University - this might be a really naive question

[Myka]

Thanks for all the advice and links. I wil have to go over this more thoroughly later today when I have some time.

but to answer the question, yes I will need to do and redo some highschool courses. Yeck! I didn't take highschool very seriously, and didn't show up for most of it. I very clearly remember being questioned about my 140 absences per semester.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Myka

but to answer the question, yes I will need to do and redo some highschool courses. Yeck! I didn't take highschool very seriously, and didn't show up for most of it. I very clearly remember being questioned about my 140 absences per semester.

Sounds familiar. I dropped out in grade 8 and worked construction until I was 30. I then went back to school, spent 5 years in post secondary, and never worked a day in my chosen field. My last sememster had me working for the department supervising a directed study in some computer topics, and that got me interested in IT. So I finished school, trained my self in IT and have been working in that field ever since. School was great, had a lot of fun and gained a broad range of knowledge, but it cost me 68k for something I've never officially used. It's good to have a plan, but remember, often the plan can change along the way. There are also a lot of jobs out there that aren't described in any school calendar.
Evaluate what you like to do, ie; do you like working with your hands, problem solving, like people, etc. Then narrow it down. Decide what is important, doing something you love, or doing something that earns you a killer income, thereby providing the ability to do things you love after hours. I know a dog trainer that makes less than 30k a year, she's really happy. I know a dental specialist that makes 400k a year, he's really happy too One does it for love, the other for money. Decide on life's priorities and pursue your goals, which need to include personal goals in addition to career goals.

[Skimmerking]

Mindy you seem quite smart and intelligent. Have you thought about the Forces. I'm not trying to pull the army life on you its not for everyone, however i know of many ladies that have moved into job and love it there are over 1000 trades, and the money is quite good. They will pay for your schooling too if you go the degree route in. All trades you dont pay for you get yearly bonuses.
your leave with pay
yearly increase of 1.5 -2.5 %
you get a march Break
Summer leave.

But there is also a place where you can work for the reserves in Saskatoon too.

[christyf5]

Don't waste your money. Find out what interests you first and what type of education you need before you get into it as well as job availability and ease of movement (how available jobs are between cities). My job is pretty specific, I can work here in Nanaimo, or I can work on the east coast. It is transferable to the medical industry (more scope) but I'd have to go back to school to get certified for it, and I'm not willing to invest another 40K into it. The last thing you need is to scrimp and save for an expensive educaton that you don't use anyways (currently I'm in the marine biology field, my degree was in microbiology). I have a BSc that for the past 5 years has had me on EI at least 4 of them. I wish I had gone to BCIT to do something more in the medical field or a trade. Biology is interesting and all but you certainly don't get any sort of steady job out of it.

Defintely think about this before you take the plunge. 4 years of Mr. Noodles and Kraft Dinner ain't fun

[TheMikey]

IMO the biggest mistake about univeristy - especially undergraduate work - is that people go into it with the sole purpose of coming out with a job on the other side (professional colleges aside). The thing with University (especially College of Arts & Sciences) is that the vast majority of your coursework to get your diploma has absolutely nothing to do with any job that you will pick up after your tenure at University. Take classes you're interested in and you'll eventually find the direction you want to take in your academic life.

Education is never a wasted investment and after you have your B.A. or B.Sc, the job you want will likely find you.

[Delphinus]

Very nicely said, TheMikey.

For what it's worth. there are some professions for which the starting degree is important. Education, Medicine/Healthcare/Nursing, Engineering, Law, and Pharmacy come to mind. Otherwise a degree is fairly generic and the true value of that piece of paper is that it demonstrates a certain tenacity of character, rather than any specific knowledge that came with it.

A degree is by no means a ticket to wealth. I know someone with a B.Sc in biology and she earns three times my salary because she is a professional recruiter (which has nothing to do with her degree). However for that one example, I can think of at least a dozen other friends with the same degree who are stuck in low paying dead end jobs with no hope of advancement. It is an interesting degree but it shows that to really do well with it, you actually need to go on and do post-graduate work as well. In fact, this is probably true of all the science disciplines with the *possible* exception of maybe computer science, geology, and geophysics (and even those last two are sort of dicey: in good times in a resource based economy there are positions available a-plenty; in dicier times there are not.) Also computer science isn't the degree it used to be, what I think of a comp. sci is nowadays more comp. engg.

[TheMikey]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Very nicely said, TheMikey.

For what it's worth. there are some professions for which the starting degree is important. Education, Medicine/Healthcare/Nursing, Engineering, Law, and Pharmacy come to mind. O

Yeah, Engineering aside, none of those are direct entry programs. I was interested in international relations when I got out of high school and started political science at Uni. About three years in I realized that I'd prefer to practice the law than critique it. So now I'm first year law at the U of S. I never thought our of high school that I'd pick this, but hey - that's what education does, it opens doors. Take the classes that pique your interest and see where it takes you.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by asmodeus

Mindy you seem quite smart and intelligent. Have you thought about the Forces. I'm not trying to pull the army life on you its not for everyone, however i know of many ladies that have moved into job and love it there are over 1000 trades, and the money is quite good. They will pay for your schooling too if you go the degree route in. All trades you dont pay for you get yearly bonuses.
your leave with pay
yearly increase of 1.5 -2.5 %
you get a march Break
Summer leave.

But there is also a place where you can work for the reserves in Saskatoon too.

An additional benefit to the forces career (essentially you're a public servant), is, if you stick with it long enough, there's a pension at the other end. Not sure what the pension deals look like right at the moment, but it's all tied to the Federal Public Servant model (and they've go some good stuff going on, your tax dollars at work). There are 3 different elements to chose from, sea, land, air, all with many career options. As mentioned by asmodeus, there is even the military college route, which essentially pays your way to a degree, although many of those will be in fields relevant to the military. I received excellent training as a technician in the air force. No idea where your interests lie specifically, but being from the air side of things, I'm a little biased in that direction. The army sends their soldiers to the front, the navy are all on the same boat, pun intended (officers and seamen are all in harms way if it comes to that), the air force generally sends their officers (pilots) into the line of fire.

If there's a down side, it's the fact that you're technically on duty 24/7 and you need to be prepared to move every 4 years or so, sometimes a major move. And you could end up in harms way, obviously, depending on your chosen career. Army can see you in the field, deployed for extended periods, same for the Navy, out to sea. Air Force too, but generally not as long and in many cases deployments involve hotel stays. Jammy trips and not so jammy trips.

[whatcaneyedo]

You seem like the kind of person who would really enjoy University so I say go for it. But dont do it because you want to get a particular job or because you think you'll make big bucks when you're done. A bachelors degree doesnt mean a lot in this day and age and most people seem to get into careers far different from the ones they had in mind when they first went to school. Do it because you want to have the experience and because you will ultimately be better off for it.

BTW I've got a BComm and now I'm apprenticing as a Carpenter.