College Choice

[Mark S]

I don't really start my own threads but I was wondering what you guys thought about this. 

I recently applied to UNC Charlotte, UNC Chapel Hill, and NC State and I'm thankful to say I was accepted into all three. 

I've decided to go to NC State as I feel this is the best place for me as my major will be in the engineering field (computer science). Although Chapel Hill was harder to get into and has a better computer science program by a small margin, I feel that State is the best just in case CS doesn't work out and I want to go somewhere else in the engineering field. 

So my question is would you guys do the same? Does it even matter?

[Davidson Deac II]

Employers generally wont care which school you go to.  Its whichever you prefer really, which school you feel you will enjoy the most.  

 

 

[cookinbrak]

My stepson went to State for mechanical engineering. There will literally be companies fighting over you. He got a job at NovaZymes in Wake Forest, they moved him into chemical engineering.

[Ja Rhule]

58 minutes ago, Davidson Deac II said:

Employers generally wont care which school you go to.  Its whichever you prefer really, which school you feel you will enjoy the most.  

 

 

This.  

[Johnny Rockets]

First off, congrats to you. Oddly enough my son applied and was accepted into the exact same 3 schools and chose NCState also and was in a similar situation. Chose them because he was leaning towards their mechanical engineering program but wasn't 100% sure. Decided at the last minute that it wasn't what he had a passion for and didn't want to wake up at 40 years old saying "what if" so he changed his degree. 

He is at USC (SC) now about to finish his masters this spring and slowly chasing his dream of getting into collegiate or professional sports and has no regrets about getting his 4 year degree at NC State. He loved every minute he was there, made some good contacts, and is slowly getting where he wants to be in his field. 

Go where you feel most comfortable and enjoy some of the best years of your life. Best of luck to you. 

   

[h0llywood]

Congrats and whatever choice you've made is good for you.

[thefuzz]

Nothing wrong with being part of the wolf pack.

 

Congrats.  Study hard, but have fun as well.

If you are getting loans, I would probably get a part time job to offset some of the cost.....paying those back once the dust settles is awful.

[cookinbrak]

On Saturdays, during football games, go to one of the dining halls and hang out with the cafeteria ladies. You'll eat like a king.

If you stay in a dorm, open the AC filter door and put a small cardboard box in with the opening facing the coils, covering about 1/3 to 1/2 the coils. Keeps your beer cold and the RA never looks there. Just don't leave it there during the day, or the maintenance guy will snag it.

[logic1977]

On 2/6/2017 at 10:18 PM, ARSEN said:

This.  

I've found this to be quite the opposite. Going to the right school can make a large difference both in doors opened for you and for starting salary. 

 

My undergrad and first graduate were from DeVry and I also have an MBA from Georgia. My classmates at Georgia who mostly did undergrad at big name schools (Michigan, ga tech, chapel hill etc) often remarked how they ignored resumes that weren't from similar schools. 

 

It isn't the end of the road but it matters. When I was at At&t it was FAR easier to get in the leadership development programs coming from a top tier school. 

 

That at being said both NC state and Chapel hill I think wouldnt cause any issues. 

[Davidson Deac II]

1 hour ago, logic1977 said:

I've found this to be quite the opposite. Going to the right school can make a large difference both in doors opened for you and for starting salary. 

 

My undergrad and first graduate were from DeVry and I also have an MBA from Georgia. My classmates at Georgia who mostly did undergrad at big name schools (Michigan, ga tech, chapel hill etc) often remarked how they ignored resumes that weren't from similar schools. 

 

It isn't the end of the road but it matters. When I was at At&t it was FAR easier to get in the leadership development programs coming from a top tier school. 

 

That at being said both NC state and Chapel hill I think wouldnt cause any issues. 

I suppose its different for everyone, but I don't even know where most of my coworkers went to school.  One of them played cornerback for Winston Salem State, and another went to Duke (I only know because he can't shut up about Duke bball) but other than that, its not something that comes up much.  Maybe IT is different. 

[Dingo_ate_Babies]

UNC > NC State > Charlotte

Pick the school, not the major.

You'll have a very different college experience depending on the school.

 

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

I'm a UNC alum, so I'll preface this by saying I'm obviously biased. But I don't think the college experience gets much better than UNC. Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town, and I think you'll find it has a more diverse, open-minded, international, and broad set of students.

 

And in terms of comp sci, if that's what you wanna do, my buddy & roommate majored in comp sci, didn't do particularly well in terms of GPA (as in below the average) and will be the first to tell you he didn't try anywhere near his hardest in his classes, but he got a job right out of school for 70k plus bonuses from Cisco. Another comp sci major & friend is now working for Google & was accepted to Harvard and Stanford Masters programs right out of school, but he was the type who would've been successful regardless of what he studied, lol.

 

With that said, go with what you feel is the best fit for you. If you definitely wanna do engineering and you're afraid you're not sure you wanna go the IT/network engineering/comp sci type route, then maybe State would be your best bet. Nobody ever regrets being a Tar Heel though, you won't be disappointed. 

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

Oh yeah, and like others said, there's time to think about your future regardless of where you go. The school you choose wont be the difference between whether you're successful in life or not. I honestly feel like college was more about the experience than the education, and I'm sure most would likely agree with me there.

 

You'll never be in a place with tens of thousands of people who are from completely different walks of life with different world views, political perspectives, ethnic/racial/religious/socioeconomic backgrounds, etc etc etc. For example, I went into school as a closed-minded relatively small town kid who thought he knew what was up with the world, what he wanted to do with his life, what the "right" outlook on everything from politics to socialization was, and I quickly realized I didn't know sh*t because I never really saw it from a different perspective other than my own. I thought I was gonna be working for the US government after I finished school, and now I'm less than a year out of graduating and don't even live in the country anymore.

 

I digress, but TL;DR, make the right decision for NOW you & 18-22 year old you, not the potential you 20 years down the line, cause you'll very likely change so much more in these next 4 years than you'd ever expect.

[Mark S]

On 2/7/2017 at 9:22 AM, Johnny Rockets said:

First off, congrats to you. Oddly enough my son applied and was accepted into the exact same 3 schools and chose NCState also and was in a similar situation. Chose them because he was leaning towards their mechanical engineering program but wasn't 100% sure. Decided at the last minute that it wasn't what he had a passion for and didn't want to wake up at 40 years old saying "what if" so he changed his degree. 

He is at USC (SC) now about to finish his masters this spring and slowly chasing his dream of getting into collegiate or professional sports and has no regrets about getting his 4 year degree at NC State. He loved every minute he was there, made some good contacts, and is slowly getting where he wants to be in his field. 

Go where you feel most comfortable and enjoy some of the best years of your life. Best of luck to you. 

   

Pretty crazy how similar of a situation we had. Hopefully mine will continue in the right path. Thanks.