College

HazmatB · Post by **HazmatB** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:52 am

I'm graduating from an undergraduate Computer Science degree this year. As such, I am applying for graduate schools. U of T, U Vic, U BC, Queens, and Waterloo. I think I will get accepted into them all.

As far as teachers being overpaid, my father is a professor, and we have discussed it at length. For the most part entrance level professors make a very small wage, only after they attain Tenure status do they begin making any real money. Also, the professors who make a lot of money are those with both seniority, and with large grant accounts or many graduate students. Just getting large grants usually isn't enough to get you a really good wage, even though they make a lot of money for the universities. Also, $100,000 isn't that much when you consider that a B.Sc. in CS makes average starting wage of $50K.

schmellyfart · Post by **schmellyfart** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:03 am

Dang thats cold. Its 76/41 here in Arizona...

Regarding the actual topic, I applied and got accepted to one of ASU's electrical engineering programs around november of last year. Gonna do marching band at the main campus and my other classes (including Japanese) at the Polytech campus, Which is much nicer and has WAY smaller classes than the average 500 or so at the main campus.

Extreme_Jesus · Post by **Extreme_Jesus** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:38 am

Im in my first year of uni at the moment, its not that bad so far

I didnt get into my first or second choice uni, but at the end of the day a degree is a degree. Any place that requires you to have gone to some posh prestigious school to be a part of i probably dont wanna be in anyway

About the whole learning things not related to your career, a lot of people never get a job related their degree anyway, i dont really intend to turn my degree into a career (im doing BA Politics btw) i just enjoy it and it beats getting a real job for three years

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:53 am

When I get home to Canada, I'm going to take my MBA. I get home in March, work until September, and with any luck with the faculty board my dad is part of at the University, I'll get a free $28,000 education. Just one of the many perks of having a prof for a father

(Of which also include access to his giant workshop and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment in the trades department)

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:12 pm

College will be the best years of your life. Don't waste them. I am in my 3rd year here at UT but only 2 semesters into my EE program. I transferred out of the PGE after I realized that being a PGE was not for me. I decided I am going to get my Masters in EE and possible Ph.D if I can jump on a research group so I get my tuition paid for. A Masters in EE goes allot farther then a Bachelor's so I am defiantly going for that.

Jongamer the reason they make you take all those intro courses is so you get a solid background in your education. Atleast here at UT I haven't felt like any classes I have taken was a waste of my time.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:45 pm

Solid Background on my education my butt.

They can just look at my Report cards from High school.

not make me pay thousands of $$$ to learn about Mythology or some stupid crap like that.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:18 pm

Jongamer wrote:Solid Background on my education my butt.

They can just look at my Report cards from High school.

not make me pay thousands of $$$ to learn about Mythology or some stupid crap like that.

Can I lol at High school? High school is a flipping joke when you compare it to College.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:50 pm

Rekarp wrote:
Jongamer wrote:Solid Background on my education my butt.

They can just look at my Report cards from High school.

not make me pay thousands of $$$ to learn about Mythology or some stupid crap like that.
Can I lol at High school? High school is a flipping joke when you compare it to College.

Not according to like 5 people I know going to college right now.

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:02 pm

in germany, everything is boring. Or maybe I'm just missing all the good things, I tend to do that. Well anyway, I'm having a pretty good time right now, and I'm in what is the equivalent to college. I'm generally always having a pretty good time, though. So yeah.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:22 pm

Jongamer wrote: Not according to like 5 people I know going to college right now.

Who are these 5 people? Sounds like a pretty arbitrary number to me. Or are they in Liberal Arts or go to Community College? There is also quite a difference in work load from Community College to other Colleges. I have taken a couple courses at Houston Community College and they where a joke compared to the courses I take at UT.

Jongamer, I am pretty sure you didn't have 3 computer programs written in different languages per month, at minimum 2 tests a month, daily homework assignments (including weekends sometimes), biweekly labs, and 2 essays per month in High school? Not including quizzes when the professors feel like it. I thought not.

Khaag sounds like a sweet gig you got there! When I was a PGE student I had 3 different oil companies + 2 oil organizations + Petroleum Department funding my tuition. That used to pay practically all my tuition bills. Now I am a EE student I get 2 measly scholarships. All those oil companies bailed on me

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:46 pm

The people who say Uni is easy are in Social Science or the Humanities. The lectures are online, so you don't have to attend them, there are no 3 hour labs or tutorials, and even if you did attend lectures, there's a total of 12 hours of classes weekly.

YOU CAN NOT COMPARE UNIVERSITY IN GENERAL TO HIGH SCHOOL. Many programs (Engineering, Health Sci, Nursing, eg) are much more work-intensive.

This weekend (this repeats weekly), I have the following to do:

- 1 Math Lab. (~2 hours of work)
- 1 physics assignment (~1-4 hours of work)
- Two weeks of math lectures to review and understand. (~10+ hours)
- 1 Materials assignment (~1 hour)
- 1 Group assignment (0 hours, I couldn't make it at the scheduled time my group had arranged, because I had a 3 hour meeting on that day for the university's solar car team)

This may not seem like a lot. Keep in mind this is in addition to 5 solid days of lectures, tutorials, and labs.

Let me give you some sample questions and topics. Try to solve some of these. They take about 15-40 minutes each.

Physics:

7. [1 point, 10 tries]
Three identical small Styrofoam balls (m = 1.92 g) are suspended from a fixed point by three nonconducting threads, each with a length of 48.5 cm and with negligible mass. At equilibrium the three balls form an equilateral triangle with sides of 31.3 cm. What is the common charge q carried by each ball?

If an electric field is present, a free electron is accelerated until it collides with an air molecule. It will transfer its kinetic energy to the molecule, then accelerate, then collide, then accelerate, collide, and so on. If the electron's kinetic energy just before a collision is 2.20Ã—10-18 J or more, it has sufficient energy to kick an electron out of the molecule it hits. Where there was one free electron, now there are two! Each of these can then accelerate, hit a molecule, and kick out another electron. Then there will be four free electrons. This "chain reaction" of electron production is called a breakdown of the air. The average distance an electron travels between collisions is 3.13 Âµm. What acceleration must an electron have to gain 2.20Ã—10-18 J of kinetic energy in this distance?

An electron is launched at a α=37.4Â° angle and speed of 4.82Ã—106 m/s from the positive plate of the parallel plate capacitor shown. If the electron lands d=3.52 cm away, what is the electric field strength inside the capacitor?

Some Math Lecture Topics: (Two weeks of lectures = Three chapters of math.)

Definite Integration
The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
Integration by Parts.
Trigonometric Integrals

And that's just for starters.

Materials Assignment Questions:

- At a certain temperature a hypothetical metal transforms from FCC to BCC. Calculate the change in density (in %).

Express your answer to 2 decimal places. Use - to denote a decrease.

Use decimal notation, digits after decimal: 2

- Consider a metal with an FCC crystal structure. The interplanar spacing is known to be 0.169 nm. If the first-order angle of diffraction (2*theta) is found to be 40.7Â° for the (311) set of planes in this metal, what wavelength of monochromatic x-radiation (in nm) must have been used for the diffraction?

Use decimal notation, digits after decimal: 3

- The centres of a cation with a valence of +2 and an anion with a valence of -3 are separated by a distance of 1.7 nm.

Calculate the energy of attraction between them in eV. (Remember, the energy of attraction is negative, while the energy of repulsion is positive)

Note: This is a review problem. The information needed to solve this question appears in Chapter 2 "Atomic Structure and Interatomic Bonding" of your text book.

Use decimal notation, digits after decimal: 1

TL;DR - Damn straight. Want to know why you didn't read it? BECAUSE IT IS TOO FRIGGIN' LONG. Take the above work, multiply by 15, and you have my work for the weekend.

Please, don't go telling me it's as easy as high school. It depends on the course.

Engineering is high school x 5, right off the bat, and only gets harder as the year progresses.

And there's no teacher to give you lots of examples and make sure everyone understands everything. In addition to a full week of lectures, you're expected to do at least 50% of the learning yourself, in addition to all the above work.

Engineering eats souls. High school is a joke.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:40 pm

ehh oh well.

I guess I fail at life, cause I have no motivation to go to college.

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:47 pm

I applied to Clarkson and Union College, both in NY, last night. I sent out an app for Michigan Tech a few days ago, and I still need to send out ones for SUNY Potsdam, UMaine at Orono, Wells College in NY, and VTC in Vermont. Only three of the schools have application fees, so I'm doing this on the cheap.

(Oh, and it was -33F (-36C) this morning in Vermont WO/WINDCHILL. Windchill put us under -50F. And our power went out=kero heater doesn't work. And the pipes froze, so it was a wonderful morning)

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:51 pm

Yeah it got down to -15F here last night.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:19 am

Jongamer wrote:ehh oh well.

I guess I fail at life, cause I have no motivation to go to college.

Just go to a technical school or something. Stop whining.

I'm in my fifth year* at the University of Central Oklahoma, studying chemistry. It's a regional college, but it's fantastic.

I'm taking some awesome classes this semester. It's only 10 hours, but it's still a "full load" in my opinion: Advanced Instrumental Analysis & Lab, Advanced Organic Chemistry, and a seminar class called Practical Aspects of Chromatography. I get to have a lot of hands-on training with a GCMS and an HPLC in that last one (Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer and High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph, for those of you who don't know). The guy teaching the seminar course works for the OSBI for his day job so pretty much all of his examples relate to analyzing samples to see if they are meth or not. It's funny.

*Yes, fifth year. Didn't you know that all four year science degrees actually take five years? I wish I had known that when I started...