Looking for some college advice...

R

RedEdge77

Joined
Jul 13, 2005
Messages
2,303
Warning: Somewhat long

Well folks I'm at the point in my life where I have to make my decision. Right now I have two choices, two very different options, and I cannot figure out which way to go. So here I am asking you people who I consider friends (for the most part:p) for some advice.

One school is a State University school called ESF, environmental science and forestry. This school is about 3 hours away, one of the best run state schools in the country, and also very nice in pretty much every way. I would be studying Natural Resource Management which is basically studying and preserving the environment.

The other school is a 2 year community college which is about a 20 minute drive, giving me the capability to live at home. It is one of the best community colleges in the country. Another plus is that it is cheap. I would be studying criminal law/criminal justice.

The reason why I am asking for some thoughts on this is because up until a few days ago I was very much so ready to go to ESF. I had almost everything all figured, just waiting till fall. I visited the campus and have nothing but good things to say about it. The downside is that I do not feel as though I would be willing to make a commitment to a school in which it is very science focused and driven.

The community college offers some great deals and I also feel as though I would be more ready to study something like criminal law than the environment. I am also thinking about how in the long run criminal law would give me the option for a variety of jobs in this field, while Natural resource management is very specialized, and I do not know that in this point and time that is something I would like to commit to for my whole life.

Well that about sums it up for the most part. So now I'm looking for some opinions from some of you corkies to just give me some outside opinions on the situation. Oh and sorry for the long read, if you made it this far, thank you :).
 
Here's something to consider. If you change your mind about anything, you can always transfer. Yes, you lose some credits. But then you waste 1-2 years instead of 4+.
 
in my humble opinion, unless you are taking the basics, the community college is a waste of time and money.
juco and community colleges do not offer nearly as much in terms of credibility or ease of transition.
Consider this: is it possible you will go on to a graduate degree after your undergrad degree? If so, the community college would be a waste.

good luck man,
Brett
 
You mention two possible courses of study, Natural Resource Management and
criminal law/criminal justice, which are rather far apart.

Have you considered an aptitude test? A good friend of mine thought he wanted to be an engineer but took a test which indicated engineering would be an unsuitable choice. He ended up majoring in English and eventually retired from a successful career in technical writing.
 
Your resume' will look better for the rest of your life and you will have an easier time getting better jobs for the rest of your life if you go four years at a state university. It is worth the investment.

And, as Mr. bdws1975 so wisely points out, if you decide to persue a graduate degree, you will have much more options with four years at a state university on your C.V.
 
Does the community college offer full transfer of credits to a state college if you get a degree? Many community colleges offer two year associate degrees that allow transfer. Mine did and it was a great stepping stone to my bachelor degree.

Either way, I'd say study your interests. If you want to go into some legal/justice field, any studying can only help. If all else, you'll have a step-up on any further education in the field.
 
Hey Red Edge

My advice is not to get too hung up on what your Major or Vocation will be. At 44 I have changed jobs four times and Vocations once. I am sure that this is true for most of us older guys here.

Your first two years are going to be your basic "core" classes anyway. Math, Biology, English, etc. For these fist two years I would pick the school that has the cheapest tuition.

I would pick the school that you feel is going to offer you the best education, and the broadest possibility to expand your horizons to prepare you for declaring a Major later in your college career.

I would also not worry about changing majors. Heck I did it three times, colleges are used to people doing this all the time..:thumbup:

Good Luck..it is an exciting time of life. My son is also heading off to college this fall.
 
You have some long term choices, money or satisfaction. If possible both, but few people achieve this.

Place yourself in a scenario 10 years after graduation, where will you be, where will your field have moved onto?

Regrettably very few tertiary qualifications are stand alone or the last that you will be doing. With experience comes opportunities, to snatch opportunities one often needs a bit more in qualification to beat the rest of the pack.

Lastly where do I want to live the rest of my life. In a recession or even a boom the local opportunities may vapourise and you need to look elsewhere for a career.
 
Thank you all very much for the replies!

I think as of right now I am leaning towards the community college because yes, the credits transfer to any school I would attend, and it also appears to be a better value all around in what I'm looking for. I also believe that criminal law will leave me with a greater choice of career options if I choose to pursue farther degrees in this field.

Once again, thanks :)
 
No offense meant, but there are a bunch of criminal justice majors out there, and CJ is a very popular course of study at community colleges.

I think ESF is going to be not only challenging, but have great and interesting opportunities.

I knew some forestry science majors in school, they spent all their time on the agriculture side of campus, had great profs, cool trips, great hands on type of classes.

The most important thing is you do what you enjoy.
 
I tend to agree with DaveH,I think you'll find a lot of career choices with the Natural Resource Management and some interesting options for self employment.
 
I feel your pain. I started college majoring in Chemistry, changed to Liberal Arts while I got my required courses out of the way, then in the thirty minutes before I finally had to make a decision and go register for something, flipped a coin to decide. Heads, Forestry - tails, Electrical Engineering. It came up heads. So I went and registered in engineering school :confused: and later got an MBA.

Never have regretted getting the EE, so it worked out fine.

My advice is that if your heart really dictates one area of interest over the other, forget everything else and just go for it. If you are really torn between the two, go with the environmental resources management, as you will likely have more opportunity later to study criminal justice than natural resources management, as the former will be available in more places. Also, the technical/science aspects will stand you in good stead no matter what you end up doing.
 
Check and see if all the credits at the JC transfer to the 4 yr school. A great majority of our neighbors kids went to the 2 yr JC because it was about half tuition rate of the 4 yr school. They then transfered over to the 4yr. One is even now in a Phd program, so it did not hurt him.
 
Follow your heart/gut instincts. I think every kid should move out, just far enough from home, and go off to school. Yes, you will have the temptations to screw around and be irresponsible, but in the end it is up to you to mature and buckle down and take school seriously.
Now, you need to do what you have the apptitude for and desire for. If you love what you do, then your career will be far easier and more fulfilling than if you do what you think others want you to do. Personally, I think environmental science may just be the wave of the "green" future. Good luck!
 
bdws1975 said:
in my humble opinion, unless you are taking the basics, the community college is a waste of time and money.
juco and community colleges do not offer nearly as much in terms of credibility or ease of transition.
Consider this: is it possible you will go on to a graduate degree after your undergrad degree? If so, the community college would be a waste.

good luck man,
Brett
Click to expand...

What?
If the college offers transfer credits this is bunk.

Best friend is a lawyer and graduated from a very good law school.
Sister's good friend is a neuropediatrician.

Oh, both started at good CC. :D
 
Gollnick said:
Your resume' will look better for the rest of your life and you will have an easier time getting better jobs for the rest of your life if you go four years at a state university. It is worth the investment.

And, as Mr. bdws1975 so wisely points out, if you decide to persue a graduate degree, you will have much more options with four years at a state university on your C.V.
Click to expand...

Persue? :D :D :D
 
My .02 worth ... I say go get your criminal law degree from the community college, and then become a game warden, now you can protect the environment, gain valuable outdoor experience. and then go on and get your post graduate in envronmental science, now your a double threat and could go on to be a director of biology or whatever it is you want to do.
 
Hi,

I think Ren gave you some very good advice. As an old guy, I can say that what you start out in as a career, won't be what you'll be doing 30 years from now.

Good Luck!

dalee
 
RE77,
Probably neither is a bad choice (as long as you are correct about JC credit transfer) so you are in the enviable position of choosing between two desirable options. One way to frame the decision is which option will still allow you to choose the other, if it turns out not so desirable? That's probably the JC option. However, if you only asked the JC people about transferability of credits, they may erroneously believe everyone loves and accepts their credits. My experience is there will likely be some challenges in transferring all obtained credits, even within a system that claims to have a seamless credit transfer policy.
good luck in your studies (but don't count on luck alone),
rats...
 
Even if all the JC credits transfer to the other school, I doubt very many of them will apply to the other degree. When I first got out of high school, I went to a junior college and received an associates degree in drafting technology (2 years - 96 credits). I then went to a state university and earned a Mechnical Engineering degree. All my JC credits transfered but only one 4 credit class was required for my degree. The rest became general elective credits - 92 of them. The engineering degree required 8 credits of general electives. So out of the 96 credits, I was able to use 12 of them. So 2 years of junior college resulted in one quarter after the transfer. Plan your classes carefully if you want to transfer the credits.
 
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