I am getting out of the military here in about 10 months and moving back to central florida. I am trying to decide whether i want to go to a university or a community college. with the new g.i. bill i can go to the most expensive state school all the way up to my bachelors. Also, they supply me with a housing allowance which covers my rent/mortgage. My Question is, would it be smarter to start my schooling at a community college since it is a more personal experience and then transfer to a university? Being that i havent used math/science etc. in over 3 years i think i might need to start out relatively easy.

Also i plan on having a car payment around $300 a month + insurance, do you guys think it will be hard to maintain a job that will support that as a full time student, given that i wont be paying for housing? thanks

 

i think the most personal experience you could get is going to a university and staying in the dorms or campus housing. almost everyone i know (including myself) that went to a CC would just go to school and depart immediately. there's not really much going on for the most part.

a full time student for most purposes is considered to be at least 12 units, and at my school thats only 3 classes. i know many people that maintain internships and jobs while taking 16 units and still being able to balance a social life. you don't have to jump right in with the classes, but it would depend on what type of math/science you stopped at, and if your major even requires a higher level of those classes.

 

I would say it partly depends on what your studying and what the requirements are for transferring to university. I opted to start in college (mainly to save money on tuition) and transferred into 3rd year university, but I know not all programs will give you full credit for time in college. Although I completed my bachelors at a large school in a major city and didn't live in residence, I found it just as personal as college.

As for work, I guess it depends on what you're qualified to do and what you want to do. I've never bartended, but I hear you can make some pretty sweet cash.

 

I did my first two years at a CC and I don't think I was ready for a big school at the time. I was young and sheltered and hadn't experienced life the way you have. If you want to really work hard on your studies and work on the side a CC could be good for you. If you want to have a lot of fun, study now and then, work a bit, and sleep very little go to the bigger school.

You can work and go to school. I did all of my grad work using Troy's off the main campus night classes while working 60 hours a week selling cars. My down time between customers was used to study and it worked very well for me.

 

I'm in CC right now, and I agree with kpxplaya. If you need someone to kick your shit to get into gear, go to a 4 year uni, because at CC you pretty much come and go, and the teachers make it very apparent they don't give a shit if you're there or not. If I had to do it all over again, I'd consider going to a uni because I feel like I would have been more motivated.

Since the gov't is paying for it, make the most of it. For me? I pay for my own college out of pocket so CC was my only real choice without loans/etc. It's hard to get motivated when you're constantly at home between classes.

 

You can pretty much take the first half of this statement off too.

Go to the best school you can. Even if you fail, you'll at least fail into something that's alright. . . and with a lot fewer regrets.

 

I think 2 year schools are worthless for people pursuing an academic degree. Some offer excellent technical training though. As stated above, the classes are a joke. It is necessary for you to ask yourself if you are going to college just to get the piece of paper (unambitious) or if you like intellectual stimulation and/or serious about pursuing ambitious career goals.

I agree totally with 8D In Trunk. I am an econ senior at the University of Oklahoma and I regret being paid off the come here (well, as far as academics goes. Social/Climbing/Football aspects are awesome).

Rankings wise, Oklahoma is 109 or so in US news and reports. Ranking are rankings, but I wouldnt recommend people going anywhere under 70 or so. U of Miami and U of Florida essentially.

None of this really matters if you are going the Pre-Med/Engineering/Math/Physics type route though. The difficulty "drop off" of a engineering or hard science class is smaller in those disciplines as you go down the rankings ladder. Better be damn sure thats what you want to do though, because there is generally a huge drop off in other majors.

I would recommend looking into Technical programs though, especially with the medical professions. In many cases you get quality training with a 2 year program and are guaranteed a good paying job upon graduation. Furthermore, with some programs you can go back for another 2 years and specialize getting your bachelors and get an even better paying job.

Case in point: My brother just graduated as a Prosthetics and Orthodics Tech. That includes the 6 months he spent as an intern. He now works at the office he interned at while he finishes up his req's for his Bachlor's program to be a O&P Practitioner. I think he makes 20 bucks an hour doing so, and he says that some of the skilled veterans pull in near 50k a year after performance bonuses. With most medical careers, they cannot hire the people fast enough.

My 02.

 

thanks for the help guys... I was thinking that maybe the first two years at a community college would be a good transition out of the military. I think joining the military was a good idea for the simple fact that i am no longer in the high school party mode. im pretty sure if i would have gone to college immediately after high school it would have been useless. im also still trying to decide what i want to go for... obviously the medical field is promising but i need to look at what 4 year programs are interesting to me... Being that i am a Bodybuilder (term used loosely, im no professional) i would like to try something involved with that.

From what people tell me, a lot of your classes in the beginning of college are "filler" or general knowledge so it doesnt really matter where you go.

Of course i want the best paying, most beneficial career possible, but like i said i dont really know what my options are within a 4 year degree. guess ill start the research...

 

Exercise science maybe?

The first year is a lot of BS classes but thats only true to a point. There are a lot of 4-year programs that start you out immediately with "real" classes -- I know thats what I had to do in my engineering program.


Best paying, most beneficial, and most fun are 3 words that 9/10 times are not used well together to be honest. Start at what you like to do first (should narrow down a lot of things) and go from there. Its nice to have a good paying job and all but if you absolutely hate what you do...imagine 30+years of that....ugh.