University/College help please

<p>Hello I am new here, coming to you from Dominican Republic in hope that you may answer some questions for me.Two years ago I had to leave my studies do to an alcoholism problem as well as family issues. Now that time has gone by, I feel it is time for me to get back into the swng of things, however do to poor grades in college,only taking the SATS once as well as living in a third world country with not many options to choose from as far as academics go,my college search has become quiet a bit harder, however I am still determined to find one that suits my needs.</p>

<p>With that said, I realize I have not taken the time tell you what it is,exactly, that I want to do for a living, well here it goes... I really want to become a network security engineer/admin, which ever better suits the description below. My goal is work for a small/big company, maintaining systems,debugging them,troubleshooting them,configuring them, overseeing networks,and most importantly handling security breaches. I am really interested in the security part of computer systems and I know its silly, but ever since I was a child I have always wanted to create an a seemingly impenetrable system, one in which would block out malicious crackers and what not, as well as allow companies to work freely without fear of losing there data, or anything. Now that I have told you what it is I would like to do, I must admit I am still a little confused as what to decide as a major,this brings me to my first question...</p>

<p>1) What degree is right for me? Information technology,systems engineering,computer science,information systems tech or what?</p>

<p>My second question would be, If I do move to the states which I plan on doing do to the fact that, while I know there are degrees in systems engineering here, there still are not that great schools, compared to ones in the states, and I really want to move back to the states and establish myself there with a job, which, as I am told, with a degree from here I will not be able to do,people don't look that high on degrees from here they tell me, so anyways if my only choices were miami, a choice because this is where i got sober and did my program and new york because it is a fresh start and a city I am comfortable with since I can drive but don't really like too, plus nobody really knows me there, </p>

<p>Second question: What college whether it be community college or not/university would you pick according to my specific career path.</p>

<p>Lastly I am also studying for the CCNA and am following some videos by a guy named Telton walker and he has made this 24 chapter full course on youtube and am having a blast, it comes naturally to me, but am I also wondering whether or not this will be enough for the written part or should I purchase some other material to read, I already plan on buying a simulations book for the lab part, but I just feel I should go for broke and ask all the questions I need to, in order to give myself the best chance at a great education, by the way sorry for not posing the link, but as it is my first time I didn't want to get the post taking down if it doesn't allow it.</p>

<p>Ps: Thank you CC for the wonderful webpage, first time poster and it is really a blessing to see something like this out there, I thank you guys in advance.</p>

<p>anybody suggestions please</p>

<p>In answer to the first question, I’d recommend computer science. You’ll need the math (calculus, discreet, cryptology, graph), programming, algorithms, networking, and OS background if you want to get into designing and building information security systems. IT and information systems technology typically don’t require the courses you’ll need. Systems engineering is a possibility if we’re talking about computer engineering; if we’re talking about software engineering, again it’s going to lack the math you need.</p>

<p>Thank you for explaining that to me, most appreciated, i always wondered which one was the best for me thank you</p>

<p>any other help on the colleges in new york or miami would be appreciated</p>