Regretting college choice?

[Jesus Pimp]

Anyone here regret choosing the college they went to? I just graduated art school for multimedia and felt that it was a total waste of time and money. They focused too much on conceptual stuff rather than skills for the real working world. I met some cool people though including my current girlfriend. I'm somewhat bitter from the experience though wishing I chose another college but it was too late How does one deal? I currently plan on taking some classes to increase my skills for the job world. Anyone have similar experiences?

[h2g2Fan]

University of Maryland at College Park.

Best decision I've ever made in my life.

[dunkelhelmut]

In many ways, conceptual knowledge is far better than real world knowledge.

Here at Georgia Tech, all we get are concepts. They never walk you through a course and tell you step by step how to do things. It's up to you to design the system and to figure out how to implement the concepts that were taught to you.

You can learn about the real world in a community college or a vocational school or even from friends and family. But you won't get the advanced hardcore conceptual education that you'll get at a good school.

[The_Dude]

i took a 3 classes at my local community college and just found out that 2 of them wouldnt transfer to UT. (I was an idiot and didnt check the transfer guide).

i feel like a dipshit 4 wasting money and time.

[DelayedReaction]

University of MD, College Park.

Local (for me), and the mechanical engineering department is pretty good. So I'm pleased.

[Jesus Pimp]

Originally posted by dunkelhelmut
In many ways, conceptual knowledge is far better than real world knowledge.

Here at Georgia Tech, all we get are concepts. They never walk you through a course and tell you step by step how to do things. It's up to you to design the system and to figure out how to implement the concepts that were taught to you.

You can learn about the real world in a community college or a vocational school or even from friends and family. But you won't get the advanced hardcore conceptual education that you'll get at a good school.

I get that argument from a few students at my school. Right now most of them can't find jobs. I think there should be balance. We didn't have it at our school.

[Recoil]

UofT

This summer as I'm going into my last year (and recruiting) I'm beginning to regret it more and more. My Sister used to go here when I had to decide my colleges and I thought it was the best even though she warned me about all the problems and stuff.

My regret stems from how I feel that if I had gone to a smaller university, I'd have gained better experiences and felt the 'college experience' instead of constantly stressing over my marks, the politics in my department and the general 'exclusion' that takes place at the university based on race.

I've seen my friends go on to small universities where they get to party, learn 'real-life' lessons, have fun with everyone on campus, and get excellent grades. All things that I had them beat in HS

Thats not to say that I'm doing badly in any way here at the university....its just that I feel the experience could have been a lot better had I gone someplace else. All my friends here keep telling me that this university will pay off later on with its name...it damn well better.

[giblfiz]

I am coming out of USC, and I have very mixed feelings. I went all the way across the country to get away from the life I knew, and I think it was a very good choice. Now that I am here though I wish I had gone to UCLA or perhaps Berkly it would have cost less and I suspect I would have liked it more. But I don't regret that I chose to forgo Upenn. Leaving everyone and everything you know is the most eye opening growth encouraging thing I have encountered yet.

[absorbentishe]

I wish I would have gone away to school. I stayed home and went to school, and I missed out on a lot of activities.

[Sparhawk]

I went for a semester, realized, at 17, I wasn't ready for this experience, quit, dicked around for a year, and joined the military.

Best decision I've ever made.

[Rodney]

I'm one of those people who doesn't believe he's anything special, and none of the people around me as I was growing up seemed to think so either. So I went first to a community college and then to a California state university. And I passed with all A's in my sleep, and out in the business world I realized I was a deeper thinker than most people around me (one of the reasons nobody thought I was anything special when I was younger was because they were looking for superficial answers to questions, and I always tried for the deep answer. They didn't get it, and I never understood why.

Anyway, I could probably have gone to a name college had I had more support. But I have no regrets; I'm not incredibly ambitious for my own sake, and I've found about 50 percent of the work I've done worthwhile.

On the big/small college thing: I went to a state college with 25000 people, which seems big; but it was a commuter school with only about 2000 people living on campus and maybe another 2000 in the surrounding neighborhood. So there was an inner community that really did know each other really well. I'd walk across campus and say hi to 5 or 10 people along the way. So when you're considering large vs. small, remember that a lot of large commuter universities actually do contain tight little communities within them.

[skysooner]

I chose my first school (Texas Christian) based on the fact that it was a bit away from home and the girl-to-guy ratio was about 2.3 to 1. I, of course, never realized that it was home to many Dallas area socialites who had their noses very high in the air. On the other hand, it was tough academically, and I met my first love there.

Once that relationship broke up, I ended up at Univ. of Oklahoma and embarked on the more practical side of my education. So yes, I regret my first choice, but it exposed me to a different way of looking at things that I wouldn't have had before.

[s8ins child]

Originally posted by dunkelhelmut
In many ways, conceptual knowledge is far better than real world knowledge.

Definatly the way it is!

[-Ever-]

Originally posted by Jesus Pimp
Anyone here regret choosing the college they went to? I just graduated art school for multimedia and felt that it was a total waste of time and money. They focused too much on conceptual stuff rather than skills for the real working world. I met some cool people though including my current girlfriend. I'm somewhat bitter from the experience though wishing I chose another college but it was too late How does one deal? I currently plan on taking some classes to increase my skills for the job world. Anyone have similar experiences?

I've got mixed regrets. I've got about 3 friends going to art schools. One is at Expression Center for New Media in Emeryville, one is at Academy of Art in San Fran, and the other, my girlfriend, is at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Fran. They all love it and I feel that the only one who might say what you have mentioned is the one at Academy of Art. The other two say that their school's are really teaching them skills that they will be able to use in the business world and on top of this, they offer exceptionally good post-grad job positions with companies that they have worked out deals with. I think that if anything, it was just the school itself that you chose which you should regret working with, not with studying art rather than something like business admin.
Just my .02. I've done lots of thinking because I was real close to studying art but chose to hang out at a community college for a bit and just see where I go from there. I take at least one art class a semester to keep me sane and I'm generally studying business with plans to transfer. As of now, I really feel my passionate artistic side is being left unfulfilled....I dunno.