All about College!

If the next generation can maintain the same level of IQ as the current one and still embrace capitalism, then there should be no fear.

Uhm… I think you better be worried then. I’m pretty sure they’re teaching socialism and government as savior in schools now.

That’s fine socialism is actually equally poor for 99.9% and extremely wealthy for the 0.01%. So just try squeezing yourself into that elite at the very top.

Yes, easy for me to say, but you as a parent do the best you can for your kids and unfortunately the chips fall where they fall. What is the saying? You want to put your kids/employee/player in a position to succeed, not fail right? And not to deviate from this thread topic, but sure I can name a lot of friends who also didn’t go to a name brand college and turned out fine, more than fine. I guess it boils down to how hungry one is. That goes back to when I am interviewing candidates. I always want the hungry ones. Sure, a cool diploma from a hot college is great but do I see the hunger, the drive, that will make us collectively better, or worse?

1 Like

I agree sfdragonboy. Most studies show that the biggest factor for success is motivation. One of the biggest problems for bright/gifted kids is that they both fear failure, and never had to work hard for success. It’s a bad match.

1 Like

No need for study. Is obvious. We relies too much on studies by permanent head damage. How to have a chance to succeed by doing nothing. The only way to increase success rate is to do as many times as you can… the more you do, the higher the possibility of success… even this need study to prove…wtf.

So, enough about my son and college!

Let’s get back to the question of what a college education should be. Broad? Narrow and deep? Should a language be required? English? History?

A majority of millennials prefer socialism or communism to capitalism. I think the only cure for that generation is to spend a month in a communist country.

1 Like

Lie!! I don’t see blondes in short skirts programming on laptops in Silicon Valley! :rage:

1 Like

They probably dye their hair to get more respect. Or to keep the men at bay…

Education is already very broad based from kindergarten to high school. So, IMHO, college education should be geared towards your intended career. I find a few GE courses very useful,
Critical thinking & persuasive communication
Creative process
Philosophy
Math & statistical reasoning (for STEM, easily fulfilled)
Scientific inquiry (for STEM, easily fulfilled)

Yes, STEM guys need some liberal arts courses :slight_smile:

Most importantly, please socialize a lot :slight_smile: with your professors, TAs and fellow students.

And date them whenever possible…

1 Like

My two cents are middle, high school, and college should require courses on what it means to take loans, build credit, pay taxes, how our healthcare system works, and on anything else we suffer with on a daily basis. It’s absurd some grads come out knowing an abstract chemical reaction, but don’t understand how a credit card works.

2 Likes

Some high schools teach this under micro-economics (is really a corruption of economics). Otherwise, can encourage your high school or college kids to take up such enrichment courses. Typical title is personal finance management :slight_smile: Many community centers, junior colleges and campus extension teach such courses.

2 Likes

I was thinking this would be in the Life skills class, but just realized that Life skills is all about avoiding drugs, drinking, smoking, etc.

1 Like

@Terri,
I can tell that you are American (meaning rational and practical).
If I were you, I would definitely send him to one of 3 top private schools with best CS program (MIT, Stanford and CMU) with whatever resource available to me.
I heard that Berkeley CS program was very competitive and excellent but at the end of the day it is still public school. I also heard that there were 1000 students registered for popular CS classes and most of them just watched online streaming. If you were not happy with BA public high schools, then you wouldn’t be happy with the quality of UC education.
Many parents are actually sending their kids to other state universities such as UT, UM and UIUC paying the same tuition with private universities for the quality of public education.
I notice that more and more local kids are getting admissions from other top state universities while getting rejected by UCs. Public universities are looking for income source.
Compare to that, isn’t it so worthwhile sending your kid(s) to top private school?

2 Likes

Some examples from De Anza College near my house.

1 Like

@hanera I was more referring to making a certain number of these topics required. I know when I graduated from UC Davis, I left without certain life skills I feel I should’ve been forced to acquire.

2 Likes

I can also speak to Computer Science. I personally believe that going to a top-tier CS college is an advantage, but isn’t a breaker. In fact, you don’t even need a formal degree. I have a BS in biochemistry, but I am a software engineer :grin:. I’ve met CS folks with top degrees from places like Harvard who don’t know sh** and then I’ve met engineers without college degrees who are some of the best in the industry. CS around here is not like professional professions like lawyer, doctor, etc where you’re forced to grind for a degree. The important thing is to do CS because you like CS.

5 Likes

I am not concerned so much with the quality of public high school so much as whether he can take the classes he needs. Right now the answer is no. He’s ok for freshman and sophomore years, but then needs undergraduate classes if he wants to continue in math (or CS)

He would definitely need to attend a college that has a selection of grad classes to allow him to push his limits. UCB has a CS grad program, so that would be fine.

Even MIT has 500 people in undergraduate classes.

For me the question is;

  1. Do people think Berkeley is a top CS school or not? My husband said yes. I think you’re saying yes…?

  2. Is there anyone who thinks that there are limits to the loans the student can get? Because I have definitely been under the impression that there are people who can get admittance, but cannot pay for or get loans for full-price colleges. Can he or can he not get full loans for college?

The drawbacks, to my understanding, for UCB are

  1. Definitely larger class sizes
  2. Not getting the classes you want first year until the ranks thin (may or may not be a problem if he comes in taking sophomore level classes).
  3. Changing majors (this is the biggest drawback I know to Berkeley)
  4. Networking may be harder if kids don’t take smaller classes or majority live in dorms. Definitely less of a comraderie.

In the end, it’s up to my son (I’m still not paying for it–if he can get loans, that’s his job to pay off), but practically speaking if he has a job right after college, is it better to start with $0 debt or $140K* debt? Will he get paid significantly more if he has a degree from MIT vs. Berkeley?

* =$200K - 4*$15K of summer work