Ask the College Student

[onebloodonelife]

Yep, another of these threads...

Ask me anything you'd like.

 

[Zoomerang96]

no thanks.

 

[2861U2]

Where do you go to school?

 

[onebloodonelife]

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (4th largest campus in the U.S.)

 

[Mr. Green Eyes]

From one college student to another, what do you think of the food?

 

[maycocksean]

Which is better? High school or college?

For me it was college by far.

 

[anitram]

What do you want to do when you're done?

 

[onebloodonelife]

From one college student to another, what do you think of the food?

Actually, I'm lucky and live in the "athlete" dorm, so we have pretty good food. The other dorms though, not so much...

 

[onebloodonelife]

Which is better? High school or college?

For me it was college by far.

College, no question. I had a lot of issues with my high school because I'm from a town of about 5,000 without much else to do but get high or drunk (though I didn't partake in that very often), so moving to a big city has been an amazingly refreshing experience.

 

[onebloodonelife]

What do you want to do when you're done?

I'm planning on going to graduate school to get my PhD and become a professor. Since I'm a political science major, there aren't many job opportunities with just a bachelor's degree, unless I want to be someone's errand girl. The professor track appeals to me because I'll get to research and write articles about subjects that are interesting to me, and I'll be able to teach college age kids at the same time.

 

[anitram]

I'm planning on going to graduate school to get my PhD and become a professor. Since I'm a political science major, there aren't many job opportunities with just a bachelor's degree, unless I want to be someone's errand girl.

Most my friends here are poli sci flame outs who realized there was nothing in the job market for them.

 

[watergate]

You could get a job as a union organizer with a poli sci degree. That's what I'm going to do when I finish my BA. Its better than a political gig because the pay isn't bad and it has great health care, dental and insurance. There are lots of union jobs on the east and west coast.

 

[watergate]

Of course my son is going to make more money than I ever will since his major is mechcanical engineering.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Most my friends here are poli sci flame outs who realized there was nothing in the job market for them.

Political science is really something I absolutely love, so even though it's going to take longer and cost me a good chunk of cash to get a better job, it's completely worth it to me to be able to study and teach a subject that I love.

 

[onebloodonelife]

You could get a job as a union organizer with a poli sci degree. That's what I'm going to do when I finish my BA. Its better than a political gig because the pay isn't bad and it has great health care, dental and insurance. There are lots of union jobs on the east and west coast.

I didn't know that you could get a job in something like that with a poli sci degree...

 

[No spoken words]

Do you appreciate the Skyway?

 

[onebloodonelife]

We only have a couple skyways on campus, but the tunnels come in very, very handy in the winter. Unless you're referring to the lightrail, which is amazing, and I hope the city gets approval to expand it into the campus area.

The skyway downtown is pretty cool though; it goes through several buildings. My one complaint about it is that since it's specifically geared towards business people, most of the restaurants in there aren't open past 6 during the week and aren't open at all on the weekends.

 

[No spoken words]

No, I meant the skyways like they have in downtown Minneapolis. I have been just once, but it was Winter, so I took advantage of them when I went to see the Wolves play. I did take the lightrail, from the airport to a stop right near my Hotel....Nicollete Mall or Street or something.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Yes, the skyways downtown are definitely a life saver in the winter.

 

[achtung_girl]

Is that normal that I don't have any seminars or other things like that? I only have to write exams, exams, exams....from the first semester to graduation! And the profs often pose hard exams, and we don't have the chance to show what we're really able to do, like writing homeworks e.g. !

 

[Vincent Vega]

You are at RWTH Aachen, right?
Especially at German universities, and even more so at those that are focussing on research rather than teaching, seminaristic teaching and writing term papers is not yet that common.
It's a bit different at the Fachhochschulen, but still the level of seminaristic teaching is a lot less than in the US system.
I think the more seminaristic approach is more encouraging than this bulk of exams at the end of each semester, and though I prefer writing term papers the prospect to having to write four exams, three term papers and pass one oral exam next month is not all too promising.

 

[achtung_girl]

^right, RWTH !
Ok, so I guess I chose the wrong subject. At the beginning of the semester the prof said, ok I know this class is gonna be very voluminous and I know that 70% fails this class, so we decided that you can write term papers every 3 weeks, and it'll step up your grades!And I thought, ok better than nothing! But they didn't pose a term paper till now, cause it's too much work...etc.
-Great!

 

[onebloodonelife]

Is that normal that I don't have any seminars or other things like that? I only have to write exams, exams, exams....from the first semester to graduation! And the profs often pose hard exams, and we don't have the chance to show what we're really able to do, like writing homeworks e.g. !

We tend to have lectures and/or discussions two or three days a week per class. So, for my Global Politics class, we meet for an hour lecture every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And, for my Rock History class, we have lecture for an hour on Monday and Wednesday and a discussion for an hour on Friday. The discussions are meant to split a huge class into smaller sections to give people a chance to speak their minds.

As for the homework and such, it depends on the class. One class I'm taking is basically exams only, three throughout the semester. Another is based on papers for the most part, no exams, but a lot of writing. But, in none of them are there little daily assignments or anything like that.

 

[redhotswami]

Do you know how to properly microwave popcorn?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

do you, like most college students, plan on destroying your credit by maxing out credit cards on beer and cheetos and then not being able to restore it for a decade because paying back student loans doesn't do anything for your credit rating?

 

[onebloodonelife]

Do you know how to properly microwave popcorn?

I've learned quite quickly how to microwave all sorts of popcorn, including the little mini bags.

 

[onebloodonelife]

do you, like most college students, plan on destroying your credit by maxing out credit cards on beer and cheetos and then not being able to restore it for a decade because paying back student loans doesn't do anything for your credit rating?

Well, I do have a credit card, just one. I can honestly say I have never used it on beer or cheetos.

I tend to use it when I literally have zero cash in my bank account, which doesn't happen very often. I'm lucky and have a great campus job that pays very well.

 

[redhotswami]

I've learned quite quickly how to microwave all sorts of popcorn, including the little mini bags.

thats awesome. please teach everyone in your hall so you can reduce the frequency of fire alarms.

 

[onebloodonelife]

thats awesome. please teach everyone in your hall so you can reduce the frequency of fire alarms.

We actually haven't had any fire alarms yet this year.

On a really nice note, for a few days at the beginning of this semester, our fire alarms were not working. We would have been totally fucked if a fire had started in the middle of the night.

 

[redhotswami]

holy crap! thats a major fire code violation. good thing that was taken care of.