I mean, you have to want to spend hours and hours every day coming up with clever ways to tell computers what to do in an abstract fashion. Often, telling them what to do involves math, and understanding what computers can do involves computation theory (which is more math :D).
I'm an AI grad student personally, and love it. I also loved my undergrad in computer science.
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Husky and broz0rs speaks the truth. Yeah, you might be a little behind, but keep your head up -- just 'cuz you're 2yrs behind your peers doesn't mean squat in the long-term. If you really want something -- you're gonna get it. But you're gonna have to want it .. and that means starting all the way at the bottom, if you have to.
I started out with a Physics major, turned into Psych, and then decided to go into Finance. Didn't get a single job interview, so I just took whatever I could get -- an internship at this 2-man company. My boss was seriously mental, and I had to start from stapling and getting coffee. But I worked my way up, and taught myself everything from scratch. I made sure I was 100% reliable to my boss, and put myself in situations where I could take on more and more responsibilities.
Eventually I was able to leave that job after 2.5 yrs, and landed into the perfect Finance job that I wanted. Sure my peers were able to land that job straight out of college -- but to tell you the truth, the gritty things that I learned in those hard 2.5 yrs, I'm glad I went through that. And the hell you're going to go through, working yourself out of this mess by your sweat and blood, you're gonna be glad for that too.
Best of luck, bro.
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Calgary25954 Posts
Can't you go back to North Texas and finish your business degree? That seems like the best option here.
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I've been thinking of going back to school to get a bachelor of CS, but I don't think it will be worth the pain/time/money. Right now I'm cruising on IT contracts on the Cisco Cert path.
I would LOVE to be in game design, but I figured that it's probably one of the most bloated hiring markets, so I want to make sure I have a good base job before I start looking into whether it will be an option.
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computer science is a fucking pain in the ass, I know 2 guys that are studying in their last year and they have to do a lot of work the whole summer if they want to get their degree. Im in 4th year now and I have to say the 3rd year almost chocked me lol
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