Education! (and the further educated...)

[Jim]

I got to applying to University (a week past the deadline and a year late, I may add) and I also got to thinking...

I know we've had this thread before. I'm sure of it,

but I think that it was on the last board, the one that we lost everything from. I couldn't find anything in the two searches that I did at least.

Anyway, I'm probably going to end up studying Film (and Media or Television if I have to...) at University, maybe on the south coast (of England), maybe even up in Scotland, which is as far away from where I live in in Britain as is pretty much possible. Truth is, I didn't know where the hell Stirling (I thought it was a brand of cigarettes) was when I applied there. Even more truthfully, I didn't know much about any of my universities when I applied. I just knew that I had to at least apply, even if I end up not going. I did the whole bastard thing in one day, personal statement and all, and as a result I guess I haven't chosen the best places...

I just wondered what you all here studied...Or are studying...and where abouts...Or, if you're just an uneducated bum.

Or! A tale of how you dropped out of school, and are now king of the company, but without the student debt. Students love those one in a million tales shoved in their face,

at least I do.

But seriously...I don't.

[badapple81]

I did my GCSE's in England and did very well in them.. then finished high schooling here in Australia and passed but my grades were terrible simply because I lost all willpower and self discipline to study. I quite enjoyed some of the subjects especially Modern History and English but when I got home was more interested in jumping online and chatting (just got the net back then and ICQ was the thing) etc.

I stupidly then went to a private college and spent around $10,000 to $15,000 doing an IT course that I really didn't want to do but was pressured into doing something after I finished high school. I finished and passed it but then decided I hated it and didn't want a job in IT so never pursued it.

So went to work for a few years, nothing special and poor money but I wish I had just done that out of school looking back at it now instead of making rushed decisions.

Things have really fallen into place this year as I now am a manager (not a high senior manager or anything yet) at Coca Cola here in Australia and after many years now feel ready to sit down and study again. Luckily CC will pay for 80% of my course fees. I'm in the process of applying for University second semester start this year, doing Business Management. I'll be doing my degree through distance learning while working full time. I'm just going to start with one (maybe two) subject to get my feet wet again and see how I go. It's eally daunting after being away from any of this for so long and not knowing anything about how uni, subjects and the system works. The application process is also quite difficult and I'm really hoping I get accepted through mature age entry and life experiece etc. But yeah I really feel ready again and I'm glad I've waited all these years until I knew the time was right and I had the right frame of mind to take it seriously and have the willpower for it. I guess that comes when you actually are doing something you want to do.. which I've never experienced before.

[Jessica]

I have a drama school commended diploma from a London school that's affiliated to Middlesex University and South Bank University, so i have a 3 year university affiliation through this and furthered into something else in Environment Office for Windows.

[Genesis]

Currently doing my final semester of Computer Science Engineering. (Thank goodness  )

[kaasupoltin]

I'm studying layout designing and that kind of stuff in Helsinki. Maybe Axl'll ask me to design a new logo for Gn'R

[Hammy]

Or, if you're just an uneducated bum.

Nah, I'm an educated fool

I just wondered what you all here studied...Or are studying...and where abouts...

Well during my 6th form days i studied, English Language, Psychology, Sociology & Media Studies.

Not that they meant much to me i spent most days drinking in the pub and getting stoned, one of my teachers even forgot my name. ?Media Studies was the only one i actually enjoyed. ?I always did well in that no matter how stoned i was so that was a bonus. ?I thought about doing something along those lines at University like your doing, but decided against it just because i could not see too many job prospects in it.

I decided Law would be a good idea or at least by folks and there friends thought i'd be good at it and i just thought, fuck it, why not. ?The university i applied for (UCLAN - Preston - North West England....) i choose because they only wanted a B & 2 C's and most other places wanted A's. ?Another factor was the place was quite local and the final thing that made me choose the place was my tutor saying 'James if you don't pick somewhere in the next 5 minutes you won't be able to go anywhere....' so it was kind of a lucky dip thing to.

I found the course ok to start with, fairly easy and partying did not get in the way i managed to do both without a problem. ?This was for the first month or so before things really started to get going. ?Then i just skipped more and more lectures and spent the rest of the year stoned in my flat with my mates or down the nearest pubs with them. ?I barely attended and only passed 2 of my 6 modules. ?I had to therefore go back for resits in August as did one of my very good friends there Ben (nicknamed Pot.....go figure ). ?Well i managed to get stoned instead of actualy preparing for my exams and ended up only passing another one so that left me with the option to repeat the year. ?It was only part time though (since i passed half of it...). ?This year i had been doing better, not attending much but still doing most of what was needed, getting stoned but not as often. ?Being part time i was not entitled to the ?3000 student loan so i could not afford to live over there so i was travelling in each day, i only had to attend 2 days a week anyway, some weeks only 1. ?Normally i would sleep on one of my mate's sofa's for a few days, do the usual going out getting stoned thing. ?Christmas came though and i had spent all my money and my folks were wondering why i seemed down. ?I told them the course wasn't for me, i had finally realised and admitted to myself that it wasn't my thing.

So i never went back after Christmas, i quit smoking and all drugs (last stoner session was early January....). ?I have been jobhunting since, being a picky bastard though. ?During this time i have been improving more and more at the Gym before i used it twice a week pushing weights but being a stoner my diet wasn't that good (munchies...) and my cardio vascular was shit. ?Now i have a healthy diet, i go out running and use the Gym more and more (not too much there is such a thing as over training ). ?I enjoy it so much and have become really passionate about it so much so i decided to apply for a fitness/gym management course (get into being a personal trainer and stuff....). ?I had to do one of those bollocks personal statements again (God they suck....). ?Good news is i got a letter yesterday saying i have an appointment with the dude running the course a week today, so if that goes well i will start all over again in September. ?2 years at Burnley College and then for the 3rd i go back to Preston.

And i do have the student debt but i need to start earning a decent amount of money before i pay it back

Oh and here is my new idol

[badapple81]

That's good news. Well done for getting off the weed and getting healthy.

I think you deserve that letter about your course for the choices you made. When I had my last badly paid job, I decided to stop complaining about it and get a second job.. then I ended up getting just one quite well paid job.. I just believe you make your own luck.. and you get luck when it's deserved 

Now speaking about will power and personal training.. those two don't go together for me    I spent a couple of months with a personal trainer at the gym and was going quite well but then totally lost it!

[Danny Top Hat]

I'm in my first year of Uni, studying English and Media. ?I'd recommend it to anyone really, I find the topics we're studying pretty interesting and it's not been all that hard work (although this is just the first year, and it will get harder).

The way I see it, I have better things to do with my life than just spending all my time chasing after the best jobs and sucking up to employers. ?After Uni I will travel, and hopefully not stop travelling for a long time after. ?These three years are all about preparing myself for the future - getting myself in the right shape of mind and learning how to work hard when I have to. ?At the end of it i'll have a nice, shiny degree that I can use as a safety net if my dreams end up crashing down around me.

Go to Uni. ?You might as well - it's a lot of fun, you get to meet new people, you get a pretty easy lifestyle and you get a degree at the end of it all.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

i miss school. i was done with it last november
2000-2004 - graduate in computer science (with one year abroad - usa)
2004-2005 - master of information management and change driven management in Sciences Po Paris

now working in advertising, cause video games dont pay as much as i ask - damn sciences po -

and i REALLY miss school. i miss exams, classes, being a jackass in class ....

i wish i went to film school, cause i wanna be a director, hey Jim, care to shoot a short film with me ?

[Hammy]

That's good news. Well done for getting off the weed and getting healthy.

Yeah i would change my username but people would probably just get confused

Now speaking about will power and personal training.. those two don't go together for me? ? I spent a couple of months with a personal trainer at the gym and was going quite well but then totally lost it!

When i get over to Aus (if i ever do....). ?I'll kick you into shape

[badapple81]

Haha I had many lazy techniques when doing training.. I'd start making the 'ahhh' its hurting noises a few reps before I knew it would REALLY hurt cos he would then make he do like 5 more! I'm a terrible terrible student.. I need to go on one of those bootcamps or TV shows for lazy people.. but not cos im fat, im too skinny and need to bulk up!

Should make your nickname Formerly Stoned 

[Hammy]

Should make your nickname Formerly Stoned?

Or StonedNoMore

As for the training, you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

It's only useful having a personal trainer if you want to learn and get fit

[badapple81]

I do I do.. I just wish there was an easier way  I guess in time just like with studying as Im finally ready, someday I'll actually be happy to put in the hard effort.

[Skeba]

I've studied three years (this is the fourth) in the Tampere university of technology. They educate Masters of Science. I'll graduate in 2008. ?I'm majoring in signal processing (speech and audio). My minor studies will most propably be electronics (long), biomedical engineering and industrial engineeering.

[Mr. Dick Purple]

Well I already graduated and I'm Engenieer and I am finishing studying the CCNA courses which consist in desing networks and CISCO Routers 

[cheeser]

In my final semester at University of Delaware, USA....
Im studying Accounting and Finance.

anyone want to hire me??

[Izzy]

I went to The University of Birmingham (the good one in Birmingham)

The course was 2 hrs a week, everyone else had a 9-5 course, leaving me stuck on my own all day - i managed 6000 posts on HTGTH in 1 year as a result of trying to pass the time.....

I finished uni and the degree hasn't helped me get a job

The moral of the story

....loose lips sink ships


no wait.......thats not right,

...the moral is - do a vocational degree, don't do stupid subjects like history, philosopy, political science, media studies etc - save urself while u can!

[journey]

I studied psychology--basic, child and abnormal, for two years. It was an eight year program, but after two years I decided that it wasn't something that I wanted to do. So I dropped that major and pursued my minor in literature and creative writing. Probably not a smart move, but we'll see.

[unoturbo]

The moral of the story

....loose lips sink ships


no wait.......thats not right,

...the moral is - do a vocational degree, don't do stupid subjects like history, philosopy, political science, media studies etc - save urself while u can!

Couldn't agree with that more, even the ships bit.

I did really well at GCSE's and so I carried on and did Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-level and fucking hated it. So much so that I didn't bother doing any revision at all and managed to scrape some pretty crappy marks. My plan was to just get a job, which worked at first as I had enough money to buy an Uno Turbo  . However, after 2 years of having two very bad jobs with shit pay and the worst managers possible, I finally relented to the pressure from my parents and went to Uni, studying mechanical engineering for four years! Yay.

Uni life was really cool, the only draw back was the cost and living like a tramp. All you have to do is learn how to pass the exams and keep on top of course work and everything is cool. Oh, and despite what anyone says, the first year counts for shit so enjoy it while you can.

I left Uni last year and am now working for a Water company as a graduate engineer. Oh and everyone down South (in England) is getting a hosepipe ban very soon! You've been warned 

[Jim]

If I had ambition to be something, then I would take law, or accounting, or one of the sciences. But I don't.

Most people that I know who are studying something like accounting are only doing it because they have a

view to earn more money.

I'm not like that. Yeah, I do want to do well. But not down a road that would lead to something that I can't engage with. I don't plan to go straight into work after my degree any way, like Danny. I'm only going to get a degree so that I have one. A little something just in case. I don't know what I'll do immediatly after university, I might try writing, or comedy. That's something that I've always been into.

The Universities that I applied to were,

Kent
UEA (Norwich)
Stirling
Sussex
Sunderland (Ha! Though, they do want a piece me pretty badly. They lowered the entry points for me so that I only need 40 more UCAS points this summer to get in...(that's like, one E))
Portsmouth

I don't know if anybody was, or is, at any of them...I've only every been to UEA. I liked it, somebody who I studied Film at sixth form with goes there, he says it's a cool place.

i wish i went to film school, cause i wanna be a director, hey Jim, care to shoot a short film with me ?

My original plan was to try and become a screen writer, but I fucked up English last year. My final exams are this summer, but I'll be lucky to get a C. So if I don't go into television (I've thought about trying to write comedy for a while) then definatly, see you there. 


As far as A-levels go, I studied Maths, Computing, History and Philosophy to begin with.

I dropped History in the first week and took Film Studies.

I dropped Computing and Maths after my first year (I stopped going, I turned up to the exams for no real reason. I declined my grades in the end) and picked up Enlglish Literature and Classical Civilization.

So now, in my third year, I've finished Philosphy and Film, and am still in sixth form to finish Literature and Classics. It's part time, so I only have to be in college for about an hour and a half a day.