Vicomte,
The community college is an excellent suggestion, it can save you money and help get the core courses out of the way. If you are not a fan of local schools there is a movement of cc with on campus housing. Plus, you can work while taking a lighter course load.
And to be honest, I have found older/more mature students tend to make better or at least more interesting students. Life experience is important.
PM me if I can help in any way
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
I started out thinking I wanted to do law[/quote]
They have that in Canada?
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
They have that in Canada?[/quote]
Kind of. There’s a drinking establishment in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan which is simply called “Tavern” - it doubles as our court house (it’s attached to an Inn, called “Inn”).
Our judge (singular) is named “Left Hook Eddie”. He’s a Potash miner by day, and is known for his affinity towards giving people and inanimate objects left hooks. By night, though, he runs the court with an iron (left) fist. No jury, no lawyers, no appeals - just two bar stools (with “Complaint-iff” and “Defandaar” carved into them) and a hammer from Canadian tire which he uses as a gavel.
US education system sounds as complicated as the Australian tax system.
Had a similar experience at the end of 1st year at Uni. Commerce was pretty dry study for the most part and I wanted to drop my plans of accounting/finance major for an engineering or medical degree. I stuck with it though, and really can’t complain. School made the career choice seem stupid and complicated. Might seem boring as shit but when you get real world problems and work on finding real world solutions, it is more interesting.
To each their own. If you really are dreading your career choice, it isn’t too late to change.
The thing to bear in mind regarding community college is the disparity that exists with the female population. The hot female continuum goes something like: community college->state school->university->private catholic university. With Catholic schools in my opinion possessing the finest specimens. This is all pretty debatable, but I’m talking strictly percentage per capita, and not referencing any moral looseness within said population.
Speaking from experience the real trick is to live in a varsity sports house (while not actually playing on a team-that takes too much time) and just reap the rewards that those athletes work so hard to sow during their sports season. Then a couple debauchery filled years later the school just hands you a free diploma and you can trade that in to pay off your loans. If you’re really taking school seriously you can donate plasma for enough money to get your STD levels checked every month.
Good Luck
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice!
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[/quote]
I do know if Calculus counts at remedial, but I got my best grade in it taking it as a summer community college course. The fast pace and an instructor who wanted you to know how to apply not just learn the materials got me through. I all honesty, I have little bad to say about community colleges.
If you plan to go towards Geography/Environmental Science, I am happy to give any guidance I can. That is what my background is in. PM me if you need anything.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
Vicomte,
The community college is an excellent suggestion, it can save you money and help get the core courses out of the way. If you are not a fan of local schools there is a movement of cc with on campus housing. Plus, you can work while taking a lighter course load.
And to be honest, I have found older/more mature students tend to make better or at least more interesting students. Life experience is important.
PM me if I can help in any way[/quote]
Agree with this. CC can be a lot cheaper than regular college, too. You can get all the basic courses required for a degree out of the way at CC, transfer to a regular university and do your last 2 years working on whatever specific degree you’re going for.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[/quote]
I do know if Calculus counts at remedial, but I got my best grade in it taking it as a summer community college course. The fast pace and an instructor who wanted you to know how to apply not just learn the materials got me through. I all honesty, I have little bad to say about community colleges.
If you plan to go towards Geography/Environmental Science, I am happy to give any guidance I can. That is what my background is in. PM me if you need anything.[/quote]
A standard Calculus curriculum (a 1-3 and sometimes 4 semester sequence) is considered basic math rather than remedial, which covers up to precalculus, which is high school math. If one has trouble with math, it is probably better to take the basic calculus sequence at a place like a community college where the classes run about 15-20 students per class where the teacher can spend more time with students individually. And to be honest, basic calculus is the same no matter where you take it. It is only after one gets past differential equations and into the intermediate/advanced stuff that being at a school with a great math department and professors will make a difference.
glad I opened this thread, no mention of that ass yet? more pics please
^My post on page one was greatly influenced by the OP’s picture. While it is impressive to see young people who actually care about holding themselves to a standard, they are going to stick out like a sore thumb on a college campus. Let me strongly suggest you hide your pursuit of a legitimate education from 95% of your peers. Being dumb is the new being smart.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[/quote]
I do know if Calculus counts at remedial, but I got my best grade in it taking it as a summer community college course. The fast pace and an instructor who wanted you to know how to apply not just learn the materials got me through. I all honesty, I have little bad to say about community colleges.
If you plan to go towards Geography/Environmental Science, I am happy to give any guidance I can. That is what my background is in. PM me if you need anything.[/quote]
A standard Calculus curriculum (a 1-3 and sometimes 4 semester sequence) is considered basic math rather than remedial, which covers up to precalculus, which is high school math. If one has trouble with math, it is probably better to take the basic calculus sequence at a place like a community college where the classes run about 15-20 students per class where the teacher can spend more time with students individually. And to be honest, basic calculus is the same no matter where you take it. It is only after one gets past differential equations and into the intermediate/advanced stuff that being at a school with a great math department and professors will make a difference.
[/quote]
I leave higher level math to my wife. She got her degree in math from U of Michigan.
The same is true for most disciplines, I would think. A nice thing to going cc for a year or two is it allows the student to a bit more picky where they finish up. There are some excellent Geography departments in Canada and some great GIS focused departments near by.
One thing I should have mentioned about GIS. There the more skills based programs and then GISc which is heavier into theory and is the driving edge of the discipline. I know there are some non-Geography departments teaching GIS, unless they are ESRI labs like at Havard, I would caution against. GIS is at its core a spatial understanding of information as well as a representation of space that is not simply, what is there. Geography is the best source for a fuller understanding of GIS as well as the discipline that developed it. It is computer based but not ‘computer science’.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[/quote]
I’ll definitely look into taking lower level maths at my school, unfortunately we don’t have community colleges up here (to my knowledge) so that’s out, but hopefully I’ll be able to find one from at UofT
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
[/quote]
I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
[/quote]
I do know if Calculus counts at remedial, but I got my best grade in it taking it as a summer community college course. The fast pace and an instructor who wanted you to know how to apply not just learn the materials got me through. I all honesty, I have little bad to say about community colleges.
If you plan to go towards Geography/Environmental Science, I am happy to give any guidance I can. That is what my background is in. PM me if you need anything.[/quote]
Thanks! I really appreciate it, and I’ll definitely give you a shout come course selection time.
[quote]forkknifespoon wrote:
^My post on page one was greatly influenced by the OP’s picture. While it is impressive to see young people who actually care about holding themselves to a standard, they are going to stick out like a sore thumb on a college campus. Let me strongly suggest you hide your pursuit of a legitimate education from 95% of your peers. Being dumb is the new being smart. [/quote]
Haha, only the best for you guys! With all the help I’ve gotten I’m more than happy to contribute a few more pictures for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Fortunate (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I’m at UofT, where ~80% of the populace is total nerds, and at a satellite campus where there’s no nightlife so the percentage is even higher. For the time being, I remain perfectly camouflaged. But I definitely agree with you, last year when we all still thought university was gonna be all about partying, I hung out with a lot of people who thought it was the height of awesomeness to wake up at 5 every day and drink till dawn.
Needless to say I’ve changed social groups.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]TheCanadian wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I am a college professor, I am serious about this advice.
Under grad = geography, it lets you cover a broad range of topics and still get a degree. You will need a masters to do much anyways and geography will help with most disciplines, except perhaps medicine.
HOWEVER, this is KEY: take GIS, get a certificate/minor or even concentration in this. It is a skill that can get you a job before you leave school.
About yourself: this is the time in life when you should be focusing on the things you know you need to do to improve yourself, do those things.[/quote]
This is excellent advice (I am a physics professor by the way). Geography is a great field if you do not really know what you want to do, or don’t have the focus/mathematical ability/desire to do a more specialized/technical field. General Biology is also a good field that covers multiple disciplines. In addition to the GIS certificate/minor you should seriously consider taking a few computer programming classes or even two minors (assuming computer programming is not part of your school’s GIS curriculum some do and some don’t. Basic computer programming skills will serve you very well in almost any field you may choose.
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I’m really, really glad to hear this. I’ve only taken the intro course for geo so far, and we’ve barely done anything on GIS, but it seems interesting enough and I’m sure I could get into it. I’ll look into General Biology as well- I’m pretty shaky on everything from cell division onwards, but if it’s interesting I’m sure I’ll be able to get it with enough time. The present plan was to take some CompSci classes regardless, as they’re interesting and count towards the environmental sciences degree I’d been planning on so that works out well too. A full program at UofT (where I study) is configurable in a number of ways- at present I’m planning to do two majors and a minor (the current plan was Environmental Science (maj.), Geography (maj.), and Poli Sci(min.). I’ll gladly swap out Poli Sci for GIS, if you guys think that’s the best course of action.
As far as improvement of weak points in my skill sets goes, I’m taking that advice to heart. Right now my biggest focuses are improving my organizational/time management skills (as right now they are absolutely terrible and severely hamper just about everything I do) and my quantitative background, because my last math credit was gr.11 and truth told it’s a crime against the educational system that I actually passed that course.
If anyone has gone back and done HS level courses while in university and can illuminate me on the best way to do this, I’d really appreciate it. At present I think I’m going to contact the local school board and see if I can work with them during the summer, but if there’s a way to do it during may-june and not july-august that would be awesome.
Thanks everyone in this thread for all the great advice![/quote]
The low-level math courses that any university offers will be about the same as high school level math. They are usually called something like intro to college mathematics, college algebra, intro to trigonometry, remedial mathematics etc. These will serve you well for enhancing your math abilities and you won’t have to worry about going to multiple campuses. And don’t feel bad if you wind up taking a class called ‘remedial,’ I was a PhD candidate at a major university who was taking remedial english classes at a local community college and it is not that bad.
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I do know if Calculus counts at remedial, but I got my best grade in it taking it as a summer community college course. The fast pace and an instructor who wanted you to know how to apply not just learn the materials got me through. I all honesty, I have little bad to say about community colleges.
If you plan to go towards Geography/Environmental Science, I am happy to give any guidance I can. That is what my background is in. PM me if you need anything.[/quote]
A standard Calculus curriculum (a 1-3 and sometimes 4 semester sequence) is considered basic math rather than remedial, which covers up to precalculus, which is high school math. If one has trouble with math, it is probably better to take the basic calculus sequence at a place like a community college where the classes run about 15-20 students per class where the teacher can spend more time with students individually. And to be honest, basic calculus is the same no matter where you take it. It is only after one gets past differential equations and into the intermediate/advanced stuff that being at a school with a great math department and professors will make a difference.
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I leave higher level math to my wife. She got her degree in math from U of Michigan.
The same is true for most disciplines, I would think. A nice thing to going cc for a year or two is it allows the student to a bit more picky where they finish up. There are some excellent Geography departments in Canada and some great GIS focused departments near by.
One thing I should have mentioned about GIS. There the more skills based programs and then GISc which is heavier into theory and is the driving edge of the discipline. I know there are some non-Geography departments teaching GIS, unless they are ESRI labs like at Havard, I would caution against. GIS is at its core a spatial understanding of information as well as a representation of space that is not simply, what is there. Geography is the best source for a fuller understanding of GIS as well as the discipline that developed it. It is computer based but not ‘computer science’.[/quote]
To be perfectly honest my only real experience with GIS was when my gr.9 geography teacher had us put together some maps in arcview. We’ve only had one lecture on it this year and nothing hands on, but it’s definitely the domain of the geography department. I’m gonna look into an intro to course for next year and hopefully that along with some compsci and my upgrades maths will bring me up to speed.
Thanks again to you, matt, and everyone else giving advice in this thread!
Bump.
I saw last night on my departments GIS board that some recent GIS grads are making $100k+ in their first jobs (working for oil &gas companies).
