Finally starting college. Questions, I have questions!!!



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Wandering Idiot
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Surely something dumber has come up since my apparent forgetfulness for STDs and doctor visits.

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Yep, I'm finally getting off my ass and going to school, a real school. No more of this bullshitting around with vocational programs. I start in about a month at the local community college. Since my math is shit,it's what I'll be working on for the next several years. I'm pretty much starting from scratch at elementary algebra and have to work myself through calculus and analytical geometry 3 by the end of my CC time, in about two years. I'm enrolling for what's called 'University parallel for applied sciences in engineering', so all of my CC credits will transfer to the University of Memphis.

I'm also working nights, which will afford me time to talk to and doodle on boxes. What I'm looking for right now are math podcasts. Just something I can throw on my mp3 player and listen to while I shuffle freight from pallet to cart to shelf. So really, that's my first question. Where the hell do I find math podcasts? Are there any that cover elementary or intermediate algebra?

Too lazy to reply properly.

Dio

rebel rebel

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I'm puking.

Fuck college.

Wandering Idiot
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Yeah, think I got the drinking stage out of the way already. Thanks though.

Too lazy to reply properly.

Ztolk
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Rawr.

definitely threw the blue lego

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Check out Khan Academy.

"ztolk it seems like all you do is watch videos of muscular people vomiting"
-ice

Air Bud
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Good for you! You can always drop me a line for some help with concepts and what-not, I'm just finishing up my B.S. in Mathematics in two weeks, so I know a thing or two.

Also, there are a ton of resources online to help with basic math, so once something doesn't make much sense, just start looking for videos on YouTube. Khan Academy is pretty good from what I've seen.

Basically, just do tons and tons and tons of exercises in your books. Math is one of those things where you really just need a ton of practice until it becomes second nature. Learn the tricks, understand the rules and definitions, and it becomes fairly straightforward.

As for podcasts, I have no idea. Math is definitely not a spectator sport, you really need hands-on.

jimmy
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My advice is:

Take classes that apply to your major in the classroom. Pay attention, do the homework and you'll be fine. Since you can't just take math for two years and graduate:

Take filler classes that fulfill multiple graduation requirements online. Unless you're not certain what you'd like to study, bullshit your way through every "breadth of scholarship" type of course you can. Don't get caught up in "Survey of American History from 1725" if you don't have to. A big part of college is figuring out how to prioritize your classes to maximize your grades and minimize your stress. Look for blowoff classes like history of American music. They'll require more writing, but usually fulfill like three different university requirements and very minimal effort. That said:

Concentrate on learning the material, not on jumping through the hoops to get straight A's. Nobody gives a shit about your GPA outside your school (unless you're planning on grad school, but engineers don't normally bother to go beyond their B.S.). Of course, keep your GPA at a point that you don't lose any financial aid, but seriously don't sweat A's and B's if you don't have to. A lot of people burn out due to the stress of grades and never finish, which is never as productive as graduating with < 3.0.

D
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i didn't have the strength to get it all the way off

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http://www.mathbabes.com/

C
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Level 90 Ginger

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I don't know if you've used all your GIBill benefits or not, but if you plan on using them, GET ON THAT SHIT NOW. The initial enrollment for school benefits takes forever, especially if you have some idiot who got the job by doing 4 years as an E-2 then getting out and using their benefits to land themselves a job in the VA Assistance department of your school. Seriously, it takes forever.

Get your NOBE (Notice of Basic Eligibility) from iPerms and take that with you when you go to enroll. I think that's the only form you need, although you may need your DD-214 also.

As far as math goes, do it in the classroom. If your brain is wired anything like mine, online mathematics classes are your ticket to saying "screw it" and failing a class or two, which is a waste of valuable time. College blows, and I've been at it for 7 years, finally buckling down in the last year and a half.

I can be pretty much no help in mathematics, but if you need help with any of the English or Business classes, I can probably help you out. Good luck.

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goatsnacks
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I would add to all this that you should go ahead and visit the University of Memphis and make sure you take all the classes you can at the community college that apply to the bachelors you'll transfer over to. It'll save a lot of money and chances are the classes will be easier.

edit: also, I am horrible with math but I get English for the most part and know a little Latin (it's kind of pointless 0_o)

Wandering Idiot
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Quoted from Tonto Goldstein:
I don't know if you've used all your GIBill benefits or not, but if you plan on using them, GET ON THAT SHIT NOW.

I'm actually eligible for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, so I'll be going that route. I had the army pay my student loans for Nashville Auto Diesel College, leaving me with only a year to apply to Post-9/11, which is 50-60%. VR&E will pay for everything related to school, books, etc, plus a monthly stipend.

Goat, I will be going to University of Memphis, and my comm college offers a 1:1 credit transfer program with Memphis. Everything I can take at the community college will be done there, but once I hit my third year, I have to go to Memphis for the engineering classes.

Thanks, everyone. I'd ramble a bit more but we're getting hit by some rough storms and the tornado sirens have been going off forever.

Too lazy to reply properly.

IF0
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Hey, I was with Mary Magdalene last night....smell my finger lol

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Make sure you know what you're wanting to do. Changing your major can be quite expensive, plus you'll lose interest in the classes and possibly do poorly. If you're doing something like engineering or something science-related, be prepared for grad school as well, and you can even look into accelerated masters programs, too, to cut down upto a year off of the length of education.

Socrateius
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homersexual

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Quoted from IF0:
Make sure you know what you're wanting to do. Changing your major can be quite expensive, plus you'll lose interest in the classes and possibly do poorly. If you're doing something like engineering or something science-related, be prepared for grad school as well, and you can even look into accelerated masters programs, too, to cut down upto a year off of the length of education.

And if you're torn between the sciences/engineering and other disciplines (liberal arts), do the sciences/engineering. It's a lot easier to transition from sciences/engineering to other arts, given that they require more esoteric knowledge/skills.

HeavenGaymes hahaha gay mes

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Muzta
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Quoted from Soccy:
Quoted from IF0:
Make sure you know what you're wanting to do. Changing your major can be quite expensive, plus you'll lose interest in the classes and possibly do poorly. If you're doing something like engineering or something science-related, be prepared for grad school as well, and you can even look into accelerated masters programs, too, to cut down upto a year off of the length of education.

And if you're torn between the sciences/engineering and other disciplines (liberal arts), do the sciences/engineering. It's a lot easier to transition from sciences/engineering to other arts, given that they require more esoteric knowledge/skills.

Seconded

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Wandering Idiot
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I'm pretty well settled on taking sciences/engineering. I just haven't settled on what path of engineering I'd like to go down, as of yet. I'm primarily looking towards mechanical or electrical at this point, but part of me wants to go civil, then focus on earthquake engineering in grad school. However, the job market for that specific track is pretty minimal in the mid-south, and part of VR&E is getting a degree with a sizable job market. The only thing that could tear me away from engineering at the moment is meteorology, but again, job market kills it.

I'm not so much planning on grad school, as it's quite a few years away at this point, but I'm well aware that many of the engineering disciplines practically require it. The same can be said for meteorology. My plan for now is to simply get through my first two years at community college, and decide which path to take at that point.

This is the link to the courses I'll take at CC:

http://www.southwest.tn.edu/catalog/10-11/programsStudy/engineeringAS.htm

Basically this:

Quote:

First Semester
Course Number Course Title
ENGL 1010 English Composition I (Gen. Ed.)
MATH 1910 Calculus and Analytic Geometry I (Gen. Ed.)
CHEM 1110 General Chemistry I (Gen. Ed.)
SPCH 2010 Oral Communication (Gen. Ed.)
**** Social/Behavioral Sciences (Gen. Ed.)

Second Semester
Course Number Course Title
ENGL 1020 English Composition II (Gen. Ed.)
MATH 1920 Calculus and Analytic Geometry II
CHEM 1120 General Chemistry II (Gen. Ed.)
**** Social/Behavioral Sciences (Gen. Ed.)
**** Humanities/Fine Arts (Gen. Ed.)

Third Semester
Course Number Course Title
**** Literature (Gen. Ed.)
MATH 2110 Calculus and Analytic Geometry III
PHYS 2110 Physics for Science and Engineering I
**** History (Gen. Ed.)

Fourth Semester
Course Number Course Title
**** History (Gen. Ed.)
**** Humanities/Fine Arts (Gen. Ed.)
MATH 2120 Differential Equations
PHYS 2120 Physics for Science and Engineering II

For my summer semesters, I plan on taking my algebra pre-reqs, speech one semester and a gen ed the other. This being my first real go at school in quite some time, along with working 30~ hours a week (at night), I don't want to burn myself out in the first two months.

Also, my wife will be attending an accelerated masters program with Union University next year, focusing on education. Since I'll be going through Voc Rehab for my education, she'll be able to use my Post-9/11 GI Bill to cover a portion of the costs. We're not entirely sure how much 60% will cover of her program, but enough that any loans we have to take won't be substantial. If/when I find myself in grad school, I'll be shooting for any scholarship I can get to pay for it, and will probably need a few loans. Still, to get a bachelors, debt free, a few loans won't bother me for a masters.

There's always the option of pushing my way through a double major, engineering and meteorology, but that will be up to the VAs' approval and my ability to stay awake/study.

Too lazy to reply properly.

Trash Mod
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Do the earthquake thing and move to socal. I'd bet there's plenty of jobs in that specialty down here.

D
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I'd say don't go into electrical engineering unless that is what you really want to do. ME's do a lot of EE stuff (if they want to), but not the other way around. Also if you want to deal with anything that moves or has any dynamics in time, don't do civil (unless you're more serious about the grad school idea then you sound). If you're just interested in working in earthquake research/work then there are plenty of opportunities for that for ME's as well. Overall ME is the most open-ended option so I would stay away from the others unless you're more certain about where you want them to take you.

This reply was last edited on 05-05-11 08:08:33 PM by D.

Wandering Idiot
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Mechanical is most likely the path I'll be taking. If I were to pursue earthquake engineering, civil would be the path I'd have to take (for UofMemphis, at least). I'm a bit more serious about the idea of grad school that I let on, but it's not something I'll be concerning myself with immediately. I'm not rejecting the idea, it's just better to focus on what I have on my plate now.

Socal would be fucking awesome, but it's not exactly what the wife has in mind. Plus, I have the New Madrid fault here to study if I were to seriously consider earthquake engineering.

Too lazy to reply properly.

D
Sticks \vs/ Drums
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i didn't have the strength to get it all the way off

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For earthquake engineering, I just meant to say that as a mechanical you could work in that field, even if your MS doesn't specifically say it. There is a lot of work for ME's to do in that field as well.

Best of luck with everything!

Wandering Idiot
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Ah, gotcha.

Welp, just registered for summer classes today. Had I known the math classes were going to fill up so quickly I would have registered weeks ago. I had to wait until after my appointment with the VR&E advisor to register, just to make sure things were still kosher, but now I have to postpone intermediate algebra until the fall, and elementary algebra to summer semester 2. So, hooray for bullshit classes for the first summer semester (speech, english comp 1). Art appreciation will be a hoot in summer 2.

I registered for the fall now to prevent the same kind of fuckery later. Now onto FAFSA for pell grant goodness.

Just out of curiosity, what other math classes should I be looking forward to (besides elem and int algebra) before I take 'Calculus and analytical geometry 1'?

Too lazy to reply properly.

Ztolk
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Rawr.

definitely threw the blue lego

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I took calculus and linear algebra freshman classes. Both were pretty neat (although calculus was mostly a repeat of highschool).

"ztolk it seems like all you do is watch videos of muscular people vomiting"
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Dirk'sGoldenLocks

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Biology Major here. Wish I would've majored in something I enjoyed, since as long as I have required classes, I don't have to be a Biology Major.

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Aww that's a very depressing first post MAGUSMAGUSMAGUSMAGUS

Poor guy.

Wandering Idiot
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Fuck speech class. Fuck it in it's polyp lined colon.

Also, any suggestions for changing writing styles? My comp professor referred to my writing style as "comparable to mid-19th century literature" and has deemed it useless in academia. Outside of 19th century lit courses, that is.

I'm literally hitting a brick wall forcing myself to write outside of my standard style. Also, I can't write a narrative for fuck all.

Too lazy to reply properly.

Ztolk
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Rawr.

definitely threw the blue lego

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Maybe post a sample?

"ztolk it seems like all you do is watch videos of muscular people vomiting"
-ice

Wandering Idiot
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Quote:

As with my mother, I have a great tendency to exude a negative tone. Often ready with a quip, we attempt to see, and occasionally exclaim aloud, the negative aspects of all that lies before us. This stands in stark contrast to my father, always a beacon of optimism. He hopes for the best while my mother and I fully expect the worst. On many occasions throughout my childhood, I've witnessed my father's follies in entrepeneurialism end in predictably terrible fashion repeatedly. Suffering the consequences of his horrible decisions has left me with sore intentions towards an optimistic outlook.

The assignment was a narrative of 'how are you like your parents'. Obviously I didn't write a narrative, but an exemplification essay. Thankfully, he's giving me until monday to re-write the essay.

I am wordy as all fuck, I know.

Too lazy to reply properly.

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