How did you decide on your education?

[The Grim Squeaker]

A question for those who have passed through or currently in uni: How did you come to choose the course and university in end? How long did it take to make such an important decision, and what helped you choose?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

[Kodiak]

A question for those who have passed through or currently in uni: How did you come to choose the course and university in end? How long did it take to make such an important decision, and what helped you choose?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

I chose the cheapest and most convenient university which could provide me with hands-on practical experience and prepare me best to start a career ASAP.

[salm]

I didn´t know what to study after my social service. I started bioinformatics for no good reason but it was boring as hell and i quit after 2 months even though i didn´t know what i´d wanted to do.

A friend of mine had started studying architecture and said it was fun. So since i didn´t know anything better i started that. It was boring as hell and i wanted to quit but then we had a project assigned titled future visions or something like that and you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to. Pretty much by accident i got my hands on 3D software at pretty much the same time and i made an animation with space ships blowing up shit and got an A on it so i decided to stick with architecture.

The following 2 years turned out to be pretty boring again with only the occasional project involving 3D stuff but because i didn´t have anything else to do i stuck with architecture.

Then the uni started offering projects on game design and 3D animations and i´ve been doing this happily ever since. I´m currently doing my master degree the project being a game of course.

People kept telling me that all this 3D stuff and game crap won´t be of any use and i should plan real houses instead but i find planing real houses utterly boring.

In the end i just allways did what was the most fun and it seems to have payed out. I think i´m pretty well prepared to get a job in the industry or to start my own gaming company after graduating.

Just do what you enjoy. If you don´t enjoy your studies and work your life´s going to be hell, even though you might be able to beat yourself to learn all that boring shit anyways or get payed heaps of money for doing the job you hate.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I figured biology was more interesting and useful than English language and I wasn't going to take extra maths to do physics. University-wise, my top two picks I could get into were Lancaster and Dundee. Dundee being one of the best in biology within the UK, but also being an industrial town that didn't appeal and would mean less visiting my family and friends. So Lancaster it was.

[Spin Echo]

I settled on my current education/career path by trying a lot of different ones until I found one I really liked. Internships are your friend. They give you a better idea of what your career path would be like than your classes do.

As for how I chose my university, I had heard it was a pretty good school.

[Vehrec]

High school left me with more questions than answers and a total lack of employment history. I had almost no idea what I wanted to do with myself, except for the fact that it would probably lie in the sciences. I started out in a group that was tenatively titled 'exploration' and was full of engineers who hadn't decided EXACTLY what they wanted to do with themselves just yet.
Two years of GEC courses and basic science later, I've ruled out Enginering because I can't bring myself to face the math, I've learned that I am trash at learning forign languages and Chemistry is kicking my ass around east campus. In a fit of despiration I sit down and look at major offerings with my advisor. Bless her soul, she helps me find Evolution and Ecology. It's big, vauge, and perfect for a guy who likes a bit of everything like me. I switch over immediately, and for the first time in University, it all makes sense to me. Of course, I do have a lot of useless GECs, like classical literature and theater but I like them. They make my transcript look fluffy and nice.

[SCRawl]

When I got out of high school, I went right into the military for their Regular Officer Training Plan: they pay for university, and you work for them for at least five more years. I really hated basic officer training, and it apparently hated me, so I went to the only civilian university I'd accepted: McMaster University, in my home town, for natural sciences. (All first year programs are general at my alma mater.) Second year rolled around, and I figured, "hey, I'll go into physics", because I figured I'd be good at it. I wasn't, but as being stubborn is something I was good at, I stuck it out to the end my four-year degree.

These days, my degree is good for approximately jack and shit, and the only thing about it is that it didn't cost me all that much -- about $10k (in early 1990s dollars) in tuition, total. I also lived at home, which, while being kind of a bummer, saved me oodles of cash.

I'm pretty sure I'd do something different if I had a chance to be 17 again.

[Lettuce]

I still have no idea. I went to community college for a while, to save my dad money while i decided. But, I'm no closer to a decision now. I was initially going to major in history or art and then teach... until I realised I kind of hate kids. (Only the big ones though... little kids are great.) I then went into culinary, but the program was lame and there was no pastry program, and that's what I love.
So, now, I'm leaning toward physics and sociology as a double major. It would be nice if I had a helpful advisor to.... you know, advise, but ah well. I'm 22, I have to learn to make decisions at some point.

[Knife]

close by, offered the courses I want, price was reasonable.

[Qwerty 42]

My state offers a scholarship for students who meet certain criteria who remain in-state as part of an effort to halt a "brain-drain," and free money is tough to argue with. That cut the list by about 98%.

[ArmorPierce]

Wanted some space from my dysfunctional-ass family. Place that I could afford, so basically the cheapest place possible. I choose accounting because it is a well paid profession that does have some flexibility. I then picked up Business administration with a concentration in Finance because I needed 150 credits before I can take the cpa exam so might as well put that toward another major. Gives me even more flexibility too.

[Balrog]

I picked my school because it was the best school I could get into and afford at the same time. It didn't take too long for me to make that decision.

I picked my field of study because I actually enjoy doing it. Sure English is looked down upon by the sciences and doesn't set up a clear-cut career path, but it's still far more applicable in the job market then bullshit majors like Philosophy or Women's Studies.

[NeoGoomba]

I was a lazy, dumbfuck kid who didn't care how utterly worthless and impractical an English degree was, only that the coursework, even the vaunted honors program, was a joke.

And now I reap what I sow.

[Walsh]

I wanted to do some form of engineering, and I live in an area surrounded by coal mines, so mining engineering it was.

[Rye]

I did lots of IT shit for ages, planning on becoming an IT technician, but I found it depressingly unfulfilling when I actually got a job doing it. I knew I'd commit suicide if I did that for the rest of my life, so I initially went to uni doing computer games design, but never really wanted to do it.

Not last year, but the year before, I wrote a feature length script with my cousin with the idea of filming it as a combined project. I volunteered at a media company in Preston (doing IT shit and then helping out on shoots) after that for a while, then decided I ought to do it professionally and get a degree in media shit. After all, there's enough tards in the media, and I think it's about time I got a soap box to get my ideas spun from to counter them.

So currently, I'm doing Media, Writing and Production. My creative side gets all the opportunity it needs to express itself, my antitheistic, political and rationalist side gets a pulpit, my technical side learns the technology and how to apply it. It was an arduous process, and it took a long time working out Mr Morden's question of "What do you want?" and then how to go about it. The moving of the BBC to Manchester in the upcoming years offers me the perfect opportunity for it all to come together, potentially.

[Fire Fly]

I was accepted to Penn State, Boston College and Duke but opted against those choices because my family isn't exactly the richest. So instead, I chose the University of Wisconsin because of in state tuition (much cheaper), it consistently ranks high in academics (among to the top in the world) and has a vibrant city life with lots of fun things to do.

I chose my field because I saw Jurassic Park when I was in 3rd grade and wanted to become a geneticist and clone dinosaurs.

edit for error

[irishmick79]

Hey Fire fly, did you go to UW-Madison? I just finished up there in August 2006.

Initially after high school, I went to UW-Oshkosh for 2 years and flunked out because I was a fuckwit who liked to party it up and didn't really have a plan other than finding some dead end 8-4 office job stuffing envelopes, get an apartment somewhere, and partying with my buddies on weekends.

I wound up getting that job after I flunked out and quickly realized that it sucks ass, and I didn't want to do that for a living. So, I got into the local tech college and started taking classes. I still wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do until September 11th hit. I've always been a history wonk, and I quickly realized that the national discourse was woefully lacking in any kind of perspective of the complexities of US relations with the Middle East. I changed my focus from general credit classes, started taking a lot more international history courses, and eventually wound up at UW-Madison studying History. I graduated in '06 with a BA.

Now, I'm working at Immigration Customs Enforcement in Vermont, I'm going through the enlistment process to be an officer with Naval Intelligence. Hopefully someday I'll be at CIA or the FBI doing counter-terrorism, trying to explain to my government colleagues why our approach to terrorism would be better with me at the helm.

[Balrog]

I was a lazy, dumbfuck kid who didn't care how utterly worthless and impractical an English degree was, only that the coursework, even the vaunted honors program, was a joke.

And now I reap what I sow.

*shrugs* You reap what you sow. I know of several such people who've gotten good jobs in relevant fields and I've been proactive in planning my future by acquiring internships, getting work published, etc. By the sound of it you didn't do anything beyond coursework, so you're not exactly going to stand out among the crowd.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

By the middle of my Highschool career, it was narrowed down to either physics or chemistry. I liked both ( or tolerated the best). Since I didn't put much stock into guidance councilors at the time, I flipped a coin. Heads: physics, Tails: chemistry.

I chose the uni that was close by. It was affordable, and the profs there ( most of them) are pretty likable characters.

[Coriolis]

I was big with sciences in high school so I tried out engineering. I ended up going to Cornell because it has an excellent engineering school.

[Guardsman Bass]

I am going to the University of Utah simply because it was the only school I applied to that admitted me. Admittedly, I applied to tough schools outside of the U, but still, I sort of came close - I at least got on the waiting list at University of Virginia. Plus, the U of U is very cost-effective; I remember it being cheap not only for out-of-state tuition, but in terms of in-state tuition as well.

As for my education, well, that is pretty much a migration and resignation on my part to my fate as a Political Science Major. I'd have to re-tool at this point and spend an additional 2-3 years in college if I wanted to go back to the field I am having remorse over leaving and earn a degree: Economics.

[Durandal]

Originally, I wanted to go into graphic design or computer graphics, doing special effects stuff for movies. I had always had a moderate flare for art, I could draw half-way competently, and I loved to diddle around in Photoshop. So I visited a couple of art schools and, after having their programs explained to me, lost interest. I wanted to do stuff on computers, but I would've had to take a whole spate of art classes that I just didn't care about.

This was rather late in my high school career, so I had kind of backed myself into a corner. On top of that, I was a lazy ass and only applied to a couple of schools. I was accepted by DePaul into their digital media program, but the cost was, to say the least, prohibitive. The University of Illinois flat out rejected me, but one of their satellite campuses was happy to have me (in Springfield) for an inaugural undergrad program.

I found that I had a bit of a flare for physics when debating Star Wars vs Star Trek on ASVS and realized that that's what I wanted to pursue near the beginning of my first term at UIS, but they were a small liberal arts school and didn't have a physics program. On top of that, Springfield is a fucking boring town. So I investigated alternatives, like transferring to U of I after getting my GPA up. But after exchanging some e-mails with the staff there, they sounded like assholes, so I gave up on that.

So I applied to other state schools, which is what I should've done in the beginning. I applied to Northern Illinois University and Illinois State University. I got both acceptance letters on the same day. After visiting both schools, I decided on ISU because I liked the campus and town better. So I transferred after a year at UIS and started ISU's physics program.

One of the first things I did after getting on campus was apply to ISU's computer help desk for a job in tech support. I knew my way around computers and used to be a salesman at CompUSA, so I could talk to people. I was primarily a Mac user, but I could do Windows too, and they already had a Mac support guy. So they gave me a supporting the Windows people job right then and there, and I started earning beer money.

After a few months, their Mac support guy left for an internship, and my boss asked if I wanted to work on Mac support. I said sure. I got my own workstation to do with as I pleased, my workload was drastically reduced, and I got a little more responsibility and visibility. After a while, my boss asked me if I could put together that year's run of the school's software suite CD for the Mac. I had a little AppleScript experience and some Fortran I'd learned in physics courses, so I said sure.

So I put the CD together, updated our custom applications and scripts and cut my teeth on a major software project. As I kept going in that job, I started getting more and more interested in programming. So I declared a CS minor and switched my major to computational physics. Seemed like a fun way to bridge both worlds.

But after a couple months of that, I decided that I really didn't know what I'd do with a physics degree. I wasn't about to open up a physics store at the corner, and I just didn't have the passion for it that I used to. That passion had been replaced with a passion for computer science and programming. So, after 2 1/2 years as a physics major, I cut the cord and declared a CS major, despite my objections to calling computer science a science and swearing to myself (back in high school) that I would never touch code.

From there, I picked up a lot of on-the-job training in addition to my courses, since I was working on a relatively large (for 1 person of my experience) Cocoa application to make sure Macs on the school's LAN were up-to-date and such. I learned a lot about Unix IPC and a lot more about pointers than we were ever taught in class. (Objective-C objects are all referenced with pointers.) And I came out of school with a significant amount of experience already under my belt.

I had the benefit of having my career staring at me in the face for most of my undergrad. I was just too stupid to really notice. Thankfully I did notice and start down what I think was the right path before I became too entrenched somewhere else. Also, luckily, my laziness in high school only penalized me by a year or so. So I wasn't very far behind. It could've been much worse, but I got my act together my first year.

So the lesson is that very few people actually know what they want to do with themselves when they start college or university. You never know what might pique your interest. The key is to find a good school all around that will let you transfer between majors easily.

[Terralthra]

I started out in Computer Engineering at San Jose State University. I figured that a school with a highly-rated program situated in the middle of Silicon Valley would be a good place to learn it, and it was.

Unfortunately, when the .com boom busted, there were a lot of people with Computer Engineering degrees, and the company that had been giving me a full-ride scholarship + rent + living expenses went down. 3/4 of a degree doesn't get you very far. I made a living doing IT and such, worked at a bunch of cool places, then realized I had a passion for writing and teaching, so I went back to get a degree in language and discourse. I'm about finished with that degree, and applying for my MA in English Composition.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I have been a bio nerd since I could walk. So picking the major in college was easy, I knew what it would be since I was three.

The specialty has changed, but I have settled on the evolutionary and behavioral ecology of reptiles and amphibians, combining my two primary interests...

[Larz]

I went to the closest, cheapest, and most convenient university where I lived (hey, I couldn't say no to 4 free years of education as long as I didn't fuck up to bad.) As for the major I was aiming for something that would cover premed because I've always been fascinated and enamored by the idea of being a doctor and helping people. From this I chose to major in Biochemistry simply because the program encapsulated all the premed requirements for the university I was attending while not requiring a minor.

Of course then I got a job working in healthcare and with patients and discovered that while I could certainly do emergency medicine as I was aiming for, I hated patients and my lack of bedside manner made them dislike me as well. Fortunate for me I've discovered I like chemistry and especially applying it to living systems so I'm sticking with the Biochemistry and aims to one day get my Ph.D. in it.