OT: What colleges should I apply to?

[moofs]

This thread needs to get bookmarked for when someone's asking the same question next year. Been a lot better than the last two years have been.

Completely agree with "Do. Not. Mortgage. Your. Future. For. An. Undergrad. Degree.", "(And don't forget about that "bathe but don't shave" bit from earlier. That s**t works.)", and that "College is where you learn how to think, not how to prepare yourself for a career." (I wouldn't go so far as to say you 'learn to think' there, but it does help), but only the first two are applicable toward the question.

[tha_rock220]

What high school do you go to?? If you go to a good school like Carnegie-Vanguard or Debakey you'll probably get in. If you go to Westbury or Worthing you're in trouble.

Apply to UH and Rice as well as UT and TAMU. Like it's been said already, if you study business you'll learn concepts and how to think like a business person. You won't learn how to do anything. The only real undergrad degree I can think of that prepares you for a career would have to be computer science. Even with engineering it's the same, yeah you learn the basic sciences(thermodynamics is so basic) and the their applications in your field, but when you get your 1st job you're not going to go straight to work. You're going to be trained.

Another thing to consider, pretty much everything you learn in undergrad is established and has been known for decades, so going to a great school isn't nearly as important there as it is for grad school.

[Jet17]

i got accepted to UT but not UH
strange and weird
later UH called me telling me that i can attend UH downtown first then transfer to UH
i told them screw you i'm going to UT

Ya, I got accepted to UT 1 month after I applied but it took literally 7 months for A&M to accept me. They actually didn’t even accept me at first – they put me on a waiting list. I ended up getting in but still – it’s ridiculous.

I go to UT right now. I'm in the business school. I've worked finance jobs (which is my major) and a lot of what I learn in school is not applicable at work. At the same time, the knowledge I attained in school has given me a solid foundation to build further upon and that has been invaluable at work. Had I gone into work without that base, I would be fired in the first week. This is high finance though. You can get away with less knowledge in other industries.

I’m in the business school at UT. What’s your first name?

i'm not from the US but i heard that Rice is pretty good.
not sure if it offers what u want there.

Oh ya, Rice is the best school in Texas - not UT. I wasn’t even thinking about Rice before

Also, to whoever said UT and A&M are the best colleges in Texas... respectfully disagree. There's no one "best" college out there, despite what the Ivy League will tell you. (But they're a whole 'nother rant...) Different colleges work better for different people. If I'd gone to UT, I would've absolutely hated it. Classes of, what, 500+ sometimes? No thanks, I couldn't do it. Know what you're getting yourself into. Be sure you do an overnight visit. See what things are like on campus when the sun goes down. Sit in on a class. Ask questions of people you meet, especially if they're not your tour guide or an official campus person.

Well I agree but when I said “best” I just meant universities that are seen be many people to be the best – and I think that’s what really matters. Here’s why:

Say you get into UH and Harvard. You think you’ll be better off at UH because it specializes in whatever it is you want to major in…but you don’t go to UH - you go to Harvard because it will undoubtedly be easier to find a job when you graduate. Now I don't want to come off as narrow minded here but I think a college’s primary function should be to help you find a job. Don’t get me wrong – I think a good education is EXTREMELY important. People who don’t know how to think for themselves or form a coherent sentence seriously piss me off. The thing is that if I REALLY wanted to have the best education possible I would drop out of college and hire a one-on-one tutor for every subject that I am taking. I would undoubtedly learn better and faster. But the thing is I don’t do that – no one does that. Because, despite what people tell you, their PRIMARY reason for going to college is to get that degree that will help them find a good job. Again, don’t get me wrong. It is extremely important to be well-educated – to be well-read and an independent thinker. You can accomplish that wherever you go to college though. Think, so many intelligent people in the past didn’t even go to college and it didn’t affect them one bit. They still turned out to be extremely successful – and this wasn’t the exception – it was extremely commonplace - and this was only about 30 years ago. Recently, however, it’s become almost mandatory to attend college to find an adequate job – and that’s why so many people go now. You don’t need to go to college to become intelligent and well-read – you can do that anywhere – you go to find a job.

I'm going to be a senior at UT next year and I'm still not sure exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life - a lot people my age face this same dilema which causes them to start panicing. If you're not sure what to do, don't panic. Just get the best degree you can. Right now I'm majoring in accounting at one of the best accounting schools in the US. Why should I be worried? Think of the 1984 draft. The Blazers had the second pick and they wanted to draft a center. Hakeem was taken first - so who was left? Three future HALL OF FAMERS were Charles Barkely, Michael Jordan, and John Stockton - but none of them were centers...so who did the Blazers draft? Sam Bowie. So I guess it comes down to what kind of guy you are - the guy who drafts according to team needs or the guy who picks the best possible player available. I guess you can tell what kind of guy I am.

[syj805]

I used to think that an undergraduate education was a waste of time, but a plus is that you get to experience 'college life'. If business comes naturally to you and that's what you want to pursue, there are plenty of good schools around. I only know of Rice in the Texas area, but you can look up in U.S. News & World or some other magazine that publishes top schools in those catagories. Make sure to take up internships whenever possible, it'll help with job prospects for the future.