imho having a formal degree is helpful to open the first job door.
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thanks for an exhaustive alternative majors list.
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CC is not an option due to peers. A formal degree makes it easier for the first job. Not a genius by any measure.
Itâs your life. Not the life of your peers. Please yourself. No need to worry about others.
When many are strapped financially due to college loans, the CC kid will be much better off.
Theyâll be jealous.
I was making 6 figures, living home at 24/25. I was embarrassed.
One of my co workers said best move youâll ever make. When youâre 40, youâll realize.
They werenât wrong.
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https://www.coastline.edu/academics/cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.php
Yep. And today, with the federal government sponsoring IT education in areas of high demand like cyber security across America, one seriously DO NOT need a degree to enter top paying tech careers.
(And THEY ARE EVEN PAYING you to learn with 1000s hours paid apprenticeships.)
Even Google IT certificates can drop one into well-paid Project Management, Android Programming, Data Analysis, etc careers within a year without a degree. Even Google is so desperate, they donât want you to waste 4 years - they want you within a year!
Letâs clarify: THE Tech world doesnât have enough workers and are desperate!!!
You can get a well-paid IT job (letâs say $50k+/yr) within a year without college.
Now, should one really want the Bachelors degree just to open up potential jobs cheap:
https://starbucks.asu.edu
ASU is free!!!
You noted Arizona State University. Why on earth PAY for ASU when you could do Starbucks and get paid to go free with guaranteed admissions?
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Now, on the flip side, should you continue perusing the top university CS bachelorâs, then you need to look at the specialities and equipment theyâve got.
E.g. UCLA has a chip / nano robot fab. (And a nuclear reactor.)
E.g. MIT - Well, geek heaven.
E.g. Caltech - Path to satellites and space.
E.g. UC Irvine - gaming and gaming club
Iâd think one strategy without perfect GPA is to
-
Focus on great essays.
Be the eager pup with a unique angle/story to tell.
Really revise. -
Pick 2-3 really good private schools for the hopes of scholarships etc.
Dream tickets.
You NEVER know - Even Harvard gave a Full ride to an illegal. -
Then fill out the other 3 categories - top, mid, low with a good focus on the programs, campus life, surrounding city life. More emphasis on the programs for the top schools, more emphasis for the latter two for the low schools.
E.g. Berkeley would be a top school for the program even though the city life is horrible whereas UC Irvine would be a mid school, with balanced program vs city life and csulb would be more city life and relaxing at the low end.
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You consider low csuf, but not csulb? Both are Low end schools, yet csulb is in an area closer to the beach, fun, LA, etc whereas csuf is more landlocked with nothing around to do nearby. Csuf is like damn, gotta waste $5-6/gallon gas driving 30 minutes to get to anything fun + pay campus parking vs csulb where you can even ride the bus in and out in 15 minutes and get to places like the Aquarium, Downtown, Seal beach and Huntington Beach, etc.
Merced, Riverside, etc - have you actually visited? Going from the SF area to fully isolated Merced, Riverside with the huge weather differences (Riverside is SO hot summers) for a low end choice might drive you bonkers. (Esp. Going anywhere. Riverside to LA fun alone is a 1+ hour drive on $5-6 gallon gas.) Itâs like my friends say - thereâs nothing else to do in Riverside but study, sleep, eat.
If CSULB is a âreachâ, then you might as well stick in UC San Diego. Honestly, UCSD will be the Reach, not csulb. (And stick in UCSD - might as well if youâve got UC Irvine. San Diego life is so dreamy.)
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Trim?
MIT/SDSU
UCLA/UCI/UCSD
Csulb/csuf
Then you add a few to each level.
Backup is ASU free thru Starbucks.
But if you must graduate from a top school, and if you canât get into the UCs or top to mid picks, then one strategy that remains valid and good is the 2nd chance thru CC transfer.
Go to OCC free for 2 years (a top transfer school), get top grades, then you get to repeat this all over again with much better chances due to UC Tag, etc and youâll likely be able to transfer to UC Irvine, UCLA, etc.
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But your picks, your life.
Alternative majors?
Pretty much anything else the schools have depending on your likes and strategy.
(E.g. Some carefully research harder to get into majors, make sure they can shift majors midway, then enter on an easier major then shift into the desired major.)
What do you like to do?
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
If not CS, math, engineering, science, gaming, architecture - all 1 person sitting in front of a problem and PC all day long trying to figure out how to implement the technical solution. Wander into the lab with organics and itâs bioengineering, robotics. Wander into the business world and itâs finance/cybercoins/money movement solutions at a lower cost.
Keep in mind that many jobs in life Donât care what youâve studied! (Otherwise history/philosophy majors would all be jobless.) Entry jobs are just that - open to many because those hiring know you know nothing about real work.
um, excuse me? have you lived in either area?
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I think you are making highly subjective comments about Fullerton being no fun, but half an hour away in Irvine being so much fun. By your logic, the Claremont colleges, which make the T10 LAC are also not fun, being as they are near fullerton, pomona and riverside.
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Too much smog up against the mountains. Great schools. Breathing issues later.
Agree. If that is a concern you should avoid socal altogether. I have lived in pasadena, it has smog too.
Thanks for the comment. I guess I will revisit this thread when I am 40 if CC forums are alive.
Right on Tech needs more workers. Life is excellent across America. Focus is on the quality and the cost of education.
There really isnât much smog in Pasadena unless live near the freeway. Iâm sure it was far worse in the past though.
Well. Fullerton. 30 min to âŠDisney/knottâs and closer, not much to do, imo. A lot of typical suburban family homes from the 60s and such.
Irvine. Within 30 min to beach, foodie restaurants, fashion island/South Coast Plaza, Newport/balboa, etc. Many newer homes to rent.
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