University Debates: Sports, Fundings, And Developments

[Mr. Chenevert]

Oh, and freshman year tip. Don't study in your dorm room or at home if you live off campus. Too many distractions.

Find a place to go, a library or cafeteria, or somewhere quiet that you go to every night, whether you think you need to go or not. Get in the routine of doing this every night so you dont fall behind.

You will find that you will have plenty of time for fun if you put your priorities first.

Also, if you are in engineering, or a major that has a lot of calculation type classes, try and find a group of classmates that you can work with.

I was very fortunate to find a group of 8 or so people that we pretty much studied together every single night. We didnt schedule it, we just sorta showed up at the same place night after night. It helped to keep you motivated and made studying a positive experience. We all helped each other out. As soon as one person figured out how to solve a new problem, they could share it with the entire group, and vice versa.

I honestly don't think I would have made it through 4 years of electrical engineering classes without them.

Edited August 25, 2008 by Mr. Chenevert

[memebag]

Wow. Sucky life.

Agreed. College was probably the worst time of my life.

[sarahiki]

My 1st day of college class starts I am excited. Does not feel like when High school starts it's a big diffrence! What do yall remember about what your 1st day of college was like? Thank God I dont have an 8:00am class like my twin and my roomate!!! That was my birthday gift to myself no early classes!

I go to PVAMU all the way out on 290. Not how I wanted to spend my 18th birthday all the way out here getting settled in my dorm but the club can wait. LOL

Advice from the prof:

Read the syllabus!!

[BryanS]

I got an international math teacher. That was my worst fear o well Over all Its been good so far.

Hmmm.... "international teacher" ... are you trying to tell us, you don't understand their English?

DROP THE CLASS, move to another section. I always hated getting stuck in classes where I couldn't understand the professor's English... I have nothing against foreign professors, but when you put up a language barrier in between us and differential equations... the math is hard enough as it is.

[20thStDad]

Hmmm.... "international teacher" ... are you trying to tell us, you don't understand their English?

DROP THE CLASS, move to another section. I always hated getting stuck in classes where I couldn't understand the professor's English... I have nothing against foreign professors, but when you put up a language barrier in between us and differential equations... the math is hard enough as it is.

Only class I ever got a C in, materials, I couldn't understand the professor and just gave up on it. Couldn't drop it because it was only offered in the spring and I couldn't wait the extra year. I knew things were bad on the first day when he tried to explain the "atomic lumber" to us.

[RedScare]

Oh, and freshman year tip. Don't study in your dorm room or at home if you live off campus. Too many distractions.

Find a place to go, a library or cafeteria, or somewhere quiet that you go to every night, whether you think you need to go or not. Get in the routine of doing this every night so you dont fall behind.

You will find that you will have plenty of time for fun if you put your priorities first.

Also, if you are in engineering, or a major that has a lot of calculation type classes, try and find a group of classmates that you can work with.

I was very fortunate to find a group of 8 or so people that we pretty much studied together every single night. We didnt schedule it, we just sorta showed up at the same place night after night. It helped to keep you motivated and made studying a positive experience. We all helped each other out. As soon as one person figured out how to solve a new problem, they could share it with the entire group, and vice versa.

I honestly don't think I would have made it through 4 years of electrical engineering classes without them.

Or, you could save a lot of time by waiting until just before exams, take some Vivarin, and pull allnighters to study for exams.

Worked for me.

[BryanS]

Or, you could save a lot of time by waiting until just before exams, take some Vivarin, and pull allnighters to study for exams.

Worked for me.

I'd be crying for my Sweet Mother if I tried to do this with some of my classes. Typically, I would begin studying FOUR DAYS in advance for tests in some of my harder classes (e.g. thermodynamics - hated entropy). That would also include an almost-all-nighter on day 4, before the test.

"OK class... the mean on the test was a 38..." I would make a 46... and be in heaven.

[TheNiche]

Or, you could save a lot of time by waiting until just before exams, take some Vivarin, and pull allnighters to study for exams.

Worked for me.

That was really more my style, too. Minus the meds.

Striving for nothing but A's and A-'s are great if you want a career in which credentials of of tantamount importance. For the kind of person that knows for fact that he's working towards an entrepreneurial role...grades just don't matter.

I have never--not once--been asked for a copy of my transcript or even for my overall GPA by a prospective employer. They want to know that I got a degree from an accredited university and that I've got transferable work history. Otherwise, I've always carried myself in an interview by the force of my character. Networking events have paid off, too, as a way to get my foot firmly lodged in doors.

[RedScare]

I have never--not once--been asked for a copy of my transcript or even for my overall GPA by a prospective employer. They want to know that I got a degree from an accredited university and that I've got transferable work history. Otherwise, I've always carried myself in an interview by the force of my character. Networking events have paid off, too, as a way to get my foot firmly lodged in doors.

I only got asked once, but apparently it was a joke. I interviewed with the DA in Fort Worth. First, he apologizes for his crappy office, because they were remodeling his real one. Then, as we talk, he asks if I mind if he smokes (back in the good old days). I said I didn't mind if I could bum one from him...in retrospect, that was kind of ballsy. As we are shooting the bull, he asks what my class rank in law school was. I replied, "well, it wasn't the top half." He replied, "me neither, but they told me to ask you."

Next day, they offered me the job.

[20thStDad]

Transcripts are pointless unless you think the person is lying about the GPA on their resume. Everyone within each degree we recruit for takes the same classes, so we don't really care. I wouldn't expect a person to have to provide that past their first job anyway. After a couple years, experience is all that matters.

Some our best folks had horrendous GPA's, some of our worst had good ones. Depends on the position you are hiring for though.

TheNiche - they give "A-" in college? For real? Yeah, my high school didn't even do pluses and minuses.

[BryanS]

TheNiche - they give "A-" in college? For real? Yeah, my high school didn't even do pluses and minuses.

I've taken a few classes at UH, and yes, they do (or at least they did). My college, it was A, B, C, D, or F.

[CoolBuddy06]

College is fun if you stay in the hostel. Your lectures should be fun compared to what I had as an undergraduate: 120 seats with about 250 students registered, lecture theatres without a/c, no, not that the a/c's not working, students are just too young for that privilege.

So have fun out there, but make sure you graduate, with good grades. Do I sound preachy?

[ssullivan]

Transcripts are pointless unless you think the person is lying about the GPA on their resume. Everyone within each degree we recruit for takes the same classes, so we don't really care. I wouldn't expect a person to have to provide that past their first job anyway. After a couple years, experience is all that matters.

Some our best folks had horrendous GPA's, some of our worst had good ones. Depends on the position you are hiring for though.

This is very true. I graduated with my BA in 1996 and haven't had any one inquire about my GPA since around 1999. And I had a GPA that I'm not overly proud of. I went to a very selective private college, and didn't have the maturity at the time to really study

[crunchtastic]

True, a 4 year degree is just an entry ticket to a job interview, and in most case grades don't really matter. But they are important, in that they open doors to scholarship money and grad school. Admittedly I was a grade snob and very competitive in my courses, and I don't have anything to show for it now, but at the time my life's plan required good grades. I was a mere liberal arts major but those grades were based mainly on writing a crapload of papers, and when you consistently write A papers, you consistently can pick up $500 here or a $1,000 there in obscure scholarship or prize money. (This is why sidling up to a professor you like is a good thing--they tell you about these things.) Money like that really helps. I ultimately didn't go into the PhD track, but I got accepted to the program I wanted, which would have been impossible with anything less than a 3.8.

Just don't do stupid things like register for the 8 am Early Shakespeare in Summer II. Three hours every morning for six weeks. OMG that was torture.

[TheNiche]

True, a 4 year degree is just an entry ticket to a job interview, and in most case grades don't really matter. But they are important, in that they open doors to scholarship money and grad school. Admittedly I was a grade snob and very competitive in my courses, and I don't have anything to show for it now, but at the time my life's plan required good grades. I was a mere liberal arts major but those grades were based mainly on writing a crapload of papers, and when you consistently write A papers, you consistently can pick up $500 here or a $1,000 there in obscure scholarship or prize money. (This is why sidling up to a professor you like is a good thing--they tell you about these things.) Money like that really helps. I ultimately didn't go into the PhD track, but I got accepted to the program I wanted, which would have been impossible with anything less than a 3.8.

Just don't do stupid things like register for the 8 am Early Shakespeare in Summer II. Three hours every morning for six weeks. OMG that was torture.

OK, I can most definitely make an exception for you then. Hear ye, hear ye! Liberal arts majors (other than economics) need to have good grades.

This brings up an interesting subject. I have a friend who has about one more semester to go at University of North Texas in Denton. He is majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Music. He's starting to get logical (after having taken and deeply enjoyed Logic as a class...which I'd told him to do when I took it at a community college during high school) and antsy. He realizes that philosophy majors are pretty worthless outside of academia, but he doesn't really like academia.

Every time he and I talk he's asking if I know of any jobs in my field that he can do. The answer is an emphatic yes, but none that he would like to do, much less that he could get paid well for. My advice to him is to go for one more semester and get a business minor, just to have the basics down; and otherwise to apply for law school.

He is a really smart guy; he's Mensa material. But he's also only got a work history working as bass player at gigs and on cruise ships, and realistically probably can't afford law school yet. What can this guy do to make good money?

[tanith27]

What can this guy do to make good money?

Work on an offshore rig. Or spend a winter in Alaska up on the slope. You have no social life, but your bank account gets ridiculously fat. Or does that fall into one of those 'jobs he wouldn't want to do' categories?

[TheNiche]

Work on an offshore rig. Or spend a winter in Alaska up on the slope. You have no social life, but your bank account gets ridiculously fat. Or does that fall into one of those 'jobs he wouldn't want to do' categories?

Lets stick with office jobs for now. Where good money is $40k+ w/benefits.

[crunchtastic]

He is a really smart guy; he's Mensa material. But he's also only got a work history working as bass player at gigs and on cruise ships, and realistically probably can't afford law school yet. What can this guy do to make good money?

Well now that's a loaded question. Good money -- military contracting or oil and gas. Or he could stick with the music angle until figuring out what to do with the academic angle. .......and then he can end up either in financial planning, or marketing/advertising like the other thousands of us failed academics.

I made good money for a while doing legal proofreading. It definitely killed any lingering law school ideas I had.

[crunchtastic]

$40k+ w/benefits.

Oh no. Entry level, no direct experience, philosophy major, not bilingual, I assume? For the first job, he needs to be willing to accept less than 40.

Liberal arts usually assume good comm and writing skills, so entry level grant writing, communications, or pr in the medical field are typically open to new grads since they're cheap and plentiful (the grads, not the jobs). Non profits, too. If he's thinking of law school, records admin/library admin in the big law firms.

Having hired people with similar backgounds, seeking professional work just out of school, my advice is that he come to the table with some basic desktop publishing and HTML skills. Those are universally handy.

[memebag]

I went to college, but I dropped out. There were raised eyebrows at my first couple of jobs when they saw I didn't have a degree, but since then all anyone cares about is my work experience and skill set. I might have made more on those first few jobs, but it wouldn't have been enough to cover the student loans I would have had to take out to stay in school.

So don't go to school. You're just encouraging them by participating in the system.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

Lets stick with office jobs for now. Where good money is $40k+ w/benefits.

Teacher.

A friend of mine just finished her first year of teaching/coaching making just under $50k per year (Pasadena ISD). She dropped coaching this year, so salary drops down to around $45k/year. Not bad for 9 months of work.

[swtsig]

Agreed. College was probably the worst time of my life.

big shocker.

[TexasVines]

OK, I can most definitely make an exception for you then. Hear ye, hear ye! Liberal arts majors (other than economics) need to have good grades.

This brings up an interesting subject. I have a friend who has about one more semester to go at University of North Texas in Denton. He is majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Music. He's starting to get logical (after having taken and deeply enjoyed Logic as a class...which I'd told him to do when I took it at a community college during high school) and antsy. He realizes that philosophy majors are pretty worthless outside of academia, but he doesn't really like academia.

Every time he and I talk he's asking if I know of any jobs in my field that he can do. The answer is an emphatic yes, but none that he would like to do, much less that he could get paid well for. My advice to him is to go for one more semester and get a business minor, just to have the basics down; and otherwise to apply for law school.

He is a really smart guy; he's Mensa material. But he's also only got a work history working as bass player at gigs and on cruise ships, and realistically probably can't afford law school yet. What can this guy do to make good money?

your friend is in a world of hurt.....I have been a student at a number of schools in Texas and UNT was BY FAR the worst......while many that go there and pump sunshine for UNT claim their philosophy program is highly ranked the fact is that UNT breaks their programs down into very small niches most of which are things that few if any other schools offer.....like their environmental philosophy program (whatever the hell that is)......and just as you seem to know there is ZERO demand for people with a degree that involves sitting around on a hot rock, buck naked, pondering life......UNT has a high quality music program, but I don't think a minor in music will do much from there because that minor is probably outside the college of music or it is structured in a way that he will rarely be associating with the true music majors or the high caliber professors much less will he get a recommendation from them......the UNT college of music is very standoffish from the rest of the university so as to not be drug down by the ineptitude of most of the rest of the university.....in fact music education majors are not offered through the college of music they are offered through the college of education for just that reason

and philosophy degrees even up to a PhD are in very low demand because there are so many out there that just keep going through school stuck in that same philosophy rut until they get a PhD and then find starting salaries barely cover the student loans

I would encourage him to drop philosophy like the hot rock he is sitting on and try and move into some type of cross between music and computers or some type of music production.....I have a friend with an RTVF degree from UNT and he now works as a producer for a public radio station and on the side he puts together people to do add jingles......he can get them sent to him in an MP3 or other format and he can edit all himself.....I don't know how big he has taken that, but it was extra income....if your friend is in a minor in the college of music then he should have some very good talent.....but often at UNT people in the college of music will leave without the degree because opportunity too good to turn down will come along and in music you either have it or you don't.....short of working in HR I can think of next to nothing to do with a philosophy undergrad degree and short of gigging or doing jingles I can not think of much to do with a music minor....unless one goes back and gets a teaching certification

for the record I was a Computer Science major at UNT and left needing one last CS course that I could not get for 9+ months and a second semester physics course and two garbage courses that UNT refused to recognize from other schools that were far better than UNT.....and the fact that I already had an undergrad degree in a totally different subject

Edited August 26, 2008 by TexasVines

[Deut28Thirteen]

I got into UNT. They did not have my major after I finally settled on what I wanted.

Like my classes so far here at PV. Anybody here went to PVAMU?

[TheNiche]

your friend is in a world of hurt.....I have been a student at a number of schools in Texas and UNT was BY FAR the worst......while many that go there and pump sunshine for UNT claim their philosophy program is highly ranked the fact is that UNT breaks their programs down into very small niches most of which are things that few if any other schools offer.....like their environmental philosophy program (whatever the hell that is)......and just as you seem to know there is ZERO demand for people with a degree that involves sitting around on a hot rock, buck naked, pondering life......UNT has a high quality music program, but I don't think a minor in music will do much from there because that minor is probably outside the college of music or it is structured in a way that he will rarely be associating with the true music majors or the high caliber professors much less will he get a recommendation from them......the UNT college of music is very standoffish from the rest of the university so as to not be drug down by the ineptitude of most of the rest of the university.....in fact music education majors are not offered through the college of music they are offered through the college of education for just that reason

and philosophy degrees even up to a PhD are in very low demand because there are so many out there that just keep going through school stuck in that same philosophy rut until they get a PhD and then find starting salaries barely cover the student loans

I would encourage him to drop philosophy like the hot rock he is sitting on and try and move into some type of cross between music and computers or some type of music production.....I have a friend with an RTVF degree from UNT and he now works as a producer for a public radio station and on the side he puts together people to do add jingles......he can get them sent to him in an MP3 or other format and he can edit all himself.....I don't know how big he has taken that, but it was extra income....if your friend is in a minor in the college of music then he should have some very good talent.....but often at UNT people in the college of music will leave without the degree because opportunity too good to turn down will come along and in music you either have it or you don't.....short of working in HR I can think of next to nothing to do with a philosophy undergrad degree and short of gigging or doing jingles I can not think of much to do with a music minor....unless one goes back and gets a teaching certification

for the record I was a Computer Science major at UNT and left needing one last CS course that I could not get for 9+ months and a second semester physics course and two garbage courses that UNT refused to recognize from other schools that were far better than UNT.....and the fact that I already had an undergrad degree in a totally different subject

Music and computer science are kind of similar in that they're so tremendously based on knowledge and skill that the degree matters less. And this guy really is a tremendous bass player, better than most music majors; the classes he's taken are mostly to round off his skill set with basic vocal lessons and that kind of thing. So if a terrific opportunity came up, I'm sure that he'd jump at it. In the mean time, I just keep lobbying for him to give in to the dark side and to take some business/economics courses.

But he's just one of these guys, like many others I know, that just don't know what they want to do professionally. He isn't counting on music, he certainly isn't counting on philosophy. He just wants to avoid a gruelling life-crushing job (which I can totally understand) and also doesn't know what will make him happy.

[TheNiche]

Oh no. Entry level, no direct experience, philosophy major, not bilingual, I assume? For the first job, he needs to be willing to accept less than 40.

Thanks. I e-mailed him suggesting the legal proofreading or something like a technical writing angle. A lot of what I did during college could be considered technical writing, and that did help me out in interviews later on. And that's right up his alley in terms of looking at all the angles and looking for holes and technicalities.

[TexasVines]

Music and computer science are kind of similar in that they're so tremendously based on knowledge and skill that the degree matters less. And this guy really is a tremendous bass player, better than most music majors; the classes he's taken are mostly to round off his skill set with basic vocal lessons and that kind of thing. So if a terrific opportunity came up, I'm sure that he'd jump at it. In the mean time, I just keep lobbying for him to give in to the dark side and to take some business/economics courses.

But he's just one of these guys, like many others I know, that just don't know what they want to do professionally. He isn't counting on music, he certainly isn't counting on philosophy. He just wants to avoid a gruelling life-crushing job (which I can totally understand) and also doesn't know what will make him happy.

I can completely agree with the first statement

if he is as good or better than most students in the College of Music at UNt then he should be pretty damn good....I am not an expert on music, but I think bass is a pretty crowded area....so that is no help....but if he is that good he could make it in music......many from UNT do.....some very early right from school and some it takes a long time.....voice seems to me to be where there is the least available talent.....philosophy......dead end.....but hey smoking pot can be fun too

[cloud713]

Some people were talking in another thread about the current "arms race" going on amongst major universities. Some of us are fresh out of college (or maybe still in school) who have seen the arms race first hand, others are older and have watched from a different perspective as their alma mater jumped into this ongoing competition for the finest facilities.

What are everyones feelings on the arms race? Is it good for the schools? Which Texas school is winning this race?

[IronTiger]

Some people were talking in another thread about the current "arms race" going on amongst major universities. Some of us are fresh out of college (or maybe still in school) who have seen the arms race first hand, others are older and have watched from a different perspective as their alma mater jumped into this ongoing competition for the finest facilities.

What are everyones feelings on the arms race? Is it good for the schools? Which Texas school is winning this race?

Not good for schools or taxpayers.

[cloud713]

Why do you believe it's not good for schools? I'm pretty naive to the subject except for being able to recognize that a lot of money is being pumped into higher education. Fortunately for tax payers the Texas school with arguably the highest arms race investment per student is a private university. You don't think these investments are good for attracting more quality students to our schools? It's clearly not very good for the lower class though, getting priced out of the newer student housing.

Edited May 24, 2015 by cloud713