the stuff you learn in college doesn't help much either =)

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jankemi
Community and Technical colleges up here will accept you no matter what your high school GPA, but if you don't show that you have basic skills when you take the entrance exams, you will get stuck PAYING TUITION for the same courses you could have taken for FREE in high school.

 

I would beg to differ with most of the others on what school teaches you. Take your story problems for instance. How many times in business do you have to solve a story problem. Everyday. Math in general is very usefull especially when you get into algebra. I also run a lathe once in awhile and man does math come in handy. I do purchasing also so complex inventory issues arise. School helped put all the building blocks together and when you get a job you learn even more and develop other skills. School is important. There are self made people out there with little schooling if any but they are few and far between. Just remember to branch out and not follow the brain washed path they would like you to follow and you will come out ahead.

 

Hmmmm......

Well first I'd like to say Highschool is EASY compared to College/ University, it's like night and day.

I learned bad habits in Highschool, I NEVER studied didn't do a damn thing and pulled off all A's! When it came to University it was much tougher, I could no longer pull off A's without studying, I got like 1 B and the rest lower .

I then went to a technical school for computer eng and did much better as I am more hands on problem solving type person who hates reading.

So I guess what I am saying is, if you study hard and are getting C's and D's I'd be WORRIED, if you aren't you might want to start to learn to study and work hard at it. If you don't want to go that route, as seung suggested, excelling at 1 thing might get you just as far if not farther.

I dropped out of University and changed to a college, and ended up with a better job faster than if I had stayed in University.... so you never know.

 

Of course there are exceptions, but in general most of the people making big cash have a college degree. For every millionaire who did it without a degree there are probably a hundred who did it with one.

And to get that college degree you need to get your ass into a good college. You do that by proving to college admissions that you have the desire to get in there. You don't need straight A's but if you buckle down and pull A's and B's your last year you can still salvage something.

 

Dizings2k,

Your grades won't stop you from getting into a good college. You can always go to JC for two years, pull up your grades (very easy to do in JC), and then get into a pretty good school. It'd be hard to get into the upper crust schools (i.e. Stanford and the Ivy Leagues) in that manner, but most of the top 50 schools, especially public schools, are very, very doable.

The more important question is whether going to college will help you. The answer is most definitely yes, but in what way and to what extent?

If you're planning to go into tech, then IMO, a college degree isn't as important as for some other fields. Do you know what kind of tech you want to get into? If it's hardware, then a college degree is almost a necessity. If it's software, then a college degree isn't as important. Programmers, Web designers, and other software-oriented guys tend to be self starters who learn stuff on their own. There is also a great disparity between the software skills taught in school and what is actually used in the industry. Even if you complete a 4-year degree in CS, there is still a lot to learn in industry. It's almost like starting over.

For what it's worth, I am a programmer who works at a fairly well-known compiler company, and computer programming has absolutely nothing to do with my college degree. Many of the guys here, be they QA, R&D, whatever, either have no college degrees or only earned one after being hired.

In summary, no, your current grades won't stop you from getting into a good college. You can either pull them up in high school, or you can pull them up in JC. It'd be easier to do it in high school, but JC isn't very hard, either. Going to college would be good, but also keep in mind that it's not an absolutely necessity, and if you want to get into tech, even if you go to college, you'll still need to do a lot of learning on your own time. Good luck man...

P.S. I hate school as much as anyone else. But I force myself to go, and you can too. Honestly, it's not hard to get good grades in high school. You just need to go through the motions. It's not until college that things actually get tough.

 

As a junior in high school, it's time to look at the future. Bust your rear and get steady Bs and maybe an A or two. Colleges look at grades to see the student's ability to learn. All Cs and Ds show is that you're lazy and do just enough to just get by. If you turn that around, it can show that you're maturing and serious about education.

Other people picked up good points. The work in school may seem like busy work, but it teaches your brain how to organize and analyze things. The repetitiveness instills that information into your brain. AP courses are worth their weight in gold, because a simple test at the end of the year can waive 4-12 units of school, depending on the test and school. That's a lot, when you figure a good school can cost anywhere from $100 to $1000 a unit.

 

I agree with Secret AP1. School (HS and undergrad college) isn't so much about the book knowledge that you learn, it's the social skills that you learn. There are too many people that I have seen fail in a job (or in life) because of lack of social skills.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dizings2k
Im 16, Junior in highschool, my grades are like B&Cs, with the occasional D.

 

NickT: cheat to get to where you want? Now thats just lame

If you wanna get in a good college there are 3 main points you gotta make:
-decent SAT score (1000 and up, 1000 will only get you in state colleges like GSU) for ACT, a cumulative score of 22 is average, if you get a 26 and up, youll have A LOT better chance at better colleges.
-keep up your GPA AT LEAST during junior year and senior year because colleges watch your grade shifts
-participate in afterschool activities, eg BETA, KEY, Intramural sports, highschool sport, any club or any after school activity that will keep you busy. Putting afterschool events and activities on college apps are a biggy because theyre looking for people who are ACTIVE, AND can keep up at least decent grades.